Media Databases: Cracking The Build-or-Buy Quandary

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It was the English poet William Blake who probably first addressed the media list conundrum, when he concluded his prophetic poem The Marriage of Heaven and Hell with the
immortal words: "Enough! or too much."

Therein lies the rub. As a PR practitioner, you can build a media list in-house and you will get just enough names to hit the basics, while expending just enough manual energy
to wring an intern dry. Or you can buy a list from a database vendor and you may get far too much: More names than you could possibly need, more media outlets that you would ever
want to contact - and more uncertainty as to the accuracy of the list.

So what's it going to be? Throughout the PR world a response has bubbled to the surface. The answer, in a word, is "both." PR NEWS contacted several agencies to get the pros
and cons.

At Allison PR, for example, Senior Media Specialist Sonia Taylor helped recently to build a list for client 1-800-RADIATOR. Since the list among consumer publications, trade
journals and business media could be enormous, the PR team ran a search using the MediaMap subscription database as a first cut and then went to work on that. The MediaMap list
named five contacts at The Washington Post alone. Clearly, a little human editing was needed.

Although hand editing can be a laborious process, "we have better control and peace of mind knowing exactly how the list was developed and exactly what outlets were included
and deleted from the initial search," Taylor says. In addition, this seemingly mundane work can help develop the PR chops among junior staffers. "The process teaches them how to
be media savvy. They will be forced to edit unnecessary outlets and think about what targets best fit the goals of the client."

At PR agency GroundFloor Media, VP John Shors says it is not just the volume of material that makes him wary of database lists. It's the accuracy.

Last year, Shors' firm switched to MediaMap from the PRNewswire product Online MEDIAtlas because MediaMap offers advanced technical features. But Shors says he has found the
same shortcoming in all the leading databases. "A deficiency they all have is that a lot of their data is outdated," he says. "They are fairly good at keeping tabs on reporters at
the largest publications, but in the smaller publications I will often make calls only to be told that Bill Smith has been dead for the past three years." Shors says a mailing
done off a straight unchecked database list often will result in a 30% percent bounce-back rate.

To avoid that Shors, too, will undergo an arduous hand-check process. "If we have an important pitch or an important release to send out, I will use the database to build a
general list of the publications, but then I will often call the receptionist or an assistant editor and determine the appropriate person to send the pitch letter to," he
says.

At the law firm of Winstead Sechrest & Minick, PR Manager Joey Mooring finds a combined list is his best bet. He likes to use third-party databases for the "flexibility and
freedom" they give him in terms of being able to easily build and alter a basic list. At the same time, Mooring also works with a number of PR agencies he asks to generate their
own in-house lists of appropriate contacts for his press releases. "I have found by having access to my own media database, combined with my agencies' media lists, we are more
successful in targeting each of our news releases and media pitches to only those media who would be interested," he says.

Prices for a subscription to one of the major database services start at about $3,000 and can easily go to 10 times that amount depending on the number of "seats" purchased.
For that kind of money, some may expect a database-generated list to be a one-stop shop, but even the vendors themselves say their data cannot go it alone.

"We are always trying to refine the information that we collect on journalists and outlets," says MediaMap Senior VP of Marketing Tim McManus. "But there are always
improvements that a person working on their own or as part of a team will accomplish" above and beyond what the database offers. The majority of MediaMap's 2,000 customers combine
the database-driven lists with some degree of hand editing.

The extra effort is worth it if a better list can help to land new clients. That's the argument put forth by Ken Dowell, managing director of targeting services for PR
Newswire. He contends that with its 450,000 journalist contacts at 150,000 media outlets, the Online MEDIAtlas (OMA) can give an agency instant expertise when pitching stories.
"It gives the agency the ability to present a potential client with some media intelligence in a sector or an area where they may not have done a lot of work before," he says.

If volume is the chief virtue of a third-party database it is hardly surprising to see vendors angling to increase the breadth of their offerings. Take, for instance, one of
the market leaders, Vocus, which on July 9 announced it has acquired certain assets from LexisNexis, including the in-depth media profile database and other products that had
operated at one time as PressAccess Inc. The acquisition brought additional depth to Vocus's already substantial database and signaled vendors' increasing interest in building up
both the scale and the substance of their services.

That kind of extensive reach has proven invaluable to Susan McLaughlin. As director of corporate communications for Toys R Us, she turns to her Bacons database whenever the toy
store chain is reaching into a new region. "We find it very useful when we are doing outreach to markets that we are not familiar with, where we don't have contact with the
newspaper and the television stations on a daily basis," she says. "It can be a great tool for developing a relationship with someone who you maybe never knew before."

Still, many PR execs contend that nothing beats the human touch for making an accurate and effective pitch.

"An in-house list created by real PR people will have information that you just can't put a price tag on," says Meg McAllister of McAllister Communications. "Hidden contacts,
assistants to the gatekeepers, lower- and mid-level contacts ... and notes about general likes, dislikes, and a track record of what they've said yea or nay to," she says. "These
are the real keys to effective media placements for clients. It's all an extension of relationship building."

Competition Creeps Up For Media Databases

There's a crowded field of competitors nipping at the leader's heels. Here's a rundown of some of the companies gunning for market share.

In addition, Business Wire is in beta testing with a service to be known as PressCenter, due to be commercially available in September.

Best Practices for Databasing

Here's how some PR practitioners get the best use of vendors' media lists:

  • Mandatory training. At CGI Group, "you will not get a user name and password [to access the database] unless you have been trained by the vendor on how to use the
    product," says Senior VP Ray Kerins.
  • Dig deep. Most media database lists will include more than just a reporter's name and contact information. Many offer beats, deadlines, pitch preferences and other valuable
    details.
  • Test drive. At Yesawich, Pepperdine Brown & Russell (YPBR) Public Relations, Senior VP Rod Caborn took his third-party database for a 30-day test drive before going back
    to the vendor with questions and comments. "That way we could ask articulate questions," he explains. "By that time we understood what we could figure out on our own, and what we
    really needed help on."

Contacts: Rod Caborn, 407.838.1799, [email protected]; Ken Dowell, 201.946.5440, [email protected]; Ray Kerins, 212.537.8039, [email protected]; Meg McAllister,
416.410.8466, [email protected]; Susan McLaughlin, 201.986.8641, [email protected]; Tim McManus,
617.393.3200, [email protected]; Joey Mooring, 214.745.5308, [email protected]; John
Shors, 303.926.0973, [email protected]; Sonia Taylor, 415.277.4907, [email protected]

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