HARO's CEO on HARO's Future

Full Transcript

0:00I think that at the end of the day we're all creators and we're all experts in something and the opportunity is Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of Jolly SEO's TL;DR. I am your host Greg Heilers. Here at Jolly SEO, we specialize in earned linkbuilding. That means media outreach. So today's guest is perfect. We've got Brett Farmallow, the founder of featured.com and the CEO of Help a Reporter Out. Brett, thank you for coming back on the podcast. Yeah, thanks for having me back on. Yeah. Well, it's it's an exciting year. Some people listening in are still thinking, "Help a reporter out.

0:47Isn't that dead?" And this year, you brought it back to life. So, we talked about it when that was breaking news and now you've had six months to settle in. How's it feeling over there? You've guys feel like you've kind of course corrected. I mean, you had years of of kind of inertia to work against. We also had a lot of years of of brand building to work with. So, uh bringing it back had a lot of momentum and people are super excited about it.

1:22I think that on both sides like for journalists who have this infinite sourcing issue of finding the right expert sources for stories they're super pumped to have it back and um and at the same time the people who are looking for you know equal earned access to media opportunities help reporter out is kind of the OG in the space that you got to be subscribed to. So um you mentioned that some people think Harrow may or may not still be dead. I would say that there's also a camp of people who never even knew it went away. So it's good to to have it back. Yeah, exactly. I remember when we talked last time, you said a really common reaction you got was like, "Oh, I'm so excited to see the email back in my inbox." Like it kind of for some of us, we we forgot that we weren't getting it.

1:54Uh, and now it's really back in present. Today, we want to talk about what the platform can do for the journalist side of the equation because that that's in the name. That's who it's for. and over the years they got neglected and it became a somewhat abused space but now you're actually here adding features for the journalist. Can you give me a high level of what you're trying to build for the journalists? Yeah, for sure. I think that journalists are in a tough spot. You know, I think that it's the industry is in flux.

2:31Uh conferences that I go to with journalists, when I speak with journalists, typically the problem is earning an income. Uh most journalists that I speak with hold up two hands when I ask them how many sources of income that they have and they're typically writing for five different uh outlets. They've got a Substack that they're that they're monetizing. They might offer consultation hours for uh PR consultations and things like that. It's pretty wild. And so if you think about the problem to be solved, um it's pretty pretty uh important to solve it. And if you look at the brand help a reporter out, uh our new goal is to live up to the name.

3:05So in 2025 it was about bringing back source requests and basically reactivating the largest expert network for journalists requests and that's been a challenge. It's you know no secret that it ended up into our ownership because it had its issues. It's the most simple form of connecting where it's a three times a day email newsletter. The journalist puts out a request. Subscribers are able to respond directly to the journalist via email. And because there's not a platform uh because there's not a existing profile and things of that nature, it introduces all types of technical complexities that we had to address this year.

3:37So uh you know things like are you using AI to to send pitches? Are you a real person? Uh so we've had to deal with all types of profile verification issues, spam, um AI usage and many more to ensure that that connection is authentic between those journalists and and experts. So, um, it's, you know, step one in terms of being helpful to reporters, uh, is bringing back those source requests and we're happy that with what we accomplished this year. Yeah, I certainly felt it as a contributor, right? I remember when we met, you know, it's two sides, right? I I do the outreach, so I'm like, it's a cat-and- mouse game.

4:10Like, I don't I don't want more challenge, but I'm a consumer of media, so I honestly tell you, you know, I like that you're making the media more secure. let's call it uh with profile verification. It's it's much needed. It makes journalists jobs easier on their end. I think I I know that they are constantly facing pressure from their editors to vet sources and it's a challenging environment to do that. Uh what what you just talked about putting up two hands.

4:46At first I was imagining someone throwing up their hands, but actually you're describing they've got maybe double digit income sources and not because they're rolling in the money, but because they're chasing uh gigs. It's it's a gig work uh that they're doing. What is this? Uh we're talking about Haro jobs where they can is it potentially like a job board where they can hope to find work. Hey, hope you're enjoying the show. We're going to get right back to it real quick. If you're not sure how you're showing up in AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity and the like, click on that first link in the description. If you fill that out for us, we'll send you your own AI visibility report and see how we can help you boost your results.

