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Volume 1, Issue 1 January, 2010
This is the first in a multi-part series of best practices designed to help MatchPoint subscribers
maximize their results and find the best journalists and bloggers to engage.

3 Tips for Maximizing Your MatchPoint Results

Tips from MatchPoint users about what you should – or should not – include in your search / "Point" box.

1. What should I do if my brand / product / client is extremely niche-focused?

Some MatchPoint users are working with products or clients about which no reporter has recently written at all.

One such MatchPoint client was promoting a very specialized household appliance. The press release draft with which she was searching the "Point" box was very specific to this niche industry. And guess what? Not one of the 200,000 journalists in MatchPoint has written about this product in the past six months.

She then searched keywords about similar products and broader industry terms to find journalists who would be interested. These included home repair, home improvement, holiday gifts for dad, etc. The Matching results showed dozens of reporters for whom her news was relevant.

Remember, the objective isn't to find people who have already written about your specific product, but to find those who are likely to write about you now!

2. Should I include my company boilerplate in the "Point" search?

In general, the answer is "no". But we recommend experimenting both ways and see how your boilerplate affects your results.

If your boilerplate contains many generic words and phrases like "excellent customer service with a mission to create synergies...," our Matching system may produce results that have nothing to do with your main subject matter. However, if your boilerplate contains specific terms for your topic like "ice cream, snack foods, and easy to make meals for busy families" you may want to include the boilerplate to help find even more relevant articles and journalists.

3. My release includes many high-tech terms – will this hurt my results?

The inclusion of technical jargon and specs should not hurt your search results. But be sure that your release includes general terms and phrases relating the subject – MP3 players, laptops, video cameras, monitors, smart phone apps, etc – and MatchPoint will find reporters and bloggers who write about such devices.

Top 10 Reporters Covering Consumer Electronics
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Peter Svensson
Martyn Williams
Cecilia Kang
Andrew Berg
Don Clark
John Sutter
Ryan Kim
Sumner Lemon
Mark Milian
Ariel Schwartz
Associated Press
Network World
Washington Post
Wireless Week
Wall Street Journal
CNN - Cable News Network
San Francisco Chronicle
MacWorld
Los Angeles Times
Fast Company
PR Innovation of the Year Award Finalist
Pointless PR

Social media conversations about PR Spam:

1/6/2010
globalgeeknews: Getting ready to send emails to everybody who sent me CES PR spam.

12/17/2009
ChrisFerdinandi: most of the SPAM I get now is actually from PR peeps sending me irrelevant emails.

12/17/2009
clintboulton: Spam Lunacy= 3 PR reps pitching the same company and weak news item for weeks on end -- ALL SEPARATELY.

Contact Us

MatchPoint Info:
Jack Monson
(312) 658-0600
jmonson@enr-corp.com

MatchPoint Helpdesk:
(877) 927-7526
matchpoint@enr-corp.com

www.enr-corp.com/matchpoint.html

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