Public Relations - Media
Public relations includes:
In each of these efforts, your personality is at the core of the marketing tactic. When the public reads an article about your agency, hears you speak, works with you at an event or reads an article you have written, they engage you as an individual, not as a faceless company. That encounter is intensely personal and carries an authority that an advertisement cannot. People are trained to ignore advertising. They are equally well trained to engage those in their presence. When a consumer see an advertisement, there is a large credibility gap to be overcome – the ad merely says what the company professes. When a consumer meets you in person, or |
reads an article by or about you, the depth of the encounter is significantly greater. Words are suddenly accentuated by actions. It’s not what you say that you are going to do that matters, it is what you actually do that is the measure of your brand.
A good public relations campaign is a multi-effort program. A single press release, public speaking engagement or event is only the most visible part of the campaign’s entirety. Weaving together the various elements in a campaign with exactly the right timing is the key to making a campaign really work to its maximum potential.
Every campaign should start with a marketing plan directed at just the immediate effort. The marketing plan should lay out each component of the effort: the message, the promotion, the event, the presentation, the follow up. Naturally, the more elaborate the campaign, the more important the planning.
Media - Getting Press about You and Your Travel Practice
A good public relations campaign is a multi-effort program. A single press release, public speaking engagement or event is only the most visible part of the campaign’s entirety. Weaving together the various elements in a campaign with exactly the right timing is the key to making a campaign really work to its maximum potential.
Every campaign should start with a marketing plan directed at just the immediate effort. The marketing plan should lay out each component of the effort: the message, the promotion, the event, the presentation, the follow up. Naturally, the more elaborate the campaign, the more important the planning.
Media - Getting Press about You and Your Travel Practice
Why is it that some travel agencies consistently manage to garner good press coverage while others don’t? Smart travel agents that know how to get their name in the paper know how to find a unique angle for their story ideas or speaking engagements and to fashion and time the story to the needs of the press. By developing an awareness of trends, timely events and other cultural influences, you are more likely to find the public interest inherent in your story that reporters seek for their articles. Part of your overall networking strategy should be to meet as many people associated with media as possible: writers, editors, radio and television personalities, publishers. Cultivating good relationships in the media helps to give you an edge in getting your story noticed by those responsible for editorial and advertising.
A crucial mistake is to approach a reporter with bare information on your services or on client product. Writers look for “angles” and for human interest. Writers and reporters are interested in stories that advance their reader’s interests, not your business. If at all possible, utilize the services of a local PR professional. Local publicists are likely to already have established relationships with reporters and know how to craft a press release or story for your community market. |
An excellent way to properly time your PR campaigns is to take a look at the editorial calendars of your area’s local magazines and print publications. Most publications produce an editorial calendar – a list of themes for upcoming issues- to provide advertisers with an advance awareness of good issues in which to place an advertisement. However, editorial calendars also give the smart travel consultant insight into opportunities to have local media feature their travel planning practice in an article. To take advantage of the editorial calendar, write the editorial staff well in advance of their deadlines, which will also be featured on the calendar. Give the editors an interesting twist on some national issue that has a local angle: “Philadelphia travel agent promotes angry green travel!” What does that mean? I have no idea, but it grabs your attention, doesn’t it? It will grab the attention of a local reporter as well.
Here are a couple of examples that might assist you to better understand the process of developing good copy. Let’s say that a few weeks ago, you wanted to start a public relations campaign designed to explain the customer service and relationships your travel agency has over the years cultivated. A press release explaining how many years you had been in business, how large your agency is, where your offices are and a copy of your mission statement to “be the best, blah, blah, blah…” is going to put every reporter in any newsroom fast to sleep. Instead, you need to find a twist on the story that presents a unique angle. Do you have a client that has traveled with you for 10 years? One that has been to every continent? One that is taking their first cruise? One that is traveling to visit a lost relative? These are the human interests stories that can serve to demonstrate the intersection of what you want to promote with what the public wants to read. That intersection is the PR copy sweet spot.
You can also generate the necessary reader interest by directly addressing current events and news. Put a local spin on national news. In fact, there is probably no better way to demonstrate your usefulness to the media than to help local reporters better understand the impact of current events. The dollar is off, the economy is bad. An airline declares bankruptcy, stranding travelers. A couple books online only to arrive at their destination to find no hotel room, ruining their honeymoon. A travel agent is jailed for defrauding a group on a cruise that did not exist. Crime, drugs, the flu [fill in the blank] devastates travel to Mexico.
Left unanswered, the headlines at times such as these convince some not to travel at all or to ‘do it themselves”. Do not allow news like this go unanswered in your community. Bad headlines provide the perfect opportunity for a strong travel consultant to step up and do their job: help the public understand the travel industry. When the news is bad, offer your local news outlets, social organizations and clients an explanation. Write articles for the newspaper and letters to the editor.
