CRM for PR - The way to manage your contacts in 2022

Can using a CRM (Customer Relationship Management software) in public relations make a difference for your media relationships? The answer is YES!

CRM systems have primarily been thought of as a sales or marketing tool and have just recently started hitting the scene in public relations (FINALLY!).

If you are still using Excel sheets to keep your contacts organised or relying on external agencies, then it is time for you to upgrade your methods.

According to a survey done by Prezly in 2020, PR professionals that use a CRM spend on average 3.4 hrs a week keeping their lists current, compared to those using spreadsheets who spend an average of 5.4 hrs a week.

In addition, those doing press for film or TV shows often have to send large media files with their announcements—which most email systems can’t support—forcing them to use yet another tool (e.g. WeTransfer) to send large marketing materials or media files to journalists.

Working between platforms like this is not only inconvenient and time-consuming for you but it is also inconvenient for the people you are serving.

The easier you make it on journalists, the more likely you are to lock in your media coverage.

Here is why using a CRM for PR is the best way to manage your press contacts in 2022.

PR CRM software vs. sales CRM software

PR CRM software provides you with the tools to store, organise and serve all of your important media contacts and stakeholders from one interface.

Just like sales professionals, those working in PR have a lot of contacts and relationships that they need to keep track of.

However, their intentions with those contacts differ from that of a sales professional.

Some of the biggest CRMs in the business, such as HubSpot, SalesForce and monday.com are designed to track everything, push relationships through a pipeline and nurture them at different stages.

Although they have a lot of great features for relationship management, many of them are not necessary for public relations and can either get in the way or simply go unused.

For example, in PR you are dealing with a lot of contacts and do not need every single email from every single contact to be backed up in the system. What you do need is to be able to see that the right contacts are receiving and actually viewing the content you send to them.

PR CRMs are designed to make it easy to serve content to a large number of contacts in an organised and secure way - simple as that.

What is the difference between having your own CRM and using an external agency?

Maybe right now you are thinking, “We use an external agency to manage all contacts and press distribution. Why do we need our own CRM?”

There are several problems that having your own CRM solves.

If you have an external agency then most likely you are using their media contacts.

This may feel fine for now, but by not building your own media lists, you are losing out on structural capital that secures your long term success with PR.

Meaning that if you end up switching agencies after 3 years they will have acquired thousands of contacts that they can now use for other clients, and you will basically have to start from scratch.

That is why you should never build on rented land, as some may say.

In addition, it is hard to stay on top of your efforts since you need to rely on them to produce reports, rather than being able to go in and check in the system for yourself.

If you have your own CRM, you can bring an agency into your platform to run it. That way you stay in control of your contacts.

What features should you expect in your PR CRM?

Out of all of the features that a CRM can offer, here are the features that you should expect from your public relations CRM.

Store all of your media contacts

This may seem like a no brainer, but a lot of systems have a cap to how many contacts you can store. Choose a system that grows with your database, without the stress of upgrading your account.

Group your contacts & build press lists

Specific groups of people require different types of communication. Being able to create lists and have premade groups will make it easy to serve the right information to the right people every time. Example: create groups for specific shows, for types of media or for areas of interest.

Allow and control who signs up for access to your media list

You always want to be expanding your database, but with the right contacts. The best way to do this is by having a system that allows new contacts to request access but doesn’t actually add them until you approve.

The entertainment industry often releases confidential material, so ensuring you know who you are releasing it to is crucial.

Track active status

If you are storing your contacts in a spreadsheet then it can be really hard to keep track of which emails are active, who hasn’t opened an email from you in months and who has requested not receive information from you.

If you want to have good relationships with your contacts then you want to make sure you know where they stand in regards to your outreach.

Not to mention, GDPR - staying compliant should not be taken lightly.

Have access control rules

In the media industry, there are times when you need to share pre-premier content with a select group of individuals. A good CRM is tied to your press site where you can control who has access to specific content.

This means that if you send out an email with a link to secure information, only the people that you give access to will be able to see it on your press site. It doesn’t matter who received the email because emails can be forwarded.

Scheduled releases and emails in advance

Being able to plan out and schedule releases in advance is a game-changer when it comes to time management. With new releases coming out daily, you need to be able to create and schedule emails so your stakeholders don’t miss a beat.

Track your PR efforts

If no one is opening your emails or downloading your media assets then really nothing else matters because your outreach is not getting the exposure that it needs.

Make sure your CRM has a reporting dashboard so that you can easily track who is engaging with your content so that you know if your PR efforts are successful.

Conclusion

When it comes to public relations, your contacts are one of your most important assets. That is why choosing the right CRM to manage and serve them is a must.

Although there are many options, Clipsource is the only company to offer an intuitive CRM specifically designed for the entertainment industry.

In addition to being able to organise all of your important media contacts, you can also serve them news and attach heavy media such as screeners, clips and images all in one place.

Clipsource is also compliant with GDPR and offers advanced access control options built into a user-friendly interface so you can serve the right contacts, the right information, without fear of leaks.

Stop spending time using outdated systems and methods and choose a tool that can help you reach your media relations to new heights.

If you want to learn more about choosing the correct PR software, then check out our Press release distribution software [A guide for media companies]!

Clipsource has been hired by some of the industry’s finest entertainment brands to enrich and streamline their PR workflow and help them distribute more materials to more stakeholders at a lower cost. Contact us today to learn more about how you can unleash the power of your programs.