An effective media monitoring tool is a cornerstone of a successful PR strategy, enabling PR teams to analyze coverage, extract key takeaways, and provide insights to inform their strategy.
The market for media monitoring tools is rising exponentially, projected to grow at a CAGR of 14% until 2030 – signalling an increase in organizational demand for multi-channel visibility, actionable intelligence, and protection of brand reputation.
However, as the demands on PR teams evolve, many legacy platforms fall short of meeting these needs. From outdated technology and a cumbersome user experience to a lack of customization capabilities, they fail to keep pace with the evolving needs of PR and comms teams today.
If your current setup is causing more frustration than insight, it may be time to rethink what powers your workflows. Here are five signs you’ve outgrown your media monitoring and reporting tools:
1. You’re missing mentions, or catching irrelevant ones
Have you ever received coverage that you weren’t aware of being forwarded by leadership or a client? If so, you know how embarrassing it can be. Similarly, many PR pros find themselves filtering out irrelevant noise because their media monitoring solution captures duplicates or coverage that may share overlapping keywords but is not related to their brand.
If you’re missing crucial coverage or sorting irrelevant results, it’s a sign that your monitoring system is failing you. Whether you’re tracking brand coverage, competitors, or industry trends, every false result wastes time, and every missed mention could compromise your visibility or leave a crisis unaddressed.
If you’re still regularly cleaning up results manually or getting blindsided by key mentions, it’s time to expect more from your tech.
2. Monitoring searches are overly complicated
Monitoring searches are foundational for media monitoring and intelligence, helping comms teams stay informed, capture coverage, and understand public perception.
If updating your search parameters requires a support ticket or navigating a clunky, disjointed interface, or robbing you of peace of mind on whether they’ve been executed effectively, you are missing out. Self-service tools should be empowering, not frustrating.
The ideal monitoring solution should enable users to create, modify, and refine searches on the fly without requiring technical expertise. Research highlights that 71% of communications teams prioritize self-sufficiency within their technology stack, preferring tools and solutions that enable independent operation and workflow management.
This reiterates that PR teams seek solutions that enable them to operate independently without constant reliance on external support or extensive guidance.
3. You struggle to share reports and showcase wins
If media monitoring is checking the pulse of your brand, media intelligence is the detailed health report that tells you what it all means. Media intelligence is where you showcase the actual value of your work and your brand’s overall standing, and your media monitoring solution should streamline this process.
In fact, it is one of the top priorities for PR professionals when choosing a new provider, with 46% of survey respondents highlighting reporting capabilities as a major deciding factor.
If you’re spending hours manually formatting reports, tailoring them for different audiences, and struggling with rigid file formats, it’s a sign that your reporting solution is letting you down.
Look for tools that enable the creation of live dashboards that provide value at a glance, appealing reports serve various use cases and facilitate seamless sharing both within and outside the organization.
4. Your workflow is scattered across too many tools
Despite many tools offering the promise of an integrated platform, very few seem to deliver on the promise. Disjointed workflows, an unintuitive interface, and toggling between tabs consume valuable time that could otherwise be spent on strategic initiatives.
Such gaps in the workflows can further complicate the connection between outcomes and media outreach, making reporting more challenging.
The best solutions today offer end-to-end functionality, allowing you to monitor media mentions, discover new journalists, manage outreach, track coverage, and measure impact from a single, central hub. That kind of unified experience not only saves time but enables smarter, more strategic PR.
5. The vendor is in turmoil – and it shows
A seamlessly functioning media monitoring and reporting solution is the result of close collaboration between product development, engineering, customer support, and other key teams.
A stable company is crucial to ensure a tool works as smoothly as expected. Even the most advanced tool can become a liability when the company behind it is unstable.
Funding issues, acquisitions, layoffs, or leadership shakeups can all result in degraded service, slower response times, and a stalled product roadmap. Look out for inconsistent support, ever-changing account reps, or rare feature updates, as these are often signs of a company experiencing internal instability.
6. Your platform is lagging behind on AI
AI is no longer a “nice to have” in PR, but a driving force behind efficient, agile, and high-performing PR teams. 71% of PR and comms professionals state AI-driven features will be critical to the future of PR work.
From analyzing vast quantities of coverage to surfacing real-time insights and personalizing outreach, AI is transforming the way comms teams operate.
If your current platform lacks meaningful AI capabilities or is slow to implement them, it’s a sign that you’re working with an outdated solution. Many platforms market AI features as part of their suite, but fail to deliver real, usable features that are integrated within the platform. PR teams require AI-driven workflows that save time, deliver smarter recommendations, and enable more strategic decision-making.
Demand more from your monitoring solution
The PR tech landscape has undergone significant changes in recent years, with AI-powered media monitoring and reporting solutions transforming traditional workflows and reshaping the way we view PR.
If your current platform isn’t delivering accurate results, enabling self-service, simplifying reporting, streamlining your workflow, or providing stable support, you’ve likely outgrown it.
Leading platforms, like Agility PR Solutions, combine powerful AI with intuitive design, integrated functionality, and white-glove support. Your team deserves tools that drive visibility, efficiency, and real results.
