Public Relations - Blogging
Blogging for Travel Professionals
A blog can be a terrific tool for your company, but like so many other decisions, should only be adopted with a great deal of forethought and commitment. Focusing on a few marketing tactics well is a better course of action than continual but unfocused effort spread between too many marketing tactics. It is highly likely that a blog’s success will come over a long period of time and will be limited in scope compared to other more traditional marketing venues such as concerted networking in your community. It would be the rare instance where a blog is a first line marketing tactic for a travel agency. A blog’s contribution will initially be incremental – an excellent opportunity for an agency with otherwise established marketing channels.
A blog is an outbound marketing tactic that can extend the reach of your brand, but it also invites commentary and discussion – a double edged sword. A well managed blog can assist you with forming stronger relationships with your community and to develop a conversation in which you and your readership can share your mutual passion for travel.
Blogs also give you an opportunity to demonstrate your expertise and can lead to other opportunities in your community for writing and speaking. Your “voice” will be directly available and accessible to your readers, thus humanizing your business profile. A blog also becomes a terrific proxy for focus groups as you can track conversations to see where your community’s interests are developing.
Just as your company has a Mission Statement, so too should your blog have an editorial mission – a reason for being, as well as a point of view and a voice. So your first step is to decide exactly what you will be blogging about and how you will present your messages. Your editorial mission should focus on your selection of topics and your anticipated audience. What will your blog feature? Why will it be of interest? How will you engage your readers and entice them to comment and involve themselves?
Begin by reading as many blogs as possible. Note how most blogs have a core theme around which their editorial mission is built. Few blogs are about “what I’m doing now” (that’s Twittering and another set of columns altogether). The website Alltop (http://travel.alltop.com/) is a very good resource for reviewing a wide selection of travel blogs. Start your own editorial mission quest by reading several of these travel blogs daily for a couple of weeks. Follow the ones you choose closely and watch how the publishers develop their topics around central themes. Choose one of interest and engage the writer by leaving a comment. Look at existing comments on the blogs to see how to best encourage and develop “conversation.” Note also the consistency of “voice” of the writer(s). There is a definite perspective that informs the editorial copy of any good blog, and it will seldom waiver. It is that voice that keeps readers coming back for more.
Blogging for Travel Agencies – Topics and Policies
Just as with any content-driven marketing tool, it is important to give appropriate time and consideration to the process by which you will select your topics and the tone of voice you will use to express yourself in the blog. One of the first and most important lessons to learn is that a blog is not a sales tool – it is a marketing communications vehicle and the content should reflect the two-way nature of a conversation, not the single-direction model of a brochure.
Most good blogs are not overtly promotional, but focus on topics and the larger issues of importance to the blog’s readership. Thus, rather than talking directly about your agency and specials that are available, most travel agency blogs should delve into destinations, logistics, tips and ideas related to travel. You want the content you choose to be compelling and to be both interesting and valuable to the reader. Tailor your content so that visitors will benefit from their reading. By providing useful information, you help to ensure readers will return at a later date. A good way to do so is to create a serial…a series of articles on a given theme spread out over a regular publication cycle that will provide new information each day on the topic.
Your research oriented reading should be a source for your articles. Spend some time each day combing travel websites and newspaper travel sections for ideas. Keep a file of ideas from which you can draw when needed. You can use articles from other sources either as inspiration for your own content, or you can comment on your reading, for example, on trends you see developing from your survey of sources. If you have a niche market, a blog is a great opportunity to showcase your expertise. Giving clients inside tips on cabin selection, theme-park navigation, safari basics are all ways of capturing their attention and demonstrating the value-add of your blog’s content.
In general, your tone should be light and fun. After all, you are blogging about travel, not life insurance! You readers want to know about travel – how it works, how to travel better and how to make the most out of the travel opportunities they have. Demystify the process for them. Be their inside travel guru and they will appreciate your efforts. But keep the tone and voice authentic and allow for the type of commenting and two-way conversations that are inherent in blogs.
