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How to find more of the right PR

opportunities for free

A Polkadot PR Guide

Contents

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3

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5

7

15

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Purpose of this guide

How this list has been organised

List of free tools (clickable links)

#1 JournoRequests.com

#2 Hootsuite

#3 HARO

#4 Pitchrate

Conclusion

About Polkadot PR

Free PR Consultation Details

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This guide is Part Three of my Ultimate

Expert List of Awesome Free PR Tools, which

is an ongoing project designed to help you get

more out of your marketing campaigns. If you

would like me to get in touch when more of

the incredibly useful sections are available,

click the registration link below.

This section of the guide is all about how to find more of the right PR opportunities for free. It contains one of my best kept secret

methods for spotting PR opportunities in real-

time so that you can respond to journalists

and bloggers quickly in order to bag the

coverage.

So shhh! Don’t share this with your

competition ;-)

Also, you can read the previous sections of

this incredibly useful series of guides here:

#1) What you need to know about the importance of influencers in PR

#2) 13 Free PR Tools You’ll Love for Influencer Identification

The following tools and methods will help you

to find PR opportunities. Just so you know, if

you really want to get more PR coverage and

be given more opportunities to get it, nothing

really beats building strong relationships with

relevant influencers, journalists and bloggers.

When you have these strong relationships,

the influencers will often directly seek help

from you, perhaps often not even asking

anyone else.

Purpose of this guide An introduction by Polkadot PR

founder and PR expert, Dionne Taylor

Register Today

They will also willingly speak to you over the phone and they will

actually read your emails and social media messages.

This is why we are so successful at Polkadot PR; generating

hundreds of pieces of media coverage for our clients. We’ve got

the right contacts and the strong relationships, and it’s this that is

the foundation of our success.

This might sound tough …. well building strong relationships in

order to develop great reputations is hard work. So you need to

put a lot of time and effort into doing this if you really want to be

successful. I’ll cover techniques for doing this in another section

in this mega-guide.

However, the tools and methods outlined below will help you to

find PR opportunities and respond to them. From there, you can

build your relationships for more effective PR. These tools are a

must-have for your PR arsenal.

Hold onto your seat, let’s roll!

Dionne Taylor

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How this guide has been organised

For each PR tool and method in the guide, I have written notes on what the

tool does and my thoughts on it. Where applicable, I have also included

screenshots and instructions for setting up the tools.

On this page you will see the summarised list of free tools.

My overall tip for getting the most out of these free tools and avoiding the need

to pay for them is to combine their power. Often features are limited in the free

version of the tool but the limitations can be overcome by using other tools on

the list.

To make this even more effective, combine the methods and tools covered in

this guide with the methods and tools covered in my previous guide: 13 Free

PR Tools You’ll Love for Influencer Identification

The free tools:

1. JournoRequests.com

2. Hootsuite

3. HARO

4. Pitchrate

Read about each

of the free tools on

the following pages

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#1 JournoRequests.com

What does it do?

This tool helps journalists urgently connect with sources. It’s a freemium product with an awesome free level of

service, which is basically a daily digest email that you never have to pay for. The email contains every single

request based on the #journorequest hashtag on Twitter.

Polkadot PR Verdict

It’s currently UK-focused, but there are international requests, and in the inclusive international digital world in

which we live, coverage from overseas can still be extremely useful. After all, the big ticket in PR is gaining

social proof from influencers. It often doesn’t matter where those influencers are.

The company running this service does have plans to roll this out beyond the UK, so I’d recommend using it

right away so that you don’t miss out on any opportunities.

The email breaks down requests the requests from journalists made on Twitter into categories, which is great,

and you can hit a ‘reply on twitter’ link to respond quickly.

Take a look at the ‘Fashion & Beauty’ section of one of the emails:

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Continued…

With the pro version, you can access a variety of useful features, but the free version is still fab.

BIG TIP!

Respond as quickly as you can to the requests, journalists don’t hang

around!

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#2 Hootsuite

What does it do?

Hootsuite is a social media management tool. You can link it to your various social media accounts (although not

YouTube or Google+ yet) and manage them from a single place. This is, therefore, a great tool for making

influencer marketing and PR more efficient and effective. I will cover this in more detail in a later section of the

guide.

So what is this tool doing here in this section of the guide?

Ah ha!!!

It’s because you can use it in a really clever way to pick-up journalist, blogger and influencer requests –

INSTANTLY…For free!

