When I worked at my last PR agency we used a service called Profnet that was basically a service editors, journalists, freelancers etc. used that would send emails to publicists to inform us of a story that they were working on and needed experts, products or help with. I loved that damn Profnet! It made getting placements so much easier because anyone you would contact was open to your pitch because, well they asked for it. It was great tool but it was very expensive.
Once I changed careers it just wasn't possible to access Profnet anymore but I was informed by a friend about Help A Reporter Out (HARO) and ultimately Peter Shankman, the man behind the machine. HARO is basically a free version of Profnet but in my opinion has more broadcast and radio opportunities and less competition when pitching the editors since less people know about it when compared to Profent.
The three emails you get a day are prefaced with a html advertisement and a quick message from Peter. From Peter's quips I began to realize that this guy is kinda a big deal! He seems to always be jet setting somewhere to speak on someones panel or conference and I get that "I should know this guy" vibe from him. I immediately became intrigued and began following him on Twitter, signed up for his sites rss feed and sent him a friend request on Facebook (which he accepted - or his intern accepted, I never believe busy people really check their own pages!).
Three months later I am so happy that I did, I recieved hits in Crains NY, NY Post and leads with a few other publications from my outreach via HARO.
Get to know more about Peter Shankman here and do yourself a favor if you are a PR professional or small business owner trying to do your own publicity and sign up for HARO and begin receiving his email alerts.
Once I changed careers it just wasn't possible to access Profnet anymore but I was informed by a friend about Help A Reporter Out (HARO) and ultimately Peter Shankman, the man behind the machine. HARO is basically a free version of Profnet but in my opinion has more broadcast and radio opportunities and less competition when pitching the editors since less people know about it when compared to Profent.
The three emails you get a day are prefaced with a html advertisement and a quick message from Peter. From Peter's quips I began to realize that this guy is kinda a big deal! He seems to always be jet setting somewhere to speak on someones panel or conference and I get that "I should know this guy" vibe from him. I immediately became intrigued and began following him on Twitter, signed up for his sites rss feed and sent him a friend request on Facebook (which he accepted - or his intern accepted, I never believe busy people really check their own pages!).
Three months later I am so happy that I did, I recieved hits in Crains NY, NY Post and leads with a few other publications from my outreach via HARO.
Get to know more about Peter Shankman here and do yourself a favor if you are a PR professional or small business owner trying to do your own publicity and sign up for HARO and begin receiving his email alerts.
Thank me later.
-BG/KTG
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