Holman Fenwick Willan (HFW)

Holman Fenwick Willan (HFW) is an international law firm needing to track a wide range of news topics as well as their brand and spokespeople. With traditional press monitoring services, they would not have the flexibility or budget to expand searches as they need. Signal AI allows them to tailor their coverage alerts and track topics accurately without the need for complex Boolean searches. With news delivered in real-time, the PR team can take control of their news and campaigns.

Finding a press monitoring solution that tracked news in real-time

Kate Dunn, brand executive at HFW, needs to identify and respond to news quickly so she can perform at the highest level. Prior to using Signal AI, she had to supplement a media monitoring solution with manual Google searches and alerts, as the news was not delivered as it happened. This resulted in spending long painful hours refreshing Google or sifting through irrelevant content, and there was often a chance something would be missed. If she wanted to change or add a search within HFW’s existing press monitoring service, there was a long delay, by which time the news agenda had moved on.

“I needed a flexible solution that I could change searches as I needed. For instance, if a client had an announcement, I had to rely on Google, which is so basic. I had to spend time sifting through the noise to find what I wanted, creating more and more work.”

Taking control of our press monitoring and reporting

Monitoring the press media has been an issue for some time for HFW, so Kate was pleasantly surprised when she saw Signal AI. It was something completely different in the market, and endlessly adjustable to her changing needs. By using the platform, she could be in control of what news her team tracked and she could see it in real-time, the benefits were clear.

“The set up was simple, and not generic – there was thought put into it. We could tailor it to our needs, or ask our customer success manager, whose quick response time is overwhelming. If I ever have an issue it is solved within an hour and often even faster. With Signal AI’s real-time news alerts, I no longer need to use Google to track our news. I can turn on real-time alerts instantly, allowing me to look deeper into our industry and different news topics, finding opportunities for our firm to make a real impact.”

Press monitoring and demonstrating the value of PR

Now that Kate can track the news she needs and can share it as it happens with partners and the wider firm in seconds, she has been able to carve out the time and resource to elevate the value of the work she and her team produces. She can now be proactive in looking for new opportunities, rather than tracking what has already happened.

“We ran an event, which a Times reporter had written an article on prior to the event taking place of his own accord and without our knowledge or involvement. Lawyers can be wary of the media, but when we came across the piece almost instantly through our regular press monitoring, we were able to share it internally. Partners could see the power of our PR and the value it can create for the firm and so became less resistant to future campaigns. We could not have tracked such a campaign if we did not have limitless search.”

Kate can expand her tracking to general news searches and topics quickly at no extra cost, allowing her to implement campaigns and stories she may not have had the necessary data to do.

“Signal AI has allowed us to see not just coverage related to HFW, but also what the wider industry are talking about – particularly the impact of Brexit across varying sectors in which we work. We can track the stories we are actively promoting, but also pick up the background around the subject and topic, allowing us to get more coverage.”

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