Free (Or Nearly Free) PR Tools
In my last blog post, I mentioned Google News alerts, which got me thinking about all of the free (or nearly free) tools that I use as a public relations consultant every day. Turns out there are several.
Here are a few must-haves:
HARO – free. If you’re interested in getting some media attention and you only have one tool in your arsenal, this is it. HARO, which stands for Help A Reporter Out, sends three emails each day chock-full of reporters who are currently on deadline and looking for story sources, complete with contact information. If you’re the source they’re looking for, you could see your name in print as soon as this afternoon.
Google News Alerts – free. A great way to monitor what’s already being said about your company, your competitors, or your industry in the news. Just enter keywords, and Google News will send you emails when those words appear in online news stories. Google provides several free services that are useful to PR types, including Google Trends and Google Reader.
Online AP Style Guide – $25 per year. A dream come true for AP style junkies like me. This puts a constantly updated, searchable AP Stylebook at your fingers, anywhere you have Internet access. $25 for the year, but so useful you won’t care.
Twitter – free. A great way to stay on top of what’s happening in the news or in your own network, but most useful to PR types because of the instant exposure to the needs of the media. Follow people like @skydiver and @ProfNet for updates about media folks on urgent deadlines and needing story sources immediately.
Video Monitoring Services – varying. A handful of companies are in the business of monitoring television programs nationwide and updating companies about when and where they’ve appeared on t.v. Purchasing the videos costs a small fortune, but for somewhere in the $15 range you can get the closed-captioning text of your segment, as well as total run time, estimated number of viewers who saw it, and what it would cost to purchase the same amount of advertising time. Check out Cision or VMS.
