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Topic: Alternatives to ProfNet
| Author | Message |
| LoDo | Posted – 11/28/2007 5:49:35 PM | show profile | email poster I posted a similar question for Bacon's a while back and was able to find Contacts on Tap, which was MUCH more affordable and very accurate. I'm looking for the same thing regarding ProfNet Queries. They're terrific, but quite expensive, especially for my one-woman show right now. Any alternate suggestions? Thanks. ------ Lori |
| Cyrus | Posted – 11/28/2007 6:07:25 PM | show profile Lori, Are you aware of their special rate for sole practitioners? It's under $1,000 a year if you meet certain revenue ceiling requirements. That's not exactly dirt cheap, but pretty reasonable given the quality. Nothing else really truly compares because nobody else uses it. IOW, a service like ProfNet is useless without the journalist traffic ProfNet has. ------ Cyrus Afzali Astoria Communications www.astoriacomm.com |
| Foreigner | Posted – 11/28/2007 10:48:41 PM | show profile Everyone refers to discounted software for small practitioners earning below a certain threshhold - if you're still in your first year of business and haven't yet filed a tax return, will they still consider you for the discount? Do you have to show them your bookkeeping as evidence of your income? |
| maphop | Posted – 11/29/2007 1:57:43 AM | show profile My understanding is that ProfNet is making it harder and harder for folks to qualify for the discounted service, especially since it started showing up on boards like this and folks who HAD been paying full price were now suddenly asking for the discounted price. Even at $3,000+, I think it's a bargain in the long run. And I found the Contacts on Tap comment really interesting; I have a friend who tried it and returned to Bacons saying that the number of contacts and the quality of the info just wasn't worth the discounted price. Maybe it's become better? I know that every time I've tried out newer/better/cheaper products there's always that thrill that comes with saving a couple of thousand - and then the ultimate let-down when I realize that the stuff just isn't that complete. I guess it will depend on who your clients are and what their expectations are or maybe what you handle. |
| LoDo | Posted – 11/29/2007 4:10:10 PM | show profile | email poster The "discount" I was told from ProfNet was for $895...not too much cheaper than the full price. As for Contacts on Tap, I've had good luck. But, I'm also one of those people that speaks to the journalists honestly and asks relevant questions...nine times out of ten, I'll end up getting more contacts from them and building my lists that way. No question Bacon's is like the Six Million Dollar Man: Better, Stronger, Faster. Unfortunately, I don't have Six Million Dollars to afford it :-) ------ Lori |
| Foreigner | Posted – 12/1/2007 4:04:56 AM | show profile I tried Contacts on Tap and the inaccuracies and database gremlins were not worth spending the money, although the peopel were responsive to my concerns. I recently purchased a specific pitch list from Cision and was appalled to see that the contact listed as a feature writer at a newspaper that I left 2.5 years ago was someone who actually left the paper more than five years ago. And that same person/newspaper listing appeared twice on my custom list. Also, I told them I was pitching a fun cocktail product and the list they sent me included several publications focused on academia, divinity and electrical energy :) I found other outdated contacts. I've spent hours compiling my own lists and always do at least some research on a writer rather than sending out totally untargeted email blasts. So I'm wondering - do those expensive media databases really save you time, and if so, in what ways? |
| maphop | Posted – 12/1/2007 12:38:20 PM | show profile Money Well Spent I think you're simply going to find inaccuracies with any of the databases you find and while they annoy the crap out of me too and I periodically find myself thinking "how could you have this person in here who's been gone for 3 years??!!" I also have to remind myself that when they do the annual survey for hcnages and updates, probably few people actually respond and there are hundreds and hundreds of folks on these lists leaving their posts and moving elsewhere every single day. All that said, I purchase North America and International modules from the two biggest companies out there each year and there's simply no way (NO way) I could ever hope to construct a database on my own that's even close. While my office certainly keeps and maintains our own "Grade A" database, still, let it sit for more than a few days and it's going to start becoming outdated, too. We're a PR office, not these indiividual's best friends, and they couldn't care less about letting us know that they're leaving their jobs. In summary, I genuinely believe that when it comes to databases like Bacons, Contacts on Tap, Burrell's, Gale, ProfNet, PRNewswire, MediAtlas, etc. you reall do get what you pay for. And, since your PR clients are paying you, you've got to make a tough financial decision. I think our choices create our success which, hopefully, spawns word-of-mouth referrals and more success. |
