Top 100 Public Relations Websites and Resources

We continue today the Top 100 PR Websites and Resources started yesterday. Yesterday we classified the best of the best in the following categories: News (General), Business and Finance, PR News, PR Blogs and Social Media. Today we’ll focus on: PR Corporate Sites, PR Newsletters, PR distribution, PR Software and Communication miscellaneous. Some of the nominees today were already included in our PR Resources Worth Paying For classification. We did everything in our power to include the best of the best – if we missed or omitted something, rest assured that it will not be for long. You’ll read here more company reviews, profiles and success stories; our software testers are already reviewing a number of industry software and you will soon have in depth information about these here, and I could go on. To make a long story short: we are proud to represent the PR industry, and the companies nominated below.

PR Corporate Sites

1. Waggener Edstrom – the second most powerful PR agency in the world (after Edelman), showcasing its image and expertise with a visually striking web presence. This is our top choice for the Studio D aspect of the site – simple, elegant and very refined. Since we reviewed the site, many things have changed for the better for Waggener Edstrom.
2. Padilla Speer Beardsley is known for experienced, strategic counsel built on a research-based planning methodology, communicating for action. Now it will also be known for one of the best PR corporate websites in the world. We reviewed the site before and after the changes and we can tell you that this company is going places. Actually, we predict that in 2010 Padilla will be among the top 10 PR companies in the world. This year, in March, it occupied a honorable place 13 according to O’Dwyer PR.
3. APCO Worldwide – redesigned in July 2009, reviewed by Everything PR soon after the re-launch. The new corporate site is better than the old version of the site, more modern, and like everything else, it needs continuous improvement. The web is a constantly evolving entity. Note that APCO is the third most powerful PR company in the world.
4. Dan Klores – we gave DKC PR a PR Goofy award in February this year. Today we should give them an award for excellence. The new site is visually striking, perfect representation of a company that describes itself as ” being a smart, aggressive and inventive team with a wide range of public relations and marketing talent and experience serving a diverse array of clients.”
5. Taylor – excellent usability, features, content and information. Nothing has changed since our review (some companies are unaware that they are being watched by the media, maybe they need some of the tools below?). Taylor is the “go to” lifestyle, sports and entertainment public relations agency.
6. Allison and Partners – also known as Allison PR – for many reasons a to site this year, our review is yet to come. A rather aggressive approach to PR, but this is what makes Allison a winner.
7. Makovsky + Company Inc. – good aesthetics, although we did find a few things to criticize when we first reviewed the site. However Makovsky is trying hard to prove why it’s the 25th most profitable PR company in the world, and the site reflects the expertise.
8. Ogilvy – nothing extraordinary, however the information needed by a potential customer is there, accessible, in plain view, and very relevant. Our in-depth review on Ogilvy will follow.
9. KCSA – another site we will be reviewing in-depth soon, visually striking through simplicity. KCSA is extremely skilled in brand marketing, and it shows. 29th at O’Dwyer.

PR Newsletters

1. Ragan – if you are a PR and you don’t get Ragan’s Daily Headlines in your mailbox every day, you are not serious about your business.
2. Warcmail: somehow they always send news after the fact, but they compensate through in-depth analysis.
3. O Dwyer’s – breaking news about public relations (PR) and marketing communications, commentary, professional development, database of PR firms – subscription based. The newsletter goes out every Thursday.
4. PR Watch – The Weekly Spin – they should actually send this more often. You can also subscribe to author RSS.
5. AdAge email newsletters – again, if you are serious about the business, you should definitely have AdAge in your mailbox. Note that they have many different newsletters – our favorites are AdAge Daily News, AdAge CMO Strategy and CAT Email.
6. Brand Republic News Bulletins – another must have, with various newsletters. Our favorite is the Daily News Bulletin, the “flagship morning news email that delivers the top stories from across the industry to thousands of inboxes at 9am each day.”
7. Bnet newsletters – requires site subscription, but with this you will have access to some of the most relevant industry e-newsletters, and whitepapers. Owned by CBS.
8. MarketingProfs – offers actionable know-how to help you market your products and services both smarter and better.
9. SmartBrief – editors hand-pick the most relevant and important news from all over, summarize it, link to the original sources and deliver it in one-stop-shop e-newsletters.
10. PR News Online – e-letter – comes once a week, and sometimes you get coverage on issues ignored by the other top ones.

