Want to Pitch a Story? 5 PR Sources to Help

Noises Prohibited

It’s a noisy world these days, but I still believe a well planned PR strategy is one of the most cost effective ways to build brand, buzz and bonding with new contacts – particularly if you are a small enterprise. Public relations is not some magical, arcane art. It is dedication, work, and should be based on honesty. It involves establishing trust – between the publicist and the reporter, or between the press release content and the reader. For something to be ‘newsworthy’, it needs to be a real story and provide factual information which matters. PR is a responsibility.

Since I’m the publicist/media contact for most of my clients, I take this responsibility very seriously. MarketUP does not do ’spin’. We write the facts, within the context of the relevance to the reader. We also try to make it interesting.

But often the job that is harder than composing the content is getting the message to the right eyes or ears. It can be challenging to develop targeted contact lists, to research the audience, and to pitch the right media channels.

For small businesses on tight budgets, there are now more helpful sources than ever. Some new, some tried and true:

ONE - PitchRate created by Drew Gerber of Press Kit 24/7, is a free service where journalists (or bloggers) can post requests for sources and stories, and publicists can respond with an appropriate pitch. Experts are another category, so if you have something to say, you can sign up even if you don’t have your own PR rep. You can also follow them on twitter.com/Pitchrate

TWO – Help A Reporter Out (Haro) is a similar service from Peter Shankman, a NY PR man. Once you sign up for the service, Peter sends a couple of emails per day with queries from bloggers, freelance writers and reporters, giving story summaries, geographical regions, deadline dates and contact information. This is a trust community, and you have to agree not to ‘harvest’ contact info or pitch inappropriately – which I think should almost be unspoken, but I understand why he warns newbies. twitter.com/helpareporter

THREE – You can also use a paid service, like PRLeads, which charges $99/month for connecting you with reporters. This service from Dan Janl was created specifically for experts: authors, speakers, doctors, etc. Signing up involves an interview to determine area of expertise, followed by training on how to respond to reporters as well as 30 days of email coaching.

FOUR – ProfNet, a PR Newswire service, reportedly charges anything from $850/yr – $5000/yr for maximum coverage of topics/feeds. Because they bundle this service with PR Newswire membership and press release packages, prices vary tremendously depending on the size of your agency and your activity. They do not list these prices online, you have to call them for a quote. The fees I’ve stated are reported by other firms in my PR group on LinkedIn. I myself do not use this service, as many other options seem more cost effective.

FIVE – And if Green is your thing – a new service called Pitch It Green! This is another free service, and admittedly, I just signed up to participate. Here is how founder Crystal Vilkaitis (aka @MadameTwit) describes it: “Every Tuesday and Thursday you’ll receive an email that includes anywhere from 10-25 queries from environmentally and socially responsible bloggers and journalists. If you see a query that you or your company can answer, reply to it! Remember, before replying make sure that you can provide what the journalist is asking for. If you have any kind of doubt that your pitch does not match what the journalist is looking for, you probably shouldn’t respond to that query.”

Now it’s up to you to write a compelling pitch, and to make sure it will mean something to the person you with whom you are communicating.

If you get a story placed – let me know!

–Donna

Photo courtesy BarelyFitz