Peter Shankman (in one of his more vulnerable moments ... and there aren't that many!)

HARO (Help A Reporter Out) is a relatively new editorial inquiry service developed and managed by the ever-ingenious Peter Shankman.  Peter (who started The Geek Factory and travel companion site Airtroductions – now TripLife.com) is a brilliant PR flack, social networker and modern-day, bon vivant of technology.

So, what’s the big deal about HARO?

There are a few services that help put journalists in need of knowledgable sources and information in touch with the experts and PR flacks who represent them.  Most of them come with some kinds of strings attached (usually in the form of subscription fees).  But HARO is different because it is free.  Shankman’s revenue comes from the ad sold at the head of each bulletin (issued three times a day).

The model seems to be working.  HARO now boasts a circulation of over 36,000.  Multiply that number by Peter’s stated ad rates (as per this article in AdWeek) and we’re talking a tidy sum … all of it earned. 

HARO’s system of circulating reporter inquiries to sources is quick and efficient and works because of a level of integrity enforced by Peter, himself.  When you receive HARO e-mails, you get the distinct impression that Peter’s watching what’s going on and who’s responding.  It’s an impression he reinforces with his own sense of urgency and candid honesty:

These requests only come from reporters directly to me. I never take queries from that other service, I never SPAM, and I’m not going to do anything with your email other than send you these reporter requests when they arrive in my in-box.

This is really the only thing I ask: By joining this list, just promise me and yourself that you’ll ask yourself before you send a response: Is this response really on target? Is this response really going to help the journalist, or is this just a BS way for me to get my client in front of the reporter? If you have to think for more than three seconds, chances are, you shouldn’t send the response.

In the end, we could probably all stand to do this a bit more, huh?

As a friend of Peter’s for some time, I can tell you this IS quintessential Peter Shankman.  And because he is who he is – generous nearly to a fault and ingenious to the point of near exasperation, you don’t dare let him down by breaking the rules.

HARO is a must for publicists and marketing pros.  Check it out and sign up today!

Check out the video summary of the study here.

In fact, only 69 percent of survey respondents could not remember a single new product launched during the year.

The most memorable new product of 2008 – the Wii Fit – was recalled by only 22 percent of respondents in aided recall.  A summary of the study and what the researchers took away from it can be found on the Quirk’s Research web site (here).

Given a list of 50 new product launches from 2008 (aided recall), people most commonly remembered the following:

1. Nintendo Wii Fit (recalled by 22%)
2. iPod Touch (16%)
3. Bud Light Lime (15%)
4. McDonald’s Southern Style Chicken Biscuit & Sandwich (14%)
5. Kraft Mac & Cheese Crackers (13%)
6. KY Yours + Mine Couples Lubricant (12%)
7. Gatorade G2, Yoplait Fiber One (11%, two-way tie)
8. MacBook Air, Rock Band, Burger King Apple Fries, Neosporin Neo To Go!, Kraft Bagel-fuls (8%, five-way tie)

And, of course, there’s no rationale as to what qualified a new product as being “worthy” of being on the list.  Still, I find it odd that the Kraft Mac & Cheese Crackers – something we identified as a brand extension “gone bad” – ended up beating the MacBook Air (so thin you could stick it in an envelope).  It’s just not fair.

Then again, that crazy lady with all the cats was ahead of me at the polls when I voted in November – I guess “fair” is a subjective term after all.

You need to make a public declaration.

The media – whether it’s a blog, a corporate newsletter, television, local newspaper, whatever – has a way of making promises firm and turning ideas into commitments. And depending how you handle it, vision-related media coverage can be tremendously validating. But don’t do it just for yourself.

Every key constituency group has a relationship with multiple sources of news and information. The time you invest in understanding those people who mean the most to your brand and what matters most to them pays off as you craft and present messages that reflect the values and beliefs represented by your vision and the promises made by your brand.

Don’t consider the publication of your corporate/brand vision to be a one-time effort, however. You need to realize that media messages don’t last long at all (consumers are exposed to millions of commercial messages a year), so in order to build recognition of your brand and its unique attributes you’ll need to reinforce your vision and messages in the media over and over again.

Hey, this brand-building thing isn’t easy.