Did you know that 88% of people check their email multiple times per day? And despite that, you're still not getting in touch with the right people. The problem may lie in the kinds of tools you're (not) using and today we're going to help you with just that.
Here are some tools that will help you start personalized outreach that gets real results.
- What are PR outreach tools
- What features do media outreach tools offer?
- 10 best media outreach tools for PR
- 5 best sales outreach tools in 2024
- 5 best email outreach tools for 2024 campaigns
- PR outreach tools FAQ
Ready to start building the right media relations right away?
What are PR outreach tools?
PR outreach tools are platforms that help PR professionals get in touch with journalists, influencers, bloggers, and other media professionals.
These tools typically offer a number of features, such as finding contacts, managing contact lists, and sending personalized outreach pitches.
What features do media outreach tools offer
To maximize your outreach efforts, you need a tool that has all the right features.
Here are some of the basics you should be on the lookout for:
Media database
The tool should have a list of contact details with media outlets, journalists, bloggers, editors, and influencers, as well as other media specialists. The media database should be categorized by location, types of publication, relevant niche, and other categories.
Sending press releases
The outreach tool should give you the option to send press releases and pitches directly to contacts pulled from the media database. It should also, ideally, give you ways to personalize your outreach emails and follow up with media contacts automatically.
Media monitoring
Outreach tools should allow you to monitor the web (social media, forums, websites) and traditional media for keyword mentions. These could be for your client's brand, their competitorsโ brand names, or specific industry keywords. This feature makes it easy to determine if your PR work is making an impact.
Campaign management
So that you can set up and organize entire campaigns and not just individual emails. This includes scheduling when they go out, tracking who responds and when, and offering collaboration features so that multiple team members can work on one campaign at the same time.
Analytics and reporting
This shows you how effective your outreach efforts are, translated into metrics such as open rates, reply rates, media mentions, total audience reach, engagement statistics, and others.
๐กInterested in finding the best PR analytics tools? Check out our detailed guide for insightful comparisons to help you decide.
Sales outreach tools vs. media outreach tools vs. email outreach tools
Outreach tools are not solely used for PR and media outreach efforts. They also have a place in sales and email outreach for link building, for example.
๐ Sales outreach tools are used to convert potential leads into new sales. They often integrate with CRMs and other sales tools and their success is measured through new closed sales.
๐ Media tools help secure media coverage by providing access to databases of journalists and media specialists. Success is measured through coverage and brand visibility, such as brand mentions.
๐ Email outreach tools are built for broader communication efforts and allow users to perform mass email campaign management. Success is measured through general metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates.
Use media outreach tools to begin creating meaningful relations
10 best media outreach tools for PR
If you want to improve your outreach efforts in the world of media, you need specialized tools with a specific set of features. Here are some of the top choices:
#1 Prowly
๐ธ Pricing: starts at $258 per month
What is Prowly?
Prowly is a full-stack media relations tool that allows PR professionals to find media contacts, create and send press releases, track brand mentions, create media reports, and much more.
What features does it offer?
A rich media database, press release creator, media pitching tool, PR CRM for outreach efforts, media monitoring, social listening features, and an AI assistant to help you create and personalize your pitches and press releases as well as find the right journalists to reach out to.
You can also create reports covering your email performance that provides crucial insights about the impact and effectiveness of your overall story and email message. Key metrics such as open rates and click rates are integral to understanding how well your audience is engaging with your content.
Who is it best for?
Agencies, in-house PR and marketing teams.
Free trial: available for seven days
โ Pros: itโs a tool where you can manage all your PR activities, including a 1M+ media database, the ability to send press releases, media monitoring, campaign management, analytics and reporting. Great value for the money, especially considering the size of the media database size and AI features.
๐ปCons: some users complain that the filters in the media database search function could be better - which gets better with new AI features
#2 JustReachOut
๐ธ Pricing: starts at $98 per month
What is JustReachOut?
JustReachOut is AI-powered PR software that helps you reach out to journalists, follows up automatically, and gets new press coverage.
