PR tool for Start-ups: HARO (HelpAReporter.com) gives you access to free PR

HARO (HelpAReporter.com) is a new free mailing list that gives you access to free newspaper, magazine, and other coverage - essential for getting the word out about your business.

One of the best ways to create buzz for your product or business is through traditional PR like newspapers, magazines, TV, and radio – depending on your demographic. The problem is getting reporters to write your story! By the way – you have to have a story.

Traditionally, you would hire a PR firm to prioritize publications, write your story, and then use their relationships to help you get coverage in those publications. For start-ups, this can be costly. At the high end, you could spend nearly $40,000 trying to generate top-ten pick status at a huge tech event like DEMO – on the low end you’ll spend a minimum of $500 to post a story to PR Newswire, a tool PR professionals use to get national coverage.

If you decide to do it yourself, you’ll have to do quite a bit of emailing and phone calling to drum up interest from reporters. First, you have to know what they’re interested in writing about. You’ll also have to know their deadline and work within that timeframe. And you might have to give them an exclusive on the story. Ultimately, you may call ten reporters and get one or two interested.

Peter Shankman, entrepreneur and PR guru, has taken a different approach – and taken a bit of PR Newswire’s business - by creating a free mailing list HARO (helpareporter.com) where journalists post the stories they’re looking for and what their deadline is.

Example:

Joe Reporter

WIRED Magazine

Query: I’m looking for stories about new tech products that save time/headache.

Deadline: Friday 3pm EST

Contact: joe@wired/ 555-555-5555

What does this mean for start-ups? Access to free PR – more importantly, free PR that’s looking for a story. So, instead of hitting your head against the proverbial wall, looking for someone to write about you, you can sign up for a 3 daily emails, sift through the queries for relevant publications and story topics, and reach out to the reporters with your story.

Tip: Have a story crafted and ready to go with facts, images, quotes, and an enticing headline. All publications are different, but in these days of limited print real estate, shorter is better – 350 words or less. Need help crafting your story and navigating the PR jungle? I’m not a PR expert, but here are two of my local Cincinnati favorites: Dan O’Keeffe and Kevin Dugan.

To signup and start receiving the free daily updates, visit www.helpareporter.com

Michelle Spelman of Flying Pig Games tipped me off to this service. Follow Michelle on Twitter @QuickCount. Follow me @eedwards.

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