The Power of Out-of-Home Travel Marketing

Out-of-home advertising has evolved significantly in recent years. Traditional methods, such as billboards and transit ads, remain effective but are now complemented by lifestyle and experiential channels. These newer methods allow brands to engage with consumers in their everyday lives.

“It really is thinking about where the consumer is throughout their daily routine, understanding who your audience is and utilizing specific media formats within their everyday life, where it just seems like a very nonchalant way to put your brand in front of them.” – Frederick Strebeck, DOTL Episode 393, Elevating Travel Marketing through Out-of-Home Advertising

Here are some examples of new OOH methods that can integrate your brand into the daily routines of your target audience in creative and non-intrusive ways:

• Digital signage at convenience stores
• Gas pump ads
• Branded coffee sleeves at their local coffee shop

Planning Your Travel Marketing Campaign

Planning and strategy is critical to any successful marketing campaign, including OOH. Strebeck highlights the importance of taking the time to understand the goals and then strategize how to achieve them through the right mix of OOH channels. This process begins with listening carefully to understand the client’s vision and how it can be brought to life.

“When I say we listen to our clients, it is to listen to understand, not listen to simply respond in return. And what we take, learn, and utilize is through our expertise to build something extremely creative for them.” – Frederick Strebeck, DOTL Episode 393, Elevating Travel Marketing through Out-of-Home Advertising

Collaborative Travel Marketing

To stand out in a crowded marketplace, campaigns should be multi-layered and build strategies upon each other. Collaboration is a perfect way for marketing organizations and agencies to combine their expertise. As they work together, they can achieve a level of success that would not be possible on their own.

Case Study: A Creative Collaboration with Visit Seattle

A perfect example of creative OOH advertising in action is the “I Know A Place” campaign for Visit Seattle. EMC Outdoor worked closely with a full-service agency to develop a unique approach that went beyond traditional billboards. Instead of relying solely on signage, they introduced a branded treat truck that brought a taste of Seattle to key feeder cities like Dallas, Minneapolis, and Sacramento.

This mobile campaign featured Seattle Pops, a local ice cream shop. The treat truck was strategically placed at local events and parks, creating a memorable experience for potential tourists. The campaign gained significant attention, even landing a spot on “Good Morning Sacramento,” which showcased the truck in action.

This collaboration exemplifies how coopetition can lead to successful outcomes. By working together with their agency partner, they were able to amplify the message in a more creative and impactful way.

“When we think of coopetition, we could have definitely tried to work with Visit Seattle on our own and show them this idea that we had. But we wanted to work in collaboration with our agency partner, to make sure that it was an amplified piece to the overall campaign that they were running.” – Frederick Strebeck, DOTL Episode 393, Elevating Travel Marketing through Out-of-Home Advertising

The Changing Landscape of OOH Advertising

Adapting OOH to a Hybrid World Post-Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic presented unique challenges for the OOH industry, particularly as public spaces saw less foot traffic. However, EMC Outdoor adapted by leveraging digital integration. They shifted focus to areas with increased traffic, such as grocery stores and local walking routes. This approach allowed them to maintain visibility and relevance during a time of uncertainty.

We collaborated with our clients to create messages that resonated with the times, focusing on community support, health, safety. This approach not only kept our clients’ brands visible, but also fostered a sense of connection and solidarity with the public in a time that it was extremely necessary. – Frederick Strebeck, DOTL Episode 393, Elevating Travel Marketing through Out-of-Home Advertising

As we emerge from the pandemic, the hybrid lifestyle—where work and life increasingly blend—has become the norm. OOH advertising has proven to be an essential player in marketing campaigns. It provides a non-intrusive and contextually relevant way to reach audiences both at home and on the go.

Strebeck explains that out-of-home has really taken on the role of supporting other media channels as a secondary amplification that helps get your message across to your audience in a meaningful way.

The Future of OOH: Embracing Artificial Intelligence

Looking ahead, EMC Outdoor is excited about the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) as a game-changer to enhance their business practices. The agency is actively exploring AI tools to speed up the creative process, from ideation to the development of mockups and renderings. By incorporating AI, they aim to stay ahead of the curve and deliver more efficient and effective solutions for their clients.

Make a Lasting Impression with OOH Advertising

Out-of-home advertising continues to be a powerful tool for travel marketing. Tourism brands are looking to connect with their audience in creative and impactful ways. By understanding the different OOH channels, focusing on thorough planning and strategy, and embracing new technologies like AI, brands can elevate their travel marketing campaigns and stand out in a competitive landscape.

As Freddie Striebeck and the team at EMC Outdoor demonstrate, the key to success lies in innovation, collaboration, and a deep understanding of the audience. Whether through traditional billboards, experiential campaigns, or digital integrations, OOH advertising offers endless possibilities for brands to make a lasting impression.

The post Innovative Out-of-Home Strategies for Travel Marketing appeared first on Travel Alliance Partnership.

If you’ve ever been excited about making a big announcement, and then found yourself disappointed at the lack of response or awareness from your audience, the following tips can help to ensure your next announcement makes a big impact, as you maximize your reach at a tourism conference.

Conference Sponsorship

A tourism conference or trade show sponsorship is a great way to get some visibility in the tourism industry. There are many different conferences to choose from, and it’s important to select one where attendees will be the right audience for you.

For example:

If you are looking to increase visibility with consumers, then a consumer travel trade show is a good choice – many of them are themed (i.e. adventure travel, cruises, etc), so make sure the topic is something relevant to your destination or product.

For travel professionals looking to partner and network with each other, there are many industry conferences and travel trade shows. A large national travel industry trade show such as ABA or NTA will reach a high number of travel professionals, but sponsorships will likely have a higher price tag and more competition for attention. Sometimes, smaller regional or niche shows may be a better fit, if you can tap into the right audience for your business.

