The search for the perfect pitch continues

PR pros (and Ragan.com) weigh in on PR’s newest tool, MatchPoint

Flatiron Communications founder Peter Himler says he can help PR agents gear their press releases toward the right inbox.

Himler has created a site called MatchPoint, a $65-a-month service that works differently than most media lists. The software displays stories that reporters and bloggers have written about — rather than simply listing a reporter’s beat. Himler says knowing what the reporter has covered helps in pitching stories.

Here’s how it works: the PR pro plugs in a press release or keywords in the “Point” column of the Web site and then hits the word “Match.” The search engine shows a list of journalists, ranked by relevance of their body of work. The application pulls from more than 196,000 journalists, according to Himler.

“The contacts go back six months ago,” Himler says. “Originally, we thought about going back a year ago, but a lot of people in the media have lost their jobs.”

MatchPoint has only been out for two months and Himler admits there are some tweaks and revisions that will come later. He’s still wondering how to capture every article and byline, especially in terms of digital and broadcast content.