Happy One-Year HARO!

Today marks one-year since the first HARO was published. HARO (Help A Reporter Out) was started by the ever-energetic Peter Shankman as a resource for reporters to connect with information, resources, and other people to help with stories. Three times a day a list of requests is published and sent out all over the world. In a year, the list of subscribers is now up to 70,000 strong and growing.

Consider signing up for HARO's list. If you are a reporter looking for sources, this is definitely the place to go. If you are a marketer or PR person, this is a great list for finding opportunities for your clients (just make sure to read and follow the rules). Happy HARO Day!

The New Print News: Customer Service Complaints

Any PR agency coming to grips with the fact that, well, the pitch isn’t biting in print might have better luck by fabricating a really nice story that features a customer and his/her own worst enemy: customer service.

A strategic ploy now very much a reality at print news outlets, reporters are reporting out the “crux of the matter,” what every customer wants to hear – and readers are responding in the embedded comments box. Who wouldn't want to hear and continue a thread on bad hotel service, because I too didn't get hot water when I wanted a hot shower. What's worst-- no one was at the front desk to remedy this situation. Ahhh... putty in a reporter's hand.

I remember the days when family-centered stories were all the rage, but as circulation numbers dwindle, so does a reporter’s time and energy in seeking out rich content that does not appeal to the masses. Customer service forever and always will.

If you don't agree, check this out. I wouldn't want to be this hotel brand...

Pitch Perfect: Simple and SMRs

Today's session consisted of two webinars which detailed both the simple and the syndicated. RSS feeds, Wikis, Embeds, and Hubs are terms familiar to the new SMR, though don't discount the simple tactics when pitching, as one of Axiom's well-rounded interns Annie Vanasek observed:

There are many things that may come as obvious to-dos when pitching a reporter. But it is always nice to be reminded of what you should and should not do when delivering your pitch. For example, I had already been aware of the importance of researching your reporter and knowing their beat before you try to pitch them, but today's webinar seemed to hammer it into my brain.

The three tips to always follow are:

• You should develop your story into something that would be attractive to them. With a creative mind, you can give them what they want while still making sure your news is covered. (At the same time, if you are having trouble figuring out how the two relate, then you probably shouldn't be pitching them in the first place.)

• Something from their archives that can be useful to you in your pitch. For example, if you are pitching a restaurant's new recipe and you discovered that they have included recipes in their past articles.

• The final one is a combination of the two. You can grab the reporter's attention by referencing one of their past articles, then telling them how you can help them with your story.

Social Media Releases
Now a new topic emerges, though it's not new to the PR scene. Hardly. Since its inception by Todd Defren, the social media release (SMR) can be a journalist's best friend. How tech savvy do you have to be to navigate it? If you can't navigate the web, a blog, or some other web hub, you'll likely have difficulty.

PR/Web 2.0 enthusiast Brian Solis led the talk about SMRs and they're feasibility for a new and improved online press room, and wired services.

Before I go into more detail, check out the conversation prism as I delve into many blogs on this topic, including Solis' own Web site.

How Newspapers Utilize Twitter...

Twitter can be a great site for Newspapers. They can also be incredibly boring and bland. What separates the two? A real person.

The best news source I have seen on Twitter: SunTimes

I won't name the worst one, especially since we pitch to it, but it spews out about 5 tweets at a time with links to their news stories. Some of the links don't work. They don't follow anyone. It is merely a way for them to send out links to their stories.

Now why is SunTimes so great?

They are a real person. They follow people back. They engage in conversation. They ask for opinions. They are connected.

Individual reporters on Twitter realize this, so why don't the newspapers get it?

Pitch Perfect: Microblogging

Pitching is all about relationships. Twitter is all about instantaneous exchange of status updates/information. If you combine the two, you no longer need to muddle through stuffed inboxes and mailboxes to get to that prized reporter.

More reporters are hitting up the genius of Twitter nowadays, and they aren’t just tech reporters. You can now find a whole slew of journalism mavens positing themselves on Twitter, Friendfeed, and Facebook. In pitching a reporter, Facebook has been the exchange agent of choice, though your best bet is microblogging – because it’s personal, fast, and unconventional. Reporters love to be people.

In order to properly navigate this new information exchange, you might want to remind them of their humanness by sending a greeting. First, it’s important to see what they’ve “tweeted” and respond to it in a professional manner. You can even “follow” them first and type in an @ followed by their handle to send a message. Same principles of a pitch: if they like what they see, they’ll follow you too.

