HARO Reloaded: How to Pitch Like It’s 2025

David Olajide (00:01):

You might think you know the story of Polaroid, a relic of a bygone error tossed aside by the digital wave. But what happened next after its so-called death is a lesson in timing, relevance, and rebirth. Today's story is what happened next, take a listen.

Farzana Baduel (00:26):

In the 1970s, if you wanted to capture a moment instantly, there was only one name that mattered. Polaroid with a satisfying mechanical hum and a hiss of chemistry, the image would slowly fade into view a little miracle in your hands, families, tourists, and even artists swore by the format. Polaroid wasn't just a camera, it was the moment before the moment faded, but time moved on. The world got faster. Digital disposable. Polaroid couldn't compete with the instant gratification of this smartphone or the infinite scroll of Instagram. In 2001, they filed for bankruptcy. The once beloved brand pioneers of instant photography were shelved, discarded like an old shoebox of fading prints. By all accounts, Polaroid was over then came a twist. No one expected a group of enthusiasts, some of them in their twenties, others not even born. When Polaroid first peaked, refused to let it die, they bought what remained of the company.

(01:32):

And slowly through experimentation and heartbreak and rebuilding old machinery by hand, they started producing Polaroid film. Again, it didn't happen because of nostalgia. It happened because Gen Z creators in a digital world saturated with filters and noise craved something real, something tactile, something imperfect. Soon the same social media platforms that once buried Polaroid were filled with its unmistakable square frames and soft tones, fashion shoots, album covers, viral content. Polaroid had returned not as a gimmick, but as a trusted tool in the hands of those who wanted to stand out. It wasn't mass adoption that made the comeback work. It was credibility, curation, and timing. Polaroid didn't need to beat the algorithm. It just needed to show up at the right moment. In the right hands today on stories and strategies like Polaroid Harrow helped a reporter out is back in focus because in a world full of noise, what's rare, real, and relevant snaps back into style.

(02:55):

My name is Farzana Baduel

Doug Downs (02:57):

And my name is Doug Downs. Our guest this week is Brett Farloe, joining today from Scottsdale, AZ. Hey, Brett. Hey, nice for having me Scottsdale. I've been numerous times because I love spring training. Is it about two hours north of you? Sedona?

Brett Farmiloe (03:16):

Sedona, about two hours north. Yep.

Doug Downs (03:18):

If you have any artsiness in you at all and you love nature, Sedona, I'm just going to say stunning. Other than Scottsdale, what's your favorite? I got to get out of here. Spot near you.

Brett Farmiloe (03:34):

I was just mentioning that the minivan goes round and round, and so I really don't make it to too many spots other than a little league baseball game, a soccer field, indoor play space. So honestly, the escapes are always wherever my kids are at.

Doug Downs (03:48):

Right on. If you're going to AZ, go in the winter, do not go in the summer. Yes, flights and hotels are cheap, but there's a reason for that. Brett, you're the founder and CEO of feature.com, the expert insights platform that connects subject matter specialists with top publishers you recently acquired and relaunched Harrow help a reporter out reviving it as a trusted high quality email tool for sourcing credible voices. You're a former marketing agency owner with a background in SEO and Digital PR and have grown featured.com to tens of thousands of experts as after successfully scaling and exiting that agency. I have, yes.

Farzana Baduel (04:33):

Now for those who are watching on YouTube, they can see your on-brand t-shirt, Harrow Help A Reporter Out. Love it. Love it.

Brett Farmiloe (04:42):

Day one, these just fresh off the press. This is day one for rocking these tees. I can't wait to get given to some people.

Farzana Baduel (04:48):

I love them. I love them now, I remember coming across Help a Reporter out back in 2015. We used to have an office in New York and everyone just used it. It was just an iconic brand. Everyone loved it. It was just useful. The journalists loved it, the PRS loved it, and I was so excited to hear that you've brought Harrow back and I just wanted to sort of talk to you a little bit about what's happened since in the market. I mean, my journalist friends are still complaining, saying, what is wrong with you PR folk? Why are you still spamming us? How many years we're telling you don't spam us? Our inboxes are full. The journalists, it's not as many of them like there was back then. There's been some real changes in the last 10 years. So what a PR professional still getting wrong about what journalists need. I just can't believe we're still having this conversation. It's a bit cringe, but the problem is still there. And have you kind of tweaked tarot or is it exactly the same that it was back in the day when I used to use it? Because things have changed. Context has changed. So tell us about that.

