Peter Shankman the Source of Sources

The Zee Marketing Podcast

Peter Shankman is a serial entrepreneur, author, speaker, podcaster, and thought leader in marketing and public relations. Ever wanted to be quoted in a major news outlet as an authority or an expert in your space? Now, you can get valuable PR placements for free. In this conversation, we talked about Peter’s free new online service, Source of Sources. Launched earlier this summer, SOS is already making waves in the world of public relations with over 22,000 subscribers. Much like its better-known earlier incarnation, HARO – which stands for Help a Reporter Out – Source of Sources is an email listserv designed to make it easier for journalists to find the sources they need, and for sources, such as brands, business owners, and thought leaders to get the publicity they seek. Up to three times a day, subscribers get an email with queries by journalists from various media outlets.

If a journalist asks about a topic you know a lot about, simply reply directly with helpful information or feedback for a chance to be featured or quoted in the story. The only rule? Only reply to a journalist’s query, or SOS, if you have something productive and relevant to add. If you respond with something unhelpful, you will be permanently removed from the list! No exceptions; no appeals. This is serious business. He’s not messing around here!

Peter Shankman is perhaps best known as the founder of HARO (Help a Reporter Out), an online service that worked the same ways as Source of Sources. Groundbreaking at the time and user-friendly, HARO bridged the gap between journalists and public brands seeking media coverage by allowing journalists to connect with industry experts and the public for feedback on issues related to their reporting. In 2010, HARO was sold to Vocus, which was subsequently acquired by Cision in 2014. Earlier this year, Cision folded the classic HARO into Connectively, a web-based tool. Shortly after, our guest, Peter Shankman revived HARO as Source of Sources, an incredible resource he provides to subscribers free of charge.

A lifelong Manhattanite, marketing expert, and futurist, the New York Times called Peter Shankman “a rock star who knows everything about social media and then some.” He is a 5X best-selling author, and the author of Faster Than Normal: Turbocharge Your Focus, Productivity, and Success with the Secrets of the ADHD Brain. He also has a fantastic podcast about ADHD called The Faster than Normal podcast where he interviews psychologists and successful people from all fields who have ADHD. I highly recommend the book and the podcast is one of my favorites!

In this episode, Peter Shankman and I spoke about Source of Sources, the current state of PR and news media in general, and how to become savvier consumers of information. We also discussed Mental Capital Consulting, a consultancy he co-founded with a psychologist in 2023 that helps companies attract, hire, and retain neurodiverse employees while helping companies to become neuro-inclusive. And, to top it all off we resolved a mysterious bone of contention about cold pizza.

Peter assured us his new service, Source of Sources is free, but he says if you really feel like sending him a donation, you should send it to a charity such as Best Friends Animal Society or The NYC Mayor’s Alliance for Animals.

Watch on YouTube:

Follow Peter on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petershankman/

Learn more about Source of Sources: https://sourceofsources.com/

Mental Capital Consulting: https://mentalcapitalconsulting.com/

Coaching and Mastermind: https://www.shankminds.com/

Instagram: @petershankman https://www.instagram.com/petershankman/ Over 79K followers

Faster than Normal Podcast: https://www.fasterthannormal.com/

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Shankman