Using HARO for Publicity in Podcasting and Business
Guest: Isaac Mashman · August 1, 2022 · 3 minutes
Isaac’s words are transcribed from the episode audio and edited to read cleanly: names and terms corrected, grammar fixed, filler words and false starts removed, punctuation added. Words in [brackets] could not be made out with certainty. The host’s questions and comments are marked in place rather than transcribed, because they could not be captured accurately. Speakers are told apart automatically; the episode itself is the record.
… Host’s introduction …
Isaac Mashman
Yeah, well, HARO, helpareporter.com, is an exceptional way to get in contact with people that are normally out of reach or not easily accessible because they want to be private. As for journalists, I can only imagine what the journalists for Good Morning America get hit with every single day when it comes to, hey, feature my story, I want to be on the show, I want to be on the show, et cetera. I'm sure Michael Strahan gets messages every single day from people trying to slide in the DMs into the show network. But HARO I found by accident. I was researching ways to get into the press for free, because that's a big part of my personal branding strategy, the marketing tactic that [Mashman Ventures] uses.
I haven't had to spend any money on paid press out of pocket, and I think that's exceptional compared to a lot of the other pay-to-win strategies that happen today. So when it comes to HARO, whenever I see a story that has to do with podcasts or podcasters or [Mashman] or anything that is relatable to me, I'm going to put myself out there and include that I'm a podcast host in the pitch. So it doesn't matter if the query is podcast related or not, because the person reading it is likely to check out my podcast, since I included the direct link. I've been able to get into, I would say, a dozen articles over the past year using HARO, and it's really an underrated tool. It just takes time and commitment.
… Host’s question …
Isaac Mashman
Well, it's super simple. You can set up the notifications per day for, okay, this is the specific industry or this is the topic that I want to receive queries on. Then you get an email multiple times [a day]. I have it set to where I get one in the morning, one in the afternoon, and one at night. So I mean, I get blasted with HARO every single day of the week, but it's cool. It's Monday through Friday. Then from there, I see, hey, how to get guests or how to get high level people. For example, your query was, what are some tips for a podcaster?
And I was like, well, a lot of people go about finding guests for their show the wrong way and approach them as fans rather than as their equals. So from there, you just see those queries and you respond to them with a catchy subject line. Then in your actual pitch, that's when you get specific and you say, hey, this is me, this is my pitch, this is why you should listen to me. But always lead with your pitch first, and you don't need to send two pages. You need to get [to the point]. You're nodding your head because you know what I'm talking about. Yeah, [people] can sort of sell themselves all too much.
But the entire point of building out your personal brand is to sell yourself to where somebody could Google your name or Google your business or Google your podcast, and they don't need to ask you additional questions because they can find information about you.
… Host’s closing remarks …