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Topic: ProfNet? Useful or waste of money?
| Author | Message |
| anne22 | Posted – 6/14/2006 4:22:58 PM | show profile | email poster I'm thinking of investing the $600 for this system. PR Newswire says I can choose one vertical (ie, healthcare) and receive notices in my email from journalists in every media seeking experts to comment on stories they are creating. Anybody used this? Worth the money or a waste? Thanks for your insights. I appreciate your info. A |
| bananarama | Posted – 6/14/2006 6:19:22 PM | show profile Hi, I can say from the journalism side that I use it frequently and find it immensely helpful, and often quote people I find through Profnet. I think its worth a shot for you- besides, the $600 is a write-off, right? |
| cswriter | Posted – 6/14/2006 6:26:32 PM | show profile I have to agree with funkygrrl. I've always found good experts that I've been able to use for articles. |
| WritingSoul | Posted – 6/14/2006 8:00:46 PM | show profile I LOVE Profnet... |
| newsandfeatures | Posted – 6/14/2006 8:58:00 PM | show profile | email poster It's worth the money if you use it a lot and if you're earning good money. Otherwise, just network, network, network. Contact people at top universities, hospitals, etc. |
| anne22 | Posted – 6/14/2006 9:26:48 PM | show profile | email poster CORRECTION; I need it to RESPOND with my experts Sorry for the confusion. I do PR for plastic surgeons, cosmetic dentists and derms. I'm asking because I need to OFFER EXPERTS in this field. I was told this was a source to hook up journalists with my clients when writers were looking for experts in the fields I represent. Yes? No? |
| brainfry | Posted – 6/14/2006 11:51:38 PM | show profile PR Leads Sign up here to receive leads from Profnet. It's only $99 a month and you can do it on a trial basis. prleads.com |
| WritingEd | Posted – 6/15/2006 10:33:07 AM | show profile < I do PR for plastic surgeons, cosmetic dentists and derms. I'm asking because I need to OFFER EXPERTS in this field. I was told this was a source to hook up journalists with my clients when writers were looking for experts in the fields I represent.>> What you want to do is offer your experts to writers through ProfNet by coming up with great story ideas on which your experts could comment on. Journalists can have ProfNet "leads" like this sent to them regularly (weekly?) on a topic of their choice. Sometimes they do round-ups of experts who can speak on newsworthy topics, and each listing includes that expert's perspective on the news. I find these helpful as a journalist. In your case, you might get your experts to provide some thought-provoking, surprising, or controversial views on plastic surgery, i.e. plastic surgeon says surgery isn't always the best way to go. I have also requested experts for specific story angles through ProfNet. PR people respond, pitching how their client fits the story. The best responses are those that really target the story angle and don't try to go off on a tangent to match the agenda of the expert. For example, if I'm seeking experts on a story about how dog owners are sending their pups to doggie spas these days, I don't want to hear from a dog toys company offering me their expert on rawhide chews. Some PR people think that just because the angle relates indirectly to their expert, I'm going to want to interview that expert and expand my story. |
| gluedwings | Posted – 6/15/2006 1:08:07 PM | show profile I looove ProfNet |
| zinny | Posted – 6/15/2006 2:51:08 PM | show profile I would think that it would be worth a shot at least. As a writer, I often post queries there and wind up interviewing sources that I would never have found otherwise. I agree with the above post about making sure that you only respond to story ideas that are actually a good fit for your client. Otherwise you are wasting everybody's time. A fair amount of the responses I get are vague, poorly written, or irrelevant. I generally delete or block emails from PR people that send me generic experts that clearly don't meet the needs of the story. My suggestion would be to spend some time putting together brief boilerplate about your client and come up with a few bullet points about how your client can directly speak to the issues in the article. |
| fearofblackhat | Posted – 6/16/2006 11:39:18 AM | show profile profnet useful I alwys turn to ProfNet for a fresh source. |
| linjohn | Posted – 6/16/2006 3:58:12 PM | show profile I do beauty PR which has included representing plastic surgeons and derms in the past. An agency I used to work for subscribed to Profnet, and while it did offer some leads, I didn't find it very useful for my area of expertise. Things could have changed since then (this was 2003) so definitely get other opinions (try posting in the PR section), but I remember that most of my leads came from pitching and my personal contacts at magazines and TV stations. Good luck! |
