Whether you are interested in monitoring your company's press coverage or just keeping abreast of developments in your industry, a clipping service can be valuable. By clipping articles for many clients at the same time, clipping services can offer extensive search capabilities for relatively little cost.

Public relations firms have traditionally used clipping bureaus as a way to monitor client coverage, but companies also use these services for marketing and competitive analysis.

This guide is designed to give you the facts you need to evaluate and choose a clipping service for your business. The various sections are listed in the box above. You can choose to read this guide from beginning to end, or jump directly to a section of interest.

How Clipping Services Work

A clipping service essentially acts as your company's eyes and ears in the press. Based on your search instructions, human readers scan printed materials for matching references. Clips are then collected and sent to you with information about the publication in which they appeared.

Specialized online clipping services use a combination of proprietary technology and search engines to locate relevant articles on the Web. The majority also tap into newsgroups and online forums, providing a unique informal slant on how your company is perceived. These services often allow password-protected online access to clippings.

Some services also analyze clips for information such as editorial slant, circulation, and effectiveness, either on a standalone or competitive basis.

Media Coverage Types

Clipping services track coverage in various media including daily and non-daily newspapers; trade, consumer and professional magazines; newsletters; and newswire services. Some services also scan television and radio broadcasts and online services focus almost exclusively on the Internet.

While most services focus on covering domestic media, some services also monitor internationally.

Why to Use a Clipping Service

There are three primary advantages to using clipping services.

Greater Coverage
Clipping services are often the only source for coverage of limited-interest publications such as local newspapers. Moreover, clipping services will search for references in the whole of the published piece rather than in the abstracts some publications use online so their results will be more complete than a do-it-yourself online search. Clipping services can also monitor advertising.

Timeliness
Through your fax machine, you can receive clips from major metropolitan papers on the same day they are published rather than waiting for the article to be posted on the Web.

A Physical Likeness
Traditional clipping services will usually offer you the entire clipped article.This means that you can see how much space was given to the text of the article or to any accompanying graphics or photos.

Online clipping services can be a more effective resource if your company's industry is primarily covered through online publications. These mentions can often be emailed directly to you but you will miss any print-only publications.

Choosing a Service

There are approximately 45 national, regional, and state clipping services in the market. The three largest clipping services are Bacon's, Burrelle's, and Luce.

Differences between companies relate primarily to their coverage and their fees. National providers cover many more sources than regional or state bureaus; however, the smaller bureaus will usually offer more comprehensive coverage of local press. In addition, regional providers typically charge less than national companies for their services and can offer faster delivery of clips of local papers.

Pricing

Clipping services charge a monthly service fee plus the cost of each clipping. The monthly fee varies depending on the number of publications monitored. You can expect to pay between $100-300 each month, plus $1.00 for each individual clipping.

Internet-based clipping services are generally less expensive, with some even offering their services free, but their coverage can be drastically limited since print mentions are not tracked.

Additional charges may be incurred if the clipping runs over multiple pages of a publication, or if you require coverage of foreign publications.

Special Tips

Make sure to ask if there is a minimum term before signing up with a service. Some of the national providers require a 3-month minimum commitment.

Check if there are additional charges for monitoring more than a certain number of search topics.

Trade publication coverage can be quite inconsistent across services. If that's where the majority of your mentions will happen, make sure that the clipping service includes those industry publications that are important to you.

To learn of other clipping services in the area, consult a local public relations association.