How we did it:

TAP chose to launch our new brand at the New York State Tourism Industry Association (NYSTIA) conference. As a New York State based business, our connections and client base are strongest in this state, and it was a perfect fit to celebrate our new brand and strengthen relationships with our existing clients and connections, as well as drawing some attention from new local contacts and prospective clients or partners.

Choosing the Right Sponsorship to Maximize Your Exposure

There are many different types of conference sponsorships, and they come with a variety of benefits to increase your visibility. Here are a few of the most common mediums of exposure included with conference sponsorships:

• Presentation time – speaking and/or visual presentations such as video or PowerPoint
• Text – business description or update in conference communications or printed materials
• Logos and images – on printed materials or custom conference swag

Choosing the right sponsorship will be dependent on your goal. If you are a destination and your goal is to attract more visitors or travel trade, then visual presentations or imagery will be key. Some creative visual sponsorships that are often available at tourism conferences include photo booths, custom hotel door hangers, or custom hotel key cards.

On the other hand, if you are launching a major announcement or rebrand, then speaking time and/or text updates will be the way to go, so you can be sure to get your message out.

Of course, budget will also play a factor. If you are launching a new brand, presentation time is ideal, but those types of sponsorships do come with a higher price tag. If that’s not in your budget, there are typically lower price point options that will include logo placement in multiple conference materials and communications, which is a great way to show off your new logo and create some buzz.

How we did it:

TAP chose a sponsorship package that included a presentation from stage (where our CEO Nicole Mahoney shared about our brand journey), hosting an evening networking reception, and logo placements in printed materials and conference communications. In addition, we sponsored the conference delegate bags, and were able to include some swag and a flyer about our services and membership programs.

Show Off What Makes You Unique

In order to attract the right clients and partnerships at a conference – the ones who will fit best with your business – you need to know exactly who you are. Your company’s values, purpose, and character should be woven through everything you do, including conference activities and sponsorships. When delegates can easily catch glimpses of what makes you unique, chances are much higher that they will take the time to seek you out and find out more about what you do.

How we did it:

When TAP launched our new brand at the NYSTIA conference, we highlighted several of our unique values and traditions – including innovation, and our light-hearted and passionate TAP traditions – through our sponsorship of the conference, and specifically an evening networking reception.

Highlighting a Core Value: INNOVATIVE

As one of our core values, being innovative is a large part of what makes TAP unique. When we sponsored and hosted a networking event as part of the NYSTIA conference, we went beyond the usual expectation of a simple mingling event with snacks and drinks, and planned a card matching game that would encourage people to actively seek out new connections. The game was so effective that people raved about this engaging ice-breaker and asked for permission to use our idea at their own events. Demonstrating our innovation? Mission accomplished!

Highlighting a Core Value:
LIGHT-HEARTED & PASSIONATE

One TAP tradition that we enjoy at our own annual conference TAP Dance is a boisterous and passionate welcome to our highly valued supplier delegates. Staff and tour operator partners stand on either side of the room entrance and clap and cheer as the attendees enter, making them feel appreciated and welcomed. We decided to bring this tradition to our sponsored networking event at the NYSTIA conference, and it was a big highlight, with many guests enjoying the experience so much that they turned around and went back for a second entrance!

Making Connections at Conference Events

While sponsorships are a great way to increase visibility, there are other things that you can do as a regular conference attendee to enhance your team presence, or even stand out as memorable without a sponsorship.

Stand Out From the Crowd with Unique Team Apparel and Swag

When TAP was planning our brand launch, we knew that we wanted team apparel and swag that stood out from the crowd. We achieved this by choosing branded items that were out of the ordinary – and the most unique choice by far was our branded sneakers. The amount of buzz that these created in just one conference made the purchase well worthwhile, and they continue to draw attention and comments at every conference that our team attends.

Make the Most of Every Opportunity to Network

If you’re attending a conference on your own, it will force you to introduce yourself and meet new people. But when teams attend a conference together, they often tend to group together – and even when you’re on your own, sometimes you’ll connect with a few people right away, and spend the rest of the conference gravitating towards the people you’ve already met.

While it’s a good idea to nurture good connections that you may find, it’s also important to make the most of the networking opportunities that are available at conferences by spreading out and meeting as many people as you can. You might have eye-catching branded apparel, but in a sea of conference attendees, not everyone may get the chance to notice you!

How we did it:

Even though TAP had a sponsored table for all the conference meals, we deliberately spread out and used the opportunity to meet as many people as possible. The branded sneakers that our team members wore also made an excellent icebreaker, as people couldn’t help but comment on them nearly every time we met someone new!

Using these strategies to stand out and maximize your reach at a tourism conference can spread your message like wildfire! You can read more about TAP’s full brand journey, and how we determined who we are (and the message we wanted to spread) in this blog post, or listen to Nicole tell our story on the Destination on the Left podcast.

The post Making a Splash: How to Maximize Reach for Your Brand at a Tourism Conference appeared first on Travel Alliance Partnership.

Why is Sustainable Tourism Important?

Sustainable tourism is critical for maintaining the natural beauty of a destination, minimizing littering and waste, protecting cultural and historical sites, and respecting the local communities. On Destination on the Left episode 290, we spoke with Professor Joe Conto, Dr. Eric Holmund, and Dr. Kelly Cerialo of Paul Smith’s College about why sustainability is an issue that destinations shouldn’t wait to address. They told us that more than ever, tourists are leaving the cities and visiting natural destinations like national parks and popular hiking spots. In order for places like this to avoid getting overrun and maintain the beauty that makes them so special to begin with, destinations need to recognize that sustainability is a necessity not just in tourism, but in every industry.

