A talk I gave at BrightonSEO in October 2022 on the topic of HARO and journo requests and using preparation period to maximise the return on the time you spend. Covers: - Tools (briefly) - Some of the limitations that are often responsible for lower success rates on pitching journalists when they're looking for comment - Overcoming some of those limitations by improving the quality of what you're sending - Pre-preparing as much comment as you can in advance by predicting events in news

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You already know the benefits of
expert comment placement.

6. I don’t want to spent 20
minutes talking about tools
because…

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Tools alone will not make this
easy. But…here’s how my team
finds its opportunities

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10. Turning Opportunities into
Placements

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Tools alone won’t do this for
you. It’s REALLY easy to waste
time here.

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Or to just lose track of time.

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*April – Dec
**Jan - Aug

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*April – Dec
**Jan - Aug
🤷
😟
🤬
🥳
☺

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Caveat: In late 2020 we started
investing more time before even
responding to a single request.
This isn’t included.

16. So what causes wasted
time?

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Competition

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”I get 60 pitches
per article”

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Poor Quality
Response

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“Incomplete or so overly
promotional that, in order
to salvage something, I
would have to spend time
contacting the PR agency,
interviewing their client,
and re-write the whole
thing from scratch.”

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“When I ask for a Doctor I need a doctor, not
someone who sells supplements. If I ask for a
psychologist, I need someone qualified. Not just
someone who launched a weighted blanket.
Expertise really matters.”

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Too Slow!

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Don’t assume “closing dates” or “deadlines” are
concrete.

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Translation in most cases…
15th September – or until I get the first good
response(s)

26. Get Faster

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Sign off was our biggest barrier
to speed.

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People aren’t always available
RIGHT THIS INSTANT.

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And some sign off
processes take
641,000 years of
committee
deliberation over a
single word.

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You can’t get around needing
sign off. But you can do a lot of
before you start pitching.

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A Pre Campaign
Launch Setup
Period

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We create a shared Google
folder – “Good to Go.”

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We interview the people in the
business who’ll be
commenting

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We ask some personal questions

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We ask some professional questions

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We ask about their values

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Use this to prepare bios for
each of them and get them
pre signed off.

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We get headshots now and
save them

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And then we begin to pre-
write comment to pitch….

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You don’t have
to be psychic to
foresee some of
what might be
coming.

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“…in this world,
nothing is certain
except death and
taxes”

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In the news, nothing is certain
except death, taxes…

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Divorce and infidelity

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Celebrity weddings and engagements

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Celebrity weight loss

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Businesses going out of business

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Strikes

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Extreme weather events

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So how do we identify recurring
news events relevant to us?

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Look at where journalists have previously
requested your expertise

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Look at where journalists have previously
requested your expertise

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You can do this on Google News too…

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Look at what advice journalists have
previously requested on a specific topic.

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62. Up the Quality

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Qualify the request

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Solicitor specifically

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Specifically not a solicitor, but a real life
case study from a “normal” person

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Be absolutely brutal in answering,
“Am I the right source for this request?”

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Supply what’s asked for.
Comment now? Or just an intro/bio?

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Respond instantly if the latter advising on
when the complete comment can be
supplied.

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Under promise and overdeliver.

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Check out previous comments the
journalist has used.

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Tailor length, language and structure to
the comments you consistently see the
journalist using

75. Overcoming Linkless
Placements

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Does the journalist link at all?

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If they’re linking inconsistently….

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Overcome “editorial disconnect”

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Simple bio pages:

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83. Measure and Improve

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https://bit.ly/lazy-link-list

85. Questions?
Twitter DMS open - @staceycav
Email: stacey@macnaughtdigital.co.uk