What features does it offer?
Journalist outreach with AI pitch creation, automated follow-ups, pitch request tool, plus: a podcast, broken link building, and guest post outreach tools.
Who is it best for?
Generalist marketing agencies, in-house marketing teams, link building freelancers, and agencies.
Free trial: available
โ Pros: easy to use, plenty of templates to start from
๐ปCons: their USA database is better than the one for the EU
Read more about JustReachOut pricing here.
#3 Connectively (previously HARO)
๐ธ Pricing: starts at $19 per month
What is Connectively?
Previously known as HARO (Help A Reporter Out), Connectively is a platform that connects journalists and sources, letting them pitch one another with stories.
What features does it offer?
It allows journalists to ask for pitches for their upcoming stories so they can filter and choose the best responses. While sources can browse through daily queries and submit answers to the most relevant for a chance to get featured.
Who is it best for?
Journalists, freelancers, and subject matter experts that want to build a presence for a brand or build links.
Free trial: there is a free plan that does not have email alerts included or the option of public profile viewing
โ Pros: their free plan, they have a good reputation and a large number of users
๐ปCons: can feel like a hit or miss, no direct outreach is possible to specific targets
However if you want to take care of all your PR activities instead of a fraction and target media professionals with personalized pitches:
#4 Onclusive
๐ธ Pricing: not available publicly, you have to request a demo
What is Onclusive?
Onclusive is a set of media tools for outreach, news and events planning, media monitoring and analytics.
What features does it offer?
Media analytics, campaign and brand evaluation, media monitoring, social listening, media contact database, outreach, and media API.
Who is it best for?
Agencies, marketing teams that need capable tools, and PR consulting.
Free trial: not available
โ Pros: good analytics, ideal for businesses that may need consulting as well as digital technology services
๐ปCons: pricing is not transparent
#5 Press Page
๐ธ Pricing: not publicly available, you have to request a demo
What is Presspage?
Presspage is a digital newsroom tool with a media database that allows you to pitch media professionals from a centralized inbox.
What features does it offer?
Media database, asset management, omnichannel publication, relationship management, and media coverage statistics.
Who is it best for?
Large marketing or PR teams and agencies.
Free trial: not available
โ Pros: easy to use, great customer service
๐ปCons: pricing is not transparent, some user say dashboards could be better
Instead of using one tool for media outreach, another for monitoring and something else to create PR reports, save time and money with all-in-one tool. Try Prowly for 7 days free.
#6 Meltwater
๐ธ Pricing: not publicly available, you have to talk to the sales team
What is Meltwater?
Meltwater is a suite of media tools for media intelligence and analytics, social listening, consumer intelligence, influencer marketing, and more.
What features does it offer?
Media monitoring and social listening, media database with press release distribution and analytics, social media management tools, and influencer marketing relationship tools.
Who is it best for?
Large marketing teams and agencies.
Free trial: not available
โ Pros: a wide range of tools, great analytics
๐ปCons: steep learning curve for beginners, users say it's expensive for what you get
#7 Cision
๐ธ Pricing: not publicly available, you have to request a quote
What is Cision?
Cision is a PR platform that helps with monitoring brand presence and connecting with media professionals to amplify your brand's reach.
What features does it offer?
Media monitoring, media analytics and measurement, media relationship management, investor relations tools, PR distribution, and placement.
Who is it best for?
Large in-house PR or marketing teams and agencies.
Free trial: not available
โ Pros: a large selection of features, print monitoring
๐ปCons: quite a high price, users say email distribution is not the greatest, issues with filtering
#8 BuzzStream
๐ธ Pricing: starts at $24 per month
What is Buzzstream?
Buzzstream is an outreach CRM tool for PR and marketing professionals and link builders.
What features does it offer?
List building tools for outreach, email segmentation, templates, and outreach, centralized inbox for team management, and detailed outreach reports.
Who is it best for?
Marketers, freelancers and link building agencies.
