18+ best PR tools every PR manager should consider in 2022

Tom
July 8, 2021 ・ 12 min read

PR tools are a must for a public relations professionals. They create new opportunities and make working in public relations more effective and less time-consuming. Here’s a few worth looking at if you’re a PR specialist.

Let’s take a stroll down the memory lane to the times when there was no social media, knowledge of HTML was in the hands of few, and connecting to the Internet used to interrupt phone calls. There’s neither social media nor web technologies. PR practice involves making phone calls, writing letters, and meeting people face to face. PR tools at your disposal include: your brain, a piece of paper, a pen, a telephone, a fax machine, and your business cardholder.

As web technologies and social media have developed, public relations changed and so did the tools to harness it. PR tools are helpful for PR professionals who often need to be multitaskers and need to keep their work organized.

There’s plenty of tools to choose from and they’re all just a few clicks away. Here’s 18 best PR tools for a various areas of work in public relations.

Click your way through the table of contents:

PR tools for media monitoring

Media monitoring, social media monitoring, new media monitoring, or digital media monitoring. However, you call it, following what the media and online media say about your business is essential. This type of PR tools can help you:

  • Protect brand reputation
  • Get notified about industry media, experts, influencers, competitors, and other authors talking about your business
  • Get in touch with social media influencers
  • Identify new media outlets
  • Prevent PR crisis
  • Conduct market research
  • Identify new media opportunities
  • Get hard data about the online presence of your brand
  • Improve your media relations

Different media monitoring tools offer various media coverage, so make sure that the one that you choose monitors the sources that you want to keep up with.

Brand24

Brand24 is our own media monitoring tool that can easily help you monitor and analyze the online buzz about your brand.

It collects online mentions of predefined keywords from multiple sources. Brand24’s media coverage includes websites, blogs, online media, press releases, news sites, discussion boards, social media platforms, podcasts, newsletters, or video platforms.

Many PR professionals use Brand24 to not only track brand mentions across the web, but also to track the newest press releases, create PR clippings, analyze target audience and gather insights to improve PR strategy, keep up with news from the PR industry, or measuring the results of a PR campaign.

Apart from collecting mentions, Brand24 offers a plethora of analytics to help you measure the performance of your online presence and the effectiveness of your PR efforts.

Some of the most important features include: 

  • Presence score
  • Metrics of volume
  • Metrics of engagement
  • Metrics of reach 
  • Metrics of sentiment 
  • Metrics of influence
  • Email notifications
  • Slack notifications
  • Mobile app
  • Reports
  • Filters
  • Boolean search

Price

Free trial, paid plans start from $49 / month.

There are a few other Web and social media monitoring tools you can try.

Google Alerts

Without a shadow of a doubt, what makes Google Alert attractive is the fact that it’s completely free of any cost.

Is it, however, enough to get the job done? It depends.

Google says it ceased developing and improving Google Alerts. In comparison to other media monitoring tools, GA is entirely devoid of analytical features.

A screenshot from Google Alerts which can be a good PR tool

When it comes to data collection, people report a lot of spam, serious delays, and missing mentions.

Nevertheless, it’s good to try it and see how it works for you. Who knows, it might be just fine. If you are a beginner PR professional, it’s surely a tool that you can start with. Here’s what you can do with Google Analytics:

  • Monitor multiple keywords
  • Monitor multi-word keywords
  • Set up the frequency notifications
  • Set up email notifications
  • Set up RSS notifications 
  • Monitor mentions in various languages 

Price

Free.

If you’d like to learn about the differences between Google Alerts and Brand24, have a look at Google Alerts alternative

Brandwatch

It’s one of the biggest players in the media monitoring market.

Brandwatch is powerful in data analysis and AI-supported features. The tool, however, is now changing focus from media monitoring to consumer intelligence and insights tool. Still, it can help you with your PR strategy. Brandwatch is a great fit for enterprise-size companies.

Brandwatch as a monitoring tool will surely help you keep with media mentions and the newest press releases.

A screen from Brandwatch which can be used as a PR tool

Apart from features typical for a media monitoring tool such as keyword monitoring, notifications, reporting, or sentiment analysis, Brandwatch offers also: 

  • Demographic data
  • Image analysis
  • Shareable dashboards 
  • Flexible displays 
  • + much more!

Over the years, Brandwatch certainly has made a name for itself. Nevertheless, it is quite an expensive tool, but you can use affordable Brandwatch alternatives.

Price

Brandwatch is definitely the most expensive one out of all three monitoring tools that we mentioned.

It starts from $1000.

PR tools for outreach

After all, despite the development of technology, human relations are still fundamental to public relations. 

Outreach is one of the most important aspects of PR. Years go by and it’s still about building relationships with people who can broadcast your message to a wider audience.

