We sat down with Ally Bertik, PR Marketing Associate at Small Dog Creative 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 communications PR strategy?
My first PR job taught me the basics of Cision. Before this job, I didn't know how to use Cision and in all my first interviews, I was told that Cision was super important in the PR world and it was necessity in order to work at the company's that I was applying to.
2. Why did you decide to purchase Cision?
This is the second company I'm working at that has used Cision. My current company decided to purchase Cision because they wanted to expand their services to include PR and knew that Cision was a must-have if they wanted to provide that for clients.
3. How are you using our product to support your PR and communications projects?
I build tons of media lists in Cision and am able to look up different publications and newspapers and magazines including contacts and email addresses. I also use email distribution and PR newswire sometimes. Occasionally, I'll use the analytics.
4. What benefits have you seen from using Cision?
After I started using the email distribution tab, I was able to see which editors and contacts were opening my emails. It was nice to see the open rate too.
5. 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 press release for a client using email distribution. I sent the release to two different media lists that I had built out. I ended up getting a lot of earned coverage and special feature stories from this.
6. How did Cision help you achieve this success you mentioned in Question 5?
Cision allowed me to easily distribute my client's news in one place. I could access the contacts that I was sending it to, the specific outlet, the open rates, the coverage rates, the publicity value, etc.
7. What is your favorite Cision feature?
Being able to look up thousands of contacts and outlets worldwide.
8. Does Cision make your workday easier? Tell us how!
Yes! It's an amazing platform that gives me access to thousands of outlets and contacts! As well as different analytic reports.
9. Given your success, what advice would you share with another PR/comms professional?
Cision is a must-have!
About Ally Bertik
A California native, Ally grew up in Thousand Oaks, California until she went on to major in communications at the University of Arizona with a minor in Spanish. Upon graduation, she returned to her hometown, where she first started dabbling in PR at Mustang Marketing and grew to love it. She recently started working at Small Dog Creative, a boutique full-service marketing agency in the Los Angeles area, where she spends her days leading social media and PR campaigns and writing marketing content for clients. In her spare time, you can find Ally at spin class, exploring new restaurants or spending time with friends and family.