I didn’t mention it before JournoRequests.com because this method of using Hootsuite that I’m about to cover

relates to the JournoRequests.com hashtag system, and so it gives some background context.

How to set up your Hootsuite journalist request monitoring system

This is my secret source method that I’m sure you’re not going to tell anyone about…

…well not your competitors anyway.

You need to actually set this system up, rather than just sign-up for alerts, like with the other tools covered in this

guide.

Firstly, the basis of this sneaky method is to monitor hashtags associated with influencer, journalist and blogger

requests. They are:

1. #Journorequest

This is used by journalists looking for things like information on a topic, potential case studies, quotes from

experts or products to review for articles/posts they are writing.

It’s the foundation of the JournoRequests.com service, see the relevance now?

Again, remember that this hashtag currently has a UK focus, but it is expanding.

2. #Prrequest

This hashtag is very similar to #journorequest as it was created for journalists to source stories etc. Most of the

requests on this hashtag are now from bloggers, particularly useful for blogger outreach campaigns and gaining

social proof through reviews.

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Continued…

3. #Bloggerrequest

No surprises here, this hashtag is similar the previous two, but it really is focused on blogger requests.

#HelpAReporter

Help a Reporter Out or HARO, is an online tool for connecting journalists with sources. It’s a great tool and I will

cover it next in this guide (scroll down to section #3 for more information).

The system post requests from journalists using this hashtag, so we can tap into them here.

4. #UrgHaro

#UrgHaro is an abbreviation of ‘Urgent Help a Reporter Out.’

Tweets with the hashtag #UrgHaro, therefore, indicate that the journalist is looking for a source URGENTLY!

So respond to these requests very quickly if you can.

Secondly, you can monitor only relevant requests to your brand or clients if you combine the hashtags above

with topic, industry and product-related hashtags. For example:

• Beauty = #beauty

• Fashion = #fashion

And you can get more specific within a category like #beauty with a hashtag like #makeup.

You could also use location based hashtags in combination with all of the above. We work with numerous

restaurants and hotels and as part of that, we seek opportunities relating to the physical locations of the

business outlets.

So for a restaurant client based in Sydney, we could monitor #restaurant and #sydney.

This hashtag combination monitoring method is very important as it makes it far easier for you to spot relevant

opportunities.

BONUS TOOL TIP: Use Hashtagify to find the best relevant hashtags for this monitoring technique and for

using in your own social posts.

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Continued…

Now here’s how to set this up…

In this screenshot you can see the Hootsuite feeds I have created as an example of monitoring journalist and

blogger requests for ‘fashion’ and ‘beauty’:

The following steps will help you to do this yourself:

1. Create free (or paid) Hootsuite account if you don’t already have one.

2. Link your social media accounts to it.

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Continued…

3. Create a new tab for monitoring PR opportunities by clicking the [+] button in the tabs area. You can

see I already have tabs for managing our social networks and MailChimp e-newsletter system (have you

subscribed yet?):

4. Give your new tab a name, I’ll type in ‘PR OPPS’ for this demonstration:

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Continued…

5. Click the ‘Search’ button in the stream adding area:

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Continued…

6. Add your hashtag monitoring combination into the search box. In this example I have added:

#fashion AND #journorequest OR #prrequest OR #Bloggerrequest OR #HelpAReporter OR #UrgHaro

Note that I have used ‘#fashion AND’ at the beginning. This is so that I can see the topic clearly at the top of the

feed when it’s activated.

The ‘AND’ part of this ensures that all of the search results for the various journalist requests contain #fashion.

This is very important because I just want fashion related requests in this feed.

The ‘OR’ function allows the search feed to include any of the four different request hashtags, so I get requests

from all sources in relation to my fashion topic.

If I wanted to be more specific, I could include additional AND/OR related hashtags.

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Continued…

7. Hit the ‘Search’ button and see the feed:

8. Create additional feeds for different topics, products, industries, locations, etc.

Polkadot PR Verdict

This an awesome method as it allows real-time filtered monitoring of requests (you don’t have to wait for the free

periodic emails from the other tools mentioned here). It also allows for direct responses through the Hootsuite

system.

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Continued…

BIG TIP!

This big tip could actually be applied to all of the tools mentioned in this

guide.

Before responding to requests, make sure that the request is worth

responding to. If you read part 2 of this mega-guide; 13 Free PR Tools

You’ll Love for Influencer Identification you’ll find free tools that will

help you to establish how influential the influencer is (e.g. Kred, Klout,

Followerwonk, LinkedIn).

