March 2009

Keeping costs low during a recession is essential, but PR effectiveness also plays a vital role in your organization's success. While your competitors may see this as a time to lower their voices or lessen their monitoring and measurement efforts, now's the time to ratchet-up your endeavors. To understand how you are doing, you need to see all of your coverage. But obtaining that holistic view doesn't mean bankrupting your budget.

Media Monitoring During a Recession

Here are five tips to help you get the most out of your media monitoring — whether print or online coverage, or both, are your focus — without sacrificing your wallet.

1. Don't waste time on erroneous coverage. Even if you have done everything in your power to limit your coverage to key publications, journalists, and bloggers you might still need to trim the stack. This may not only mean limiting which publications you read for, but also reviewing your keywords to ensure that you are receiving only the most relevant articles or mentions.
2. Stop counting and sorting through your clips. With staff and budget cuts it is more important than ever to stay organized. With BurrellesLuce 2.0, our online portal, you receive a PDF of your coverage, exactly as it appears in print — complete with graphics and pictures (where applicable). Tag, sort, and create custom clipbooks without ever having to worry about finding, losing, or housing clips.
3. Measure your media coverage. Some may still consider analysis a luxury, but during a recession it is particularly imperative that you know which efforts are most positively impacting the bottom line and which you can nix in favor of something more meaningful to the business. That's why all BurrellesLuce clients who receive their coverage online also receive access to basic analysis, complete with simple charts and graphs.
4. Get rewarded for your loyalty. As if uncertainty about the economy isn't bad enough, who needs a surprise every time they open their monitoring invoice? For its long-term clients, BurrellesLuce provides a discounted annual contract. However, month-to-month options are also available as we never attempt to "lock" clients into a contract.
5. Consider using a do-it-yourself tool. Your budget might not lend itself to a traditional media monitoring service, but that doesn't mean you have to sacrifice quality and service. A solution like BurrellesLuce iMonitor provides the flexibility of a free online news search, but scours thousands of paid and subscription based sources as well. You choose which clips you want to see. Best of all, iMonitor is neatly integrated with BurrellesLuce 2.0, our online portal, so you can still tag, share clipbooks, and analyze your coverage.A solution that's right for you.

You may not be able to control the economy, but you can certainly make sure you understand what's being said, and monitor the results of your communications efforts. Define your needs. Evaluate your goals. Then, find a solution that is right for you.