At Costa DeVault, it’s no secret that we are big fans of Peter Shankman’s Help a Reporter Out (HARO). Dubbed the “largest source repository in the world,” HARO sends out approximately 210 media opportunities daily. For down-to-the-wire deadlines, it’s a journalist’s best friend … and a PR professional’s dream. But, with more than 120,800 active sources receiving the thrice-daily email, competition can be stiff for that coveted placement.

When you find a fitting query, having the perfect resource is just half the battle. The following are a few of our favorite HARO tips that we’ve learned from personal experience:

• Keep it short. When you mix a tight deadline with a high volume of replies, multiple paragraphs of text – while relevant and informative – might be overlooked in favor of short and to-the-point bullets. (In fact, People Magazine’s Steve Helling is a big advocate of the 250-word pitch.)

• Provide all the information. Some of the most coveted queries request particular information. Often times you’ll be asked to include common details, like the name of the source, company name and contact information. But sometimes, the reporter might want even more information – like a headshot, the source’s age or highly specific quotes and comments. When compared to another expert resource, if your email lacks any of the requested information, it might be the difference between being included and being ignored.

• Subject lines are valuable. Use them wisely. Our friends at HARO automatically add “New Pitch –” to your email’s subject line (at least when you reply to an auto-generated HARO email, like “queryxyz@”). Don’t waste valuable subject line real estate by including something similar – instead, get right to the point.

• Omit bold text to avoid “screaming.” In the past, I’ve used bold text to call out specific statistics and relevant information when responding to a HARO query. Sounds like a smart idea, right? When a reporter replied to me recently, they included my original pitch and I was surprised to see that my “courtesy” bolding had actually translated into SCARY CAPITALIZATION. Eek! Often times, people read capitalization as screaming … which is definitely not something I want to portray to a reporter.

For more best practices – from Peter, himself – visit Shankman.com. Please share your own favorite tips in the comment section below.

CBS’s Sunday Morning may be one of my favorite all time television shows. There is something about a cup of coffee, the newspaper and their segments that seem to make everything right in the world. I can remember watching as a kid and catching myself being truly interested in what I considered to be one of my parent’s shows – yikes.

This last Sunday was no different, and it led to me watching an 8-minute 12-second segment (Selling Your Home for Charity) that I have been thinking about and talking about all week. It focuses on a family who downsized their home and used proceeds from the sale to start a non-profit organization assisting families in Ghana. The story posed the very important question: “How much should you give to charity?” One statistic noted that Americans give approximately 2.2% of their individual annual income to non-profit organizations. This statistic was juxtaposed with a vignette about Willie Mae Dorsey, a Publix cashier who donates 10% of her $25,000 annual salary. Point being: Often, the people who earn the least give the most, as a percentage of their income.

All week I have been thinking: What if we were all like Willie Mae and reached deeper, (giving 5%, 7% or 10%) to help people in need? How would the world be different? Suddenly the idea of ending hunger or poverty doesn’t seem as unreachable. It certainly has me looking to see what else I can be doing to be more like Willie Mae.

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Think print will ever make a come back?

I don’t know what it is about print publications, but I love them. I love spreading newspapers out over my office desk or dining room table on Sunday mornings. I love dog-earing magazines with good exercise ideas or ripping new recipes out of my favorite cooking publication.

This got me thinking …online media is in…but so is “retro,” right? If that’s the case, how long until print becomes retro and explodes again? Will it ever? Which publications will survive long enough to find out?

Photo credit: bravenewtraveler

I thoroughly enjoyed Roger Martin & Jennifer Riel’s BusinessWeek article on Innovation’s Accidental Enemies. The logic behind “what could be” is truly exciting and inspirational.

The Wall Street Journal recently launched a multimedia branding campaign titled “Live in the Know.” The campaign stresses the value of the in-depth research that the paper brings that goes beyond chatter and sound bites. In a time where major newspapers are fighting to keep their readership, I thought the campaign was an interesting approach.

Today, Costa DeVault presented “Making the Case: Social Media for Attorneys,” to the Volusia/Flagler Association for Women Lawyers. The program covers the basics of social media, and how to market oneself using this modern medium. Special thanks to Christopher G. Hill from Construction Law Musings, Susan Cartier Libel from Solo Practice University, Scott E. Greenfield from Simple Justice and Carolyn Elefant from MyShingle for their input and expertise. We hope you find this information useful, and welcome any suggestions for our next program.

