Latest / WOI Unfiltered / Brett Farmiloe Talks HARO, Featured and the future of PR
Transcript
- speaker-0: Alright ⁓ I just hit record. speaker-1: Wait a second, wait a second, let me grab coffee. Morning, Jana, how's it going? speaker-0: Morning. How are you? Happy Friday. I'm excited because we have a really fun episode today. We have Brett Farmolo on, who is the founder of Featured and the CEO of Harrow, which for anyone in our industry, it's a known entity. You've probably grown up with it. I have. ⁓ so we're really excited to have this conversation today. Brett, welcome and thank you for joining us. speaker-1: You too. speaker-2: Thanks for having me. speaker-1: think our audience will be particularly interested because you basically exist to make our job easier. When Harold came out, which by the way, help a reporter out, ⁓ which basically is lead generation for comms professionals and a lot of reputable outlets that show up there. ⁓ I would love to understand how you got into it. There's an interesting evolution from agency founder to building featured, which will also talk to us about ⁓ leading the return of Harrow. What originally pulled you into this this line of entrepreneurship and comms and how did that journey unfold? speaker-2: So I'll try to make it short 'cause the dots all connect, I promise. But ⁓ started out off my career as a corporate auditor and was auditing financial statements and determined that that wasn't maybe the best fit for me. So I hopped in an R V with three buddies and traveled around the country interviewing people about their career paths and documenting those stories on a a career education website that we founded. ⁓ so that actually turned out to be one big PR stunt. ⁓ we were every city we would roll into, we'd have, you know, TV stations, radio spots set up. We would do interviews and promote this tour that we're that we were on. That kind of got me into marketing. Started my own agency after a couple of years and ⁓ ran that for 10 years. And that was kind of a mistake. ⁓ got the website to rank on page one for the term digital marketing company and then started a digital marketing company. We had probably about 500 small business clients that We serviced, ⁓ we ended up selling that at the end of twenty twenty one and then ⁓ started to jump in full time to focus on featured dot com and then we acquired Harrow in April of twenty twenty five, brought it back. ⁓ it was discontinued and we reached out to ⁓ the owner and said, Hey, we would love to r ⁓ reactivate it and we ended up acquiring those assets and and bringing it back and it's been pretty, pretty fun. The backstory real quick with with Harrow, it was f it was founded in two thousand eight, ⁓ and it was acquired in twenty ten, ran for fourteen years, ⁓ and then it was essentially announced that it would be ⁓ rebranded and also the product would be going into a platform. So it was rebranded to connectively and then connectively was ⁓ discontinued after that. So then it kind of left a gap in the market and we recognized that and said, Hey, this actually leaves ⁓ A huge gap in PR workflows, we we need to fill it. speaker-0: You founded found it featured. And as the founder of Featured, you obviously were seeing kind of the demise of Harrow, right? You were watching what we were watching in the industry, which was it was this awesome platform, everyone loved it, everyone used it on our side of the house. And then it was just completely changed and then basically went downhill. ⁓ what were your thoughts as you were watching that and what made you say, like, I need to snap that up and get it back up and running because there's value there? speaker-2: Yeah, I think that the the problem it that Harrow faced was quality and trust. Like at the end of the day it was about quality of the queries that were be that were coming through. And then it was about the the quality and trust that was happening on the source side, which as AI was adopted, there was no filters to prevent spam happening on the platform. And so really I think that it it came down to a decision of do we want to invest in this platform? ⁓ to maintain quality and trust. And I think that the the decision was, well, let's try to put it in a platform to see if that solves it. ⁓ wait a second. how much revenue is this making? Okay, like let's let's let's just discontinue it. And that's when we stepped in to to say, Hey, like we actually think that why is this a brand worth reviving? Well, it's because Harrow as a brand, like if you're in public relations, if you're in journalism, you know Harrow. And you might pronounce it Harrow or Harrow. But but ⁓ you know, I think that that's been one of the most fun things about bringing it back is just how many people have nostalgic stories of how Harrow helped them out in a tough spot. They had a client that need needed a placement, they there was a journalist that needed a source last minute, and Harrow's always been that thing that you could