Free trial: available
โ Pros: affordable, great interface, easy to create sequences
๐ปCons: no media database, no templates specific to the PR industry
#9 Mediaboard
๐ธ Pricing: not publicly available, you have to reach out to get a quote
What is Mediaboard?
Mediaboard is a full-scale PR tool for media monitoring, media analytics, PR publishing, newsroom, and more.
What features does it offer?
A media database of journalists for outreach, the ability to create and publish press releases, media monitoring and social listening, and email outreach tools.
Who is it best for?
Marketing departments in mid-to-large businesses and agencies.
Free trial: not available
โ Pros: nice variety of features
๐ปCons: no transparency in pricing, can be complex for beginners with no PR experience
#10 OnePitch
๐ธ Pricing: starts at $50 per month
What is OnePitch?
OnePitch is a media outreach tool for PR professionals.
What features does it offer?
Journalist recommendations, verified contact details, email checklists and performance reports.
Who is it best for?
Marketing teams, agencies and freelancers.
Free trial: available
โ Pros: affordable compared to most competitors, easy to use for beginners
๐ปCons: limited in features as it only offers pitching tools, quite a small media database (100k contacts)
5 best sales outreach tools in 2024
#1 Outreach.io
๐ธ Pricing: not publicly available, you have to request a quote
What is Outreach.io?
Outreach.io is a sales execution platform that allows companies to create cold email campaigns with segmentation and personalization.
What features does it offer?
Sales engagement, pipeline management, deal insights, and sales forecasting.
Who is it best for?
Sales teams that want to create highly targeted outbound campaigns, any team that wants to scale cold outreach.
Free trial: not available
โ Pros: highly specialized sales tool that helps not only with outreach but also with pipeline and forecasting
๐ปCons: pricing is not transparent, features built solely for sales teams
#2 Zoho CRM
๐ธ Pricing: starts at 14 euros per month
What is Zoho CRM?
Zoho CRM is a customer relationship management tool that allows sales teams to close more deals by building relationships with prospects.
What features does it offer?
Powerful sales CRM, great analytics, automated data entry, huge library of integrations.
Who is it best for?
Businesses that need a capable all-around CRM with some email outreach features.
Free trial: available for 15 days
โ Pros: integrations with the rest of the Zoho system
๐ปCons: not an ideal tool for PR professionals, but great for sales
#3 GMass
๐ธ Pricing: starts at $25 per month
What is Gmass?
Gmass is an email outreach tool for sending campaigns directly from your Gmail inbox.
What features does it offer?
Email campaigns and segmentation from Gmail, split testing, detailed email analytics, personalization, and email scheduling.
Who is it best for?
Any kind of business that needs to send campaigns without buying complex outreach software.
Free trial: available for seven days
โ Pros: easy to use, generous free trial
๐ปCons: some users report issues with spam and high bounce rates
#4 HubSpot Sales Hub
๐ธ Pricing: starts at $800 per month
What is HubSpot Sales Hub?
HubSpot's Sales Hub is a sales tool that allows you to connect with prospects with targeted campaigns and sequences.
What features does it offer?
Email segmentation, automated sequences based on triggers, and personalization features.
Who is it best for?
Teams that already use HubSpot as a sales CRM tool.
Free trial: available for 14 days
โ Pros: great integration with the HubSpot CRM, easy to build relationships with existing contacts, you can track both sales and marketing revenue
๐ปCons: quite pricey because you have to purchase the entire Hubspot suite of tools, does not allow cold emails as it goes against HubSpot's terms of service
#5 Pipedrive
๐ธ Pricing: starts at $12 per month
What is Pipedrive?
Pipedrive is a CRM tool that helps sales teams close more deals with targeted outreach and pipeline management.
What features does it offer?
Email builder with detailed analytics, segmentation, and creating custom flows based on recipient actions.
Who is it best for?
Sales teams in businesses of all sizes.
