I just returned from the Travel Bloggers’ Exchange Conference (TBEX) in NYC. I learned a lot of things and met a lot of great people in both travel writing and PR. At the “Working with PR” panel, it was eye-opening to discover that many bloggers don’t understand the role of PR. I was dismayed, however, to discover that many are loathe to work with PR. I would venture to say that they, too, don’t understand the role of PR. Or let me rephrase: they don’t understand what the role of PR should be.
The relationship between a blogger and PR pro can be a beautiful and mutually productive one. Travel bloggers/writers, please don’t feel like you have to go wash after you’ve worked with us.
Our relationship should be one of collaboration; an understanding of each others goals, and how we can help each other to achieve them. You want to travel and tell stories of the places and people. We want to encourage that. We have destinations and products that can help create experiences. You have a dysfunctional business model. If you are trying to generate revenue, you can’t possibly afford to experience everything you write about it if you had to cover all your expenses. We can help bridge that gap.
The truth of the matter is, there are good writers/bloggers and there are bad writers/ bloggers. There are good PR reps, and there are lame PR reps. Our jobs are to scope each other out and make sure we are each dealing with the “good” and not the “bad”.
PR and writers having fun together
I’ve created this Good PR/Good Blogger Manifesto aka The Eight Step Program to a loving PR/blogger relationship:
- Understand Each Others Goals Part 1: (understanding travel writers’ goals) In the Saturday morning TBEX10 panel, Travel Writing: Upping Your Game, travel, writers Don George and Alison Stein Wellner said that good travel writing is not about recounting the situation, it’s about telling the story. Your goal is to weave a story, a lesson. My role as PR is to facilitate that, and get out of the way. We’ll establish that in our initial communication. How can I help you find your story? I’ll point you in the right direction, or set up an introduction, and then I’ll get lost.
- Understand Each Others Goals Part 2: (understanding PR’s goals) I have to show my clients the value. This will never go away. I’m guessing this is why some of you hate us; because you are an artiste and are opposed to defending your worth. I understand that. But you are also a business, and my clients are a business. So we have to “sink to this level” and make sure we’re a fit. If you are contacting me, I need help understanding who you are and who your audience is. Just like I do my research before I pitch you, please do yours and let me know that this indeed can be mutually beneficial.
- Research before Reach-out: If I’m contacting you, it’s because I’ve been following you and I’ve done the research. I enjoy your stories and I think my client might have something interesting to offer you and your readers. Rene Mack with Weber Shandwick said it. “We are not trying to reach an audience of a million people.” We are trying to reach an audience of 10 who will take action based on your stories, then tell their stories to ten others, and so on and so on. (wait, isn’t that a shampoo commercial?)
- Just say no to Group Fams: I know you hate them. I do too. If I wouldn’t want to go on the trip, why would you? Where’s the story in THAT? the reader doesn’t want to hear about how the OTHER journalist on the bus spilled his coffee all over your lap ruining the day and all the museum tours for you.
- Spam sucks: A good PR person promises to never spam and mass email lame press releases. I do send pitches out, and news updates. It’s a great way to keep in touch, and I do my best to make sure they fit. I won’t send you, the sustainable travel blogger a pitch on an ATV tour. I might, however, send you something about refillable wine bottles. I don’t expect you to act on every one of my updates/pitches. HIT THE FREAKING DELETE BUTTON AND MOVE ON. sheesh.
- PR does not control the story: I never require visiting writers to write about something specific. I know, and my client knows, we don’t control the story. We trust you won’t take advantage of us because we’ve had lots of communication prior to your arrival. Of course you wouldn’t accept our offerings if you knew it wasn’t a fit for your audience. If you have a negative experience, we know you will write about it. That’s the risk we take.
- We Love What We Do: the good writers and the good PR people just love what we do. I am passionate about my clients, you are passionate about your outlet (blog, podcast, etc). I swear, I am not a cheeseball talking head. I am a normal, fun person to work with. I get to make new friends, and share with them destinations and products that I truly believe in. I get to meet you for wine, coffee, a bike ride, or a ski day. I introduce you to people you might find interesting. I listen to your needs and plan appropriately.
- You; appreciate it by being a friend back (ok, well, we’re not ALL going to be friends), and sharing your stories with your audience (the good and the bad). You don’t ask me to be your babysitter or your concierge. I know you can look up the weather yourself. I also know you know how to use google maps.
If we have a deal, sign on the dotted line, and let me help you create great content.
Lisa
Do we need to anything to the list?
Lisa — you can apply this to all pr/journalist relationships. Blogger, print, broadcast — we all need each other to do our jobs.