| Metro Writer | Posted – 12/1/2007 9:58:18 PM | show profile MapHop is correct. Contact universities. If you write for a local or regional publication, it makes sense to quote an expert who is local or regional. If you write for a national publication, start with the Ivy League and the top state universities (e.g., Michigan State). Each time I see an expert quoted in an article or book, I jot his or her name down and the subject of expertise and put it in my Rolodex (yes, I still use one in addition to a PDA). |
| df | Posted – 12/2/2007 12:13:36 PM | show profile I just recently canceld my profnet account,since the media requests had become a circus... in the likes of "need a bearded women who also can spell the alphabet backwards" 80% freelancers, and insignificant papers. When I started it wasn't that way. It really had gone down in quality a lot in the past year. And yes if you want to qualify for the discounted rate you have to show them your notified bookkeeping profit-loss standard, plus it has to be signed/verified by your accountant. Mainly they look for payroll, it has to be under a $100K (or $120K) I can't really remember. The experts were also useless for me, in the last year I have not gotten one request. So I am not sure what happened, but it is not worth it to me (anymore - in the past I had gotten about 5 to 8 very good big stories out of it, which would justifiy the money). |
| maphop | Posted – 12/3/2007 1:18:00 PM | show profile I agree about the rather dramatic slow-down in "expert" calls as a primary benefit of ProfNet; they just don't happen anymore. I'm not exactly sure what to attribute that to except that it seems to mirror what I see on boards like this and elsewhere within the media world; rather than go online or to a database and look something up, it's simply easier to go to a board like this one and say "who has the number for..." or "does anyone know who so-and-so's publicist is?" As for the posted queries, you're right again; the type of queries and the types of posters have changed but I still get one or two good leads each week from it and, for now, it's worth the subsciption price for me. |
| Mag Girl | Posted – 12/3/2007 1:50:50 PM | show profile My experience has been different- we've gotten quite a few hits the past year form people looking for real experts, and they've been large and middle-size papers, and a few consumer magazines as well. I suppose it depends on the topics your clients/company can speak about. |
| df | Posted – 12/3/2007 10:40:31 PM | show profile my clients are rather broad from food to design to luxury products to energy experts. so I am not sure why the hits would go down in all areas at the same time. But I am not looking for a small fly over zone mag or newspaper to repsond to, my clients are only into major news outlets. and those sort of have dissapeard from profnet. I used to see a bunch of NYT queries or met home stuff on it, but not anymore. Maybe those outlets don't use freelancers anymore or whatever the reason, it just hasn't happend for me anymore. |
| LoDo | Posted – 12/4/2007 10:26:44 AM | show profile | email poster Talk about timing...I just saw this information on a local PR board for a free Webinar about ProfNet. I signed up. Figured I could ask them about the cost. df, might be a good way for you to discuss your needs with them. http://prnewswire.xert.net/event.htm?eventID=113 ------ Lori |
| Mag Girl | Posted – 12/4/2007 11:23:52 AM | show profile df, I *was* talking about large papers and magazines in places such as Chicago, NY, LA... don't get hits every day, but we probably get one once every two weeks or so. I'm happy enough with that. |
| df | Posted – 12/4/2007 6:17:52 PM | show profile Do you get the hits by proactively searching the profnet queries or through the experts? very interesting... maybe I need to finetune my experts a bit more. what kind of experts do you have up? |
| Mag Girl | Posted – 12/4/2007 6:34:22 PM | show profile I believe all but one of my hits came through looking through the individual queries. |
| df | Posted – 12/5/2007 1:08:49 PM | show profile for what kind of clients/fields? |
