If you’re reading this post, I’m guessing that you know the importance of good PR.  Unfortunately, if you do not already have media/ reporter contacts, getting featured in magazines, on television and in other media outlets can be a bit of a challenge… UNLESS you do the following.

 

Sign Up as a Media Source

HARO (Help A Reporter Out)

Founded in 2008 by Peter Shankman, Help A Reporter Out (HARO) connects nearly 30,000 reporters/bloggers, 100,000 media sources and small business together.   In the past three years, HARO has published over 75,000 journalist queries and facilitated nearly 7,500,000 media pitches.

Sign up for free at http://www.helpareporter.com to become a source.  You will receive 2-3 email daily with reporter and media requests.

 

Reporter Connection

Owned by Bill and Steve Harrison, Reporter Connection is a free daily email service that connects busy journalists with experts available for media interviews.

Sign up for free at http://www.reporterconnection.com to become a media source.  You will receive a daily email with inquiries from media outlets, reporters, blogger and authors.

 

NewsBasis

Founded by Darryl Siry, Newsbasis is a free service that sends individual requests from reporters and media outlets.  The primary difference between NewsBasis and the services mentioned above is that sources elect which areas of expertise they are interested in answering queries on.  As a result, sources save time, not having to sort through numerous requests that are outside of their topics of expertise.  At the same time, sources may receive more individual emails on a daily basis.

Sign up for free at http://newsbasis.com/users/new to become a source and start pitching ideas.

 

Blogger Linkup

Created by Cathy Stucker, a fellow Houston dweller, this free service operates very similar to the above services, only it targets bloggers.

Sign up at no cost at http://www.bloggerlinkup.com to become a guest blogger or source.

Have an Article Stash

Keep some fresh articles handy, just in case.  You can pitch them via the services above or to your own local publications.  I’ve already outlined How to Get Published in Magazines in a past post.

 

Create Compelling, Keyword Rich, Content

One of the easiest ways to become a media source is to have a blog.  A few years ago I was contacted by Skype.  They had read a blog post that I had created on my old blog, outlining my favorite small business tools and- tah dah!- Skype was one of them.  It turns out that Black Enterprise was featuring a story about small business owners who utilize Skype for consulting.  Since I had a client who fit the bill better than myself, I connected Skype with her and she was featured in the magazine two months later.

 

Lastly, don’t forget to develop relationships.  Be cordial in all interactions and maintain connections with those blogger/reporters/ media outlets that feature you.