One of the most sought after assignments for a travel blogger is to go on a press trip.
Of course we love to travel!
However, it is not all just fun and games, there is a lot of work that goes into a productive and successful press trip.
Press and blog trips involve work
Press trips are not just an all expenses paid vacation. They require a lot of professionalism and work on a blogger’s behalf.
Press Trips should always be about value and authenticity
We strive to make our relationships with tourist boards, travel companies, and our readers win-win-win.
We want to do the best job possible and provide value to the brand, AND provide valuable insight and information to our readers about our destination experience.
We have been on several press trips this past year, the most notable being the Qantas Great Crusade.
We have also had a five day tour of Rotorua and Auckland hosted by Tourism New Zealand while we spoke on their behalf about blogging at the Australian Travel Writers Convention.
We have also been guests a couple of times with Gold Coast Tourism and will be back up there with them in December.
It’s not difficult to get re-assigned again to work with agencies and tourist boards. You just have to show them that you are professional, valuable, and are low risk, which is not the usual attitude some companies have towards bloggers.
And with good reason.
I have heard horror stories.
Getting too drunk and hungover to attend arranged tours, taking the freebie and running with no promotion or content supplied, written content that could have been taken from the pages of returned Google Searches, abuse of tour guides….
Ahhh, all stuff that makes me cringe.
It makes me mad, because it is not fair on the host companies who show faith in you and are going out on a limb to have you promote their destination and are looking for some ROI- fair enough, right?
In the eyes of tourism boards it gives our industry a bad name. A few bad apples can spoil the bunch.
It’s not fair to all those bloggers who are willing to attend press trips and will be professional and provide value, but could find it difficult because of bad past PR/blogging relationships.
And it’s certainly not good in the eyes of your readers who look to you as a credible resource.
We speak a lot of blogging/PR relationships and are advocating for some worthwhile partnerships between the two. We have appeared on a couple of panels talking about it in Australia and it is exciting to see the potential we are all a part of.
But we need to work together to make it valuable for all: the bloggers, the tourist boards, and most of all the readers. If we don’t, then the opportunities will diminish.
Bloggers
- Do NOT EVER take a press trip if you DON’T think you can provide value and highlight the destination. This is unprofessional. Pass it on to someone else. You don’t deserve this just because you are a blogger with X amount of followers, you earn it by providing value.
- Do your research before you go and plan potential articles, photos, and story angles…
- Be authentic and honest with what you write. If you don’t like something you can say it, just don’t be mean and nasty about it.
- Find out what is provided for you and what is not. Be clear on your expectations. If they are focused on having social media play a large role, make sure reliable internet access is provided.
- If they want blog posts published during the trip, then enough free work time is needed to get these out.
- Understand the objectives that the brand is trying to achieve whilst ensuring that your content is relevant and engaging to your reader. Qantas were impressed with how we managed to do this on the Great Crusade and wrote us a glowing reference as a result.
- During the trip take notes, lots of photos, and provide live status updates and photos via your online social media channels.
- Follow up after the press trip. Provide stats on number of posts, page views, comments and social media love.
- Ask for a reference or testimonial once the press trip is finished. This can be very helpful for you later when securing further partnership work.
- Ask your readers what they would like to learn about the destination? What information would be most important to them when considering taking a trip there? Accommodation options, eating options, transport, entertainment, costs?
Brands/ PR/ Tourism Boards
- Where possible, please have internet available to your bloggers. This usually will have to be wireless access for laptops, and local sim cards for smart phones. You have invited the blogger on a trip in order for them to promote and expose your destination. If we can’t get online we can’t do our job. If you want live exposure internet is a priority.
- Blogger outreach is not about checking it off your list to say you are doing it. It can be a valuable way to let others in the travel community know about your destination or product. You want it to be a valuable and worthwhile exercise. Therefore, it is up to you to do thorough research before you invite bloggers on the trip, otherwise it could fail and you will say Blogger Outreach does not work, which is untrue. It is not just about how many followers someone has or their klout score. It is more about the engagement and interaction they have with their community and the quality of their work. What other press trips have they been on before? Ask for references? Are they relevant? Are they professional? Are they going to highlight your destination or are they going to write one post with information they could have gleaned off the internet without even visiting the destination? Do your research.