Naturally, the conversational aspect of a blog carries some risk. Most blogs will establish a set of comment policies to which readers must adhere. In general, indicate that comments are welcome and that it is “OK” to disagree. Equally important, however, is to establish up front that it is not “OK” to be disagreeable. Let readers know that you reserve the right to edit or not publish any comment and that emailing a comment is an acceptable way of commenting if they do not wish to publish directly to the blog pages. Request that the readers be polite in all instances and to address the issues raised in the articles, not the personality of any other commenter or author.
Remember that in the world of blogging, the comments and your replies to comments are as much a part of the content as the articles themselves. When readers comment, thank them for the comments and reply to them in an insightful and appreciative manner. Encourage a comfortable and safe environment for your readers to feel good about leaving comments.
Create a sense of community on your blog and with a bit of proper promotion and luck you can grow your blog’s readership.
A blog can be a terrific tool for your company, but like so many other decisions, should only be adopted with a great deal of forethought and commitment. Focusing on a few marketing tactics well is a better course of action than continual but unfocused effort spread between too many marketing tactics. It is highly likely that a blog’s success will come over a long period of time and will be limited in scope compared to other more traditional marketing venues such as concerted networking in your community. It would be the rare instance where a blog is a first line marketing tactic for a travel agency. A blog’s contribution will initially be incremental – an excellent opportunity for an agency with otherwise established marketing channels.
A blog is an outbound marketing tactic that can extend the reach of your brand, but it also invites commentary and discussion – a double edged sword. A well managed blog can assist you with forming stronger relationships with your community and to develop a conversation in which you and your readership can share your mutual passion for travel.
Blogs also give you an opportunity to demonstrate your expertise and can lead to other opportunities in your community for writing and speaking. Your “voice” will be directly available and accessible to your readers, thus humanizing your business profile. A blog also becomes a terrific proxy for focus groups as you can track conversations to see where your community’s interests are developing.
Just as your company has a Mission Statement, so too should your blog have an editorial mission – a reason for being, as well as a point of view and a voice. So your first step is to decide exactly what you will be blogging about and how you will present your messages. Your editorial mission should focus on your selection of topics and your anticipated audience. What will your blog feature? Why will it be of interest? How will you engage your readers and entice them to comment and involve themselves?
Begin by reading as many blogs as possible. Note how most blogs have a core theme around which their editorial mission is built. Few blogs are about “what I’m doing now” (that’s Twittering and another set of columns altogether). The website Alltop (http://travel.alltop.com/) is a very good resource for reviewing a wide selection of travel blogs. Start your own editorial mission quest by reading several of these travel blogs daily for a couple of weeks. Follow the ones you choose closely and watch how the publishers develop their topics around central themes. Choose one of interest and engage the writer by leaving a comment. Look at existing comments on the blogs to see how to best encourage and develop “conversation.” Note also the consistency of “voice” of the writer(s). There is a definite perspective that informs the editorial copy of any good blog, and it will seldom waiver. It is that voice that keeps readers coming back for more.
Blogging for Travel Agencies – Topics and Policies
Just as with any content-driven marketing tool, it is important to give appropriate time and consideration to the process by which you will select your topics and the tone of voice you will use to express yourself in the blog. One of the first and most important lessons to learn is that a blog is not a sales tool – it is a marketing communications vehicle and the content should reflect the two-way nature of a conversation, not the single-direction model of a brochure.
Most good blogs are not overtly promotional, but focus on topics and the larger issues of importance to the blog’s readership. Thus, rather than talking directly about your agency and specials that are available, most travel agency blogs should delve into destinations, logistics, tips and ideas related to travel. You want the content you choose to be compelling and to be both interesting and valuable to the reader. Tailor your content so that visitors will benefit from their reading. By providing useful information, you help to ensure readers will return at a later date. A good way to do so is to create a serial…a series of articles on a given theme spread out over a regular publication cycle that will provide new information each day on the topic.