Collaboration Between Communities and Travelers

As a destination, you might be wondering how you can achieve sustainability while still increasing visitation. Through conversations with several industry professionals that recognize the importance of sustainable tourism, we’ve learned that it cannot be a one-sided effort. All the stakeholders need to be involved including the DMOs, residents, governments, local businesses, and visitors.

Jennifer Wesselhoff spoke with us on episode 223 about her experience leading the development of Arizona’s first sustainable tourism plan when she was with the Sedona Chamber of Commerce & Tourism Bureau. She learned that even though tourism was having a huge economic impact on Sedona, residents were struggling with things like traffic congestion, parking issues, noise, and short-term rentals. As a result, Sedona put forth a collaborative effort with the community to evaluate just how sustainable the city was. One of the most important parts of this process was including residents and local businesses in the conversation.

As a result of the whole community’s efforts, Sedona increased their role in visitors’ behavior by encouraging walking and the use of public transportation. They also implemented a Leave no Trace program and diverted visitors from the popular hiking trails by helping them find hidden gems. All these changes had a positive impact on residents of Sedona and made it possible for Sedona to maintain its status as a popular tourist destination, without having a negative impact on residents or the environment.

Looking to the Future

While every destination is unique, we all can learn from the model set forth by Sedona. The job of a DMO doesn’t stop after visitors arrive in a destination, they also have a responsibility to impact visitor behavior while there. As champions of the tourism industry, we want destinations to continue to thrive and see a rise in visitation. This is why it is so important that DMOs learn more about sustainable tourism and collaborate with their communities to protect the environment and the quality of life for residents. If they do this, destinations can remain beautiful places to visit for generations to come.

The post Collaboration Drives Sustainable Tourism appeared first on Travel Alliance Partnership.

• The feeling of being time-starved combined with overcapacity and not having the resources needed to achieve their goals.
• Balancing various and sometimes competing priorities.
• Expectations are rising and they are working on expanded programs with fewer people. 
• The industry landscape keeps changing and shifting and it is hard to keep up.
• Speaking of goals, sometimes it is hard to articulate goals and other times the goal is clear, but they don’t know how they will achieve it.
• They must maintain higher-than-ever service standards to stay competitive.
• They need to streamline day-to-day operations to do more with fewer resources.

With all these pressures, it is hard to think about creating a 2024 business plan. However, a plan will help address most of the pressures and if done collaboratively with staff, a plan will turn your struggling, overworked organization into a well-oiled machine with everyone on the same page and working towards the same goals.

What should go in your 2024 plan?

Our company follows the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) created by Gino Wickman and detailed in his book Traction. One of the tools in EOS is the Vision Traction Organizer (V/TO), which is essentially a one-page business plan. There are many plan formats that you can chose from, we like this one because it is simplified and easy to update each year.

The elements of our 2024 plan include:

Our core values – these are the guideposts by which we make all decisions. They are what is important to our business and drive the behaviors of everyone within the company.  

Our purpose – this is our company mission statement. It explains why we do what we do and inspires everything that our organization does.

Our 5-year target – this is our vision of where we are going. It is written in the present tense, in other words, it describes who we want to be in 5 years. This used to be a 10-year target, but we have found 10 years is too far out to plan in the tourism industry.

Our marketing strategy – this section of our plan is an overview of your marketing strategy, it is not a full marketing plan. This section guides your overall marketing plan and includes:

Our unique point of view – how we stand out from our competition.

What we do – a clear description of what our business does.

Target markets- a list of the audiences and markets we serve.

Brand promise – the experience we deliver in every interaction internal and external.

Our 1-year plan – This is the 2024 plan and should summarize what you will achieve by the end of the year. We include the following:

              Future date – December 31, 2024 – placing the actual date on your plan helps keep you focused on the time by which you will achieve the goals you establish.

Revenue goal – this can be a gross revenue goal, gross profit goal, or net profit goal. We break down our goals by revenue category and include an overall net profit number. These are expressed in dollars and not percentages.

Measurables – these are the things that need to happen in order to achieve the goal.

In addition to the V/TO, one organization we belong to offers free planning resources. While these were created for marketing agencies, the tools are relevant for all industries. Check out the resources on this link at Agency Management Institute .

Planning a Strategy Meeting with your team

Engaging your team in the planning process will lead to a more effective and stronger plan. You will be using the power of your organization’s collective brain and experience and if the team is involved in the plan, they are more likely to be successful in executing it and achieving your goals. The way that I engage my team is through an annual strategy planning day. It has become my favorite day of the year and my team looks forward to it too! We spend a full 8 hours working on the business instead of in the business and the results have been meaningful and fruitful.

Here are the key components in our strategy meeting agenda that produce results.

We like to kick off our meetings with everyone answering the same questions. This way, we are all on the same page as we start our day. Focusing on the best news also sets the tone for a positive and forward-thinking day.

Agenda item #1: Meeting expectations

• Best business & personal news in the last 90 days
• What are your expectations for the meeting?  
• Is there a problem that you want us to help you solve? 
• Do you want to learn something? 
• Anything else? 

Agenda item #2: 2023 Accomplishments – this section helps the team celebrate the wins and focus on what is working. Everyone answers these questions:

• Personal & Professional
  • What did we do well as a company?
  • What did you do well personally?
  • What enabled the accomplishments?

A volunteer scribes on flip chart paper as everyone shares their input. I do one section at a time, first meeting expectations and then accomplishments.

Agenda item #3: 2023 Business Review – this section can be whatever fits for your organization. We spend time looking at our goals and performance in these areas, then ask for feedback at the end.

• Financials Sales goals
• Marketing metrics
• What key points stand out? /What did I miss?