Brett Farmiloe (05:56):

Yeah, so I think that what do journalists want? Journalists especially on hero, want a source for a story. They don't want anything outside of that, a source for a story. And so if you think back to hero's original founding right around like 2007, 2008, it's the same exact problem that Harrow is aiming to solve in 2025, which is that sourcing in an AI era is really difficult. It's an infinite problem that journalists face. And so what Harrow is, it's a three times a day email newsletter that summarizes requests from journalists and puts that out to sources, and then sources can respond directly to reporters if they are a source for that story. And so I think that yes, it's interesting, it's a cycle that keeps repeating in terms of the relevant pitches, but the problem remains the same and the solutions have definitely evolved. But hero's one that we've brought back as of two months ago,

Doug Downs (06:53):

Are there just too many people selling too many responses to those questions where it's ly obvious what this person is trying to sell or accomplish by being quoted?

Brett Farmiloe (07:05):

Yeah, I think that some of the mistakes that I think we see we've developed, I mean pun intended, the hero acronym is a really good baseline for how PRS should pitch journalists on Hero. And what I mean by that is be helpful, be authentic, be relevant, and be on time and with being helpful before you actually send your pitch, read it from the perspective of the journalists. Is this helpful? Is this adding value to the inbox? If yes, press send. If no, don't send authentic. We see so many people using AI to quickly pitch reporters and reporters and journalists are very, very well aware of what's written by AI and what's not. So authentic is like, is this written by a human? Are you adding the baseline above what AI can actually produce relevance? We've actually had to put in a new feature into Harrow, the thumbs up, thumbs down, asking a journalist with every pitch email, was this relevant to your request? And if they click on a thumbs down, there's a report that goes to us. We look into it, take appropriate actions. But that's probably the most common complaint that we hear from journalists is like, why are you pitching me this thing? I spent so much time getting the instructions and putting exactly what I was looking for, why would you send this to me? So being relevant and then on time is just they need a source fast. So being able to respond quickly is pretty paramount as well. It's

Farzana Baduel (08:38):

Interesting. It just seems like a lack of empathy, and I think that's why former journalists turned prs. They kind of get it a little more because they know what it feels like to wake up to an inbox and you have to t trawl through hundreds of emails to get ones that are relevant and that land, but it's quite soul destroying to go through so many poorly written emails, let alone now written by chat wt No, A shade on chatt. I love it. But as you said, it is the baseline and life is too short.

Brett Farmiloe (09:14):

Yeah, I think just to add on to that, the empathy of understanding who the person is on the other side. The coolest thing for me in terms of acquiring help reporter out and speaking with journalists who are using the platform and what they want from it is just understanding them, understanding what their lives look like. And one of the most eyeopening things is I'll get on a call and I'll say, Hey, I've been hearing a couple things. Many reporters have 1, 2, 3 different sources of income, and inevitably I'm seeing two hands go up in terms of the number of sources of income that they have, eight or whatever it is. And if you think about that, just think about the day that a typical journalist has, they're writing four stories on deadline. They've got to go pick up their twins from school, and then they got to go support whatever other hustles they have writing into their substack or keeping that updated and things like that. So it's extremely deadline driven. There's a lot of stuff that's happening, so that's why you really have to focus on being helpful.

Farzana Baduel (10:19):

I love it. I love it.

Doug Downs (10:20):

Is the whole definition of journalists change, you mentioned that they're wearing a number of hats, and somebody mentioned on our podcast recently that yes, there are YouTubers, there are influencers, there are newsletter writers, except they're often also journalists and they're writing for mainstream media. So is this whole definition kind of change these days?

