Help a Reporter Out

Peter Shankman’s Help a Reporter Out service has been getting more attention and, as a result, more members. Nearly 30,000 people get emails from Shankman filled with media requests.

Specific media requests are what sales people would consider a qualified lead. Unfortunately PR people are still not closing the sale. The problem? (Really) bad pitches.

As a co-author over at the Bad Pitch Blog, Peter asked me to join him on a teleseminar to help folks improve their pitching skills. In an hour. Hey, you have to start somewhere.

One thing we’ll cover is basic media relations rules. Some of the rules seem obvious, but they bear repeating. Like, you know, make sure you actually have NEWS to pitch in the first place. Just sayin’.

More details are here. If you have any questions you want answered during the call, drop me an email.

tags | public relations | PR | media relations | HARO | Peter Shankman

Comments

[Katie]

Kevin,

I would love to listen in on today's teleseminar, though I sadly have to miss. Any chance this content will be available after the fact? Or will there be another one scheduled?

Thanks.

[Adam Singer]

Peter has the same service, essentially, as ProfNet, although free. I unfortunately found his emails a jumble and disorganized, and of little value to me as a PR pro.

It's a nice idea, but executed poorly - I know alot of people have written about it such as Seth Godin, but I still don't think it is as good as it can be.

There is a TRUE opportunity for a startup here btw, no one seems to have caught on and taken the bull by the horns.

[Termeh]

I'd have to disagree. HARO has given our PR agency great leads and coverage for our clients. Thanks again for the great teleseminar yesterday - our whole office tuned in! My only comment would be that you both mentioned how it's important to connect with the reporter before pitching them. But when the reporter receives hundreds (or thousands) of emails a day, what would make them open, read and remember an email that's just an intro about you? And what specifically should you put in the subject line for such an email?
Thanks again!!

[Kevin Dugan]

Katie - Peter hints that we'll be doing another one. Not sure if it will be the same topic, if I will be involved or when that might be. But the feedback was good.

Adam - I think Peter is the startup. Profnet needed some competition. Hopefully they will use this as an opportunity and not a threat. Much like the way LinkedIn stepped it up when Facebook opened the gates to everyone...not just collegiates.

Termeh - It sounds like a post on Source Filing is warranted. I will add it to the list.

[TravisV]

I think HARO is a useful service ... I just don't see that many opportunities that are specific to information technology subject matter (all my clients would care about). It would be nice if there were broader participation by IT journalists. I'm willing to hang in there and keep checking HARO out and seeing how it grows. If someday each of the categories do get larger volumes of queries, I think at some point it would make sense to set up more custom RSS alerts that users can subscribe to (so I could subscribe to "IT" and not have to scroll through the rest).

[Amy]

I have to agree. I sometimes get good leads from HARO. However, the personal comments from Peter keep getting longer and longer. It seems like he is selling advertising space on his service now? That's fine and I appreciate the free service but I do think Profnet is a better service and worth the $$.