Free trial: available for 14 days
โ Pros: huge variety of CRM features, segmentation and personalization, easy email sequences
๐ปCons: may be too complex for teams that just need an outreach tool
5 best email outreach tools for 2024 campaigns
#1 Mailchimp
๐ธ Pricing: starts at $6.50 per month
What is Mailchimp?
MailChimp is an email marketing platform that allows anyone to create and scale email marketing campaigns.
What features does it offer?
Email campaign creation, email design, audience segmentation, email scheduling, campaigns and workflows, personalized outreach, email analytics, and integrations with numerous tools.
Who is it best for?
Businesses of all shapes, sizes, and from all industries.
Free trial: there is a free forever plan with limitations on how many emails you can send out and to how many contacts
โ Pros: great for beginners in the world of email marketing, the free plan is superb
๐ปCons: not ideal for targeted pitching - better suited for outbound campaigns to bigger audiences
#2 HubSpot Email Marketing
๐ธ Pricing: starts at $800 per month
What is HubSpot Email Marketing?
HubSpot Email Marketing is a tool in the HubSpot Marketing suite, for creating inbound and outbound email campaigns.
What features does it offer?
Campaign and sequence builder, personalized outreach based on CRM records, and campaign analytics.
Who is it best for?
Businesses already in the HubSpot ecosystem, someone who is primarily looking for a CRM tool.
Free trial: available for 14 days
โ Pros: embedded in HubSpot and connects well with the rest of their toolset
๐ปCons: quite expensive for just using the outreach tool, not built especially for PR professionals
#3 Lemlist
๐ธ Pricing: starts at $39 per month
What is Lemlist?
Lemlist is a cold outreach tool that helps businesses connect with verified lists of prospects.
What features does it offer?
B2B lead database, email verification, multichannel prospecting, personalization, and email inbox warmup.
Who is it best for?
Any kind of business that wants to get new business through cold email outreach.
Free trial: available for 14 days
โ Pros: great for sales teams with existing lists of leads that need enrichment or for building email lists from scratch
๐ปCons: not suited for PR professionals as it does not have a targeted database of media professionals you can filter and search through
#4 Sendgrid
๐ธ Pricing: starts at $19.95 per month
What is Sendgrid?
Sendgrid, by Twilio, is a tool for sending transactional and marketing emails that drive sales results.
What features does it offer?
Email API, automation features in email campaigns, email validation, deliverability tools, and design templates.
Who is it best for?
Businesses that need one tool for marketing, sales and transactional emails.
Free trial: available for 30 days
โ Pros: great automation features, affordable compared to most competitors
๐ปCons: too many features for businesses that just want to do outreach
#5 Mailshake
๐ธ Pricing: starts at $25 per month
What is Mailshake?
Mailshake is a sales engagement tool for businesses that want to get better results out of their email campaigns.
What features does it offer?
A data finder, an AI email writer, automated followups, and email deliverability tools.
Who is it best for?
Sales and marketing teams that need a robust solution for automated email campaigns.
Free trial: not available
โ Pros: Chrome extension, emails and dialer - everything you need for sales outreach in one place
๐ป Cons: no media database - not built for the world of PR
PR outreach tools FAQ
Q: What goes into an effective outreach campaign?
A: Clear goals, an understanding of your target audience, personalized messages sent through the right channels, and a series of automated follow-ups.
Q: What is an outreach tool?
A: An outreach tool is a piece of software that allows you to connect with a large number of potential targets, powered by personalization and automated follow-ups for better chances of getting opens and replies.
Q: What is media outreach?
A: Media outreach means connecting with media professionals: such as journalists, bloggers, content creators, influencers - anyone with an audience who can tell a story about your brand.
Start pitching the right media with the best outreach tools
We've rounded up some of the best outreach tools you can purchase in 2024 and we'll leave it up to you to make the best decision for your business.
However, if you want a tool that was built by PR professionals for PR professionals, Prowly supports you at every stage of your daily work.
With a vast media database, press release creation and distribution tools, media monitoring, and analytics, you have everything in one place to shape and monitor your brand presence.