Your research oriented reading should be a source for your articles. Spend some time each day combing travel websites and newspaper travel sections for ideas. Keep a file of ideas from which you can draw when needed. You can use articles from other sources either as inspiration for your own content, or you can comment on your reading, for example, on trends you see developing from your survey of sources. If you have a niche market, a blog is a great opportunity to showcase your expertise. Giving clients inside tips on cabin selection, theme-park navigation, safari basics are all ways of capturing their attention and demonstrating the value-add of your blog’s content.
In general, your tone should be light and fun. After all, you are blogging about travel, not life insurance! You readers want to know about travel – how it works, how to travel better and how to make the most out of the travel opportunities they have. Demystify the process for them. Be their inside travel guru and they will appreciate your efforts. But keep the tone and voice authentic and allow for the type of commenting and two-way conversations that are inherent in blogs.
Naturally, the conversational aspect of a blog carries some risk. Most blogs will establish a set of comment policies to which readers must adhere. In general, indicate that comments are welcome and that it is “OK” to disagree. Equally important, however, is to establish up front that it is not “OK” to be disagreeable. Let readers know that you reserve the right to edit or not publish any comment and that emailing a comment is an acceptable way of commenting if they do not wish to publish directly to the blog pages. Request that the readers be polite in all instances and to address the issues raised in the articles, not the personality of any other commenter or author.
Remember that in the world of blogging, the comments and your replies to comments are as much a part of the content as the articles themselves. When readers comment, thank them for the comments and reply to them in an insightful and appreciative manner. Encourage a comfortable and safe environment for your readers to feel good about leaving comments.
Create a sense of community on your blog and with a bit of proper promotion and luck you can grow your blog’s readership.
Promoting Your Travel Agency’s Blog
Like any communications tool, it is not enough simply to have a blog. You must properly promote your blog to fully realize the potential it has for marketing your agency. Building general community awareness of your blog requires a concerted effort and a continual attention to public relations and the other marketing tactics that you have learned as a business person. Because a blog speaks for your company, and is by nature conversational rather than promotional, it has a much more “personal” impact on consumers than many other marketing tactics. Therefore, a blog is an excellent opportunity to humanize your company and to strongly communicate your company’s brand and ethic. But the power your blog has to shape readers’ perceptions of your company is lost unless they can find and interact with it. Thus, promoting your blog is an important, extremely vital, part of your overall blogging strategy. Realize that your blog does not exist in a vacuum. Ideally, your blog is one of many components to your marketing channels. As always, use each of your marketing channels to support the others. Utilize every other marketing effort you undertake to promote your blogging activities. For example, when you place a display ad in a newspaper, don’t forget to add a small reminder |
to “visit our blog at www.travelfarther.com/blog/.” A link to your blog should be prominently displayed on your travel agency website and the URL for your blog should be on all of your company’s marketing collateral like brochures, itineraries and business cards. Include the blog’s URL in the signature line of all of your emails and be sure to incorporate the blog address into any trade show materials you typically use. When you write articles for local magazines or newspapers and newsletters, place your blog address in the author’s blurb. When you have speaking engagements, make sure that your blog receives a mention either by you or from the person who introduces you at the event. Each of these cross-marketing opportunities are excellent ways to continually push the existence of your blog into the mindshare of the public and to emphasize the importance of your blog in your overall marketing plan.
It is also a good idea to promote your blog via traditional public and media relations channels. Acquiring a few key readers in your community can result in a much wider audience. For example, if a local newspaper reports on one of your blog entries, you can be assured of an immediate uptick in the number of people who will visit your blog. Likewise, mentions by local radio personalities or other important influencers can cause others to take notice of your blogging efforts. To create this type of local “buzz”, your content needs to strike your readers with both novelty and authority.
Blogging With Authority
With so many blogs vying for attention, you will want yours to stand out, to speak with an authority that captures the attention of your readership. As a professional travel consultant, you have a real expertise on a topic of interest to the public. The key to delivering blogging articles that truly engage readers and eliciting comments from them is to generate content that is lively, unexpected and fresh. Making sure that your blog is communicating on both an intellectual and an emotional level will keep your audience returning to your blog for new information.