- You really need to cover the majority of costs for the blogger. Airfare, accommodation, and transport at least. Bloggers don’t get paid by giant publishing houses, they are not going to be inspired to come if it is going to widen the holes in their pockets.
- Let the blogger know your expectation before the trip. What are your objectives? What do you want the blogger to do? How many posts? Social media expectations etc?
- Let the blogger know of any hashtags, twitter handles or facebook pages you would like tagged and promoted.
- To improve the power of the press trip, consider running special sales or deals in conjunction with the press trip that the blogger can link to and promote for your destination and offer to their readers.
- Give the blogger some sort of giveaway for their readers – this will help involve the readers and keep them interested in learning more about the destination.
- When planning the itinerary allow for some downtime for the blogger so they can gather their thoughts and write a post.
- Keep the blogger informed if there is a change of plans, allow for some flexibility. If things go wrong, don’t sweat it , things happen.
HELP US, HELP YOU
This is so important. Whatever your blogger does to promote your destination, help them out by promoting it through YOUR OWN channels.
Put their blog post on your fanpage, re-tweet it, comment on it, stumble it, and mention or link to it on your website.
This will only help you in so many ways. This is you letting your community know what someone else is saying about your brand, destination or product. A fresh voice amongst the white noise. It provides second hand validation.
Readers
- If you know your favourite blogger is going on a press trip, don’t be shy to let them know what it is you would like to know more about. After all, this is about information and inspiration for you.
- Support your blogger by commenting or just giving a thumbs up for their work. The cost of the press trip might be covered, but they receive no monetary compensation for it, and a lot of the time they are attending in order to get more content for you.
- Offer your blogger some tips and suggestions if you have already been there. Craig was looking for a good coffee shop when he was in Wellington, he sent out a tweet and several readers tweeted back and sent him to a really cool cafe in Cuba Street called Fidel’s. You can become part of the experience as well.
- Please don’t dump on your blogger and say they are selling out or just trying to get free travel. Bloggers work an incredible amount of unpaid hours to provide helpful, informative and inspirational information. A press trip is another way for them to do this, without worrying about the expense. It is a small reward for the massive effort they put into what they do. Press trips can also mean being away for extended periods from family and their main income source (job). Nobody should expect anybody to work for free.
This is an absolutely fantastic post Caz! I can foresee how the article will be read and referenced by masses of travel bloggers and PR/tourism boards in years to come! You’ve really summed up the psyche of a press/blog trip, and the things both parties have to put on the table in order to make it work ROI-wise.
Another point I’d add to the bloggers section: come up with a promotion strategy. From the wise individuals behind the numerous trips to Spain I spoke to during WTM, I’ve learned that quite often tourism boards/companies working with bloggers isn’t meant to be a one-off exposure but a long-term marketing strategy. Come up with a plan to consistently generate content throughout a prolonged period of time – don’t let the tweeting hype die just because the trip is over, or exhaust your material in a blogging frenzy immediately after the trip.
Once again, awesome tips! Still constantly learning, implementing and improving!
Great point Dylan!! We always make sure we write plenty of content and we drip it over time. We don’t want to drive our readers crazy with one press trip post after another. I am still writing stuff about the Gold Coast from almost a year ago.
And another point to is to see how you can leverage other sites. You may have another site you can write for or guest post on about the trip. I have my personal blog Mojito Mother that I will often write a post or two on that relates to our trip away. It’s reaching a whole new audience
thanks for the positive feedback
Or combining print media into your list of publications – I know a lot of travel bloggers are doing just that!
And thank you for writing this post – it really is standards-setting stuff!
Print media is an added bonus. I don’t feel confident enough yet to tackle that beast
Great advice on press trips for bloggers, PR reps and even readers! Thanks
You are welcome Leslie- so glad it can help
I love your posts Caz! You are covering some great points here and I experienced some unprofessionalism during a press trip in Norway in August. People who are just there to get drunk in a foreign country just that they can say that they’ve been there and tick it off their list. Big disappointment!
This post kinda sets a standard in the travel blogging industry! I hope many bloggers and tourism boards will read this!!
