Get featured by reporters for free: a WOD event recap

 Written by Krystal N Covington

At a recent Women of Denver event titled Get Featured by Reporters for Free hosted by business consultant Nancy Gaines, attendees were introduced to a program called HARO or Help a Reporter Out.

With HARO, reporters put out a request for experts on a topic and those who respond have an opportunity to be considered as a possible news source. 

Nancy gave several pieces of expert advice including preparing canned responses that you can easily tweak to meet the needs of each request, and making sure you share your contact information so the reporters can easily get in touch with you. 

I was excited to put Nancy's tips to use, so I started immediately responding to HARO requests. I applied to 5 requests and was contacted by 2 reporters from Huffington Post and Fast Company. 

What I learned about the process is that it is possible to get the attention of reporters using HARO, but it's important to pitch as many as you can because you can never be sure if you'll make it through the editing process. My story didn't make the cut in the Huff Post piece after the editor's review, but I was featured in Fast Company.

If you're interested in trying HARO, visit www.helpareporter.com. And for more information about the submission process you can visit Nancy's website at www.nancygaines.com where she has an informational guide with all of the submissions she's attempted in the past. 

KRYSTAL COVINGTON, MBA

Krystal Covington is the President & Founder of Women of Denver, a networking group dedicated to helping women showcase their personal brand and build a strong network, so they can be more successful entrepreneurs and businesswomen.  

Krystal has expertise in marketing and has spent years studying the principles of human connection and personal influence. 

​Her book The 4 Keys to Influence is now available on Amazon.