The next sections of the agenda can vary in order depending on what we are trying to accomplish. If I already have the V/TO or one-page business plan updated from the previous year, I start by reviewing that. If I don’t have the one-page plan done because I need help from the team, we start with some team exercise. Here are a few exercises we have used at recent meetings:

Journey Line Exercise

We used this exercise to achieve the following goals:

1. We wanted our longest tenured employees to share the story of our company’s evolution.
2. To reflect on the building blocks that have brought us to the present day.
3. To create a vision for the next 5 years.

For this exercise, we put flip chart paper on the wall and drew a line through the center. At one end of the line, we wrote the year the company started and on the other end, we wrote the year that is five years from now. For us, the timeline went from 2009 to 2029. Then we ask every employee (new and seasoned) to write down the following on post-it notes.

• Past & Present: Identify key dates/milestones/accomplishments for BTI 2009-2023.
• Future: What will TAP bring to us & the tourism industry? Where do we see ourselves in the future?
• What stands out to you?

Once they finished writing on post-its, they placed their notes on the timeline. At the end of the exercise, we had a discussion and we all felt connected by the collective story this exercise told.

SWOT Exercise

We love to use SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats) to help us create our one year and five-year plans. It helps us identify areas for improvement and growth, as well as prepare for what may be coming down the road. In this exercise, I have everyone fill out a SWOT worksheet and I collect them at the end. Note, when doing a SWOT, the strengths and weaknesses are internally focused, while the opportunities and threats are externally focused. This can get tricky for people to understand. Remember that there are no right answers and have fun!

Once the form is filled in, everyone shares their responses, we go through one quadrant at a time and scribe the answers on flip chart paper. After everyone’s thoughts are recorded, we circle any themes that stand out. Then, we answer these questions:

• Where should we focus next year? What are the benefits in moving forward on these areas?
• Is there anything else we need to consider to move closer to our goals?
• What else may we do to move closer to our goals?

Delegation Exercise

We used this exercise with our leadership team to help identify areas where they could find more capacity. Everyone answers the below questions and shares their answers and insights.

• What do you think you have to hold onto?
• What can you let go of?
• Who would you give it to on your team?
• If you do that what capacity does that open up for you?
• How can you use that capacity towards the effective and efficient application of our services?

Superpowers Exercise

This is one of my favorite team building exercises. Everyone has a blank sheet of paper in front of them. Each person writes their name at the top and then they pass the paper to the right. The person to the right then writes a word that describes a superpower that they admire about the person whose name is on the top. Then, the papers get passed to the right again and this continues until everyone in the room has written one word on each person’s paper. This is a great way to recognize everyone’s talents and what they bring to the team. I even did this for my family and then framed each person’s superpowers to provide a constant reminder of what makes them special.

Ending your meeting.

At the end of the meeting, we revisit the flip chart paper from the beginning of the meeting and answer these questions:

• Were your expectations met?
• What stood out to you?

And the last two years, I have added gratitude into our closing. I started this because I personally wanted to improve my gratitude practice, but the response from the team has been amazing and I think we will keep this one for every future meeting. Everyone adds to their closing comments with the following:

• 3 things you are grateful for – use the sentence “I am grateful for…, it makes me feel…”

Feel free to use our agenda format, SWOT worksheet, copy our V/TO format or reach out to me if you have any questions. I believe we are all stronger together and if creating a 2024 tourism business plan makes you a stronger company, it lifts the whole industry up too!

The post How Tourism Businesses Can Plan for the New Year in Collaboration With Staff appeared first on Travel Alliance Partnership.

Accessibility of Information

Making accessibility information easily available creates an inclusive and welcoming atmosphere from the first time someone visits your website. It enables people with accessibility challenges to properly plan out their visit and also helps show that your destination values every visitor’s experience.

On Episode 103 of Destination on the Left we spoke with Cory Lee, a travel blogger and accessibility advocate. When he is planning a trip, he searches for wheelchair accessibility on the destination’s website. If accessibility information isn’t readily available, it becomes very difficult for people with disabilities to plan their visit. DMOs can start by adding accessibility information to their FAQs section of their website and then incorporating the information throughout the site so it’s easily searchable.

Discover Lancaster is a fantastic example of a DMO making their accessibility information readily available. Discover Lancaster spent over a year developing a comprehensive guide on their website to show they are an accessible destination. Olivia Novak, Marketing Manager at Discover Lancaster, described how they worked with partners to create a list of all ADA-accessible attractions and hotels and provide local resources and travel tips for visitors with varying abilities. They also hosted a panel to educate partners. An influencer campaign will show what visiting Lancaster is like for individuals with varying abilities.

Where to Find Information

One of the most important things to remember is that decisions about accessibility should not be made without the individuals affected being part of the conversation.

In Episode 339 with Santiago C. Corrada, he recalls the moment he learned they needed to add accessibility to their diversity efforts. The team at Visit Tampa Bay brought in a group of ambassadors and influencers to consult on the development of videos, campaigns. Now accessibility representation is integrated throughout all of their tourism marketing efforts.

When we spoke with Billy Kolber, CEO of Hospitable ME, at the Travel Unity Road Show, he emphasized the importance of inviting historically marginalized or excluded groups to the table to help make informed decisions. By including these people in the conversations, destinations can make sure that their voices and experience are reflected in all accessibility efforts.

At the Destinations International Annual Convention in 2022, we learned about resources for accessibility information. AccessNow is an app about accessibility in travel where travelers can log their experiences in a destination, much like other review sites. AccessOutdoors is a related app that maps accessibility of outdoor trails (currently available for Canada). The best information comes from people living with disabilities. Residents in your destination are a great resource for getting the information travelers will need.

Inclusive Experiences

Accessibility also goes beyond those facing physical disabilities. Creating inclusive experiences for people with other types of limitations opens opportunities for both the traveler and the destination.