Avoid giving expensive products and services away for review to

people with no influence who are just fishing for freebies.

You have been warned!

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#3 HARO

What does it do?

HARO provides journalists with a robust database of sources for upcoming stories, and daily opportunities for

sources to secure valuable media coverage.

You can join the 475,000+ HARO users already using the service to connect with journalists. All you need to do

is register for your free account and then check your inbox three times a day (5:35 a.m., 12:35 p.m. and 5:35

p.m. ET), Monday through Friday. Look out for source requests relevant to you or your brand or client’s industry,

expertise or personal experience.

You can then pitch to the journalist by clicking on the masked HARO email address listed in the source request

email. You should include answers to the journalist’s questions, any specified requirements and a bio with you

or your client’s contact information. If the journalist is interested, they’ll reach out!

Polkadot PR Verdict

Great free tool for getting regular journalist requests.

BIG TIP!

When setting up your ‘source’ account remember to tick the topic

boxes that are relevant to your brand or clients so that you get more

relevant pre-filtered and grouped requests.

You could also use the request information to create a database of

contacts that you could contact directly to build relationships with and

pitch stories to at a later date.

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#4 Pitchrate

What does it do?

This tool does basically the same thing as the other tools, it matches journalists with sources.

Polkadot PR Verdict

It’s a good tool just like the others. Once you’ve registered you will get a daily email but you can also be more

proactive with this tool because you can navigate to the ‘requests’ section and actually search for relevant

keywords (e.g. ‘food’).

You can then pitch directly through the tool interface very easily.

Also, you can register as a publicist if you want to use this tool to pitch on behalf of your clients. Once registered

as a publicist you can then add clients to your profile and pitch on their behalf.

BIG TIP!

Unlike the other tools, you can create a profile for yourself. It’s

important to do this well because it’s sent to the journalists with your

pitches. It helps them get a feel for your background, experience and

expertise so that they can essentially vet you before responding to

your pitch.

So write a compelling bio for yourself, and for each of your clients, if

you are a publicist.

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Conclusion.Now that you’ve read all about these free PR tools and our tips on how to use

them, individually and together, it’s time to get started.

With these tools, you will be able to find great PR opportunities for free. If you

use this in combination with the free tools mentioned in my other guides you'll

be able to be more strategic when choosing the opportunities to go for.

So what are you waiting for?

We’d love to hear about how you get on with these tools and how they help

you to either get started, or enhance your current campaigns.

Soon we will create more useful guides and collections of free tools that will

support other areas of the PR and influencer outreach process, remember to

sign up to our newsletter to receive them when they are published.

We hope that these tools will help save you precious time and money, while

making your campaigns more effective, generating a really awesome return

on investment you can be proud of.

polkadot_pr

@PolkadotPR

PolkadotPR

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About Polkadot PR.Polkadot PR was set up by ex-journalist Dionne Taylor, over ten years ago

with a pocket full of change and a lot of ambition.

Today, Polkadot PR is a public relations agency with an expert team of

employees who are multi-skilled across all media platforms.

With a team who have worked in both PR and journalism, we are able to sit on

both sides of the fence, knowing exactly what journalists need to secure great

press coverage.

We strongly believe in the power of PR as a worthwhile investment to increase

awareness, sales, credibility and the overall image of any brand, product or

service. Our results speak for themselves, and we have watched our clients’

businesses flourish as a result of the press coverage we have generated.

Working with clients to achieve not only sensational press coverage, engaged

social media audiences and memorable events – Polkadot PR has formed a

reputation as one of the best boutique consumer PR agencies in Australia.

T: 02 8279 0664

F: +61 2 8569 0348

M: +61411 230 301

E: dionne@polkadotpr.com.au

Suite 104, 282-290 Oxford Street,

Bondi Junction,

Sydney, NSW 2022

Australia

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Launch your brand

into the stratosphere

with Polkadot PR.

For the last ten years we have gained literally thousands of pieces of media

coverage for our clients, exposing their brands to millions of people in

Australia and around the world. You can book in for a free PR consultation

here with Dionne Taylor, Polkadot PR’s founder.

Find out how PR can help you to:

Connect with the right influencers

Amplify your brand awareness on a

local, national and even global scale

Get more leads, sales and loyal

customers

Optimise your brand positioning

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