Service · Journalist requests & expert placements
Reactive PR for health experts and brands
Every weekday, journalists send out hundreds of requests for expert sources. Reactive PR puts your expert in front of the ones that match their field, with a fast, accurate answer written in their own words. HealthSpark PR watches the requests, matches them to a verified expert, writes the answer with them, and charges $300 only when a placement goes live.
How reactive PR works
What reactive PR is, and why it changed in 2026
Reactive PR is the quickest route to earned coverage for an expert. Instead of pitching your own story and waiting for an editor to bite, you answer a question a journalist is already asking. HARO alone sent 639 editions between January and November 2026, about 13,400 journalist requests by our estimate.
The rules for getting picked changed this year. In our analysis of 639 HARO editions, half of the queries from June onward refused AI-written pitches, and 69% of health and pharma queries asked for proof of credentials. Volume no longer wins. A checkable expert answering in their own words does.
A verifiable expert profile
Credentials a journalist can check in one click: a short bio, a licence or certification where it applies, a consistent LinkedIn and an expert page. See our guide to building your expert profile.
Human-written answers
We draft with the expert, in their voice, from a short call or notes. No AI-generated pitches, which journalists can filter out and platforms can flag.
Requests that fit
We answer only the requests inside the expert’s real field. Off-beat answers get ignored, and on some platforms they can get an account removed.
Who it's for
Who reactive PR is for
It works best when there’s a named expert with real credentials who can approve a quote within a few hours. Supplements, nutrition and diet were the biggest health topic in 2026 HARO requests, followed by mental health and healthcare access and cost, so experts in those fields see the most openings. It isn’t for brands that want coverage without an expert, or for claims the evidence doesn’t support. Doctors can also see our PR for doctors page.
Process
How we work
Profile and topics
A short call to agree the expert’s topics, the outlets that matter and anything they won’t comment on. Then we build the verifiable profile.
Watch and match
We read the requests from every service each day and shortlist the ones that fit the expert’s field and the outlet’s audience.
Write and approve
We draft a short, specific answer with one concrete fact, in the expert’s words. They approve it before it goes, usually within the same day.
Report and bill
When a piece runs, we send the live link. That’s when you’re billed. No estimated reach and no advertising value equivalents.
Pricing
What reactive PR costs
$300 per placement, billed only when the coverage is live. No retainer, no set-up fee, and no minimum number of placements.
For proactive pitching, bylined articles and launch work on top, retainers run $3,000 to $5,000 a month. Our health PR pricing guide shows how the wider market charges.
Proof
Reactive placements we’ve won
Omhale’s respiratory therapist
Seven placements in about six weeks, the first within two, including Men’s Journal (syndicated to Yahoo Health), the Peloton blog and SingleCare. Read the case study →
A physio & rehab retailer
Reactive commentary from a physiotherapist earned 16 placements and took the retailer from zero branded search to around 200 searches a month. Read the case study →
A dermatologist co-founder
A specialist haircare brand’s dermatologist became a repeatedly quoted expert across 18 national and lifestyle titles. Read the case study →
Do it yourself
Prefer to answer requests yourself?
Our free guide to HARO for health experts covers how to find the right requests, what journalists want in an answer and how to make your credentials easy to check.
Questions
Common questions
What is reactive PR?
Reactive PR means answering the requests journalists send out when they need an expert for a story, through services like HARO, Connectively and Qwoted, or the #journorequest feeds. Instead of pitching your own story, you supply the quote a reporter is already looking for, on their deadline.
How much does reactive PR cost?
$300 per placement, billed only when the coverage is live. There's no retainer and no set-up fee, and single placements carry no commitment. If nothing runs, you pay nothing.
Do you use AI to write the responses?
No. Half of HARO queries from June to November 2026 were labelled as refusing AI-written pitches, and the platforms show journalists an AI-likelihood score on every response. We write each answer with the expert, in their words, and they approve it before it goes.
What credentials does the expert need?
A real, checkable expert in the field the journalist is asking about. In our 2026 HARO analysis, 69% of health and pharma queries from June onward asked for proof such as a licence, board certification or a LinkedIn profile. We build a short verifiable profile before we start answering.
How fast will I see coverage?
It depends on how often your topics come up. For Omhale, the first placement landed within two weeks and seven followed in about six weeks. Some experts see a placement in days; narrower specialties take longer.
Can you guarantee placements?
No. No one can guarantee editorial coverage. What we can promise is that you only pay for a placement that is live, with a link you can check.
Which journalist-request services do you use?
HARO, Connectively, Qwoted, SourceBottle and the #journorequest feeds on X and Bluesky, plus requests that come to us directly. We pick the request by fit with your expertise, not by platform.
What clients say
Trusted by the people behind the coverage
“HealthSpark got us quoted and featured across 15+ beauty and lifestyle titles we never imagined we'd reach, real editorial coverage, not paid placements. The backlinks lifted our search visibility, but it's the credibility of being cited as experts that changed how customers find and trust us.”
“In healthcare, credibility is everything. HealthSpark turned our clinicians into quoted experts in the national health press and built the kind of authority a generalist agency simply can't. It's brought real visibility, and new patients who found us through that coverage.”
Client testimonials, shared with permission and kept anonymous at our clients' request.
Start a conversation
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Tell us about your practice, brand or product. We'll assess the media opportunity and show you what a campaign could look like, no obligation.
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