Vocus Public Relations Software is the Right Prescription for drugstore.com

Vocus Public Relations Software is the Right Prescription for drugstore.com

Leading Online Pharmacy Automates PR With Vocus On-Demand Software

LANHAM, Md., Dec. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Vocus, Inc., the global leader in on-demand software for public relations and government relations, today announced that drugstore.com, inc. selected Vocus on-demand PR software to automate and manage its public relations. Headquartered in Bellevue, Washington, drugstore.com is a leading online provider of health, beauty, vision, and pharmacy products.

According to Walter Conner, drugstore.com's senior communications director, his colleagues and he had tried several PR list management products with disappointing results. They then compared Vocus to those products and found that Vocus offers true PR management software.

"drugstore.com generates lots of media interest, resulting in over 700,000,000 impressions in 2004 alone, said Conner. "Our five-person PR team needs to work very efficiently to keep up with the volume, and Vocus enables us to identify and pitch stories to journalists, and track the success of our efforts."

In addition to managing their PR contacts and generating publicity, the drugstore.com PR team relies on Vocus software to monitor, analyze and respond to news as it happens.

"Vocus has revolutionized the way we monitor and measure our publicity," said Conner. "We especially like the feature that automatically links breaking news stories to the media contact information and profiles. This enables us to immediately forward detailed clipping reports to key executives while the news is still relevant."

Vocus provides the only totally integrated on-demand software suite for PR professionals. The Vocus on-demand software suite manages media and analyst relationships; interactive email campaigns; projects and news; files, documents and other collateral; and online newsrooms. The software also analyzes media coverage and other PR information to provide real-time feedback on the effectiveness of PR campaigns and early intelligence on trends unfolding in the press.

"drugstore.com, inc. considered the alternatives and chose Vocus to provide proven public relations management software that is easy to use and easily scalable for their organization," said Rick Rudman, president and CEO, Vocus. "More than 2,000 happy customers have made Vocus the clear market leader."

About Vocus, Inc.

Vocus is the global leader in on-demand software for public relations and government relations. Vocus offers Web-based software that helps companies to meet today's local and global communications challenges, and to build and manage relationships with reporters, analysts, elected officials and other key audiences. Its award-winning software helps customers manage media relations, news monitoring and analysis, interactive email campaigns, online newsrooms, government relations and PAC reporting. Vocus software is delivered as an easy-to-use and cost-effective annual subscription, with no need for internal hardware, software or IT support. Vocus has received broad industry recognition and is used around the world by more than 2,000 organizations in five languages. Vocus is a privately held company with headquarters in suburban Washington and offices in North America, Europe and Asia. For more information please visit http://www.vocus.com/ or call 800.345.5572.

About drugstore.com, inc.

drugstore.com, inc. (NASDAQ:DSCM) is a leading online provider of health, beauty, vision, and pharmacy products. The drugstore.com(TM) online store provides a convenient, private, and informative shopping experience that encourages consumers to purchase products essential to healthy, everyday living. The online store offers thousands of brand-name personal health care products at competitive prices; a full-service, licensed retail pharmacy; and a wealth of health-related information, buying guides, and other tools designed to help consumers make informed purchasing decisions. Consumers can personalize their shopping experiences with shopping lists, e-mail reminders for replenishing regularly used products and private e-mail access to pharmacists and beauty experts for questions.


Source: Vocus, Inc.

CONTACT: Kay Bransford of Vocus, Inc., +1-301-683-6015,
kbransford@vocus.com

Web site: http://www.vocus.com/
http://drugstore.com/


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