turn back to. speaker-0: Yeah. It's not just about getting the placement either. It's a great relationship builder. Right. Like as on the PR side of the house, we're always trying to find the right media. And when you see these come through and you respond to them, then it opens the door to that relationship and that longer term, like, ⁓ okay, we can work together. And I have these other clients that might be able to answer the questions for you too. So it helps from a PR side of the house in so many different ways, which I think is really nice. Can you talk a little bit about featured because we skipped over that and I want to better understand the featured platform so that we can see how how does it all fit together for you. speaker-2: Yeah. So to understand featured I should actually introduce connectively. Well welcome back to the stage connectively. speaker-1: ⁓ speaker-0: Dead, back alive. speaker-2: So we we've we ran featured as a platform and essentially hero in a platform, if you could imagine that. And it's essentially centralizing all of these different queries into one platform and allowing you to filter, search, and respond to stuff that's relevant. ⁓ because not email three times a day, email isn't for everyone. So we ran featured as a platform and we grew it to a hundred thousand users, about twenty five hundred publishers, and we were connecting an expert source with the publisher every six seconds. And the problem was that there still wasn't enough opportunities on the platform. ⁓ and so what we decided to do was take Connectively, which we had acquired alongside Harrow, lift up Featured and that whole experience, put it into Connectively, and because there's a lot of people who rely on that experience and we didn't want to disrupt anything other than the name, the logo, and the URL. So did that. And now what we're about to relaunch with Featured is the co pilot for PR. And so essentially it'll be aggregating media opportunities beyond journalist requests. It'll include byline articles, podcasts, journalists that you could pitch, speaking opportunities, award submissions, and a lot more ⁓ different opportunities that will aggregate into one interface and then have workflows that power that so that you never miss a media opportunity. So ⁓ we're really excited for that launch and we'll have three brands that we'll be owning and operating. speaker-1: This be the PR one stop shop? Meaning, you know, we have subscriptions to X, Y, and Z, the database. Now here's the query, ⁓ you know, engine, even speaking engagements. I mean, if you could throw awards in there, we'd really appreciate it. but honestly, could could this replace all your subscriptions in in an ideal world? Is that the goal? speaker-2: Here's my favorite job as a founder. It's to speak with twenty to thirty customers every single week. And that's what I spend the j majority of my time doing. And a lot of the conversations start with, what do you subscribe to? And they're like, okay, let me t let me take a breath. And you know, PR folks are subscribed to so many different things right now. They they have a journalist database. They have multiple journalist requests platforms that they're subscribed to. How many sub stacks are you subscribed to? How many, like, are you subscribed to a podcast pitching database? Do you have an awards database as well that you're subscribed to? And I think that, you know, people are really fatigued. Like PR wakes up and there's 15 different emails in your inbox of all these different subscriptions that are notifying you of stuff that may or may not be relevant. And so what what we've recognized is a problem, ⁓ a a a subscription problem. ⁓ a notification problem within your inbox that's clouding up things. And so what we really intend feature to do is a big time saver. It's it's a copilot that's meant to augment a lot of your efforts so that your subscriptions come into to one and you're able to get notified, you know, via whatever communication method you want, whether that's email, whether that's Slack, whether that's just text message, ⁓ to be notified when there is an opportunity that you're ready to be ⁓ to act on. speaker-0: It's amazing. So one thing when you and I talked before, and this is kind of going specifically into the platform a little bit, but I know as a PR professional, on a variety of the things we subscribe to, there's always the option to reach out in that platform to the media. And I feel like a lot of PR professionals don't love that because you kind of see your email is just getting caught in spam somewhere. Like no one's ever gonna read that. ⁓ and and I'm going back like starting in like scission and platforms like that. But how does yours work? 