SEMI is the global industry association serving the manufacturing supply chain for the micro- and nano-electronics industries. SEMI promotes the development of the global electronics supply chain and positively influences the growth and prosperity of its members. SEMI advances the mutual business interests of its membership and promotes a free and open global marketplace. 
SEMI is a worldwide industry association that seeks to advance the interests of the global electronics supply chain. To stay on top of issues and initiatives supporting its 2,000 member companies, SEMI was using several PR service providers to accomplish it's daily tasks, but found that the quality of the team's work suffered. SEMI’s marketing team needed to streamline its processes for maximum efficiency and to ensure its message was reaching the right audience. They chose to consolidate their services within the Cision Communications Cloud.
The Challenge
Mike Hall, Marketing Communications Manager for SEMI, believes that high efficiency driven by a strong process is key to managing a heavy workload. In his case, this ranges from weekly newsletters and press communications to social media and special projects.
SEMI was using three different software providers for its communications needs: Meltwater, Cision and Trendkite.
“I support a global marketing team so need to be very productive,” Hall says. “Using three separate platforms was inefficient. To help streamline workflows, shave costs, and better enable us to deliver on our communications strategy, we consolidated our PR services.”
SEMI initially chose Meltwater. “Attractive pricing was a factor in SEMI’s decision to consolidate on the Meltwater platform. We also felt that the capabilities were sufficient to meet our needs. We needed an easy-to-use platform with responsive customer service to help drive our programs, and unfortunately, Meltwater didn’t quite measure up, partly because of the technical limitations of the platform.”
The Solution
Hall decided to switch back to Cision, choosing the Communications Cloud® platform to reach relevant media influencers and craft compelling campaigns that impact customer behavior.
SEMI's subscription includes access to Cision's North American influencer database and email distribution.
Cision's database provides instant access to nearly one million complete, dynamic and vetted influencer profiles. With this solution, SEMI can stay up-to-date on both established professional journalists and their outlets, as well as new media influencers, taking the guesswork out of finding the right contacts for its PR campaigns. Cision Database is integrated with an online news and Twitter archive, enabling users to search for recent content created by influencers.
After building targeted lists, Hall enlists Cision's Email Distribution tool to easily build a multimedia-rich template for press releases distribution.
“I’m sure the Meltwater email distribution platform is just what many of its customers need, but we found Cision much easier to use,” he said.
The Results
Hall says consolidating services within Cision Communications Cloud was the right decision. SEMI benefits greatly from an all-in-one platform that meets his teams' needs. Advantages SEMI has enjoyed with Cision Communications Cloud include:
Formatting Flexibility: Small details can go a long way in terms of efficiency.
“In Cision Comms Cloud, you can upload your document directly into the platform, which makes it very easy to format it the way you want very quickly,” says Hall.
Additionally, SEMI likes to include multimedia assets with its press releases. Manipulating images within Cision Comms Cloud has been very easy for SEMI; a task it found difficult with the other platform.
“We need to add images in a snap since we include them in all of our communications,” says Hall. “For us, the work efficiency enabled by Cision Comms Cloud is vitally important.”
Overall Ease of Use: From onboarding to building media lists, ease of use and an intuitive platform is key for SEMI.
“Everything is easier to use within Cision Comms Cloud,” says Hall. “The email distribution and search functionality are easier to use, and the platform is very intuitive. Cision is superior to any other provider I’ve tried before.”
Event Coverage using Targeted Email Database:
Most of SEMI’s PR campaigns are centered around events. They often have several announcements when promoting a single event. For example, SEMI will announce when registration opens, once the event takes place and sometimes also send press releases announcing speakers.
In addition to events, SEMI develops in-depth research about the global microelectronics industry.
For both needs, SEMI uses pre-built email lists aligned with specific announcements and they also take advantage of building new targeted lists within Cision Comms Cloud.
“Building email lists within Cision Comms Cloud is very simple,” says Hall. “We can narrow our search using various filters and find the right audience for our message in short order. Our marketing department is lean, so that’s just the type of efficiency we need.”
Next Steps
This coming year, SEMI is looking to bring even more of its business to Cision.
“Consolidating everything with Cision wasn’t possible this year,” says Hall. “When the time comes to renew, we’ll give strong consideration to bringing over the remaining aspects of our communications into Communications Cloud." This means SEMI's email distribution, press database, monitoring, analytics and wire distribution will be in the same place.
“We learned a terrific lesson in the high costs of trying to cut a few corners,” says Hall. “I’m thrilled to be back with Cision.”
