Help a Reporter Out (HARO), discontinued vs. Notified Public Relations Solutions with GlobeNewswire

Help a Reporter Out (HARO) was (and today, HERO is) an incredibly valuable tool that effectively bridges the gap between journalists and PR practitioners, and it filled a need on both ends. A perfect solution to an ongoing industry problem. When I have a client that needs media coverage, and a lead is shared in the daily email that fits the client's expertise, it creates an opportunity that we may never have otherwise been able to identify.

Incentivized

This service might be more well suited for large corporations with a lot of press coverage that they need to get out on a very regular basis. GlobeNewswire may be much less appropriate for smaller organizations that cannot commit to the annual spend of the contract and adhere to its strict nature and aren't sending out regular releases. Note that they did not work with us on contract flexibility once signed, so just be sure that you will fully utilize the service and really stay on top of the cancellation date because if you miss it, you will be automatically locked in for another year. Thus for smaller companies it will be best to stick to an a-la-carte service that will be flexible and work with you on your changing needs. That is definitely not GlobeNewswire.

• Pushes PR opportunities right to your desktop several times a day
• Provides media opportunities for just about every industry and if you monitor it regularly, on just about every topic you can think of
• Provides an easy way to contact reporters with relevant information
• Media outlets are verified for you

Incentivized

• Allows you to see coverage from numerous sources: print, online, broadcast, etc.
• Allows you to track coverage for numerous clients in one organized place.
• Allows you to receive incoming coverage via email.

Incentivized

• I've noticed that some queries are incredibly vague to the point where they could or could not apply to me. I feel like they should implement more strict parameters on what the query has to include.
• Sometimes the outlet is marked anonymous which is not beneficial at all to those who are browsing queries. I think the outlet should be required as that is a pretty essential piece of information to consider.
• I think they email slightly too often. My inbox gets flooded with HARO emails and I'm not able to go through all of them because they get buried. Maybe explore a new strategy to organize the huge amount of queries that get submitted every day.

Incentivized

• Marketwired has recently changed its online platform. It is more complex than necessary. I used it many times and still often had to call the help desk for advice. Sometimes there would be 'bugs' in the system that were out of my control and even the help desk struggled to resolve it.
• I used to simply email the news release & photos to the help desk and they'd get it out for me on time. It was effective and I appreciated the excellent customer service. Now the help desk are no longer allowed to distribute on a client's behalf, which is frustrating - even if you struggle using the online system.
• The section of the online platform I found most confusing was around which media a news story would be distributed too. There are a lot of choices and it wasn't obvious to me as to how they were sub-divided. I often had to check with the help desk to ensure I'd made the best selection for the news story.
• The level of customer service has declined. My account manager who previously provided excellent service was moved to another role as part of an internal restructure. Many team members at my agency voiced frustrations with the level of customer care.

Incentivized

It takes only a few minutes to set up your account. Then, the rest is just checking the push emails, and responding to relevant queries.

Incentivized

Their customer service is great and has been very supportive when we've needed it. Their team checks up on us regularly to ensure we are getting the most out of our service.

Incentivized

They are different tools. While HARO pretty much gives you feedback on media opportunities you can pitch for and allows you to get in touch with the reporter, so you can get exposure and they can find people for their news. Cision allows you to syndicate your press releases. You need to have a written press release in order to use it.

Incentivized

We have only ever used GlobeNewswire and have had such success that we don't feel the need to evaluate competitors or switch to another solution in over 5 years.

Incentivized

• A hard thing to measure in terms of actual sales dollars, however, being able to provide fresh content is essential to any brand. When someone mentions they saw the published piece or it grows organically from social media, that is a win.

Incentivized

• Circulates news on our company which raises credibility for us in the industry and to clients.
• Being able to use our releases as a resource to point to have had a positive impact on our social media presence.

Incentivized