Autism Certified City

We spoke with Marc Garcia of Visit Mesa (episode 275) about his journey helping Mesa, Arizona earn the first-ever Autism Certified City distinction. Garcia sought to have Mesa certified by the International Board of Credentialing and Continuing Education Standards. Over 58 businesses and almost 5,000 people in Mesa completed training to help the city receive its certification. These trainings helped people understand what the world looks like to someone who lives with Autism. As a result of Garcia’s efforts, Visit Mesa booked several conferences and experienced a high return on investment.

After earning the certification, Visit Mesa continued its efforts to make the city welcoming for individuals with autism. They partnered with two microbreweries to release a Spectrum Double IPA in honor of National Autism Awareness Month. Destinations can learn from the efforts put forth by Garcia and the city of Mesa. There are many creative ways destinations, attractions and professionals in our industry can make individuals feel welcomed and safe.

Autism Nature Trail

Attractions looking to become more accessible can learn a valuable lesson from the Autism Nature Trail (ANT) at Letchworth State Park. Loren Penman (episode 221), a retired educator who brought the ANT to fruition, spoke with us about this first-of-its-kind experience. What started as a project with a focus on individuals on the spectrum resulted in an ADA-compliant one-mile natural trail with eight sensory stations. After learning the calming effects of the combination of moving water and pine trees, Penman worked with an expert from Colorado State University and a retired Speech and Language Pathologist to develop the trail. The ANT was paid for through a public fundraising initiative, raising $1.9 million in 10 months to fund the trail. It would not have been possible without collaboration and strong community partners.

The travel, tourism and hospitality industry has the ability to bring people together, bridge gaps between cultures and celebrate diversity. We need to take steps towards inclusivity and accessibility if it is truly going to be an enriching experience for all. Let’s make the world more enjoyable for everyone by exploring opportunities to include detailed information about accessibility or teaming up with other organizations for memorable experiences that welcome everybody. Together, we can have a positive impact and create an even better world ready to be discovered!

The post What is Accessibility in Tourism? appeared first on Travel Alliance Partnership.

Back in elementary school, building relationships was easy. You’d share your pudding with someone and bam, you’re best friends, telling each other secrets. Fast forward to your current role. Those friends you’re trying to make are trusted media members – anchors, editors, journalists, bloggers or influencers. And those secrets are actually stories you want the world to know. The ones worth the telling. The ones that could attract visitors to your destination.

On top of it, you’re not the only person trying to be their friend. Many other destinations are also vying for media attention. To break through the noise and develop these key relationships, it takes time, effort – and sometimes a little bit of luck. But when you crack the code of PR, it can pay off big time.

Earned media is about reaching the right person, with the right story, at the right time.

Planning for Public Relations

Always start with strategy. While you may be eager to start talking to media, taking the time to set up a strategy makes the whole process go smoother. Our 7-step strategic approach helps you determine the best path forward by utilizing research and determining situational insights. A strategic plan will determine your target audience, key messages and tactics, which will directly correlate with your public relations outreach.

Target Audience

By determining who you want to visit your destination, you can identify the publications that they read or interact with. For example, if you are looking to attract middle-aged gardeners, you may consider adding “Better Homes & Gardens” to your media list. If you are looking to get on Gen Z’s radar, you might look up TikTok influencers.

Key Messages

As you consider your target audiences, think through what resonates most with them. What information will pique their interest? What stories will sway them to visit? These ideas and details will transform into story threads.

Tactical Plan

The tactical plan outlines the tasks. For an integrated marketing plan, these might include your website, email newsletters, digital marketing and more. In a PR plan, tactics may be a mixture of proactive and reactive – such as press releases, story pitches and lead monitoring.

Identifying the right media members

Once you know who your audience is, begin thinking about what publications they read or content creators they follow. Identify between 50 and 150 KPI (Key Performance Indicator) Publications – the magazines, websites, newspapers and social media accounts where you think your story should be told.

Need help identifying your KPI Publications? Ask us!

Build out your media list(s) by finding the appropriate contacts at each of these. Keep in mind, there may be multiple people you want to connect with. Some traditional publications still have full staffs, meaning you may want to reach out to the Food & Beverage editor about your new restaurants, the Arts & Culture editor about an upcoming performance and the Lifestyle editor about the unique locale where every visitor must go.

When building out your media list(s), note any relevant information. This should include topics they write about, how frequently they’re published, where they live (or used to live, in case there’s a connection to your destination!), how they like to be reached and whether you’ve ever met or have something in common. People are switching jobs and moving industries, especially nowadays, so it’s important to research and refresh your lists frequently.

This task may seem tedious but is key to your outreach. You will want to make sure you are spending your time building relationships with the right people. PRO TIP: Organize media lists by different beats or geographies. That will make it easier to determine the best fit based on the topic of your press release or goal of your pitch.   

Crafting the right pitch

Think about the different topics you want the media (or influencers) to talk about.  We usually start by drafting an editorial calendar to outline which stories will be timely throughout the year, considering seasonality, events, holidays and anniversaries. Include evergreen topics that will benefit your destination any time of year. Consider the best outreach for each story – a press release for news and announcements, a pitch for an interview or in-depth story, a media alert to get on-site coverage during an event, etc.

Next, draft your outreach. It may feel like you’re sending your story out into the abyss, but there’s a real person on the other end of each email address. Use the research from your media list-building to personalize your message. Reference related articles the journalist has written or mention the media event where you last spoke with them. As you work through your media list, ask yourself:

• “Does this writer cover this topic?” If they write about craft beer and you’re pitching a new restaurant, they won’t be interested. Them being in the “food and beverage space” doesn’t cut it.
• “Do they write this type of story?” If you’re pitching an in-depth interview with one of your hotel owners, but the writer only produces listicles of properties, it’s probably not a fit.
• “What am I asking of them?” If you’re talking up the great video opportunities at your upcoming event and they write for a print publication, it’s not going to work out.

