Searching Media Outlets and Adding Them to Lists

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Modified on: Tue, 13 Dec, 2022 at 6:39 PM

If building a contact list won’t best serve the purpose of your campaign, you always have the option to build an outlet list.

1. Click on Influencers
2. Click on Search

1. Click on Search Media Outlets
2. Click the Outlet Name box and select your first search criteria
3. Click into the text box and make a selection or type in a name/location to be used by the search
4. Click the Plus Sign button to add additional criteria to the search. You can add as many criteria as you want.
5. Click Search when all of your criteria have been specified.

Outlet Search Criteria

Outlet Details

• Outlet Name: Name of the publication(s). The Outlet Name field allows you to specify whether you are looking for an Outlet Name that Starts With or Contains the search term entered. Multiple publication names can be selected for searching.
• Outlet Subject: Use this to search by the subject that the outlet writes about
• Outlet Location: Location of the publication which can be specified by city(s), county(s), state(s), or country(s) (if using our international database.
• Outlet Target Area: Geographic area defined by Cision based on the combination of the area the outlet covers and its common distribution area.
• Outlet DMA (Designated Market Area): The publication’s Designated Market Area. The Designated Market Area is the city and its surrounding suburbs in which the publication is located. When searching by DMA, you can sort the DMAs either alphabetically or by the DMA rank. 
• Outlet Medium & Type: Select general publication formats for which you want to see results: Magazine, Online, Newspaper, Broadcast, Other. Once you select general formats, you will have the opportunity to select more specific publications formats for which you want to see results. Examples of specific media types include Consumer Magazine, Trade/Industry Magazine, National Radio Program, Regional Radio Program, Consumer Online, Consumer Blog, News/Business Blog, Trade/Industry Online.
• Outlet Language: The operating language for the outlet.
• Outlet List: Use this feature to combine multiple outlet lists in one search
• Outlet News Focus: The geographic scope of the news covered by the Outlet: National, International, Region, Local, Community
• Outlet Frequency: How frequently that outlet publishes new content
• Outlet Reach: Specify the desired range of reach resulting outlets should have.  You will need to specify a minimum and maximum number for either UVPM or Audience Reach. In the Cision Communications Cloud, UVPM (Unique Visitors Per Month) is the reach calculation associated with online publications while Audience Reach is the reach number associated with print or broadcast publications.
• Record Type: This will enable you to search for any user added outlets. Select Private to find user added publications.
• Opted-out Outlets: Find outlets that have opted out of email distributions sent from the active data group. If your account does not have data groups, this criteria will show all outlets have opted out of sent email distributions.
• News-Only Outlets: Use this field to include or exclude news-only outlets in your search results. News-Only outlets are those that only contribute to news items to monitoring but do not include pitching or contact information.  News-Only Outlets will have ‘This is a Vocus News on Demand (NOD) outlet’  in their pitching profile.
• Affiliated Media- toggle this filter to ON to exclude affiliated media (bureaus) from your outlet search results.  By default, this filter is turned OFF.
• Contact Details

Contact List: Allows you to build an outlet list based on contact lists in the system

Using Outlet Name to Search

When searching by Outlet Name, the system will begin to show you matches within our database as you type in a publication name. 

The Outlet Name field also allows you to specify whether you are looking for an Outlet Name that Starts With or Contains the search term entered. These additional options can help you more efficiently find a publication of which you may only know part of the name rather than its official name. The Contains option is particularly useful for finding bureaus and broadcast shows.

Media Outlets that are associated with each other will be presented using a consolidated auto-suggestion. When this occurs, each section of the publication, bureau, or differing medium for the outlet will be indented. This approach is a visual indicator letting you know that all of the records in the group are related.

1. Starts With or Contains option which is beneficial when you only know part of the Outlet Name rather than its official name. 
2. Primary listing of the publication in our database,
3. Each section, bureau, or differing medium for the publication.

When using the Outlet Name to search for a publication that has an accent over a letter, the system will be able to find the match whether or not the accent is included in the search field.

Using Outlet Location, DMA, or Target Area

• When searching by Outlet DMA (Designated Market Area) you can enter either the DMA Name or the DMA Rank in the Search box. You can sort the DMAs Alphabetically (1) or by Rank (2). Additionally, you can select multiple DMAs by which to search. NOTE: Designated Market Areas (DMAs) are specific to the United States. If you are searching beyond the United States, consider using Outlet Location or Target Area options. 

If you are using the Outlet Location criteria field, you can specify desired locations using the following steps:

1. Type in a city, county, state, or country name. NOTE: Countries outside of North America are only available with our international database. If you are not sure if you have our international database or want to add it, contact your Account Executive.
2. Click on the desired location in the list of location matches from the drop-down menu.
3. If the location is a city in the United States, you will be presented with the additional option to search for media contacts within a specific mile radius from the city.
4. Repeat this process to include multiple outlet locations in the search.

When searching by Outlet Target Area, a city, Designated Market Area, state, or country can be entered in the search box. Matching results for the location entered will be displayed. Notice that the geo place name will be displayed to the right of each result. Additionally, note that multiple locations can be selected for the Outlet Target Area.

Using the Outlet Reach Field

The Outlet Reach field can be used to find Outlets whose reach falls within the desired range. When using this field, you will enter a minimum and maximum reach for the range you are targeting. 

