The Response Source Journalist Enquiries System has been a huge success. Journalists like the way it speeds up and broadens the scope of their research and PR professionals appreciate the stream of media coverage opportunities it provides. Last year over 15,000 requests came through Response Source. That equates to coverage with an advertising value equivalent of about £20m, in just one year. (This is a very much a rough estimation, and I know the pitfalls of AVEs, but it gives an idea of the value of the Response Source enquiries. I actually think £20m is quite cautious as many enquires are from national newspapers, radio and TV.)
In recent times the big challenge for Response Source has been less to do with getting journalists to use the system and more to do with delivering the right enquiries to PR professionals. The popularity of the service among journalists means that even for customers subscribed to just one or two subject categories the volume of enquiries is sometimes an issue.
In theory, the simple solution would be to filter the enquiries further by subject. But this is actually a bit tricky. Journalists don’t always use the same keywords to describe things and in any case the decision of whether something is relevant or not can only really be made by the subscriber. So instead we looked at filtering by enquiry type, something that is much easier to define.
In fact, we had already received a lot of feedback from subscribers to say ‘we don’t want requests for prizes’ or ‘I’m only interested in requests for information’ and we’d already introduced the ability to filter out case study requests, so it made sense to expand that functionality.
Over time we have also had a number of requests from PR professionals wanting to send enquiries. Our acceptable use policy (AUP) has always ruled this out as it fell beyond the remit of the service and there were also concerns about transparency and such enquiries swamping the system. By including a ‘request from information from a PR’ option we hope to cater for this type of enquiry while being up-front about the source and allowing people to opt-out.
So, now there will be six different enquiry ‘types’, selectable by the journalist. The type will be clearly marked on each enquiry to help PR recipients identify the ones that interest them. Or if they prefer recipients can opt to receive only the types they want (email us if you want to do this).
The types are:
- request for information for an article
- request for review products
- request for spokesperson or expert
- request for competition prize or reader offer
- request for personal case study
- request for information from a PR
I hope this will make an already great service even better. As ever I’m really keen to hear feedback from users so let me know if you have any comments – feel free to comment on this post or email me.
Daryl, Let me weigh in, from the perspective of a freelance business journalist. I think you are definitely getting some traction with this inquiry system.
Some time ago I tried -- I'm not sure how long ago, maybe more than a year -- to take advantage of the system a couple of times. I was very specific, made it easy for the PRs to figure out how they might benefit. Absolutely no response. Zero. Nothing.
More recently, I gave it a few more tries. Every inquiry generated good, high-quality responses and highly-usable information.
Not a huge number. But exceptional quality. The perfect combination!
I am going to be reaching out for years and years to the people who have responded to my inquiries via the Response Source inquiry system. Why? Because they are clearly responsible, thoughtful PRs who are working professionally to represent the interests of their clients. So far, I would say they are "the cream of the cream."
So, uh, so far, so good.
REG CROWDER
Freelance Business Journalist
London, UK & Brittany, France
http://www.RegCrowder.com
http://www.journalistdirectory.com/pr/TgTQ/REG-CROWDER
Posted by: REG CROWDER | February 03, 2008 at 13:26