As a public relations professional, I would like to share with you one of our greatest resources – and I’m sure many other PR experts in the industry would agree. That is HARO – Help A Reporter Out. HARO was started by Peter Shankman, an expert in the industry. For those of you familiar with Twitter, you can also find him there. Peter started an emailing service for both reporters and public relations professionals.
This is how it works. Three times a day, Peter sends out a HARO email, with requests for stories and interviews from reporters. Public relations professionals who sign up for the emails can then contact the reporters directly with detailed information. The best part is the service is free. The only rule is that if you do contact a reporter, it needs to be with a legitimate source – not just to get your client in front of a reporter. Peter backs this rule up by calling out those who spam reporters and telling the entire list of reporters to block the offender from their email. So you better follow the rules.
The Vollrath Associates team is a big fan of HARO. This is a way to build national media attention for your client, as well as maybe get them in some more unique, or larger publications you wouldn’t necessarily think of right away. So, if you are a reporter in search of a good resource or a public relations professional trying to get your client into some national, or more larger publications – sign up for HARO. http://www.helpareporter.com/
Jessica Vollrath is an account executive at Vollrath Associates, a Milwaukee-based strategic communications firm specializing in investor and public relations and marketing communications. Do you need help communicating your message? Call us at 414-221-0210 or visit us online at www.vollrathpr.com. Jessica can be reached at jvollrath@vollrathpr.com.