Brett Farmiloe (10:42):

Definitely. I think where and how people want to be featured in 2025 is changing. And I think that PR professionals need to approach it from a marketing perspective in terms of you try it, you measure it, and you double down on the stuff that works. I think that there's some pretty clear metrics in a lot of these different channels and mediums. For example, a podcast you get on the podcast and how many views did it get? Did you get any kind of traction from it? Did it work? Should you do more of it? So I think that PR professionals should just be asking themselves this question of try a channel, measure it, did it work? Did it not continue, double down and keep pushing in terms of what will work in 2025.

Farzana Baduel (11:25):

And in addition to help a reporter out, you also have another platform featured. And I think that's kind of interesting because again, I think it really sort of serves a need where journalists don't have that many resources. They don't have huge teams like they used to have. And so tell us about featured.com. Was that quite a recent phenomenon where you started realizing that actually this is what journalists need? And actually to put journalists in the driving seats so that they're not getting pitched tons of ideas, but actually they can in their own time have a little browse and feature.com and say, you know what? I quite like that piece. I'll take that piece. I mean, it's a very civilized way of prs and journalists sort of interacting. Tell us about that platform.

Brett Farmiloe (12:10):

Yeah, yeah, definitely. So I started featured in January of 22, and it was a result of running my agency for 10 years and figuring out how do I have 500 small business owners who need visibility in the media? How do you take the eyelash extension supply company and get them featured in a story? And so we started asking our clients questions that were relevant to their expertise. They would answer those questions and then we would get them featured in articles. And so there was a lot more traction with that than the agency. So sold the agency and then focused on featured. And what featured does is we connect subject matter experts with publishers to create high quality content. And so the types of content that we're creating via featured are these expert roundup articles where a publisher will ask a question, we'll invite vetted experts to answer that question. We'll take the best answers, put that into an article, and give it to the publisher to publish on the website. So publishers are able to get free high quality content, and then experts are able to get that exposure. So

Doug Downs (13:10):

I'm a former journalist and this whole concept of painting a journalist with the same brush, I can remember kind of bristling at that. We paint the gloss as in they have no time. They got to pick up the twins, they have 12 jobs to pay the bill. Those are probably very, very true. But what are the more subtle nuances to journalists', personalities, their psychographics, their demographics? What are the things that make them different and unique, because that would help me in making a pitch is understanding more about the individual and then probably compartmentalizing them. It's a big word for me to say subsequently.

Farzana Baduel (13:51):

Doug, that's such a great question. I just want to say, because actually I didn't even think about it, Doug, that the data that Brett

Doug Downs (13:57):

Has,

Farzana Baduel (13:59):

Actually, you have, this

Doug Downs (14:00):

Is killer.

Farzana Baduel (14:01):

Yeah, I mean, spill the T as my teenage daughter says. Yeah,

Brett Farmiloe (14:05):

Yeah. All right. Thanks for the enthusiasm. I don't have the data readily available, but what I will say just qualitatively is I think that journalists are traditionally trained and not take things at face value that you're seeing a lot of submissions where people expect to be copy pasted put into a story, and the best journalists are not going to do that.

Doug Downs (14:29):

So some are more skeptical than others, some are like the meter is going crazy.

Brett Farmiloe (14:33):

Oh, yeah. I think that by nature it's skepticism. You don't believe it until you can validate it and have some credentials and things of that nature. So us as a platform, we're trying to lean into some of the questions that journalists would naturally have is this person who they say they are, like having a profile verification check that allows that journalist to more confidently move quicker in terms of accepting that source for a story or having more confidence of reaching out to that person for a follow-up. So I think that you're seeing skepticism, but also, which is rightfully, but also just curiosity. And I think that that's really where you see the opportunity with a platform like Hero or feature.com, that if you are helpful, you're authentic, you're relevant to the story, and you make a solid pitch, then the curiosity really peaks. And then that's when you can create really great stories and content.

Doug Downs (15:28):

And are some of them crankier than others? Some of them friendlier and some of them crankier are

Brett Farmiloe (15:33):

Just like us are trying to under the bus, man, I'm trying to help a reporter out. I'm not trying to make some enemies,

Doug Downs (15:38):

Man. Okay, how do I help the cranky reporters out? If a reporter is more likely to be crankier, how do I make them less cranky? Let's get 'em across the finish

Brett Farmiloe (15:47):

Line, be the source that they could rely on for their story so that they could put it to print. I would be cranky too if I had four stories right today and I had to go through 200 emails in my inbox.

