You’ve probably read an article in a magazine or seen a news segment on TV that featured a company similar to yours and wondered “How’d they get that spot?” They got that spot because they came to the attention of the right journalist.
It used to be that if you wanted to get featured in a national magazine or on TV, you had to spend several thousands of dollars on a public relations firm. Since the vast majority of small businesses don’t have that kind of marketing budget, it seems like the only way to connect with journalists is to bump into them in line at the grocery store.
That’s where Help a Reporter Out comes in. Help a Reporter out (HARO for short) connects you with journalists writing on your area of expertise. In my last blog post, I described how HARO works. In this blog post, I will show you some of the other ways to use HARO.
1. Forward HARO Requests to Clients and Colleagues
I’m a natural born Connector. I love to put people in touch with other people and resources I think they’d like to know about. So, when I come across a query I think a client or colleague would be a good fit for, I send it to them. Forwarding HARO queries shows existing people that you are thinking about them and are looking out for their best interest.
2. Get More Work without Asking for It
Sending HARO requests to non-active client’s has gotten me more work because often their reply is something like “Thanks for sending this. By the way, I meant to contact you about a new project I’ve been thinking about.”
3. Connect with Experts Who Don’t Have Time for You
I’m a big fan of Jill Konrath and her book “Selling to Big Companies.” In it she shows you how to sell to people who are so busy they are looking for a reason to blow you off. I don’t know Jill but I recently came across a couple of HARO queries on that topic and forwarded them to her. I got a nice note back from Jill thanking me for them and encouraging me to keep sending them. You bet I will! And one of these days, I’m going to screw up my nerve and ask her if she would feature my SEO ebook on her blog.
4. Learn Who’s Looking for Content
A marketing strategy I often recommend to folks is to figure out what experts your customers are paying attention to, read their blog and comment on them. The hard part of that strategy is discovering new blogs. Many times, if a HARO source is not a well known TV program or newspaper they will list their URL in the query. I’ve learned about several business related blogs that I’m now following. The added benefit of using this strategy is that you know these blogs are looking for content. Once you get a sense of the content they publish, you could approach them about writing a guest post.
Here’s a list of some of the websites and blogs I’ve recently discovered via HARO:
http://www.shoestringventure.com/
http://businessbewareradioshow.com/
http://www.writingthatworks.com/
One in particular I think you ought to make note of is Blog Talk Radio which is a website that aggregates hundreds of internet radio shows. I recommend that you search the site for internet radio shows about your areas of expertise and start following them.
5. Hey You’re a journalist too!
Content makes the internet go ’round. But it’s hard to think of something new to say on a regular basis. Interviewing experts or having a guest blogger are a couple of ways to get fresh content and build new relationships. So go ahead a post a query. When you do this, you’ll get a bunch of new visitors to your website so make sure it’s spiffed up before company comes over!
Have you got another use for HARO or a HARO success story? We’d love to hear about it!