The Hidden Cost of Using Spreadsheets for Media Relations
Simplifying Media Management with Purpose-Built Tools
Communications teams operate under increasing pressure. Media requests arrive at unpredictable intervals, often with tight deadlines. Stakeholders expect clarity and coordination. And small lapses, whether in timing, message consistency, or follow-up, can quickly erode trust.
Despite these demands, many teams are still managing their media operations with spreadsheets and shared drives. These tools were never intended to support dynamic, real-time workflows. They are static, manual and highly dependent on individual memory. And while they may offer short-term flexibility, they rarely scale without becoming fragile.
This is not an issue of effort or competence. Teams are doing the best they can with what they have. But the gap between modern media demands and legacy tooling is growing wider. And eventually, something breaks: a missed deadline, a delayed correction, a request that slips through the cracks.
The Operational Cost of Improvised Systems
Spreadsheets create the illusion of control. They allow for freeform input, adaptable categories, and rapid updates. But they also rely on unspoken knowledge, how tabs are organized, what acronyms mean, who last edited which cell. Without clear standards and shared oversight, information becomes inconsistent. Errors compound. Institutional knowledge becomes fragmented.
Consider the moment a journalist follows up on a story first covered last quarter. The team member who managed that inquiry is now on leave. The relevant quote was recorded somewhere, but no one is quite sure where. The spreadsheet is out of date, and there is no single source of truth.
Time is lost. Confidence is shaken. And the opportunity to guide the narrative has already passed.
These breakdowns are rarely dramatic, but their cumulative effect is significant. They delay responses. They weaken strategic positioning. And they force communications teams into reactive postures when they should be leading the conversation.
Why Spreadsheets Can’t Scale With Comms Teams
Spreadsheets are not built to track messaging history. They can’t connect journalist interactions with source materials, statements or internal approvals. They offer no visibility into who has responded, what was said, or how it landed. And as teams grow or turnover occurs, the limitations become more pronounced.
Other functions—finance, legal, sales—moved away from spreadsheet-based systems for this reason. They adopted platforms that provide version control, cross-team visibility, audit trails and searchable histories. Communications teams deserve the same infrastructure.
Without it, teams spend hours each week replicating work, chasing status updates and reconstructing decisions that should have been readily accessible. That time could be spent analyzing patterns, preparing for media opportunities or advising leadership on communication risks.
What Changes When the System is Purpose-Built
The shift from improvised tools to purpose-built platforms is not cosmetic. It changes the way communications teams operate, how they think, how they respond and how they plan.
A centralized system captures every journalist interaction. It links media inquiries to messaging history. It surfaces sentiment trends, tracks response times and simplifies reporting for leadership. The result is not just efficiency. It’s clarity. Teams gain the ability to make informed decisions in real time, without having to hunt through old threads or outdated files.
Broadsight was created to make this possible. Built by communications professionals, it reflects the needs of real teams under real pressure. It preserves institutional knowledge, reduces manual work and brings structure to an environment where speed and accuracy are essential.
From Makeshift to Measured
Spreadsheets played their role. They helped teams get by when options were limited. But the communications landscape has evolved. The volume is higher, the scrutiny is sharper and the margin for error is smaller.
Purpose-built infrastructure is no longer a luxury. It’s a prerequisite for strategic execution. When the right systems are in place, communications teams don’t just respond to media, they shape the narrative. They operate with confidence, not caution.
Broadsight helps teams make that shift. It gives them the structure to lead with clarity, preserve institutional memory, and focus on what matters most. Learn more at broadsight.ca.
Receive our newsletter
Sign up below and we’ll be in touch with monthly updates about Broadsight, along with news and insights to keep you on the cutting edge of communications work in an AI era.