I recently finished reading Words That Work by Dr. Frank Luntz, which discusses the most effective words and phrases for getting a message across. The book’s cornerstone is that no matter how “good” your message is, it’s useless if the person on the receiving end doesn’t understand or relate to it. This passage in the book made me think about how terms lose meaning with some audiences:

The idea of spending your entire adult life at a single company and then retiring with a gold watch and a pension is so ancient to most young people today that it might as well be feudalism. In fact, if you talk to a person under age thirty and use the term “gold watch” in relation to retirement, they probably won’t get the reference.

In addition to the “gold watch” reference, here are some phrases/terms that I think can be potentially lost on Generation Y:

-    ”Give me the Reader’s Digest version”
-    ”Can you fax this?”
-    ”9 to 5″
-    ”Do you know shorthand?”
-    ”Where is a pay phone?”

Of course, there are also messages that can be lost on Generation X and Baby Boomers. It all comes down to remembering your audience and what resonates with them. What are some other terms you could add?

I read a good blog post the other day titled “20 Life Lessons I Learned in my 20s” from Marc and Angel Hack Life. I’m almost 30, so I could relate. It made me recall lessons I’ve learned from my professional slip-ups. Here are some of my own mishaps and how I resolved them.

• My Uncomfortable Laugh. When I get nervous, I tend to laugh awkwardly. This can make you look bad in front of your bosses, clients or potential clients because they may think you’re laughing at them.

Solution: I became conscious of this habit after my boss (thankfully) called it to my attention. I joined Toastmasters and worked on becoming more confident in meetings. Now I laugh only when things are funny.

• Trying to be “Good” at Everything. When I first joined the agency in 2002, I thought I had to be a “jack-of-all trades” because we are “full-service.” So when I wrote my first official PR plan, I didn’t ask for any input prior to starting because I thought I needed to showcase my skills. Wrong move. The plan had more red marks on it from my boss than a freshman English essay.

Solution: Now I know my strengths and my weaknesses. I accentuate my strengths and unabashedly ask for guidance, when needed. You don’t have to be good at everything; you just need to be good at utilizing your resources. For example, one of my co-workers is an amazing editor, another knows how to articulate marketing language very well and another is a whiz at knowing what makes a good blog post. I’m better at what I do because of them.

• Not Editing Enough. I mistakenly thought that if you’re a good writer you should be able to knock out press releases and bylined articles fast. Wrong. It takes research, editing and reading out loud. And then editing it some more.

Solution: I allow myself time to edit and delve into the subjects I’m writing about – and it has made a world of difference. As author William Zinsser wrote, “There’s no good writing – there’s just good editing.” Also, to help my usage mishaps (i.e., entitled vs. titled), I bought The Wrong Word Dictionary. I highly recommend it.

Of course, the list can go on. I’ve heard that if you’re not making mistakes, you’re not trying hard enough. I agree with that – but recognizing, acknowledging and owning your mistakes is how you grow. So what are your mistakes?

Photo credit: ktpupp

The evidence for companies to establish a social media monitoring program keeps building up. The most recent is the latest study from England’s Institute of Customer Service, which shows that dissatisfied customers are turning to social networks to complain about companies – before complaining to the companies themselves.

Think about that for a moment. Customers aren’t even giving companies a chance to fix poor service before telling their Facebook friends, Twitter followers and blog readers about how their expectations weren’t met. The study even says that only a small minority of dissatisfied customers bother going to the offending organization at all.

Without a social media monitoring program in place, how is a company to know this situation even exists? Odds are, they won’t. And that presents a serious problem.

The study did have a bright side, though: Individuals who are vocal about their criticisms are also likely to share positive experiences. That means companies who are keeping an eye on their online presence have the opportunity to turn complainers into happy customers – right in front of their networks’ eyes.

Check out PR Cog’s response to his experience with the lack of one company’s social media monitoring, over on Sarah Evans’ blog.

So, what are you waiting for? If you have questions about monitoring programs, where to start, online tools, etc. – ask away in the comments!

I would like to thank Stephen Baker at BusinessWeek for his article “Beware Social Media Snake Oil” and for saying what a lot of us in the profession have been thinking for some time. I am a big social media fan, but it sure sounds like all the “experts” are saying the same things: “Be transparent, engage with your customers, break down silos.”

Providing good counsel requires in-depth understanding of each individual client. One size does not fit all.