HARO, Help a Reporter Out, is Your Ultimate Tool for FREE Publicity
Help a Reporter Out, HARO, is a simple but totally genius tool to generate publicity. And it is free.
HARO is a free service that connects journalists, looking for stories with someone like you, who has a story to share. 30, 000 journalists are registered with HARO at the moment of writing this post.
With a little determination and work you can get you story published and get free publicity to promote your blog/business. But first you need to know how it works.
Follow these simple steps to get your pitch picked by HARO journalists
Step 1. You start with signing up for your FREE account. Start here
After you signed up, you will get 3 daily media alerts Monday through Friday at 5:35 a.m., 12:35 p.m., and 5:35 p.m. (Eastern Time) from reporters looking for your expertise. Your email will look like this.
The inquiries will be divided into the following categories:
-
- Biotech and Healthcare
- Business and Finance
- Education
- General
- High Tech
- Life Style &Fitness
- Travel
Step 2. Choose the best match for your story. Pitch only and only the one that fits your story. If there is no request that fits your story, there will be more next day or the day after. Just wait.
Respond to the query very quickly. In fact, you need to respond within an hour you get the HARO email.
Step 3. Your HARO pitch:
- Your pitch should be short, 175 words, 5 sentences at most. Get straight to the point.
- Come up with an awesome, attention grabbing headline. More about creating killer headlines here.
- Include the following contact information: the best phone number to reach you, email, website and social media links to connect with you.
- Read and proof read your pitch.
Connect with a reporter via social. Try to find common interests for maintaining mutually beneficial long term professional relations. Do not call.
If you are interested in developing media relations than you can write and distribute a press release.
Conclusion: Draft your pitch in advance. Watch HARO queries. Angle your pitch to fit the query. Act quickly. Learn from your mistakes or success. Repeat:) Good luck with your blog!