Thank you Sebastian. That is a major disappointment. I’m sorry you experienced that, it is really unfair, especially when you are there with a professional attitude.
Very useful info and not only for press trips, but for professionalism in general. In any good business deals, all parties need to walk out feeling that they’ve gotten something valuable out of it. That’s exactly what we need to strive for. Thanks for writing and sharing this!
Exactly Jill. Win win. Partnerships can’t work unless there is win win
Great points for both the bloggers and the companies looking to bring a blogger on a PR travel trip. May I ask how you find out about these trips? I have some great ideas for what to cover, but do not know who to ask.
We have been contacted mostly by the Tourist boards for press trip work. WE have also made a lot of contacts via offine networking events, or you can find the contact details of the Tourism Board of the area you are visiting and ask to speak to the person in charge of blogger outreach or the marketing manager/ PR rep
Wow Caz, this is brilliant. It’s great to have a reference like this, so us travel bloggers can build credibility and not commit any faux pas. Thanks again for paving the way!
Always a pleasure Roy! Thank you
Fantastic post. You guys are definitely world leaders in the blogging world and I make sure I always check out your site to hopefully follow in your footsteps!
We are currently working with a tourism board to get our first trip off the ground (nothing set in stone but really excited about it). They love our proposal and hopefully we can work it out soon. Cheers
Thank you for that Cole. We really appreciate it. That is so exciting about your proposal. Let us know how it goes and good luck. You will do a great job
Hi Caz,
Excellent post! By being professional and accepting that it is work (not a free holiday at the beach), travel bloggers can provide a lot of value to a destination by generating lots of buzz 3 or more times. The first time is before they leave for the trip (publish your itinerary and invite your followers to follow you on the trip); the second time is during the trip when you tweet, upload photos and interact with your followers; and the third time is when the blogger starts publishing posts about the trip. The third time can be prolonged if the blogger spreads out the posts across a 2-3 month period (or longer).
Providing free internet access is crucial – I’ve been on trips where the tourism boards really get it and provided individual MyFi so we could work anytime (i.e. upload photos, tweet, post on FB, publish a post, etc…).
I think it’s very important for bloggers to show a professional attitude (but just as important for the hosts to do the same). Rotten apples in the past have given travel bloggers a bad name with certain tourism boards but I see that changing rapidly. In my view, travel bloggers can provide lots of value to the tourism industry – recent developments suggest that the industry is starting to see it too, and that’s great news for all of us.
Thanks Keith, I love how you look at it as providing 3 times the value- you are spot on!! The prolonged exposure a host country gets through a blogger is amazing. It is not just one article in a magazine, it is numerous posts, social media exposure adn massive buzz for a long period of time. PRICELESS
It is an exciting time for bloggers as we see more and more Tourism Boards and companies use as, that is why it is so important that all of us do a professional job so we can keep those doors open and make them open wider.
Thanks so much for your positive support always to those within the community Keith. You are a great leader!
Thanks Caz for the kind words. It’s great to see the travel blogging community growing quickly into a professional/sophisticated/savvy bunch. When I was at the World Travel Market in London earlier this month, I was so impressed to see bloggers sitting with tourism board reps/PRs and explaining their blogs/services through their Media kits on their iPads. So cool!
Talking about WTM, at the risk of being spammy, I’ve included a link to the slides of my presentation at WTM. The presentation is about the value that travel bloggers offer to the tourism industry: http://velvetconnect.com/2011/11/working-with-travel-bloggers-to-increase-brand-visibility-and-sales/ Hope you’ll find this useful.
Cheers,
Keith
You spammer you
Not at all Keith. We appreciate valuable information that can help us all out. Thank you for sharing
I must get myself an ipad. We hope to make WTM and TBU next year as we should be in Europe. Might finally get to meet
Good article, but it has one drawback – it is too long.
Sorry you feel that way Victor, but quality is always going to trump for me. I want to make sure I provide the best information I can and sometimes this means being a little long. But I am sure those who apply these principles will reap the benefits and be grateful
While I’m not specifically a travel blogger, I think this post is useful to all bloggers who are offered comps to review. There is an etiquette and protocol that is being established here and more people need to get on board. Good post. Thanks
You are welcome and i agree this can apply to any sort of blogger/brand relationship
The last two tips for bloggers are not something I would have thought of. Excellent ideas!
