11 ways to make your HARO pitch irresistible

Help a Reporter Out can be a great media relations tool, but PR pros must hone their pitching skills to stand out in the sea of requests. Follow these tips to make yours sizzle.

Ragan Insider Premium Content
Ragan Insider Content

Competing for reporter and blogger attention in a sea of emails can be time-consuming, but thanks to Help a Reporter Out, pitching is less tedious. It connects PR people and small-business owners with people writing about their industry.

Not all HARO pitches are created equal, however. Follow these tips to get better responses to your HARO pitches:

1. Systemize.

Filter out the daily queries you don’t need.

Will Coombe of Sharpe Digital recommends: “Add email filters to your inbox so only HARO questions that contain pre-selected keywords surrounding your expertise make it through. This way receiving a HARO email will be infrequent enough to motivate you to put the effort in to respond.”

2. Be concise.

Deliver exactly what the blogger or reporter is looking for, use bullet points, and convey your message succinctly. No reporter wants 10 paragraphs of information, only to use one key sentence.

3. Include background information.

To read the full story, log in.
Become a Ragan Insider member to read this article and all other archived content.
Sign up today

Already a member? Log in here.
Learn more about Ragan Insider.