5:20All right, without further ado, remember that link and enjoy the rest of the show. Yeah. So, one of the the biggest the coolest things that that I've been a part of is just, you know, being reviving all the great features that once existed on Harrow. So, when we acquired Harrow, we didn't acquire like the technology. We didn't acquire everything. We had to rebuild everything from ground zero. And that journey of what to build has been largely informed by people who have told us that this used to exist in Harrow. Where is it? And so we've then learned about what used to exist and then rebuild it. One of those things that used to exist was Harrow Jobs.

5:54And what Harrow Jobs were is essentially uh a bunch of freelance writing opportunities that existed for journalists to get them connected with their next paid writing gig. And so that's one thing that as we look up web.archive.org and type in helperreporter.com and look at what used to exist in 2016 2017, uh you see jobs as one component of that. And so I think that's something that we're called to action to to do and to revive.

6:28So moving forward into 2026, we're going to be monitoring u you know different callouts on social media platforms to see who is in in need of freelance writers, who's in need of copywriters, of freelance editors, of uh you know other you know people that would have opportunities like this and then surface those in a hero style email that's sent specifically to journalists. So hopefully that'll be helpful. It's amazing that you are using the wayback machine to dig out what it was, but you're also I get it listening to people who are reaching out saying where is X that used to be here. So I mean Hera jobs I I can see this as a hub for as you said it's a very challenging environment they find themselves in right now. Uh we're also dealing with zero click.

7:05I think all the SEOs in the audience are are dealing with that and and so are the journalists. So are the publications that commission the journalists. So I think that'll be a huge boon to them. What about you mentioned herojournalist profiles? Is this a compliment or just kind of a feature of hero jobs? So this is something that uh is entirely different. So, as we've listened to to more and more journalists, again, it goes back to the problem of having eight different sources of income and how to properly support and drive uh you know, new leads, new revenue opportunities for each one of those sources.

7:40And so, when we looked at how we could be helpful, we looked at our domain and said, "Wow, this is a really incredibly powerful domain, very high authority, very trusted by search engines. How how can we tap into that to be helpful to to journalists?" And so we said, well, why don't we just create journalist profiles that essentially allow them to showcase their work that could drive passive income for for themselves and attract new writing opportunities so that the journalist can focus on doing what they do best, which is producing great work.

8:11And then a profile like a hero journalist profile can essentially drive more Substack subscribers, more people who are booking consultation hours, more people who are purchasing their courses, their books, uh people who can actually buy them a coffee through the buy me a coffee widget. So what hero journalist profiles are claimable custom uh claimable customizable profiles for the journalists that allow them to drag and drop WordPress style different widgets and then essentially personalize their profiles for readers to uh connect with them in the places that matter. Yeah, I remember as a when I was starting out as a freelancer, I I call myself a pseudojournalist at the time.

8:42I never really quite made it into certainly not like a New York Times or W, but I I was doing work in a certain vertical. Uh, putting together a small site wasn't the hardest, but getting awareness, getting getting the site out there is really hard. I mean, what you're supposed to learn how to do SEO and then rank your own site or something like this. So, that's really, I think, insightful. if they can piggy back off of the authority you guys have and appear in search, uh that that could be a huge boon to someone who's, as you said, freelancing and chasing multiple gigs. Maybe get some inbound.

9:18Yeah, journalists are entrepreneurs today. And what do entrepreneurs need? They need customers and they need subscribers and and a lot of journalists are, you know, some are proudly wearing that hat and some are others are are forced to put it on. And I think that you just need as many tools and resources to help them with that job to be done, which is getting visibility and credibility for your work so that you can earn those in uh earn passive income through the many different streams that you got. Yeah. Yeah.

