| MatchPoint, an innovative new search application for public relations professionals, launches this week after three months of beta testing. The new application, which goes live on Feb. 2, resolves the long-standing complaint among journalists about PR spam and those in the industry who send misguided story queries to the media.
MatchPoint (www.prmatchpoint.com) does not rely on vague job titles to identify potentially receptive reporters and bloggers. Rather, it uses patent-pending search technology to analyze a news release, pitch letter or group of keywords in order to produce a media list with a weighted ranking of journalists whose actual body of work "matches" the search query. Names are culled from several news content databases containing 3 million articles from 11,000 print publications, 25,000 online news sites, and 10,000 blogs dating back six months.
The issue of PR spam reached a crescendo last year when Wired magazine editor Chris Anderson, angered by the number of superfluous PR pitches in his inbox, published a list of the email addresses of the offending PR practitioners, in effect blackballing them from corresponding with the magazine and website. Other influential journalists, such as TechCrunch's Michael Arrington, have expressed similar frustration with the profession.
"MatchPoint uses an entirely new approach to this critical PR function," noted Peter Himler, a MatchPoint co-developer who heads the New York-based PR/media consultancy Flatiron Communications. "At a time when search technology has upended the PR industry, it's exciting to see how it also can be used to improve one of the profession's more enduring competencies — media relations."
To achieve even more exacting results, users can modify MatchPoint's proprietary search algorithm by adjusting the relative weight of its four search parameters: article relevance, article recency, media outlet reach, and frequency of articles. The resulting list of journalists can then be downloaded to an Excel spreadsheet with detailed contact information available for each journalist.
"MatchPoint brings to the PR industry the same search techniques that Google
brought to the masses," explained search expert, best-selling author and former IBM Distinguished Engineer Mike Moran, a member of MatchPoint's advisory board. Moran, currently the Chief Strategist for Converseon, a social media marketing agency, went on to say, "PR people don't want to spam journalists. MatchPoint makes it easier for them to send their story pitch to just the right reporters instead of everyone on their lists — something both the PR and journalism professions have been waiting for."
Matchpoint 1.0 is being introduced with a free ten-day trial as either a downloadable desktop widget or through the MatchPoint website. Users may then subscribe at an introductory rate of $65/month for a single annual license covering two computers. To register for the ten-day trial, go to www.PRMatchPoint.com. |
