TopLine Comms

As agency PR professionals know, the definition of PR is rapidly evolving. Today, PR can encompass everything from social media, to content marketing, to search marketing, and more. What’s more, PR is increasingly intertwined with advertising, marketing, and creative. With multiple divisions and teams operating multiple accounts, managing relationships—both internally with team members and externally with clients and journalists—can be extremely complex and time-consuming. With these needs in mind, TopLine Comms realized it required a CRM system that could address the specific business needs of PR agencies while providing the scalability and performance of a long-established, world-class platform. Luke Budka, director at TopLine Comms, knew that his team needed a way to seamlessly manage and nurture their relationships, which were as diverse as they were complex. The solution TopLine Comms chose was Bullhorn CRM.

Since implementing Bullhorn, Budka has seen a positive shift in both TopLine Comms’s process management as well as performance. Prospective client data and interactions are now tracked and centrally managed using Bullhorn CRM. Additionally, with Bullhorn CRM, Budka and his team have seen an immeasurable benefit of keeping high-level management informed about and engaged regarding client health. Many CRM systems provide a reactive, static view of existing client relationships. Bullhorn CRM’s real-time customer sentiment and engagement analysis allows agency leaders to determine which accounts are running smoothly and which are in jeopardy before the client even calls.

Bullhorn CRM provides automated email tracking for TopLine Comms that enables teams to communicate journalist preferences and outreach status, as well as share pitching tips and contact information across individuals and teams. This has resulted in an increase in top-tier press coverage for clients across accounts. “With Bullhorn, no longer will you be an ‘agency of a thousand lists,’” said Budka. “All contacts, both business and media, are stored centrally, with all emails to and from saved against their records, alongside contact notes. Bullhorn CRM improves media outreach and client management by making contact history instantly accessible.” In addition to better relationships with journalists, using email tracking software has enabled TopLine Comms to automate its client and journalist data entry, saving countless hours in manual tracking, creating a centrally accessible trove of knowledge capital. Understanding how best to engage a particular journalist is as easy as pulling up the most recent successful pitch sent to that person, regardless of account. By seamlessly integrating this software across its teams, TopLine Comms has eliminated barriers to entry and achieved 100% adoption among employees.