9:54Well, this is um we talked about how they can get gigs and then while they're doing the gigs, I mean, I imagine helper reporter is still a core component is going to be the source request just connecting with the contributors. So, is that are you thinking about moving on site or are we still staying in the newsletter in 2026? Oh, we're definitely staying in the newsletter. Uh, yeah, I think that the the thing that we I mean learned really really like we didn't learn it as hard as I think the previous owner did, which is if it's not broke, don't don't fix it. And uh, you know, previously Harrow tried to rebrand and move to a platform called Connectively. And what we've learned in reviving it is like people love the the email newsletter.

10:26They love that format. They love not having to sign up, create a profile. They could monitor it at their own leisure. It's really interesting content. Like my mother-in-law lives in, you know, rural Arizona and she subscribed to the Herrow newsletter and she's like texted me like, "Oh, this is really cool." Like there's some really interesting things on there, which is by nature just like a it's an interesting piece of the web that still exists and it has existed since 2008. So, it's great to be in an opportunity to expand and grow on that and be called to action in ways that the industry needs it to be.

10:56And you know, it's just listening to what people are saying and hearing about their problems and seeing where Hero could be a solution. Yeah. I I actually never thought about that as kind of a a digest, but it is it's it's kind of the zeitgeist for our our mainstream culture. You can see what's coming down the pipeline in our culture. Arrow's used in a lot of ways, not not just to, you know, get featured in the media, but to keep a pulse on trends, to, you know, there's a lot of different reasons why people are subscribed. and it's been really surprising to to see to see why.

11:30Yeah, I I think that was really insightful what you said about not moving to a web app uh from a from a contributor perspective, but I it was also easy to imagine from a journalist perspective. Who who wants yet another platform to log into? I think a lot of journalists well-intentioned posted opportunities to connectively and then didn't log back in to see the pitches. We we certainly as an agency that was sending outreach at scale noticed an immediate very drastic drop in response rates which boohoo it's no nobody's problem except ours but it just it definitely broke the ecosystem when they tried to do that.

12:07So I think really smart stay newsletter. Yeah I mean look at the end of the day that it's it's keeping it simple. Harrow is the most simple intuitive thing to use to connect with journalists when it comes to reactive you know media type of requests. Um and then you know as we look ahead it's it's keeping it simple. What's our name? Help a reporter out. How can we be be helpful? Like so I think that that's that's the exciting part of of where we're at is trying to keep it simple and and be helpful to the reporters that use the platform. Does that mean featured going back to newsletter?

12:41No, featured is great like so featured.com shout out uh is very much existing where help reporter out is for reporters. Featured is very much to get you featured in the media. So we're excited about some different things there ranging from uh the development of PR agents and essentially you know using agents to identify relevant media opportunities that exist on Harrow and elsewhere and drafting suggested responses that you could take over the finish line. So there's a lot of Agentic stuff that should be hitting the featured platform that makes this really easy to use.

13:13Uh there's also, you know, other stuff that we've got in the the pipeline for featured, including starting to pay experts. There's certain stakeholders beyond publishers and journalists that are interested in paying experts to share their expertise. And so that ranges from, you know, a wide variety of opportunities uh that we're going to be exploring in the in the new year. And then also just like the fact that most expert sources also have websites and also have you know a need for high quality content.

13:49And so we're developing essentially uh agentic content teams that allow anyone to tap into their contact list and to their website and create intelligent content strategies, create interesting pieces of content that feature insights from their own community as well as the the feature community as a whole. So I think that'll expand the pie in terms of how many media opportunities are actually available for all because you know the the biggest bottleneck and the friction point is I've got a website I've got this inactive blog and it's because it's inactive because I don't have the time to to devote to it. So I think that the aentic experiences that we're going to be launching will allow people to generate quality content at scale that they're going to be really happy with.

14:22Yeah. Very interesting. you know, almost imagining a link exchange, but obviously it's different, right? It it's uh being able to engage in other people's content, them and yours, but get get content produced for your own site, too, which is I get outreach all the time, but to be honest, the main pain point is I don't want to create another blog post right now to entertain this idea of I'm not that opposed to having expert contributors to our site. I just don't want to create another blog post. Yeah.