Next, check out their numerous tinyurl link updates that will give you access to their latest articles written. Follow same procedure as above, only this time mention their article and your client’s area of expertise—but as with the length of a voicemail pitch, you must do it in 140 characters or less.

Happy Tweeting! And for Pete’s Sake, stop poking on Facebook.

Reporters don't have an easy job either

We sometimes hear from reporters/journalists that they empathize with us and understand how difficult of a job we have, constantly pitching stories. But reporters don't always have an easy job themselves. Take this video for example.

Perfect Pitch: How to be a Journalist's Best Friend

Even a "Cadillac pitch" the first time around doesn't work in this new changing age of print media. Yes, we all know print media is slowly deteriorating; calls to travel reporters and those assigned to tech beats confirm this. Perhaps a business reporter will have some decency and open up your e-mail, but you might want to think about using a pitch as a follow-up to an introduction.

Reporters have about five seconds to open an e-mail and decide from the lead if it's worth a read:

• Your subject line is the first thing a reporter will see (unless of course you decided to bcc those 500 people on your pitch list the same one-size-fits-all message that ends up in SPAM), so make it a praise to their most recent article. It's as simple as "Your CNN.com article, from XXX." Why does this work? Reporters love to hear about how great their stories are.
  
• There you have it--- that's your pitch. Next time, they will recognize you as someone who knows them, especially if you end your initial contact with "I'll keep an eye on your byline."

They are putty in your hands...

Perfect Pitch: Hors d'oeuvres vs. Entrees

Yesterday's pitch seminar brought to you by co-mastermind of the Bad Pitch Blog Kevin Dugan and GeekFactory PR stud Peter Shankman touched on the topic of food portions. I have to say that hors d'oeuvres are a lot less filling than entrees, but in the case of pitching a reporter, they are just right.

Both Shankman and Dugan quipped about the number of PR professionals who simply don't get the fact that less is much, much more when it comes to phone calls, e-mails or blog responses. Particularly, they are referring to creating that initial contact with the reporter you so vehemently researched and targeted-- to reach your ultimate objective: build a relationship.

If you happened to miss yesterday's one hour help guide, here's the scoop:

• Build a list of your top 10 reporters and learn about them. That means read their bylines, tweet with them on Twitter, penetrate their blogs by comment

• Don't pitch until you damn well know it's interesting and helpful to their routine assignments

• Underpromise and overdeliver. Have the information, the interview sources ready and surprise them with an additional help tool they did not think of

• Those reporters you have targeted on your top 10 list will not necessarily be pitched on behalf of your client; rather, act as a source to tip reporters off to anything newsworthy

• Don't do fake or vague familiarity, such as telling the reporter you see they do a story on such and such... and then lead in with something completely off topic from the introduction. For example, "Hi Barbara, I saw that you recently did a story on how companies are using Twitter to increase hits on a microsite. Good work on that article! Anyway, I'm reaching out to you on behalf of my client that specializes in hair care products..." (Okay, that may be a stretch but you'd be surprised by the many flacks who still use this style).

• Lastly, don't be cutesy in e-mail subject lines. (A question I posed, was answered over the airwaves with a blunt "no").

On a completely other topic, has anyone had Assiette escargot?

From the Phone Booth: It's okay to be human

Today's perfect pitch session featuring a podcast from maven Margo Mateas touched on a fear that looms over the touch-tone phones of PR people. We don't want to suck, so how do we sell?

Reporters are just as human, if not more so, than we are. Have you ever spoken to a reporter who couldn't communicate a clear sentence or said "um" more times than a Toastmasters member starting out? I always enjoy that because it helps me to conclude this really isn't that hard.

Of course, we can make it seem impossible by a glass-half-empty kind of mentality. "What if they hang up on me?".... better yet... "What if they say "No?" It's dreadful to hear but very common, and it's up to us to recover quickly and move on to our next potential relationship. A word of caution: Don't pitch until you're fully ready. There is nothing worse than a reporter hearing blabber for a minute and then stopping you (and yes, sometimes they hang up too).

You might also want to pitch the script, and I don't mean "pitch" as in "communicate." Throw it away. Work at sounding more like a conversationalist with mutual benefit for both parties.

Does anyone out there have any thoughts on voice mail pitches?