Deliver original content to your readers and avoid hashing over the same materials that every travel blog covers. “Original” doesn’t mean that the topic has never been discussed, it simply means that you relate the topic directly to your readership in a way that provides them with new insight into the importance of the topic to them. For example, if you discuss how to safeguard a passport when traveling internationally, don’t just lay out “the facts” – infuse the article with a personal anecdote that happened to you or to a client. Use your “voice” to establish a rapport with your readers. Relate to them in an original way.
Find new sources of information by reading continually in your area of expertise. Read other blogs, consumer magazines and trade articles to stay on top of current trends and dynamics in travel. Stay ahead of your readership by aggregating and discussing information that they may not yet have encountered elsewhere. This requires a very active reading commitment on your part, but it is absolutely necessary to providing new, engaging topics to your audience.
Have a “theme” or “perspective” that you use to tie your blog posts together. That theme may be your expertise in your niche market, your love of shopping when you travel or your passion for sustainable tourism. Return to the theme often in your posts so that you string together your articles with a common structure and insight. Likewise, stay consistent in your “voice” so that readers know where you stand on your favorite issues and peeves.
Don’t be afraid to be controversial. On occasion, find a reason to go against the grain of common wisdom when your instincts tell you that a different perspective would lend new insight. If everyone is saying now is a terrible time to travel to Europe, find a contrary perspective and run with it. Intelligently surprise readers with new ideas or ways of thinking.
Keep your blogging articles lively, but short and to the point. Know what you want to say and structure your posts to drive your point home. Don’t meander or digress.
Invite comments and respond to them. If a reader makes a good point, say so and incorporate their perspective into your thinking and articles. Authentically offer praise to your readership’s insight when it is merited.
Don’t hesitate to link out to other authorities. Providing your readership with new sources of information will make your brand memorable each time they refer to the new resource. By providing new reference resources, you demonstrate your own knowledgebase and authority.
As a professional travel consultant, you are an authority on a very popular topic. Use that edge to your advantage and seek to provide your insights in a lively fashion on your blog. Your readership will thank you for it and you stand a good chance of developing a loyal following.
Be sure to proofread and spell check. Almost daily I find spelling errors and grammatical faults in my articles here ….ouch. I wish I could blame the daily editorial schedule and our deadline pressures, but those are not excuses. Typos do nothing for the professionalism of your blog, so search and destroy.
Blog on a regular schedule. Fresh content draws your readership in. Whatever you do, don’t allow your blog to go unattended for extended periods of time. People like routines they can predict and rely upon and will give up on your blog if you neglect it.
Search engines love blogs. The content is often original and unique to the blog. If your blog is attached to your website, a highly recommended tactic, your original articles will greatly enhance your Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
Have a thick skin. When you open your blog up to comments, not everyone will be a fan. You will have a group of “Angels” and “Devils” that will likely appear from time to time. Incorporate your Angels by sending them off-blog emails from time to time about upcoming stories and ask for their input or comments. Let the Devils be devils and moderate as lightly as possible.
A well thought-out blog is a tremendous asset to your company’s marketing strategy, but is also a serious commitment of time and energy – precious resources. Once you have opted to create a company blog, the time you spend planning and organizing your blog in its earliest conception is a terrific investment.
It is also a good idea to promote your blog via traditional public and media relations channels. Acquiring a few key readers in your community can result in a much wider audience. For example, if a local newspaper reports on one of your blog entries, you can be assured of an immediate uptick in the number of people who will visit your blog. Likewise, mentions by local radio personalities or other important influencers can cause others to take notice of your blogging efforts. To create this type of local “buzz”, your content needs to strike your readers with both novelty and authority.
Blogging With Authority
With so many blogs vying for attention, you will want yours to stand out, to speak with an authority that captures the attention of your readership. As a professional travel consultant, you have a real expertise on a topic of interest to the public. The key to delivering blogging articles that truly engage readers and eliciting comments from them is to generate content that is lively, unexpected and fresh. Making sure that your blog is communicating on both an intellectual and an emotional level will keep your audience returning to your blog for new information.