14:55And it's like, and it goes back to the purpose of it, too, because most business owners have like a CRM with, you know, a few thousand, 10,000 or so contacts. And how do you keep those folks warm on the list? Are you just going to send a generic email to all 10,000 and press send? I think that we're living in a more personalized world and people expect personalized experiences. And so if you were to invite me to contribute to the blog, I would want something that speaks to my expertise, that speaks to something that I'm able to easily deliver on and, you know, makes it really simple to share that expertise and put it to use for myself and and for you and your blog.

15:26So um that's what we've been perfecting and working on for, you know, several years and now the technology is allowing us to to execute it in a more frictionless, easy way. Super cool. Uh let's just close out on the topic of 2025, but I think going into 2026, AI is still popular everyone. I mean, you use the word agentic very uh like it's a normalized word now, right? Everybody knows what aentic means. Uh it was a year ago much more taboo. We were playing cat-and- mouse like AI detection. Uh are we allowed to use AI? Even in featured and helper reporter, there is AI detection. Where are we going into 2026? Are we allowed as contributors to use AI?

16:06Are the journalists and publishers on the other side totally against AI? Do they want help detecting it? You're in the middle of all this. What you you have a very unique position to give an opinion on this. Yeah. I think that there's two camps. There's the the publishers and journalists that are anti and the ones that just don't care. The ones that don't care are not copying and pasting a quote.

16:37they're they're reviewing a pitch, determining whether or not that source is a excellent fit for their story, and then they're picking up the phone and, you know, doing an interview with those those people to put it across the finish line. So, I think that for the most part, you're not going to see stuff that's copy pasted. Um, and at the same time, then there's the folks that will oneclick the the little check box on Hera that says spare me from the AI pitches and we'll withhold those, you know, so that uh they don't receive 100% AI generated stuff. But in terms of like the 2026 AI outlook, um I think that yeah, like a year ago it was should we use AI to to pitch or not.

17:16Uh I think one of the biggest trends about AI is the use of agents and by agents I'm meaning any system that is capable of executing a decision with or without human involvement. So should I send this pitch? Should I uh pitch this particular journalist? Uh should I select this answer for my blog? Uh all of those are examples of agentic um you know systems and I think in a year from now like if you were to ask anyone today it'd probably be singledigit percentages in terms of people who are have adopted an agent and are actively using an agent uh within you know their workflows. A year from now I'd expect the the majority of people to have to if you ask them say yes I I have a personal agent that does X for me and I don't even have to look at it and it just orders my groceries.

17:53it approves approves questions on featured whatever that that scenario is. So that's a pretty exciting thing that is advancing really really quickly. Yeah. Awesome. Uh Brett, I I always love to end these episodes just to ask the guest. You know your space far better than I do? What what did I not ask in our conversation today that you want to share with our audience? Um I think that you asked plenty. I mean we covered Harrow, we covered covered a little bit of featured, we covered a little bit of AI.

18:32Um, you know, I think that at the end of the day we're all creators and we're all experts in something and the opportunity is cloudy and clear at the same time. I I think that 2026, no one's really knowing what to expect. like it I'm talking with uh CEOs of major AI companies and just like hey what would you teach your kid right now like to prepare for the future and like that is a cloudy cloudy answer and at the same time it's very clear on what the short term is in terms of where people need help and assistance both in their workflows in their businesses um in their careers and so I think that the the natural thing that anyone can do is just one foot in front of the other and and uh try to have a good short-term

19:13term strategy and very much a view on what the long term looks like and by long term what's the next six months look like what's you know I think that it's going to be an entirely different world in six months versus 12 so you know have the the 3-week execution plan and look ahead at at the next six months thank you so much I know people by now surely have heard of helperreporter.com but if not they should go check it out sign up for the newsletter feature.com anywhere where you want people to follow you on social? No, not at all. Right here on the podcast, of course. Yeah, those are two two great websites.

19:51I would highly encourage anyone to to sign up for help reporter out and just put the email address in. And then if you want early access to Harrow queries, then feature.com is a great place to do that. Uh where typically we'll crossost a Harrow query as soon as it goes live. Uh about two to three hours before it goes into the the Harrow newsletter. And that's not because I'm trying to get you to sign up. It's because we can only send out a three times a day email newsletter and typically there's a gap. So, uh, appreciate you having me on. Great.