Useful tools for PR consultants

If you're a PR professional, you might want to set this page as your home page or add it into your favourites. Below are some online  tools that are useful when you're working on the mechanics of public relations, such as writing a press release, a headline, a feature, running a brainstorm or other creative tasks in public relations. If you know of any others you think are interesting please send us an email and we'll add them to the page. 

Cambridge Dictionary Online
This online dictionary from Cambridge University is great for quick look-ups of words without having to leave your desk to pick up a printed dictionary. It gives a nice use of the word in context.  

Thesaurus.com
Just in case your thesaurus option on your word processor isn't quite coming up with the goods, try this online thesaurus tool.  

Word Association Thesaurus
This isn't intended to be a thesaurus, but it is useful as a word association tool. Word associations can come in handy when you're trying to create a headline or work on a creative theme for a feature article.  

Internet Anagram Server
Useful if you're trying to come up with the next anagram that 'defines a generation' (eg yuppies, dinkies etc), or trying to work a number of concepts into an easy to remember word.  

Acronym Search
If you've got to create a press release out of a technical paper full of acronyms, see if this acronym tool helps to explain what you're reading. 

RhymeZone
Rhyme is another creative writing technique that can add life to copy writing. 

Quotations on thinkexist.com
Another aid when writing copy, a witty or appropriate quotation offer dull articles a bit more sparkle. 

Joke Search
Using humour when writing articles and speeches helps a lot, but few of us have the memory for jokes that the late Bob Monkhouse did.  

Google News
Always a favourite when searching for the latest news about issues, companies, clients etc. 

Change Detection
You can get by monitoring the media for issues that affect you, but unless you're monitoring online media, you're missing a trick. Some one-man-band websites have greater influence on your stakeholders than media outlets. Keeping up to date on the websites of your competition, a campaign organisation or a media outlet not covered by the news monitoring services is a must. This handy tool lets you monitor important sites and can also let your own website subscribers know when you change the content of your own site. A great help for online public relations. 

BBC Newsline
Radio and TV bulletins only go so far in giving up to the minute news on the stories that might affect your work. This news ticker is like having a rolling newspaper on your desktop during your work day. If an issue is big enough, it's likely you'll see it first on this news ticker from the BBC.

FT.com News Ticker
If you're after a bit more financial and business information, you're probably better off with the FT's news ticker. 

Media UK Directory
A free media directory, which is somewhat helpful when you know what you're looking for. 

News Map
If you want to evaluate the share of voice that your story got in the media, use this interesting service that graphically represents the coverage given to issues.  

Babel Fish Translator
When liasing with media that do not speak English, conducting research on non-English websites or working with non-UK clients, this translator comes in handy for very short pieces of copy. Don't rely on it to translate your press releases though. 

XE.com Currency Converter
A useful tool for quick currency conversions.  

Maths Helper
Some people are numbers people, some aren't. Here's a set of useful tools to help with some day to day maths tasks, which come in very hand for conversions of imperial measurements to metric, calculating percentages, and solving algebraic problems. 

The World Clock
So you need to phone someone in another country, but you don't know what time it is there. Best to check on the 'net so you don't waste the phone call, and more importantly, so you don't wake them up. 

Random Word Generator
Useful for brainstorming if you know the random word technique.

TinyURL
Pasting a long URL in an email only to have it break can be a pain. TinyURL will convert a long URL into a smaller URL that will not break.

Public Relations Book Shop
We've put together a public relations bookshop to help you to learn more about PR, improve your skills and give you important reference material. 

Self Search Engine Optimisation
This site has some useful tools to analyse how websites are performing in the main search engines and what they might do to be placed higher for certain keywords. A useful tool for online public relations campaigns.  

Way Back Machine
If you are researching a company, the first place you're likely to look is their website. But that gives you an idea of where they're at now, not where they've been or their history. This useful tool has created a service which has archives of websites, so you can see the different brands, products and issues which companies were concerned with. 

London Eating
London Drinking
Need to organise a social meet up with a business person, or got a date, and just don't know where to go? If you're hooking up in London, then these sites give you a variety of venues to look into, prices and user reviews.  

Web Economy Terminology Generator
OK, this one's just for fun. Phrases not to use when you're writing a press release.

The gobbledygook generator 
Here's another such tool. You can drop these into a company meeting to see if you want to make sure people are awake or if you want people to think you're a prat.