I suspect I am not the only person in the public relations industry who has wondered why I didn’t think of Peter Shankman’s “Help a Reporter Out” service. I applaud him both for the idea as well as the commitment of time required to gather and disseminate three story opportunity-filled emails each day. I saw Shankman speak a little more than a week ago at the PR News Platinum Awards reception. The woman who introduced him read his bio and misstated the number of subscribers to his site by a factor of four. That’s how quickly the awareness has spread. I believe a service like HARO is not only a useful tool for unearthing media opportunities for your client or cause, but it also provides a sense of what’s newsworthy among a diverse range of influencers. A seasoned marketing colleague asked me if I’d heard of HARO just last week. Someone he knows in PR had mentioned it to him saying, “It’s a great service for journalists, but not so much for PR people as the chances of getting a story placed are slim with so many people subscribed.” I couldn’t disagree more. It’s a free service filled with “live” story opportunities. If you have a relevant, credible source (and a smart pitch) it’s far better than a proverbial shot in the dark. We’ve placed a number of stories we found out about on HARO (and the similar, long-standing paid service ProfNet, run by PR Newswire). Shankman, a PR man himself, sells sponsorships and surely benefits in the way of journalist contacts and new business leads. Perhaps the person who questioned HARO’s value wishes he’d thought of the idea himself.