Help a Reporter Out (HARO), discontinued vs. PRunderground.com

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

We were impressed with the price point and coverage last year on one or two of our releases. They would approve them and we would get a email alert as well as a report sent to us. All of that was missing on the latest release, no idea it was ever approved or released, I found. Furthermore the distribution of the release was almost all US for some reason, not helpful at all. In my opinion, it feels like they are less attentive to their customers, yet increased their prices recently. I believe, the interface is old and outdated which would put off most people, but we were happy regardless when it worked.

• 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

• PRUnderground offers exceptional customer service. When I e-mail their team with a question or concern, I always receive a response within a few hours.
• PRUnderground offers an unbeatable value. I've researched various distribution platforms, and this one offers the best of both worlds: effectiveness and affordability.
• PRUnderground is a white-label distribution service with proven reach. My clients enjoy receiving 12-page placement reports with live links.

• 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

• PRUnderground has always been very responsive when I have had an issue with their platform. They constantly endeavor to streamline the process.

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

They go beyond what is expected and resolve issues quickly.

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

I've used some of the big names in the business, but their price tag isn't within sight for many of my clients. PRUnderground is the best solution I've found for SMB's and professionals who want a budget-friendly yet effective distribution.

• 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

• We are a training company and the press releases have increased enrollments in our classes.
• They have increased our website traffic.