News Distribution

1. PRWeb – Online news and press release distribution service for small and medium-sized businesses and corporate communications. Highly innovative, and a good friend of Everything PR.
2. PR Newswire – news and information distribution services for professional communicators.
3. Business Wire – commercial news distribution. Thousands of member companies and organizations depend on Business Wire to transmit their full-text news releases, regulatory filings, photos and other multimedia content to journalists, financial professionals, investor services, regulatory authorities and the general public worldwide. A professional service, highly recommended.
4. MarketWire – newswire service offering press release distribution, media contact management, multimedia, media monitoring services and other workflow solutions for public relations, investor relations, journalists and other communications professionals.
5. PR Leap – allegedly the company that built the world’s first search engine optimized press release distribution platform in June 2003.
6. PR.com – A cross between a public relations and advertising entity, PR.com is a directory of businesses, products and services, a press release distribution service, job search website, and online publication of articles, reviews and celebrity interviews.
7. 24-7pressrelease – an effective press release distribution service offering an affordable alternative to expensive PR and press release promotion services. Submitting press releases with 24-7 Press Release is always free but they also offer enhanced distribution packages.
8. eReleases – partnered with PR Newswire – still useful for founder Mickie Kennedy’s expertise.
9. Wired PR News is an online press release distribution and newswire service reaching 400+ newsrooms.
10. Newswire Today – is a press release newswire distribution service, a directory of businesses, products and services, and online publication of articles.

PR Software

1. Vocus On-Demand Software for Public Relations addresses the critical functions of PR including media relations, news distribution and news monitoring.
2. Sysomos – brings business intelligence to social media, providing instant and unlimited access to all social media conversations to quickly see what’s happening, why it’s happening, and who’s driving the conversations.
3. Cision – one integrated solution for everything you need to do when managing your PR campaigns, including media contact search and list development; press release distribution & optimization; monitor print, internet, and broadcast media coverage; and media analysis of PR programs
4. DNA13 – on-demand software for real-time reputation management.
5. BuzzStream – a new platform for building more effective and more human relationships online, without all the overhead and bandwidth.
6. PIER Systems – Web-based software for managing crisis communications, business continuity, press release distribution and public relations.
7. Nielsen BuzzMetrics services and solutions uncover and integrate data-driven insights culled from nearly 100 million blogs, social networks, groups, boards and other CGM platforms.
8. Reputation Defender – particularly MyEdge, a solution for owning your Google results.
9. Radian6 – listen, measure and engage in social media. Scan over 100 million sites and sources, from blogs and comments to photos, videos, forums, public Facebook groups, and Twitter.
10. WordStream – is a Keyword Management solution for continuously optimizing & expanding PPC and SEO efforts involving large numbers of keywords. If you didn’t know that online PR needs SEO, you have nothing to do online.

Communication Miscellaneous

1. Basecamp – web-based project management and collaboration tool. We are using Basecamp for PR projects, uniting our team under one roof. Basecamp is almost our office.
2. Remember The Milk – makes managing tasks an enjoyable experience. You no longer have to write your to-do lists on sticky notes, whiteboards, random scraps of paper, or the back of your hand.
3. Salesforce – CRM software solutions and enterprise cloud computing, expensive, but essential. They have a wide range of solutions. There are some more affordable applications on the web, but we promised you the best.
4. Oncontact – budget-tailored CRM — customer relationship management software with a logical interface, and instantly-familiar Microsoft look and feel.
5. Microsoft Dynamics CRM – a fully integrated customer relationship management system.
6. RescueTime –  time management and tracking tools for your team to help with focus, productivity, and project tracking.
7. SendBlaster – a free (desktop) bulk email software, a mass email marketing program and a bulk emailing sender.
8. VerticalResponse is an easy-to-use, web-based marketing tool that helps you grow your business through email marketing, online surveys, and direct mail postcards.
9. Lyris – create, send and track email marketing campaigns and email newsletters (they also have a web analytics solution – LyrisHQ).

Hopefully you’ll find this resource collection useful. If you want us to review websites and software not included in this list, please send us a request for inclusion.

Click here for the first part of the top 100.