ACCESS Newswire is a press release distribution platform that helps clients increase their online visibility and web presence. It provides premier syndication to leading news outlets. The solution aims to empower clients with a variety of solutions to suit any budget.
$299
single PR
Critical Mention
Score 7.5 out of 10
N/A
Critical Mention headquartered in New York offers their eponymous media monitoring platform for public relations and crisis management.
Personally, I see no difference between Newswire and other press release services. This one's available with our current PR SAAS solution, there's nothing wrong with it, and pricing is usually somewhat competitive. These days nothing works as well as actual media relations, so Newswire comes in handy for just having a solid link for a press release and getting the SEO on backlinked sites.
Critical Mention is excellent for media monitoring across platforms including TV, radio and online. It is easy to grab and tailor video clips and share. The reporting function makes creating thorough reports simple. Most importantly, the customers service is unparalleled. Any time I've ever had a question or challenge, it has been handled quickly. I would suggest that you make sure to take the time to thoroughly set up your searches to be sure you don't miss anything.
Communication via video calls and emails. They were responsive to any questions we had.
Provided all the information we needed to make the decision to move forward. They had the materials around what publications and news outlets they could get into for us.
Monitor media mentions and send alerts: it's great because I don't have to go in and search every day. I am set in the morning and afternoon with alerts.
Online media reports: it's great because it helps me create my own personal reports in a format that my clients love.
Customer service: our account team dedicated to us is amazing. There has never been a time that they let us down.
The editorial process was always very hard on our sale releases. Even if we followed the same structure we used to with PR Wire they would flag it as advertorial.
The option for video is nice but would be better to actually embed it into a part of the release versus just floating at the bottom.
Would be interesting for them to share more industry-specific releases or give the option to only get emails on specific industries. The E-blasts are always too general.
The media database was not as robust as our proprietary one, it contained a key journalist that had been dead for 3 years for example, others that retired or moved to other outlets. Its influencer list was dismal. Fortunately when I complained (which I did the first time I used it) they removed it from our subscription and did not charge us. They said we could add the updates or add our contacts - not sure why they thought someone would pay for a service and then give valuable information to the company that would then be shared with competitors. They removed it from our bill so that at least was positive.
It only tracks hashtags across social media accounts that have been added to its system. Right from the beginning, just by running a hashtag search on IG, we could see missing posts. They said we could add all those in batches or manually one at a time which was work we were hoping to avoid with this subscription. Basically, it becomes a service that prepares nice-looking reports, not one that monitors mentions on public accounts.
Simply put, they are a great team, excellent support and a platform that is so seamless to use. Great reporting content, can do attitude and a solution / product that works. They are an established company and there are many 'new companies' out there claiming to offer a better service but they lack the depth and capabilities of the Newswire platform
I gave this a 5 only because I do not make the decisions to renew. When I used this at my previous company, I also recommended to the decision maker to renew this tool as it was a crucial piece to the overall client objective
Simple step-by-step process to get your news out to the world. Easy to understand process and explanation as you go through the steps. Each upgrade does have a charge, but it's pretty visible. Once you get familiar with their platform and systems, it becomes fairly easy to use to get your news published. It's also nice how quickly you are able to get the news out and published in the places you choose.
When we have needed support, the Newswire support team has responded quickly and been very clear about what we need to know. We have never had a significant issue and they have been very helpful at cleaning up any points of confusion on our part. I always feel like they have my back.
Look, Critical Mention follows up on an or phone call immediately or in the AM the following business day. I have called them after hours and get a live person to work through any issues that may have come up. Support seems to be job one with Critical Mention.
It is a very simple product to get started using, particularly for press releases. I have no used the other functionality so I can't say for sure how easy or difficult that might be, but my guess is that the way the platform is built makes it easy for anybody to get started.
To be honest, they are very similar in many ways. Business Wire, for example, is more focused on business news as opposed to other types of news. Newswire has a more general and broader application. Other news services like Bloomberg are only interested if the company is traded on one of the stock markets.
I am not one to bash a competition product, but I have used several other similar products from different vendors. It has mostly been a disaster. Poor customer service to poor software interface has led me to Critical Mention. It's the first time I have ever stayed with a product beyond one year. One company only ever reached out to me when it was time for a renewal despite repeated reach-outs on my part during the year.
In a new technology area, Newswire has helped us build brand recognition.
During the pressures put on Healthcare over the past COVID periods our presence in the Marketplace have been difficult to maintain. Newswire has been key in our efforts.
When medical imaging AI tools exploded on the scene three years ago, there were over 150 vendors at conferences. Those that didn't promote with tools like Newswire and now gone.
Every week the department I am a part does dozens of searches on Critical Mention. We use it as our primary search engine for all things broadcast.
One negative aspect is that we do not know where Critical Mention gets their audience viewing numbers from so we just have to take it as their word.
Another negative aspect is that we are limited on the amount of time that one clip can be so we have to share several clips of the same show with our clients.