According to Muck Rack’s Annual Journalist Survey, the number one reason why journalists ignore otherwise relevant pitches is lack of personalization. Read that again.

Pitching at the right time

The third piece to the PR puzzle is timing.

Time of Day: While everyone is different, the majority of journalists prefer to be pitched in the morning – between 6 a.m. and 11 a.m. This timing also works well if you are pitching broadcast media. News producers start their day very early and wrap up around lunch time.

Goal of Coverage: Your outreach depends on the goal for the coverage. What do you want it to achieve and when do you want it to land? For on-site coverage at an event, send a media alert a day or two beforehand. Follow up with calls to the newsroom. (PRO TIP: This is one of the only acceptable times to call media.) For coverage of an event in order to create awareness and drive ticket purchases, send out a press release 4-6 weeks beforehand. Then, start pitching interviews in the weeks leading up to the event. If you’re looking to invite media on a FAM or hosted trip, reach out months in advance to get on their calendar.

Type of Publication: Similarly, consider the type of publication and its turnaround time. If you’re looking for immediate coverage, consider short lead publications – such as daily newspapers or morning news broadcasts. Then there are long lead publications that have more time to interview individuals, take photos, carefully craft a beautiful article and have it published in a monthly or quarterly publication. Somewhere in the middle are influencers and bloggers. It may take a little bit of planning to arrange a visit, but they will likely produce content while on site and shortly after their visit.

Now that you’ve reached out to the media, what’s next?

• Are they interested? Great! But the work still isn’t done. Start planning the interview, itinerary or content agreement.
• Did your message go unanswered? That’s expected. Follow up a few days to a week later. If they still don’t respond, consider a different approach or story angle.
• Did they say no or it’s not a fit? Bummer, but at least you know they read your message! Go back to the drawing board to find new writers for your pitch or a different angle for this writer.  

Building Momentum

I’ll say it again… public relations is a marathon, not a sprint. Once you’ve put in the time and effort to build relationships with key media members, you are more likely to land future pitches and placements because you’ve created mutual trust. They trust your recommendations and you trust them to deliver. You will find your tried-and-true partners: the travel writer who will start booking their travel the moment you say, “I have a new attraction and I know you’ll love it!” or the morning news producer who comes to you when they have an open interview slot to fill.

Looking for a partner for your travel PR?

Public relations is about momentum. One placement isn’t going to drive the masses to your destination. (Unless it’s in a really big publication…) But a bunch of stories across different publications will get travelers’ attention. And as word starts getting out, more publications, bloggers and influencers will start noticing and want to cover it as well.

If you’re looking for a quick, flash-in-the-pan tactic that will increase – and sustain – visitation, PR isn’t it. You won’t be as successful if your approach to public relations is full of starts and stops. It’s important to consistently reach out to the media. Expect to spend at least six months to a year on consistent PR outreach before you start seeing a real return on your efforts.

The post Public Relations Takes Time: Setting Realistic Expectations for Your PR Efforts appeared first on Travel Alliance Partnership.

1. Research & Discovery

“Research is creating new knowledge.” – Neil Armstrong

Review research from your own organization (if it is available), local, regional and state tourism offices, and relevant industry associations. Here are links to research organizations we reference regularly:

• Destination Analysts
• Family Travel Association
• Longwoods International
• MMGY Global
• NYS Tourism Economics Reports
• U.S. Travel Association

When you approach research, collect everything you find into a folder and then as you comb through it, look for common themes or high-level findings that relate to the goals you are trying to achieve with your marketing plans. Approach this as a learning experience and see what floats to the top.

2. Situational Analysis

In order to plan for the future, you need to recognize where you are today. Take a step back from thinking about next year and focus on the insights you already know.

What are the key attributes of your brand? What types of visitors do you attract? Who is your competition? What is the brand experience of your destination? What trends are you seeing in the travel and tourism industry? Use your data and research as much you can as you explore the answers to these questions.

When summarizing your findings and writing your situational analysis, answer these questions: What is the one truth that can elevate my brand? What makes our brand relevant and differentiating?

Case Study: This campaign used the PESO model to develop a holistic approach to marketing, driving visitation, and hotel occupancy within a destination.

3. Setting Goals & Objectives

“Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.” – Tony Robbins

Start your travel and tourism marketing strategy plan by answering this question: What are the top 3-5 goals that you want to accomplish in the new year? Try using the SMART goal format – make your goals specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-based.

• S: Increasing visitation from 400,000 to 450,000 annually is an example of a specific goal.
• M: Goals should be measurable – increasing brand awareness is not measurable. Adding a qualifier such as increasing intent to visit of our target audience by 25%, can be measured before and after a campaign.
• A: They should be attainable; having a lofty stretch goal is good and motivating but in your one-year plan focus on what is practical and attainable. Be sure to consider the additional resources you have available to positively impact your goal.
• R: Your goal needs to be relevant – make sure your goals relate to current industry trends and what is happening economically.
• T: Finally, goals should be time-based – they need a timeline associated with them.

4. Target Audience & Strategy

It is important to know who your audience is when formulating your plans. You may have several audiences or target markets and understanding each one is a must for creating a successful tourism marketing plan. The more specific you are with understanding your audience, the easier it will be to craft your tactical plans and key messages to reach your target.

I explored this topic in-depth with Susan Baier on episode 96 of my podcast, Destination on the Left. In that episode, Susan talked about getting beyond the who, what and where of your audience and getting into the why. She sees the “why” as the most important piece of understanding your customer. It provides the insight needed to tailor communications to speak to them. Take time to think about the audiences you want to reach without thinking about their demographics. Think instead about what they are looking for and what they might find appealing about your brand and why.

