We sat down with Jacqueline Cunniff, PR Marketing Associate at Oofos to discuss why her company chose Cision, how she uses it to further her communications strategy, quick tips and more!
1. What were you doing before using Cision to support your communicationsPR strategy?
At my first PR job, we used a different communications platform that I was not completely happy with. Upon joining the OOFOS team and bringing PR in-house, I did my research on different platforms, learned a lot about Cision and quickly determined that it was a must-have tool.
2. Why did you decide to purchase Cision?
As an organization, we decided to bring our PR efforts in-house after previously partnering with agencies, and I knew that in order to effectively manage the day-to-day requirements of the job, we would need a media database and analytics service. I did a lot of research on different platforms and everything I found made it seem like Cision was the best tool to use. After some phone calls and email conversations with members of the Cision team, it became clear that Cision offers everything that I need.
3. How does Cision compare to your previous provider?
Cision is entirely more robust than the platform that I used in a previous position. I found the other platform’s media database to be quite outdated and overall, pretty limited in its features. In contrast, the Cision media database is much more extensive and updated very frequently, and I also find the email distribution and analytics tools to be very user-friendly.
4. How are you using our product to support your PR and communications projects?
I use Cision to build many different media lists and do research on editors at different outlets to help make more informed decisions about my communications outreach. I use the email distribution tool for outreach that provides me with data on open and click-through rates, and I also use the analytics features to measure brand coverage and audience reach.
5. What benefits have you seen from using Cision?
Using Cision helps me do my job better and more efficiently. From finding the right contacts at my target outlets, to sending out emails to large numbers of contacts at once, to tracking open rates and coverage. It has made executing and reporting on campaigns very streamlined.
6. Tell us about a recent and successful PR/comms campaign. What results did you achieve? What results stood out most for you?
I recently distributed a story via Cision’s email distribution platform to a couple of different media lists that I had put together using the media database tool. The campaign had a very high open rate (over 40%) and resulted in story leads, earned media coverage, and new connections with editors.
7. How did Cision help you achieve this success you mentioned in Question 6?
Cision gave me the tools to be able to connect with the right editors, tracked email opens to help with my follow-up efforts, and then tracked resulting coverage and analytics to aid with my reporting. All in all, I couldn’t have executed this campaign to the extent that I did without using Cision.
8. What is your favorite Cision feature?
I love the analytics feature. It pulls in all brand and keyword clips from across the internet, which is awesome in case there are stories out there that otherwise would have slipped by. It tracks mentions, reach, sentiment, etc. all in one dashboard that allows for me to create reports for meetings very easily.
9. Does Cision make your workday easier? Tell us how!
Absolutely! Cision streamlines everything into one easy-to-use platform. It gives me access to thousands of contacts and outlets, makes it simple to connect with them via email and track coverage. Having everything in one place saves hours of time each day and helps me work smarter, not harder.
About Jacqueline Cunniff
A Massachusetts native, Jacqueline majored in Corporate Organizational Communication Arts at Framingham State University, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude in 2015. Upon graduation, she worked for True North Brand Group, a fully-integrated marketing agency based on the South Shore of Massachusetts, where she became fully immersed in public relations and marketing campaigns for clients in the outdoor, fitness and fashion markets. Jacqueline joined the marketing team at OOFOS in 2017 and is now leading PR for the footwear brand.&In her free time, she loves reading, trying new classes at the gym and checking out local restaurants.