Glad we could help out Stephanie! We’ve only just started doing them and they have proved very helpful
This was a very good read, thanks Caz. Communication is key in any business deal and as such all parties need to make sure that EVERYTHING is as clear as possible, well before any trips begin.
I leaned this the hard way recently. Sometimes the best lessons are the hard lessons. While some bad apple bloggers may give our industry a black eye, it would be nice to know that those same bad apple types on the PR/TB side would be held accountable for equally egregious behaviour.
Respect commands respect and we all share the same goals. Promoting amazing locations in an ethical and honest way should be the standard objective of blogger, tourism board, and PR firm. By being clear with each other, those goals become far more achievable.
Thanks Ken, and I know that you had a terrible experience recently where things were poorly planned and there was plenty of mis-communication. PR/ host tourism boards also do need to make sure they are held accountable and act professionally as well. It is in every ones interests that they do so they can have a good experience out of it.
Great post Caz. I think Bloggers are the new breed of travel journalists and while the editorial style may differ from person to person, the level of professionalism and integrity should not. If blogging is set to be main stream media we should all be aware of the responsibilities this places on not only the blogger but also the service provider. Your post should be referenced as essential reading prior to a press trip or comp.
Thanks Jo! It is easy to think that just because we work in our PJ’s or with backpacks on that we can be casual in our approach to blogging. But if you are a blogger that wants to go on press trips then you are becoming more of a publisher and with that comes a certain level of professionalism and expectations. Doesn’t mean you have to lose your unique voice.
Thanks for the tips Caz. I’ve just got back from my 2nd ever press trip and had the best time ever but I think it is important to remember that it isn’t just a holiday (although it can feel like it when someone else has organised things)and you really need to put a lot of hard work into it both before and afterwards.
Wahoo! How exciting Monica. I’m happy you are going on press trips. It is a lot of work but can be fun and is really a privlege. Here’s to many more!
its sad that blogs take these trips and come out with awful posts. am glad that you get invited to many of these events.
I know. I think if you agree to take them then you agree to do a good job
Very informative post! Great write up as usual. It’s serious bloggers like yourselves that are opening so many doors for others to also have opportunities. Thank you for your advice.
Our pleasure Mica- it’s an exciting time and I’m happy to help open up some doors
Great advice! I haven’t been on a press trip (yet!), but I’ve heard of friends having issues with internet access and downtime to hold up their end of the deal. And of course, I’m sure there are plenty of people who just look at it as a free trip rather than a professional arrangement. You seem to have covered the main things to keep in mind on all sides.
The internet is a major concern on press trips., It is so vital that this one is covered as it is a large part of what you do. so make sure you always check for that and insist upon it. The press trips will come. Start contacting some tourist boards now and build those relationships. Just let them know who you are and what you do.
Wonderful advice guys! This was really helpful to me
Pleasure Megan
Wow. Had no idea of the bad apples that just take the free trip and run with it! The nerve!
I know! Thankfully it is not that many
Hi Caz, Hi Craig
The reason that you’re able to deliver all your assignments, with such professionalism and why you keep getting asked to come back for more -
Is because you have a strong desire to add value. You are incredibly respectful, know that you have a job to do and you treat your blog as a business. You understand what “an exchange” means. It’s not a free ride. You value yourself, your community and the people or brand you’re doing business with.
THAT is how you operate a successful blog and build a reputation, second to none. Any brand should feel privileged to work with you in helping to get the word out for them.
Lina
Aw Thank you Lina! We love what we do and so want to make it the best it can possibly be. Let’s hope the brands start seeing the value of it soon.
It would be a dream some true to do a trip like you guys get to. Seriously I will carry your bags and mind the baby?
I am sure these sorts of trips will be offered to you soon Mrs Woogs!! We are always looking out for a nanny. We speak about it quite a lot. Consider yourself hired!
Thanks Caz, great post and I topic that I am very glad is started to be addressed and I know we have chatted about in the past.
Well done and look forward to strengthening relationship between brands, PR’s and bloggers…..