Write down your target audiences and then ask yourself, are these targets too general? If you take away the demographics, how would you describe these audiences? Do any ideas come to mind on how you might reach each of them differently?

“The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well, the product or service fits them and sells itself.” – Peter Drucker

We teamed up with Susan Baier and her team, Audience Audit, to research and statistically find out what makes collaborations successful and how important they will be in helping the recovery of tourism. Download a free copy of our Executive Summary to find out the results.

Key Messages

It is important to remember that one message does not fit all. For each audience think about what is most relevant to them. What messages will pique their interest or motivate them to interact with your brand? Does the targeted audience care about what you have to say? Will they be better off for having the knowledge that you are sharing? How will this knowledge help meet your marketing objectives?

In the simplest way, put yourself in the customer’s shoes. Think through how they might perceive your message. You want to make sure there is something in it for them.

Next, consider if your message is timely. Consider where your target customer is in the buying journey and what they need to know at that time. For a travel destination, if the buyer is in the dreaming phase, they are most interested in inspirational messages that appeal to their emotions. If they are in the planning phase, they need more specific information like where to stay, eat and things to do. You can craft the best message for the audience but if it is delivered at the wrong time, it will fall on deaf ears.  Thinking through the timing and hitting the timing right makes the difference between marketing success and failure.

Write down key messages for each of your target audiences. To help get you started, think about where they are in the buyer’s journey. Is there a problem you can help them solve? Are there questions you can help answer?

“Effective, stand-out content is both business-centric and customer-aware.” – Nick Westergaard, author, Brand Now

5. Tactical Plan

A tactical plan is your actionable marketing plan. These are the tasks; the detailed action plan that includes timing and details of all major steps.  Tactics could include collateral, digital marketing, social media, websites, public relations, and trade shows. They can also include conferences, email marketing, word of mouth, direct sales, and lead generation. These are all the things that you will do in order to accomplish your objectives. This section includes a tactical implementation strategy, timeline and budget.

Start your tactical plan as a bulleted list of tactics that will support each marketing objective and reach the identified target audience. Next identify the resources needed to execute each tactic (time and money). With your bulleted list, you can dive deeper into each tactic by expanding on how you will effectively execute on it. This could be a full-blown PR plan with its own set of objectives, strategies, tactics and timelines. It could be a social media calendar identifying key messages, posting times and channels, or it could be a content marketing plan detailing out how you will produce and distribute content across multiple channels. The important thing to focus on in this section is identifying the tactics that will get you to those goals and then following through with a detailed plan of how you will implement each tactic.

This section needs to include your marketing budget with a detailed budget for each tactic. Be realistic with the amount of tactics and your timeline. A solid travel and tourism marketing strategy plan is one that clearly identifies the objectives, strategies and tactics and includes the resources to get it done!

6. Measurement

After building your tactical plan, include how you will measure the effectiveness of the tactic. By pulling together key numbers monthly, our team and and clients have the ability to accurately inform stakeholders on current statistics, identify trends, provide a benchmark for success & growth as well as inform campaign adjustments and course-corrections as needed.

Examples of metrics that you might use include:

• Reach
• Impressions
• Website traffic
• Followers and follower growth rate
• Email opens and click rates
• Social media reactions, comments and shares
• Media placements
• Actions taken such as sales conversions, downloads and newsletter sign-ups.

7. Action Plan

Plan out the full year, month by month, detailing which tactics will take place when. Some tactics might be ongoing and happen every month such as social media or email marketing. Other tactics might occur only during certain times of year based on the seasonality of your brand or timing of a trade show. The more detail you can put into your timeline the more likely you will be to stay on track with your plan.

Remember this is a living and breathing document, it’s not written in stone and it can easily be changed and adapted as you move through the year. Just having the plan is a huge step in helping you to achieve your goals in the new year.

“Plans are nothing. Planning is everything.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower

Want more guidance on creating your own travel and tourism marketing strategy? Download our 7 Step Strategic Planning Guide in the sidebar, or access it from our resource library.

The post Creating Your Travel and Tourism Marketing Strategy and Plan appeared first on Travel Alliance Partnership.

Key Ingredient #1: Strategy & Planning

Knowing where we are starting and where we want to go is the most important ingredient. We begin all of our projects with a discovery session that identifies:

• Desired results. What is the business problem? What does success look like?
• Target audience. Who are your current customers? What is important to those customer? Where do they get their information? Learn how to do easy research on your customers with online surveys.
• Marketing objectives. What are the desired outcomes of the marketing campaign?
• Marketing strategies. What is the game plan to achieve those outcomes? How will you solve the business problem?
• Tactics & Timeline. What are the tasks and activities that need to be completed? What is the timeline for the campaign and these tactics?

Key Ingredient #2: Relevant Content

When developing a content strategy, we start with three things in mind:

1. How is the content relevant to the audience? What is the message? Does the target audience care about what we have to say? Will they be better off for having the knowledge? How will this knowledge help meet the objectives?
2. What will the target audience get out of the content? If the audience is a blogger or news outlet (for PR outreach) – what will their audience get out of the content? We are constantly putting ourselves in the readers’/viewers’/consumers’ shoes. Think through how your target audience will receive and interpret the content.
3. Is the content timely and newsworthy? For public relations content, we want it to be newsworthy. Is there a recent trend or recent news story that the content can relate to? For consumers, being timely with your message is also important. Is there an upcoming event that the content can support? Thinking through the timing and hitting the timing right makes the difference between marketing campaign success and failure.