1. Select the type of reach range for which you are looking. UVPM (Unique Visitor’s Per Month) is the reach calculation associated with online publications while Audience Reach is number associated with print and broadcast publications.
2. Enter the minimum reach number for your range (up to a nine-digit number can be entered in this field).
3. Enter the maximum reach number for your range (up to a nine-digit number can be entered in this field).

The Media Outlet Search Results Panel

When the results of your search are returned, you will have a variety of options for viewing and working with your results presented in numerous panels. 

At the top, you will find a recap of your search criteria that was used to run the search.

1. The Filters panel appears on the left. The filters panel contain multiple additional criteria you can use to limit the results of your search. 
2. The Results panel, in the center, will show all of the Media Outlets who met your search criteria.
3. The Profile panel, located on the right, will populate with the Media Outlets’s profile as you click on them in the Results panel.
4. The Sort By option will allow you to sort the Outlets by various data.
5. The Viewing Options button can be used to change the view used in the result panel.
6. The Save Search button will enable you to save your Influencer search.
7. The Edit Search link will take you back to the search page where you can change the search criteria.
8. The Options Toolbar will enable you to add contacts to lists, run reports, or send an email distribution to the Outlets.

Filtering Outlet Search Results

Let’s break down the results screen by sections, starting with the Filters panel on the left.

The filters panel contains multiple additional criteria you can use to limit the results of your search.

1. Click on the title of a Filter to see what options are available.
2. Check the box next to Filter choices to limit your results to matching Outlets.
3. You can apply multiple Filter choices at a time.
4. To clear Filter choices, click the “X”.

Available Outlet Filters:

• Outlet List- outlet media lists of which publications in your result set are members.
• Medium & Media Type- mediums and media types for the publications in the result set. Mediums are presented as filter choices initially. Expanding each medium will show specific media type filters within each medium.
• Outlet DMA – the designated market area for the Outlet
• Outlet City – the city in which the Outlet is located
• Outlet County– the county in which the Outlet is located
• Outlet State/Province– the State or Province where the Outlet is located
• Outlet Language – the language in which the Outlet publishes content
• Outlet Country – the country where the Outlet is located
• Outlet Language– the language of the outlet
• Subject – the beat/topic the Outlet covers
• Social Media– the social channels on which an outlet has a profile
• Record Type – defines if the Outlet is public (available to everyone using Cision) or Private (available to just your organisation)
• News-Only Outlets: use this filter when choosing to see news-only or media database outlets in your search results. News-Only outlets are those that only contribute to news items to monitoring but do not include pitching or contact information.  News-Only Outlets will have ‘This is a Vocus News on Demand (NOD) outlet’  in their pitching profile. Media Database outlets have contact information for pitching as well as pitching profile information.
• Affiliated Media- toggle this filter to ON to exclude affiliated media (bureaus) from your outlet search results.  By default, this filter is turned OFF.

Working with Outlet Search Results

The middle of the screen contains the results. Clicking on the name of an Outlet will populate its’ Profile information to the right. For more info on Outlet Records these records, click here.   

Changing the Outlet Results View

Once you have generated a set of results, you have two view options located in the upper righthand corner of the screen that can be used to help you analyse the details associated with your results. The view you use last within a session will be the view that persists through subsequent logins.

1. Profile View is the default view and will show all results in the left pane and details for each result in the right pane.
2. When using the Profile view, you can sort the media contacts by a variety of data such as Outlet Name, Audience Reach, and UVPM.
3. Grid View will show all data for all outlets in a column view.
4. When using the Grid view,  you can sort the outlets using any column of data. To sort, hover over the desired column. Click the triangle that appears in that column to sort in ascending or descending order.

Customising and Sorting the Grid View

1. If you choose to view your Outlets in the grid, you will have the option to create a customised Grid View by selecting which columns of information you would like to display and determining the column order. The system will save this view for you. To create a custom grid view, use the following steps.
2. Click the Gear icon.
3. A form will appear that you can use to customise the Grid View.
4. Uncheck any columns that you do not want to see displayed
5. Drag and drop columns in the order that you prefer to see them
6. Click Save

Once you have initially customised the view, you can sort results in the Grid View using any column of data. As you hover in the righthand corner of any column, you will see a triangle appear that can be used to sort the results in ascending or descending order of the data.

Saving Multiple Outlets to a List

1. Select the desired Outlets with the checkboxes next to their names
2. Click the Add to List button at the top of the results.
3. If you want to add the outlets to an existing list or lists, Either add the outlets to an existing list(s) click the checkbox preceding the list name(s).
4. If you want to add the outlets to a new list, begin typing the name of the new list in the search box. You will be prompted to create a new list.  NOTE: Special characters, other than the semi-colon(;) and plus sign (+), can be used in media list names. 

Adding an Individual Outlet to a List

1. Select the desired Outlet from the result set.
2. Click on Edit Lists button, within the profile panel for the Outlet.
3. Either click on the name of an existing list to which you want to add the Outlet or select Create New List to establish a new list for the Outlet.

Sending an Email to Media Outlet Results

You can easily send an email distribution to Media Outlets you have selected in your result set. Click here to see a step by step.  However, if have already saved the selected Media Outlets to a list, click here to learn how to Send an Email Distribution to a Media List. If you have not yet saved the Media Outlets to a list, follow the instructions below to send your email distribution.