Some of the best PR tools for outreach allow finding journalists, influencers, bloggers, and experts you can reach out to and build relations with and expand your contact database. PR professionals who are constantly looking for media opportunities are willing to establish new media contacts or press contacts. PR tools make this a lot easier.

Muck Rack

Muck Rack is a PR tool that offers plenty of features to manage your outreach efforts: media database, monitoring, pitching, collaboration, and reporting. 

An image from Muck Rack which is an outreach tool for PR

Muck Rack has a large database which makes finding journalists and collecting press contacts easier. Add to it the rest of the features and you get an all-in-one outreach tool with an intuitive dashboard.

Price

Contact sales.

Anewstip

It’s sort of a search engine that looks for keywords on Twitter. It reminds Google search engine.

The tool returns relevant content in chronological order of tweets. 

There are also filters to narrow down your search criteria and find only the most relevant journalists or media outlets.

Price

Free, paid plans start at $200 / month.

Brand24

Outreach brings us again to media monitoring.

Media monitoring tools like Brand24 can help you identify sources talking about your niche: industry media, experts, and influencers active in social media. Brand24 will be useful to strengthen your media relations and to expand your network by gaining new media contacts.

An image shows Top public profile section inside Brand24, one of the best pr tools

Three of the tool’s features come in handy here:

  • Influencer score filter – The tool assigns influencer score from 1 to 10 to every social media profile mentioning your keywords. Then, you can filter from most to least influential social media profiles mentioning your keywords.
  • Top public profiles – The score is calculated on the basis of a few metrics combined:
    • Number of followers a profile has
    • Volume of mentions it produces
    • Visibility percentage specific to particular social media platform

Price

Free trial, paid plans start at $49 / month.

Prowly

With Prowly, you can not only do PR outreach but also manage your media relations from one place. From finding relevant contacts (in a database with over a million records, or via smart media contact recommendations provided by the tool) and sending targeted pitches, to seeing who opened your emails and automating your follow-ups.

Prowly has all the right features to help you maximize your PR outreach and build better relationships with the media. 

Prowly - PR tool for outreach

There’s no upfront commitment, and no lengthy contracts – you can take advantage of a free trial, choose monthly subscriptions and different add-ons, and then upgrade as you go. 

Price: 

From $189 / month.

PR tools for text editing

Whether it’s a long email, an article, or a press release, writing is an essential part of the job. Make sure you do yours in a text editor which fits your needs, be it on the usability, or aesthetic side of things.

Do you need a clean, typewriter-like experience? Or complex text editors you could use to write books in?

I don’t know about you, but I grew tired of typical text editors. Maybe it’s my distractedness, but I feel as if they were screaming at me with thousands of buttons, tabs, and options. That’s why I’m a fan of plain text editors.

But let’s see what’s in store.

Google Docs

This editor is somewhere between simple and complex.

Then, apart from Google Docs, you get access to other tools which will surely come useful – Google Sheets, Google Slides, and others.

A screenshot from Google Docs, a text editing tools that can be used as a PR tool

I myself write a lot and there are at least two Google Docs’ features that are extremely helpful to me:

  • Sharing – Few clicks and you can share and invite to your document other collaborators
  • Commenting and suggesting – Very useful when it comes to sharing feedback, proofreading, or brainstorming ideas with teammates

Google Docs can be useful to plan out your PR campaigns, collecting ideas for a PR strategy, or just note-taking.

It’s a part of G Suite – a cloud of tools from Google. All you need to access it is a Gmail account.

Price

Free.

iA Writer

iA Writer is ideal if you’re looking for a distraction-free and minimalistic text editor. To me, it also gives some kind of typewriter feel.

Image of iWriter, a text editing tool for PR

With its modest design and very few, yet powerful features, you can fully immerse yourself in writing. It’s only you, plain background and letters. Some of the useful features include: 

  • Focus Mode
  • Reading Time mode
  • Automarkdown 
  • Syntax highlight
  • Content blocks 
  • Hashtags 
  • Various fonts 

iA Writer is available for iOS, OS X, Windows, and Android. 

This PR tool can be useful for marketing professionals as well or content managers.

Price

$29.99.

Google Keep

Note-taking is text editing, too. 

To capture all important ideas before you lose your train of thought, use Google Keep.

Apart from being an accessible and simple notepad to write down your ideas on the run, Google Keep is a part of Google Suite and stored in the cloud – it means you take your thoughts, notes, ideas, and things to do everywhere you go.

An image of Google Keep, a good tool for PR

Like other Google products, Google Keep is easy to embrace. You can use it on your smartphone, on your desktop, or as a Chrome extension. And it’s all in the cloud.

Google Keep can help you keep in mind important topics, collect ideas considering PR campaigns or PR strategy.

