“Set Your Own Price” for Media Monitoring Services -- Innovative New Service from CyberAlert Enables Customized News Monitoring Services and Reduces Press Clipping Costs up to 70%

In a bold move that could set off a price war in press clipping services and significantly reduce costs for all types of media monitoring services, CyberAlert, Inc. (http://www.cyberalert.com), a leading worldwide media monitoring company, today announced a new “You Design It /You Price It” policy enabling customers in PR, corporate communications and marketing to specify news clipping features that better meet their individual needs while saving thousands of dollars each year

Stratford, CT (PRWEB) May 27, 2003

Just as you can name your own price for travel bargains, you can now customize your own media monitoring services and then set your own price.

In a bold move that could set off a price war in press clipping services and significantly reduce costs for all types of media monitoring services, CyberAlert, Inc. (http://www.cyberalert.com), a leading worldwide media monitoring company, today announced a new “You Design It /You Price It” policy for its media monitoring services. The new service is available at http://www.cyberalert.com/pyo.html.

According to William J. Comcowich, CEO of CyberAlert, this innovation in customization and pricing will enable customers in PR, corporate communications and marketing to specify news clipping features that better meet their individual needs while saving thousands of dollars each year. “Without doubt,” he said, “it’s the best way for customers to get exactly the press clipping and media monitoring services they want at the price they want to pay. We’re delighted to be the first to offer this revolutionary approach to purchasing media monitoring services.”

Customers Customize Media Monitoring Service to Own Needs

The process of configuring the customized monitoring service is similar to ordering a custom-built computer from Dell.com by selecting options in an online form. PR and marketing professionals build their own precise specifications by using a simple, easy-to-use secure online form to specify search requirements including key words, media coverage, delivery format and frequency, and expected clip quantity.

“Set Your Own Price” Affords Major Savings

After establishing detailed search specifications, customers then enter the price they are willing to pay for the services they have specified. This “set your own price” strategy resembles that of Priceline.com, where travelers name their own price for airfares, rental cars and hotels.

CyberAlert anticipates minimum savings of 35% up to as much as 71% compared with corresponding services from traditional press clipping companies or online media monitoring organizations. In deciding whether or not to accept a submitted price, CyberAlert uses an advanced pricing algorithm based on the customer-selected specifications, local market conditions and competitor prices. Typical press clipping services in the United States charge a flat $293 per month reading fee and $1.61 per article page with clips delivered in two to three weeks. “Set Your Own Price” bids submitted to CyberAlert are fixed price with no per clip charges, assuring a fixed annual budget for media monitoring and substantially eliminating the upside risk of higher costs resulting from increased news coverage.    

CyberAlert’s service is thought to be the first-of-its-kind application of the “set your own price” strategy in any business-to-business (B2B) marketplace. The new pricing approach applies to all CyberAlert services including news clipping, broadcast monitoring, Web clipping and consumer insight monitoring of Web-based message boards and forums.

Focus on Meeting Customer Needs and Creating Value

“Our market research indicates that many customers believe they are overpaying for press clipping and other media monitoring services,” said Comcowich. “So we’re providing PR and marketing professionals the opportunity to custom build a media monitoring service that meets their specific needs, significantly reduces their costs and includes important value-added features like fewer missed clips, overnight delivery at no extra cost, extraordinary clip accuracy, and fixed rates with no per clip costs.”    

Enabling customers to set their own price greatly simplifies the issues CyberAlert has faced in attempting to set equitable and competitive prices for its services on a worldwide basis where price points and competitors can vary considerably from country to country.

“We can make this offer because we are the low-cost producer of media monitoring services for PR and marketing. Our highly automated and extremely accurate media monitoring system positions us to offer the best prices and best value in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and most other countries,” Comcowich stated. “While some may see the “set your own price” strategy as extremely risky, we believe that most customers will submit reasonable bids that offer them the exact service they want at the price they want to pay -- and still leave us room to make a profit and continue to expand our services. We believe this program is going to establish the real market value of press clipping and online media monitoring services to PR and marketing professionals throughout the world. That market value we suspect is going to be substantially less than current prices – and that’s OK with us,” he declared.

No-Risk Free Trial

The new “Set Your Price” program includes a 15-day no-risk Free Trial. A credit card is required to order the service. CyberAlert accepts or rejects bids within one hour of submission during business hours. Service starts almost immediately upon acceptance of the bid. CyberAlert also promises that it absolutely will not contact bid submitters to negotiate price. Service can be cancelled any time after completing an initial period the customer chooses.

Additional information about “Design Your Service / Set Your Price” is available at http://www.cyberalert.com/pyo.html or call 800-461-7353 or 203-375-7200. CyberAlert’s customer service staff is available to assist in crafting optimal monitoring specifications.

About CyberAlert, Inc.

CyberAlert, Inc. (http://www.cyberalert.com/) of Stratford, CT. is an Internet-based press clipping, broadcast news monitoring, and Web clipping service. The company services include CyberAlert 4.0 and NetPinions. The company utilizes automated Internet-based technology to "read" and clip each day more than 2.2 million pages of news content from more than 13,000 publications and broadcasters worldwide in 17 languages. The company’s service also monitors Usenet news groups and Web-based message boards and forums. The company delivers to its clients a daily e-mail alert containing the clips found during the previous day. The recently launched CyberAlert 4.0 is a next generation media monitoring service with innovative new technology to assure fewer missed clips and near-perfect clip accuracy and relevancy. The company's services are used by corporations, not-for-profit organizations and government agencies worldwide for press clipping and news release tracking, broadcast monitoring, market intelligence, competitive intelligence, reputation management, issues monitoring, investor relations, and intellectual property / trademark infringement. The CyberAlert proprietary software system was developed in 1997 and has provided news clipping services to over 2,700 clients worldwide.

CyberAlert and NetPinions are trademarks of CyberAlert, Inc.

Dell is a trademark of Dell Computer Corporation. (Nasdaq: DELL)

Priceline.com and “Name Your Own Price” are service marks of priceline.com Incorporated. (Nasdaq: PCLN)

CyberAlert, Inc. disclaims any proprietary interest in the marks and names of others.