Thank you Holly. I know that you do a great job on your PR side of things, always a pleasure to work with. I like how forward thinking you are and how you are helping to change the landscape. Looking forward to seeing you next Thursday at the conference
Thanks Caz for your lovely comments and yes, see you then.
Caz, your relationship with your PR company really interests me. I think that it is fantastic that you and Craig have been so successful in your blog, you promote a really good brand in yourself and your products that I can see why companies would use you for marketing and PR. I was just wondering is a PR company like an agent? That is, do they source ‘work’ for you and then make their money by taking a commission or do you pay them a fee to find you work.
Thanks for those supportive words Sam.
A PR company is not really like your agent, more so the companies. They work on campaigns with the companies and then have to make the connections with media and publishers in order to get the word out. But, if you do some really great work for a PR company than it is highly likely that they will come to you again and again when good campaigns come up, because they trust you. So in that sense it might seem like they are your agent, but they are not representing you in any sense of the word. and no money exchanges hands.
You can get yourself a blogger’s agent though who can source work for you and then you pay them a commission or a set fee you have worked out or both. We have just recently started working with our agent and it is proving to be a valuable part of what we do.
Caz,
You’ve written an impressive and well-considered list of how-to’s, do’s, and do not’s – altogether, this is one mighty useful resource! What really leapt out from your post was the continued emphasis on “professionalism” and on starting and maintaining high-level business relationships.
Thank you!
Thank you Henry. i am so glad that it is proving to be a good resource. I am passionate about blogging and the value it can add so the more professional we can make it the more worthwhile it becomes for everyone involved
Great post, Caz. I’ve just done a Visiting Journalists program for Strahan on the West Coast of Tassie as part of the My Tasmanian Backyard series I’m doing.
For me, as a former journo who’s done a lot of press trips, the biggest challenge is writing as a blogger, not a journalist. I have to be conscious of keeping with the blogging voice I’ve established for my mummy blog but still offering valuable content. It’s a challenge I’m enjoying though.
But, as you say, it has to be a win win win. It saddens me to think some abuse the system.
So interesting to hear the journo, now blogger side of things. I always think that former journalists would be just that further ahead with others blogging, like myself, who have no idea about the craft of writing. I guess it is very different in that your blogging voice is very different. I guess it is hard to drop the more formal style!
Looking forward to having you write a post for us on Tassie. So want to go there.
Really awesome resource Caz. We are just getting into this “world”, and while I find some very helpful information for us in here, I also would like to share this with some of the people we are working with – ha! It’s all got nowhere to go but up, as bloggers and the industry start figuring out how to best work together. Hopefully all of these great points will be ingrained in everyone’s minds very soon.
Thanks Dalene! I hope people will start getting it soon, especially brands so we can make these relationships valuable and worthwhile. Change always takes a long time in coming, unfortunately,.
Great tips, Caz! Though it’s sort of sad that some people really do need to be remind about the whole “professionalism” thing. I feel like that should be a given!!
Now, just to get some of these coveted press trip invites so that I can start showing what kind of value I can offer!
I’m sure you will be on press trips soon enough Amanda! You have quite a popular blog and your writing is great. I know New Zealand enjoyed having you over and promoting their beautiful country! You sure got me interested
Great post as usual Caz! Are you still on the gold coast? We are in Brisbane – drop us a line if you are still around! James and I are actually in the process of making up a media kit for our big epic trip around Australia, so hopefully it goes well!!! If you have any specific tips on pitching a company for sponsorship let me know!! Thanks
I started a discussion about travel blogs and press trips for them on VirtualTourist and, would you believe, they closed my account in just a few seconds. I guess there are people out there who just want to put their heads in the sand than admit that not all of us can travel round the world on our own salary
And I doubt they have read your post, which they should have done, so we could have an intelligent discussion.
I just wanted to note that I really appreciated this post. While it’s simple and just a tip of the iceberg, it’s also written concisely and would be a great starting point for bloggers who want to take it to the next level! You hit the nail on the head pointing out the need to provide value too. I work in marketing and it’s really all about the ROI – site visits only go so far.
Thanks again for the great posts!
Lots of excellent advice here! Thanks for providing both sides (and a guide for readers too!) I’ve just started doing some press trips and important to keep in mind everything you mentioned.