Organisation is key to managing a busy PR workload. Luckily, there are some great online sites and apps to help you out.
Here are 10 completely free tools for organising your PR:
Trello
Every project manager’s best friend, Trello is an online planning and organisation tool. You can create and customise boards, making your to-do list, your content calendar or a press release plan easy to view and understand. On each board, you create columns cards which can then be moved around as you shift your priorities or develop a strategy.
Hootsuite
Hootsuite gathers all of your social media pages together in one place. You can write posts, track brand mentions and even keep an eye on the competition, all from its easy to use interface. Just one browser tab and one login required!
Google Alerts
Trying to work out if brand awareness is on the up? Google Alerts is a quick and easy way to keep track of your brand on the internet. Set up a few keywords related to your brand name and products and then Google will send search results directly to your Google inbox at regular intervals.
Followerwonk
Save time and maximise your Twitter presence with Followerwonk. This tool allows you to search through Twitter users and filter them by location, name or follower numbers. You can even view demographics related to their followers, including language, location, gender and influence. This information can help you to the most influential tweeters within your industry and start to build relationships.
ColorZilla
A handy add-on for Chrome and Firefox browsers, ColorZilla can tell you the exact colour used by a brand by picking it straight from a webpage. Select the colour and ColorZilla will tell you its RGB, HSV, CMYK and Hex value, making it exceedingly easy to match.
WriteMonkey
We’re often guilty of trying to do too much at once. The end result? We just don’t get anything finished. When it comes to writing a new press release or a pitch to a journalist, use WriteMonkey. Its stripped back, the text-based interface means you won’t be distracted by incoming emails or social media messages.
Evernote
When you’re on the go it can be difficult to keep all of your notes in the one place. Not so with Evernote. This incredible tool syncs across all of your devices so whether you’re in the office, in a meeting or stuck on a long commute, you can keep track of your ideas and reminders. You can add notes by typing, handwriting, audio recording or photographing and then use Evernote’s search function to find what you’re looking for later.
Pinterest
Sure, Pinterest is a great tool for marketing your products. But it can also come in really handy when developing PR campaigns too. Save articles, visual content or competitor PR efforts to a secret board that only you can see. Then use it for inspiration or reference when creating content or devising a strategy.
Google Docs
Working within a team? Google Docs can help you to organise and share the documents you all need to use. Multiple people can edit the same file – even at the same time – and chat and comment within the document itself. This makes for easy collaboration on projects and gives everyone access to documents they need, even when they’re away from the office.
JournoRequests
Whilst a premium version of this website is available, the free version is pretty useful too. Create an account and you’ll be sent a daily digest email containing media requests assembled from Twitter. It’s a quick way to come across relevant opportunities every day.
Make use of these free PR organisation tools and make managing your workload that bit easier!