Key Ingredient #3: Coordinated Content Delivery

We often start with one piece of longer-form content as the driver for all content. A press release, blog post or pitch is often the longest piece of content that we use in a campaign. It tells the full story, and is one of the first pieces launched once all the campaign details are in place. Then we take the key messages from that piece and use them for the other channels we are using. Those channels typically include social media, email newsletters, blogs, website pages, paid advertising, print or digital collateral and in-person events.

Keep these things in mind as you “slice and dice” your content:

1. Audience for each channel. What is most relevant to that audience? A newsletter subscriber is looking for more in-depth information than a person seeing your ad for the first time. Your followers on Facebook may be different than visitors to your website.
2. Key messages. No matter how you cut up the content, keep the key messages intact. Decide on the key messages up front so that everyone involved can agree on them.
3. Inspire action. What do you want the audience to do? Will the content inspire that action from your audience? Make sure you keep the content compelling and relevant even if it is only 280 characters. Always include a call to action on every message over owned and paid channels.

Key Ingredient #4: Consistent & Ongoing Campaigns

It is impossible to build relationships when you are only in front of your audience for one campaign. Successful campaigns come from the momentum of the campaigns that came before them. Consistently communicating with your audiences over all channels is the best way to see growth and success.

We have seen this time and again with PR campaigns that we execute. When building relationships with journalists, the more you are able to talk with them, share story ideas, provide contacts for stories they are working on or follow and interact with them on social media, the more success you will have in getting story placements.

The same is true for email marketing. The more consistent you are in sending out relevant messages, the more opens you will receive. Social media followers and interactions follow the same rule.

The bottom line:

1. Always stay in front of your audience.
2. One and done will not produce desired long-term results.

Key Ingredient #5: Review & Campaign Measurement

In the 2020 B2C Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets & Trends report, marketers ranked the measurements metrics they use. They were conversions, website traffic, website engagement, social media analytics and email engagement. In order to make sure that our campaigns are meeting the business goals, we use the following metrics to evaluate and adjust campaigns:

1. Activity taken: sales conversions, downloads, newsletter sign ups, etc.
2. Website traffic
3. Impressions & reach
4. Followers gained and follower growth rate
5. Reactions, comments, shares
6. Social media engagement
7. Email click & open rates

The post 5 Key Ingredients for Marketing Campaign Success appeared first on Travel Alliance Partnership.

1. The value of values

A strong company culture starts with a set of values that everyone knows, understands, and believes. We’ve spent several years integrating our values into all aspects of our company. When NY on Pause started in 2020, these values became foundational for sustaining our culture in a remote environment and enabled our team to make quick and meaningful decisions to get us through the year.

Our core values: Passionate, Light-hearted, Authentic, Collaborative, Equitable, Growth-minded and Transparent. I could write an entire book citing the examples of our team using these core values throughout the last 12 months. To illustrate the power of our values, we leaned on passionate, collaborative and growth-minded when we helped our client, Travel Alliance Partners convert their live travel show into a virtual event while keeping profits, connections and the experience intact.

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2. Importance of mindset

Growth mindset is one of our core values, but the lesson goes beyond the value. We chose to approach the uncertainty and challenges that presented themselves during the past 12 months with a forward-thinking mindset instead of a fixed-mindset and a growth-mindset instead of a scarcity mindset. By making conscious choices, we were able to see many more opportunities to overcome obstacles.

Employing a growth mindset allowed us to see the opportunity to help our industry. We believe that now more than ever, tourism marketers need to have plans that are based in research and strategy. So we shared our proven 7-step process for strategic planning through a free infographic, online course and new Recovery Roadmap product. These tools help tourism marketing professionals find their greatest opportunity.

3. Kindness and helpfulness are part of our passion

A few weeks after shutdowns started happening across the world, we hosted our second virtual summit. The summit had been planned prior to the shutdown. However, once we realized the impact of the crisis on the industry we love, we decided to hold the summit open to all with no cost to attend. That started us down the path of being as helpful as we could for the industry.

We offered help in many ways over the past 12 months. We continued our weekly podcast, Destination on the Left and our weekly blogs (like this one). In addition, we developed Executive Briefings – offered for free – to any organization interested in inviting us to share. The presentations cover insights and information to help travel and tourism organizations pivot and plan for the future. We have presented to 15 organizations and continue to offer this free service. If you are interested in scheduling a presentation or would like to know more, please email Rhonda@breaktheicemedia.com.

4. Technology is empowering

Technology enabled us to seamlessly move from an in-person office to a successful remote team. Our tech stack includes Zoom, Teams, SharePoint, Slack, Teamwork Project Management and others. These technologies empower collaboration, productivity and efficiency. We know how powerful technology is for our team and we saw how it transformed the industry and helped our clients.

When the Wayne County Office of Tourism was looking for a way to promote their annual Apple Tasting tour in October 2020, we helped them create an experience that would promote touchless participation. Using an app and gamification, the tour transformed from a high-touch pen-and-paper experience to an online interactive adventure.

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Technology has been instrumental most recently for connecting destinations, attractions, and travel buyers virtually. We produced a virtual travel trade show for our client Africa’s Eden. Delegates attended this global event for 3 days of meetings, seminars and networking. The virtual event aimed to foster relationships and create opportunities for future economic impact.

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5. Collaboration enables surviving and thriving

Amazing collaborations happened across all sectors of the industry over the past 12 months. We believe that collaboration will be a critical ingredient for recovery. In November 2020, we held a study on collaboration in the travel, tourism and hospitality industry. The insights from this study will help organizations achieve the best that collaboration can offer — while avoiding the pitfalls. Watch the study results webinar or check out the visualized results of the collaboration study.

It has been a year of the unexpected. This experience has taught us many lessons. We are poised and ready to help our clients and colleagues benefit from the knowledge gained over the past 12 months and stand together moving forward toward a bright future.

The post 5 Lessons Learned During the Travel Pause appeared first on Travel Alliance Partnership.