'Cause I feel like you mentioned that you can kind of come out of the platform and just email as a human with that. speaker-2: So let me approach it from two ways. The the first way is maybe like the twenty twenty two, twenty twenty-three Brett that's running a platform and wants all messages to route through the platform. Because as a platform you want to have stickiness and you want to have the dependency and and things like that. So so I get it. Like platforms want things to route through you, ⁓ through through their system. Enter twenty twenty five Brett with Harrow and you've got email. as the main communication method and you have never seen more happy, delighted users to be able to take an email address and to send an email and to own the communication. And like PR and communication professionals want to own communications. Simple. So ⁓ so yeah, the the new featured when it's a copilot for PR will have the option to send an email. And you could do one of two things. You could either integrate ⁓ your Gmail or Outlook with featured and send the email directly through the platform, which will actually be sent directly through your email address. Or you could just copy the email address, you put it into your own system and then ⁓ compose whatever message you want to send and and send. And we think that's just a much cleaner way to manage communications and it's the thing that both journalists and ⁓ PR have requested. speaker-0: Can you talk a little bit about because I'm approaching it from the PR side of the house, right? Emily and I know that and how valuable this tool can be for us and time saver can be for us. But speak to us a little bit about the other side of the house. Like what is happening for the journalists? How is this making their lives easier? And not just the Harold portion of it, but the the whole thing, right? The whole offering. speaker-2: Yeah. So if PR is going through subscription fatigue, journalists are have been fatigued for for many, many years on you know, in in a variety of places, ⁓ specifically the inbox. ⁓ there every journalist that I speak with talks to me about how AI pitches are making their inbox just an unmanageable place. most journalists have burner accounts. Like they they have, you know, their their special email that they actually won't give out to anyone. And that's the email that they could use. And the trusted sources get the get the good email and then everyone else gets the the the other email. So ⁓ AI has made it really horrible for for journalists in their inbox. and at the same time, AI has so much potential to make their inbox better. And what I mean by that it AI's real potential is in matching. It's about surfacing the relevant opportunity and the right journalist to pitch the right thing. And what's actually happening in practice and where tools and platforms are making it worse is essentially generating the pitch and then auto following up with the journalists and trying to like get them to respond in any way. And it just creates a lot of noise. And so there's ⁓ practitioners who are using it in a really smart way, which is around using AI to deploy on the time intensive tasks like like monitoring and doing research. And then there's the people who are using it to ⁓ save time in terms of just pitching. And that's not the best use case. And the the better use case I think is ⁓ the time saving on the on the research and monitoring side. speaker-1: I think it also leads to the relationship between comms professionals and journalists, Brett, just in terms of this sacred pairing that back when we started in the early 2000s, it was face-to-face, it was lunches, it was events, it was desk sides. But now with decimated newsrooms, titles that don't even exist anymore, how do you foresee the relationship between comms professionals and journalists shaping? I even in the next five years, but also via a platform like feature. speaker-2: think it'll change dramatically and I don't think it'll change at all. And what I mean by that is, ⁓ Jenna, you highlighted that Harrow's a great relationship builder. And it's true. Like I've I have, you know, quote unquote dog fooded the product and I contribute articles to a few different outlets. So I'll put out a Harrow to get connected with sources. And I have some amazing relationships as a journalist that I've established with with sources that I've used for multiple different stories. And so like a very simple thing like email still has the ability to develop strong relationships when the timing is right. You know, Emily, you mentioned like what does relationship building look like in five years. What year is it? All right. So 2031, I you know, I think that like one of the best things that's happened in 2026 or most interesting things is is the rise of of agents. And if you look at the problem that agents typically solve, it's like all the stuff that you don't that takes up a lot of time that you could probably automate and probably, you know, outsource or or whatever. If we're talking about problems and the journalist inbox is the problem, what's a great way to solve that? Like every journalist should probably have an inbox agent that's essentially surfacing different pitches and saying, okay, we