Use your insight into the industry to assist the public to understand how to mitigate the impact of these events:
Rather than ignoring these events, use them as opportunities to act as the expert you are. The next time bad news about the industry pops up in your community, consider how you might use it to your advantage. Offer your services and be heard. Those who listen will be potential clients. Those who do not will be potential victims for the next travel headline. Better yet, reporters will be turning to you for advice, information and insight.
Using these very same principles, articles on my companies over the years have appeared in USA Today several times, Newsweek, Money Magazine and dozens of local city newspapers. Even in the travel industry where I am surrounded by media competitors, we manage to get articles pubished on us. These techniques will work, if you work them!
Here are a couple of examples that might assist you to better understand the process of developing good copy. Let’s say that a few weeks ago, you wanted to start a public relations campaign designed to explain the customer service and relationships your travel agency has over the years cultivated. A press release explaining how many years you had been in business, how large your agency is, where your offices are and a copy of your mission statement to “be the best, blah, blah, blah…” is going to put every reporter in any newsroom fast to sleep. Instead, you need to find a twist on the story that presents a unique angle. Do you have a client that has traveled with you for 10 years? One that has been to every continent? One that is taking their first cruise? One that is traveling to visit a lost relative? These are the human interests stories that can serve to demonstrate the intersection of what you want to promote with what the public wants to read. That intersection is the PR copy sweet spot.
You can also generate the necessary reader interest by directly addressing current events and news. Put a local spin on national news. In fact, there is probably no better way to demonstrate your usefulness to the media than to help local reporters better understand the impact of current events. The dollar is off, the economy is bad. An airline declares bankruptcy, stranding travelers. A couple books online only to arrive at their destination to find no hotel room, ruining their honeymoon. A travel agent is jailed for defrauding a group on a cruise that did not exist. Crime, drugs, the flu [fill in the blank] devastates travel to Mexico.
Left unanswered, the headlines at times such as these convince some not to travel at all or to ‘do it themselves”. Do not allow news like this go unanswered in your community. Bad headlines provide the perfect opportunity for a strong travel consultant to step up and do their job: help the public understand the travel industry. When the news is bad, offer your local news outlets, social organizations and clients an explanation. Write articles for the newspaper and letters to the editor.
Use your insight into the industry to assist the public to understand how to mitigate the impact of these events:
- Yes, Europe is a bit expensive right now, so this is a great time to visit Latin America or time to travel off-season to see Europe without crowds
- Yes, the airline declared bankruptcy, which is why you advise your clients to use a credit card to book;
- Yes, the couple booking online needed the assistance of a good travel agent – here’s why;
- Yes, the public is concerned about the flu, but here are the facts and here is what you are advising your clients;
- Yes, the public should investigate the credentials of their travel agent – here’s how to do it.
Rather than ignoring these events, use them as opportunities to act as the expert you are. The next time bad news about the industry pops up in your community, consider how you might use it to your advantage. Offer your services and be heard. Those who listen will be potential clients. Those who do not will be potential victims for the next travel headline. Better yet, reporters will be turning to you for advice, information and insight.
Using these very same principles, articles on my companies over the years have appeared in USA Today several times, Newsweek, Money Magazine and dozens of local city newspapers. Even in the travel industry where I am surrounded by media competitors, we manage to get articles pubished on us. These techniques will work, if you work them!
Exercise:
Make a list of your local newspapers, magazines and media. Now, under each outlet, list your contacts. Don’t have any? You have work to do. The groundwork of introducing yourself to local media is vital to your business if you want to grow a public relations campaign. Start now! Begin developing a network of media contacts. If you advertise locally, ask your advertising representatives for introductions. Chamber of Commerce events often attract local writers and editors. Review the articles and news stories of your community’s media for stories you find interesting. Obtain their current editorial calendars for story ideas. Next, make a list of ideas for articles and press releases. Think first of the things that most interest you – perhaps you are a dog lover, a tango fanatic or a coin collector. Fashion article ideas that have a local, human interest and put your agency in the background of the article, not the foreground.
Make a list of your local newspapers, magazines and media. Now, under each outlet, list your contacts. Don’t have any? You have work to do. The groundwork of introducing yourself to local media is vital to your business if you want to grow a public relations campaign. Start now! Begin developing a network of media contacts. If you advertise locally, ask your advertising representatives for introductions. Chamber of Commerce events often attract local writers and editors. Review the articles and news stories of your community’s media for stories you find interesting. Obtain their current editorial calendars for story ideas. Next, make a list of ideas for articles and press releases. Think first of the things that most interest you – perhaps you are a dog lover, a tango fanatic or a coin collector. Fashion article ideas that have a local, human interest and put your agency in the background of the article, not the foreground.