Source: Bulldog Reporter, posted on 7/31/2009

PR Search Application MatchPoint Launches Upgrade, Adds Key New Functions in Version 1.5

MatchPoint (www.prmatchpoint.com), a search application built specifically for PR professionals, has introduced a new version that integrates press campaign management and distribution with its patent-pending search capabilities. To date more than 1000 PR pros have signed on to use MatchPoint. According to the company, the new version allows direct engagement with those journalists whose editorial history most closely matches the content and context of the subscriber's proposed story.

MatchPoint 1.5 gives the subscriber the ability to build a customized "engagement" consisting of some or all of a story's media "assets" including a personalized cover note, company logo, key facts, attributable quotes, news release, digital images, links to video and audio files, weblinks, and more. Journalists receiving this package of PR assets via email can rate the sender on a scale of one-to-five based on the relevance of the press materials to the journalist's editorial interests. Consistently low-rated PR pros will be banned from using the application.

In keeping with its mission to eliminate PR spam (i.e., misguided story queries to reporters), MatchPoint breaks with the controversial industry practice of enabling PR pros to mass-email journalists and limits contact to a single journalist at a time.

"This new version takes media engagement to its next logical step by allowing the subscriber to directly and unobtrusively connect with the relevant reporters it has identified," noted Peter Himler, principal, Flatiron Communications and a co-developer of MatchPoint along with eNR Services of Norwalk, CT. "What's more, it does so in a customizable way that minimizes the likelihood that the journalist will receive PR spam. This new version even allows reporters to rate the quality and relevance of the sender's story idea."

Unlike other services, MatchPoint does not depend on vague job titles to identify the most appropriate reporters and bloggers. Rather, it uses patent-pending search technology to analyze a news release, pitch letter or keywords. MatchPoint then compiles a list of journalists – ranked by a number of metrics, including relevance, recency, and outlet reach – whose actual body of work "matches" the search query.

Journalist names are culled from several news content databases containing more than four million articles from 11,000 print publications, 25,000 online news sites, and 10,000 blogs dating back six months. More than 200,000 online and offline staff and freelance reporters, with contact information, are included in MatchPoint's database.

Matchpoint 1.5 is available with a free ten-day trial. Users may then subscribe at an introductory rate of $75/month for a single annual license. To register for the ten-day trial, visit www.PRMatchPoint.com.

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