Get Your Name in the Paper: Free Press with HARO

In the past, getting your name in the paper meant that you knew at least one reporter. You may have even been that reporter's regular source on what was happening in your industry or area of expertise. And every time your name and your company's name made it into the news, you got a little bit of free marketing. You can still get that free marketing, but you no longer have to know reporters to make it into the news. Help A Reporter Out, also known as HARO, offers opportunities for people just like you to provide information to thousands of journalists - and get that marketing bump for your company.

Respond to Reporters' Requests

The idea behind HARO is fairly simple: you sign up by submitting your name and your email address. Every day, the site sends out three emails to your email address, listing the requests that reporters have submitted. These can include requests for expert interviews, product suggestions or even personal stories. Each request also includes the reporter's email address and a deadline. You then email those reporters that have requests relevant to your company - before their deadline - and offer up the information they need. Many reporters will follow up with an interview or specific questions, depending on what type of publication they work for.

Show Off Your Expertise

HARO makes it easy for you and your company to share your expertise with a wide variety of reporters. The more than 1,200 requests that you will receive weekly include those from journalists working for the Wall Street Journal, network news shows and more. There are also many local reporters looking for sources in your area. That may seem like a lot of requests to go through, but the emails are formatted so that you can easily scan the topics of the requests and only really look at those relevant to you. In most cases, reporters are looking for short interviews and will not require a significant amount time, especially if you can spread out interviews between different members of your business.

Get Your Products Out There

Peter Shankman created HARO out of his experiences in PR and marketing. He found that many reporters wanted to go beyond the same sources they used for story after story, but had difficulty accessing experts in new fields. He's expanded the free service to include requests for items for gift bags. If your company is interested in sharing samples and review products via gift bags at conferences and other events, you can sign up for the separate gift bag list. This list can be a great way to get your products into the hands of influential people with an interest in your industry. Emails for this list typically go out three times per week and include requests describing the event, explaining the number of gift bags and providing contact information for the person in charge of the event's gift bags.

Free Press for Your Company

In general, media mentions can be a very useful way for a small business to promote itself. While a smaller company may not be able to afford a PR consultant to get information about the company into the news, HARO can provide those connections even for businesses where the office administrator is also the entire marketing staff. Free press can get your name out in your community, as well as provide endorsements for your services or products. It can even help build your expertise, making your business the one that clients prefer to work with.