Doug Downs (15:59):

And what do you sense is the reporter to PR person ratio? In other words, how many journalists are asking for help versus how many people are offering help?

Brett Farmiloe (16:14):

Yeah, I'd say dog years to double dog years in terms of

Doug Downs (16:18):

Seven to 14 to one,

Brett Farmiloe (16:20):

Somewhere between seven to 14 to one in terms of people who are pitching. Because what you're seeing in terms of that is you have PR agencies who are doing pitching, but then you're also having a lot of small business owners try to do it themselves and turning themselves and their own internal marketing departments into their own PR efforts. And so I think the ratio is really, really high in terms of people who want to be featured in the media. And as you mentioned, it's drastically changing in terms of the supply of journalists and content creators who need sources. So yeah, it's pretty off kilter, which is why personalization and matching people with the right opportunities, this is really paramount to making that connection successful.

Farzana Baduel (17:02):

God, are you a bit like Tinder for PR and journalists? Your sort of algorithm is matching up?

Brett Farmiloe (17:11):

Well, I do think that it's probably the most interesting challenge that we've been working on in terms of you've got hundreds of thousands of expert sources who have knowledge to share. They need to not let to share that knowledge, whether that's to be featured in the media or whether that's just because they want to be helpful and they've got 20, 30 years of experience and they need to share that expertise. So I think that's really the unique point, is you're looking at things like job title and company and the answers that they've previously submitted, all these different data points that allow you to ask the right question at the right person at the right time.

Farzana Baduel (17:43):

Yeah, a couple of things. Well, first of all, I just can't get my head over double dog years for PRS versus journalists. I mean, I think prs we're like gremlins just add water and we just start exploding. I mean, I just hope nobody starts putting us into the microwave. Now, my question was this, back in the day, I mean, I'm quite old, what you see is more Botox, but back in the day, I used to take Jo this out. I used to take them out for lunches, I took 'em out for a drink. We used to hang out. And whilst your platforms are super efficient, very time efficient, where's the relationship building side? Or is it just simply we'll make ourselves useful, and that's a relationship value that we are giving. It's no longer here's a plate of past and I'll pick up the bill at the end of it. It's more, actually, I'll make your job easier.

David Olajide (18:36):

And

Farzana Baduel (18:36):

What does that take away from the whole relationship side, which I always thought was quite magical.

Brett Farmiloe (18:42):

I think it's a wonderful question. I think the relationships still exist because one PR agency put it best that 2008 was great in terms of the PR to journalist relationship. That era was perfect. You're taking people out to lunch, you're using Harrow, and it's like pure, it's gold. It's a great, great place. And I think those relationships still exist, but I think that journalists just are more times strapped and they're asked to do a lot more with a lot less, and which puts their willingness to develop those relationships probably at a lower rate. So I think that from what I hear from journalists, I speak with most definitely when they get a relevant pitch and they discover a relevant source, that's one of the motivations for using our platform is you get to essentially tap into this massive Rolodex of expert sources and you get to feature a few of 'em in a story. And then story by story, a journalist can grow their network and have reliable sources that they could go to outside of posting on Hero or featured. So the relationship still exists, but I think it goes back to it takes two to make a relationship and understanding what that one person really is and their appetite for developing that relationship is the factor there.

Doug Downs (20:01):

Brett, it's so good to have Harold back. Thanks for your time. You're welcome,

Farzana Baduel (20:05):

Brett. In our last episode, we have a question that was left behind from a gentleman called Graham. Good kind.

Graham Goodkind (20:15):

I'd like to know, what is the best bit of advice you'd give to someone who's starting out in this industry?

Brett Farmiloe (20:23):

Well, part of acquiring Hero has been meeting with a bunch of different users who used it, and some of the best stories that I've heard have been from PR professionals who just came out of school, had no idea what they're doing, and Harrow helped establish their career. And how they did it was they signed up, they listened to what journalists were looking for, they learned about these different journalists. They had no connections. They started using Harrow to make those connections, and then email by email day by day, they started to establish a network for themselves.