Other features include:

  • Photo upload 
  • Voice recording
  • Checklists

Price

Free.

PR tools for mind-mapping

Mind-mapping is a good way to brainstorm ideas and visualize information about the project you’re working on.

Sure, you can do it on a piece of paper, but it’s getting complicated when you have to attach files, share with collaborators, or present them to someone else.

With good mind mapping software, you can: 

  • Draw infinite map 
  • Attach files
  • Collaborate with others 
  • Export your boards 

Draw.io

One of the tools I personally like is Draw.io. 

Theoretically, Draw.io isn’t strictly a mind mapping tool – it’s a diagramming tool. Therefore, it might lack some features typical for mind-mapping. Practically, it works miracles in mind-mapping. You can draw basically anything you want.

Also, you can access it without registration – you just install draw.io Chrome extension and there you have it.

Price

Free.

iMindMap

This one is particularly interesting because it had been developed in collaboration with Tony Buzan, the inventor of the mind-mapping technique.

People say it adheres more closely to Buzan’s concept of mind-mapping than other tools. 

A screenshot of a PR tool called iMindMap

What makes iMindMap stand out, is the ability to present your mind-map in a few different ways – not only in the shape of a tree.

Price

$4.99. 

Milanote

Milanote is more of a concept map maker than a mind-mapping tool. Still, you can completely map out your project. 

You can fill up the infinite pinboard with notes, links, images, and files. The tool is very simple in use primarily because it has only the most necessary features.

Some say it’s the most easy-to-use concept mapping tool out there.

One of the cool things about Milanote is that it has a web clipper. It means that the tool displays the content from a link directly inside the pinboard.

Price

Free, paid plan starts from $9.99 / month.

PR tools for productivity

It’s so easy to lose focus these days and come into focus! 

What’s even more worrying, with the abundance of distractions people experience these days, they don’t even realize anymore they’re distracted – dozens of tabs, notifications from all over the Internet effectively keep you disturbed and overstimulated.

A few years ago, Cal Newport came up with the concept of “deep focus” which seems to be the response to the above-mentioned problems. 

Here are a few PR tools that can help you achieve sharp focus.

Noisli

This free productivity tool generates ambient sounds of your choice. 

You can choose any from over a dozen soothing sounds of the environment, combine them, and set their intensity to sound just right for you.

A screenshot from Noisily which can be used as a PR tool

I sometimes play it with electronic music in the background. 

Additionally, Noisli comes with:

  • Simple text editor
  • Timer to help you motivate. 

Price

Free.

An article in NYT 

Productivity is invariably connected to procrastination. 

When the chips are down, there’s no magic tool that can help you overcome writer’s block or suddenly find motivation.

We must realize that, at its core, procrastination is about emotions, not productivity. The solution doesn’t involve downloading a time management app or learning new strategies for self-control. It has to do with managing our emotions in a new way.

Learn more about it from this great New York Times reading.

Freedom

OK, I know it sounds a bit overblown but Freedom ensures freedom at least within your digital life.

Freedom is a focus app that can eradicate every single distraction you get either on your desktop or your smartphone. You can even block the Internet if you wish.

Importantly, Freedom works across many devices ranging from Windows, Mac, Android to iOS. Here’s what Freedom can actually do:

  • Mute particular applications 
  • Mute particular websites
  • Set up recurring modes
  • Track progress 
  • Use Locked Mode

Price

Free trial, paid plans start at $6.99 / month. 

PR tools for project management

At some point, a pen and a notepad are not enough to keep track of your projects.

Add to it the impossibility to collaborate with your teammates and other departments in your organization and you’ll see the need for a project management tool for your PR responsibilities.

Everyone talks about Trello, Asana, or Basecamp – no wonder as they are battle-tested and appreciated across the industry. 

Here are some, uncommon time and project management apps you might become interested in. 

Monday

Monday is both a project and time management app. Apart from some typical features for this type of software, such as boards, timelines, time tracking, due date tracking, activity logs, and more, it has a few which catch the attention of many:

  • Huge base of project templates for all sorts of job types
  • Great features for project overview from a wider perspective
  • Eye-friendly and intuitive interface
  • Lots of integrations

Price

Free trial, prices start at $25.

Asana

Asana is one of the top players in the game – well-known, proven, and appreciated across the board.

What’s great about it is that you can use it for free and still get reasonably satisfactory experience – just fine to manage your PR responsibilities. 

Price

Free, plans start at $9.99 / user / month.

ClickUp

ClickUp is said to be one of the best free project management tools out there.

The tool has been praised for customizability which is limited in some of the more popular tools. In other words, you can tune the tool the way you want, what your team wants, or what a task requires.

Some even say there’s too much to customize.

Thanks to many features even in the free version, the tool is very competitive.

Price

Free, paid plans start from $5 / month.