Deliver original content to your readers and avoid hashing over the same materials that every travel blog covers. “Original” doesn’t mean that the topic has never been discussed, it simply means that you relate the topic directly to your readership in a way that provides them with new insight into the importance of the topic to them. For example, if you discuss how to safeguard a passport when traveling internationally, don’t just lay out “the facts” – infuse the article with a personal anecdote that happened to you or to a client. Use your “voice” to establish a rapport with your readers. Relate to them in an original way.
Find new sources of information by reading continually in your area of expertise. Read other blogs, consumer magazines and trade articles to stay on top of current trends and dynamics in travel. Stay ahead of your readership by aggregating and discussing information that they may not yet have encountered elsewhere. This requires a very active reading commitment on your part, but it is absolutely necessary to providing new, engaging topics to your audience.
Have a “theme” or “perspective” that you use to tie your blog posts together. That theme may be your expertise in your niche market, your love of shopping when you travel or your passion for sustainable tourism. Return to the theme often in your posts so that you string together your articles with a common structure and insight. Likewise, stay consistent in your “voice” so that readers know where you stand on your favorite issues and peeves.
Don’t be afraid to be controversial. On occasion, find a reason to go against the grain of common wisdom when your instincts tell you that a different perspective would lend new insight. If everyone is saying now is a terrible time to travel to Europe, find a contrary perspective and run with it. Intelligently surprise readers with new ideas or ways of thinking.
Keep your blogging articles lively, but short and to the point. Know what you want to say and structure your posts to drive your point home. Don’t meander or digress.
Invite comments and respond to them. If a reader makes a good point, say so and incorporate their perspective into your thinking and articles. Authentically offer praise to your readership’s insight when it is merited.
Don’t hesitate to link out to other authorities. Providing your readership with new sources of information will make your brand memorable each time they refer to the new resource. By providing new reference resources, you demonstrate your own knowledgebase and authority.
As a professional travel consultant, you are an authority on a very popular topic. Use that edge to your advantage and seek to provide your insights in a lively fashion on your blog. Your readership will thank you for it and you stand a good chance of developing a loyal following.
Be sure to proofread and spell check. Almost daily I find spelling errors and grammatical faults in my articles here ….ouch. I wish I could blame the daily editorial schedule and our deadline pressures, but those are not excuses. Typos do nothing for the professionalism of your blog, so search and destroy.
Blog on a regular schedule. Fresh content draws your readership in. Whatever you do, don’t allow your blog to go unattended for extended periods of time. People like routines they can predict and rely upon and will give up on your blog if you neglect it.
Search engines love blogs. The content is often original and unique to the blog. If your blog is attached to your website, a highly recommended tactic, your original articles will greatly enhance your Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
Have a thick skin. When you open your blog up to comments, not everyone will be a fan. You will have a group of “Angels” and “Devils” that will likely appear from time to time. Incorporate your Angels by sending them off-blog emails from time to time about upcoming stories and ask for their input or comments. Let the Devils be devils and moderate as lightly as possible.
A well thought-out blog is a tremendous asset to your company’s marketing strategy, but is also a serious commitment of time and energy – precious resources. Once you have opted to create a company blog, the time you spend planning and organizing your blog in its earliest conception is a terrific investment.
Exercise:
Download the white paper on the next page and consider some of the topics you might write about on your blog. Put together the first couple of ideas and and outline for your articles. Let us know how the idea appeals to you and what tools you might need to feel comfortable in your blogging efforts. Work through a plan to incorporate a blog into your business plan and determine how you will market your blog in all of your marketing efforts.
Download the white paper on the next page and consider some of the topics you might write about on your blog. Put together the first couple of ideas and and outline for your articles. Let us know how the idea appeals to you and what tools you might need to feel comfortable in your blogging efforts. Work through a plan to incorporate a blog into your business plan and determine how you will market your blog in all of your marketing efforts.