Farzana Baduel (21:00):

Yeah, I get that because when I was new to New York and we set up an office out there, I didn't know any US journalists, and actually using Harrow actually helped start the relationship process. So it's good for not only people starting out their careers, but also if you move to another country and all of a sudden you need to build a network fast. So it really does help that. But great. So Brett, now what question are you going to leave behind for our next guest?

Brett Farmiloe (21:31):

The question that I'm most interested in from everyone is how are you using AI to improve your workflows? How are you using AI to improve your day? And specifically, how are you using AI within PR and within journalism? I think that's the question.

Doug Downs (21:47):

We got a great tool recommended to us in our last episode. Was it called Chat seance?

Farzana Baduel (21:52):

Yes, the creative science Creative,

Doug Downs (21:55):

Creative seance. And the idea, Brett, so I'm not using it yet, but I'm going to this week, is that you could take a question and ask anyone through the course of history. So you could ask Copernicus, what would you do in this situation? You could ask Mother Teresa, what would you do in this situation? You could ask Caesar, what would you do in this situation? So that's one thing is to use AI for me as a back and forth as AI that I'm having a conversation with, because I can write and I can do things, but to actually dig into it that way, for me,

Brett Farmiloe (22:37):

I think that's a pretty smart application. Most of the really successful founders and CEOs that I know have, jet GPT is one of their best friends, and they've programmed personas to say, you're one of our board members. Here's this challenge. Okay, you're our CFO. Here's this challenge. Okay, you're our CMO. Here's this challenge and get all these different perspectives. It's a great way to advance the daily balance as a founder. That's

Farzana Baduel (23:00):

Amazing. Brett, what about if I turn the question back on you?

Brett Farmiloe (23:05):

Yeah. How are we using ai? I think that many, many, many, many different ways. We're partnered with Nvidia and Google and Microsoft, and we use AI throughout the application. I think one of the smartest things that, this is actually baseline stuff, but AI detection is advancing probably not as fast as the models, but it's a great way for us to kind of figure out what's happening in our communities, how many people actually are using ai, is using AI problematic, things of that nature. So we're using AI to essentially do the analysis for us, and there's a lot of data to be analyzed. And so I think that for us, it's really an analysis and surfacing tool that allows us to make better decisions.

Farzana Baduel (23:56):

Love it. Absolutely love it. Thank you so much, Brett.

Brett Farmiloe (24:00):

Yeah, thanks for having me. Me. Thanks, Brett. Appreciate y'all.

Farzana Baduel (24:04):

Here are the top three things we got today from Brett Farlow. Number one, the Harrow rule for PR success. To cut through inbox clutter, Brett recommends pitching with helpfulness, authenticity, relevance, and being on time. A formula every PR pro should follow. Number two, modern PR is measured. Brett emphasized that in 2025, PR is marketing test different channels, measure results, and double down on what works, whether it's podcast newsletters or expert articles. Number three, relationships still matter, just different. While long lunches may be fading, journalists still value consistent, helpful sources, and Brett's platforms helps build those trusted relationships, one solid pitch at a time.

Doug Downs (24:59):

Those changing relationships, I think that for me, that's the nub, right? Because as you said, I'm kind of used to lunches, maybe dinners. I've even gone to hockey games.

Farzana Baduel (25:09):

Oh, wow. You can go the extra mile. Yeah,

Doug Downs (25:11):

But well, you make friends, right?

Farzana Baduel (25:15):

That's

Doug Downs (25:15):

The difference here is how do you do those relationships in a much more digital world,

Farzana Baduel (25:20):

And maybe you have to earn the right to those relationships by being helpful to begin with. And that's where these sort of platforms really help. And when you are valuable and you can demonstrate your value, then they will open the door and say, you know what? Maybe I want to get to know you.

Doug Downs (25:35):

You bet. If you'd like to send a message to our guest, Brett Farlow, we've got his contact information in the show notes, stories and strategies as a co-production of Curzon Public Relations, JGR Communications, and Stories and Strategies, podcasts. You can check out full episodes on YouTube. It's often a director's cut with all of Farzana's swear words in there. We just leave them in. Thank you to our producers, Emily Page and David Olajide. And lastly, do us a freaking favor forward this episode to one friend. Thanks for listening.