GEC PR Company Director Fiona Anderson shares ways content creators can get the most out of working relationships with travel PRs…
I recently spoke about this very subject at the inaugural Waypoint virtual festival and was surprised by the positive feedback I received after sharing these tips, so below are my top 12 here:
- Seek out a strong and hopefully unique angle for a press trip before you approach a PR to pitch the idea.
- Make sure that the trip angle is viable – i.e. don’t say you’d like to go hiking in the Maldives (because you can’t hike there and it shows you haven’t done your research).
- Do your research! Research the destination, or look at the brand communications via the destination website and demonstrate that research by throwing in a couple of nuggets that demonstrate you’ve looked beneath the surface of a place when you approach the PR.
- Create a one or two page media kit about you and your digital channel of choice ready to send to PR’s, highlighting your key platform statistics including your audience demographics (age/country/interests etc).
- Introduce yourself over email and/or request a Whatsapp or zoom video call with the PR. In your introductory email make it clear who you are, your audience reach and also when you would be keen to visit a destination/hotel.
- Get to know as many PRs as possible who represent travel brands. Try and meet PRs at virtual events now that face-to-face networking events are no longer possible, such as Traverse events or WTM.
- In your pitch email to the PR, do cover off all the requirements you may need and the PR and the client may ask for. For example, do you require one or two rooms and favoured activities? Share all your social media handles, and examples of previous press trip work.
- Trips to most countries may be on hold for now, but planning never ends, so do pitch to PRs now to keep yourself front of mind for when trips commence again
- Do note that the more you ask for (flights/accommodation/visas), the bigger your following needs to be to justify that spend. Some very popular long-haul destinations will expect Instagram blue tick levels of followers…
- Pitch to your size: If you only have a few thousand followers, then it makes sense to pitch to smaller hotels or destinations that are closer to home. You can then build up to pitching to long haul country brands or resorts as your online influence grows.
- Follow and engage with the travel brands you wish to work with and their PRs across social media.
- Finally, be nice to the PR! That way they may go the extra mile for you with their travel client.