know what you're worked working on. We know what your next few stories are, monitor my my inbox and then let me know who I should actually connect with. And then also like politely decline the f the folks that aren't a good fit. People who are spamming politely say stop. You know, like so I think that in five years, it's gonna be a lot of agentic communication that now allows that relationship to actually get into an environment without all the hassle. And what when when I think about that, the best part of a relationship building is when you're together, like when you're in a conversation, when you're being interviewed, when you're doing all of that. What's the worst part of that? Scheduling, seeing who I should actually build a relationship with. So I think in five years you're gonna see a lot like every journalist will probably have an agent, every PR professional will probably have some sort of agent, and the agents will be talking to each other to ultimately get something on the calendar of a of a good conversation so you can make great content. speaker-1: So on that topic of agents, so this, and I'm riffing for a second, and this is what Jenna and I were talking about this morning. We we are pitching a very reputable business focused outlet. And they have a new, I'm gonna call it a service, maybe it is an agent that is it it to paraphrase it's like a pay for play, Brett, like there is onus on likely the client budget. Where they will take the story, say, yes, this holds weight with this particular editor. And it's almost a gatekeeping situation. It was the first time I've ever noticed something like this, especially for such a reputable outf outlet. But I also think to your point about just crazy inboxes and how that just escapes journalists these days, ⁓ it might be really smart and it might be just a smart way to monetize. Do you Are you aware of this type of behavior ⁓ with these outlets and and does featured play into that space as well? It it feels like it does to a certain extent, but but really it's the I think it's the comms professionals, well, I guess on both sides of the coin that are paying into this luxury of cutting through a lot of clutter when it speaker-2: That's really ⁓ interesting use case. I think that that it's it's smart, not maybe for the monetization reasons, but more so to to facilitate the objective of more high quality content. So if if it's a routing problem, like the pitch is just going to the wrong person, it's smart to put an agent in there to figure out where that pitch should actually go and if it has legs. So I really like that that use case because now it it it now speeds up the content creation process and allows more people to contribute. So I like that. ⁓ one of the things that we are focused on with featured is purpose build agents that help with submission workflows. So if you look at a problem like byline articles, for example, and you want to contribute ⁓ content, the submission workflows range across, you know, publication. It's like, well, should I email an editor? ⁓ with a pitch or should I email an editor with a full length article? If if a full length article, what's the requirements? What's the word submission count? Like what does it have to be like? What are the, you know, there's so many different nuances. And so if you think about how agents can speed up that flow, a lot of what the question that you need to answer as a PR professional is how do I submit? Like how do I how do I, you know, get it in the right place? So ⁓ that's one thing that featured is is actively working on. is making sure that it's not only easy to find opportunities, it needs to be really easy to submit opportunities as well. speaker-0: And it's not right now. I feel like the idea of op eds and byline articles have gotten so much more difficult l to your point exactly, of like, do I submit the full article? Do I submit a pitch? Do I get someone to bite on the pitch first and then write the article? What's the length? How many people can I submit to? Like all of that. So is that something that's coming from featured in the near term or is it there now? speaker-2: Yeah, no, this is this is coming like by the time this podcast episode is is out, it'll probably like featured will be out with with this. So the reason why it's it's doesn't exist in the world today is 'cause it's so hard. Like we've been working on this problem for for a while where if you look at those byline publications, man, you just take one publication And there's like a hundred and thirty different editors that you could possibly pitch at this one publication we were looking at. And then every one of them have their different submission requirements. And that's like one publication. There's like, you know, tens of thousands of others that that we're trying to look at and say, okay, what's the prop appropriate flow and how do you keep that flow up to date when that one editor leaves and then that email is no longer, you know, valid. So ⁓ It's a really hard problem. It's the reason why something like this doesn't exist. But that's also why twenty twenty six is one of the most exciting times ever, because you've got technology that's catching up that ⁓ help can help keep this data up to date and then make it so that, you know, our our job to be done is is much easier. speaker-1: I feel so validated, Brett. Thank you. Thank you for starting my day with validation. speaker-0: ⁓ that you just made me think of. So something that we've talked about a lot and and we have another guest coming on soon is the idea of kind of advertorial and paid content. You see a lot of publications, they've they've all obviously they have a price tag for certain pieces of content. To date, Harrow has really been about earned, right? And just the relationship building. With the you know, new version of featured and connectively, will paid come into that at all? speaker-2: Absolutely. So I think that featured is designed for every use case of what a media opportunity is. And so if branded content is one thing that people are interested in, we will cover it. ⁓ so what does that mean? It means that we've got to be able to to get that data and put it into our system and make it usable and ⁓ so that when someone says, Hey, I'm interested in branded content within ⁓ AI for PR, what do you got for me? It's like, Okay, here's the different publications and the submission requirements and what it costs and then Route you to the right place. speaker-1: Anything with influencers on deck. speaker-2: Yeah, absolutely. ⁓ so we've got we're tackling LinkedIn influencers first. ⁓ so that'll be included in in the products and I think that'll go really well. And then yeah, it's on the to-do list for, you know, the the rest of the social platform. speaker-0: Anything we didn't ask you about featured or connectively or hero? speaker-2: I don't know, it's pretty crazy what we're doing, honestly. Like ⁓ we're you're you're catching me right in the middle of of this transition where literally just a couple days ago we announced Connectively's back and it's gone surprisingly well. ⁓ you know, we're announcing that featured is is coming out with this chat interface and essentially being, you know, that co pilot for PR. And so I think that like, you know, not to be too promotional. I just think it's an interesting time for P PR practitioners. And if I were running like a a PR agency today, I from what I hear, a lot of them are taking inventory on what are the tools that are driving the best results and what do we not need and how do we consolidate? And then how does Cloud factor into all this? ⁓ and I think that's probably the the interesting direction as well, is that we're designing and we're launching featured Not so that you go to featured.com, but more so to fit within your own workflows. And what I mean by that is most PR practitioners are gonna show up, they're gonna go to Cloud, they're gonna say, find me podcasts or find me byline articles about this. Here's my client. You already know everything that there is to know about my client, just like help me out. And we envision a future where Cloud will call featured MCP server. ⁓ it'll filter out, you know, what what the opportunities are within featured, and then you'll be able to execute that within cloud as well. So I think that like the the future's bright for for PR. Like the demand for PR services is think is just going to rise dramatically in the next couple of years. ⁓ because, you know, it's easier than ever to launch products and it's harder than ever to get customers. It's hard to get visibility for those products. So I think it's it's a great time to enter into PR, to be in PR. ⁓ and we're excited to support it. speaker-1: That is awesome, Brett. ⁓ appreciate the support too. We are very excited about featured. So we'll keep an eye out on all the good news to come. Congrats on Connectively Two and the relaunch there. speaker-0: So we always ask this at the end of the episode and I think you've kind of talked about your impact, but what would you say your impact has been in the last week or so? speaker-2: Well, I think we've we've tried to simplify PR. I think that that's probably the the biggest impact. And then, you know, the the larger impact that even goes back to the R V trip that that we talked about is that, you know, everyone needs a meaningful outlet to share their experience and their expertise. And that's what we're really after to democratize access, to be able to share knowledge and share it in a meaningful way. So I think that that's what we all do is PR professionals sometimes, like on a good day, is is allowed people to share their message and it's good to be able to bring that to so many people. speaker-0: would just say the founder of an agency idea of simplifying and helping to get these good stories out is one that that I am absolutely loving. I thank you so much. Appreciate your time. speaker-2: Thanks for having me on.