This is a really great post with lots of really great information. I think that many bloggers are unclear as to how we’re supposed to feel about PR folks. I, for one, am all for them, but I am also familiar with the advertising industry, which gives me somewhat of a different perspective.
I’m with you, Lisa. I think this entire topic has been made more complicated than it needs to be.
The PR/blogger relationship is relatively new in the great scheme of things, but is similar to all relationships. Respect and communication go a long way on both sides, and not every connection works out.
There are so many stories I want to write, but I don’t expect them to interest every
Lisa is one of the good ones. She’s cool. I have never traveled with her or written about one of her clients (I don’t think???) but I’d like to, cuz she gets it, for sure.
One point about “Hit the freaking delete button and move on”: For sure, that’s what I do. Or I unsubscribe from mailing lists if I get too many unsolicited press releases on a subject I don’t write about (i.e. square dancing and golf are two I got recently). HOWEVER, it’s not as easy as “hit the delete button.” We writers get uber annoyed at totally off-target pitches/releases because we get freaking dozens (some of us hundreds) a DAY. So many! If I got one a day — no big deal. But 20+ = big deal.
I want my PR colleagues (and to me, you are colleagues) to understand the sheer volume of releases we get. The more unsolicited, untargeted ones we receive, the more annoyed we are.
Send me a personal note ANY DAY of the week. I love those. Send me an email blast, and if I’m having a bad day, I may just mark your IP address spam.
Kara,
agreed – a personal email is one thing – press releases are …. wait. is anyone still writing those? : )
We haven’t worked together yet, but we will one of these days!!!
Thanks for a great, insightful post. I agree with Kara in that PR and bloggers are colleagues, and communication and professionalism go a long way. We both have a roll to play in marketing great travel experiences. Sure, we’d all love to have personalized, individual press trips, but the reality is that when you are hosted by a region, or even a property, you are their guest, and if they want to haul you around in a bus or minivan and show you every unique and special thing about the area, well, I think that is something that bloggers must endure. That goes with the territory. Bloggers too must learn to be nimble, using technology and tools to update from the road. I’ve created and uploaded blog posts from my cell phone, using WordPress for iPhone, while riding on a tour bus in the South of France. It can be done. It’s not a long, narrative tale, but the posts told the story, and the immediacy itself was compelling.
Setting expectations ahead of time is also key.
Thanks again for your post. I still have a lot to learn in working with PR, but at the end of the day, it’s about communication and professionalism.
Mary Ann
@enchantedtravel
http://www.enchanted-traveler.com
I love how you really get to the point here, Lisa! I, too, hate hearing how bad PR is to work with when I have had only positive experiences. So many bloggers have a catch-22 situation; they haven’t worked in a business setting and really have no idea how to be both business people and bloggers.
I love to receive emails that show a PR person has actually spent some time on my site. Even if the pitch is off target I am very likely to send a thank you email because I can tell PR took the time to get to know my site and thought it would be a good fit. And I’ll ask to be remembered for the next opportunity.
I enjoyed meeting you (briefly) at TBEX and hope a note from you will come into my inbox one day!
Lisa – Great list. I find it hard to understand why people get so upset about PR releases. I’m not going to tell you how many I used to receive on a daily basis at USA TODAY. The delete button is your friend, and it’s not that hard to use.
I think it boils down to the fact that not everyone realizes yet that FAM and sponsored trips are not vacations. They are business transactions, for both of us. I travel to gain information for my readers, and you host or help us in order to reach those readers.
(I wrote a post about all this after PRSA: http://bit.ly/bg9IaM)
Great meeting you!
Excellent post Lisa. I have worked with Lisa in the past and she is without a doubt one of the good ones. I agree that press releases are a waste of time and I often click delete. But like Kara said, I get about 15-20 per day and it becomes pretty annoying to go through them all to see whether or not they work for me. By the way 9 out of 10 times they do not fit my blog at all. Appreciate the breakdown of good/bd pr.
Cheers
Andrew
Thanks for laying out your perspective. I was at TBEX too, but missed the PR panel.
“You have a dysfunctional business model.”
I have to disagree here. Travel blogging as a business is just hitting puberty about now. We’re still feeling our way as we go, but I do believe there is a working model that allows bloggers to travel and live abroad, fairly freely, without going broke or needing to depend on press trips to generate new content. It’s not easy, but there are a few people already showing that it can be done. There will be many more in the coming years.
There are a lot of options available to generate the income necessary to do this: selling advertising, releasing one’s own digital products, consulting, freelancing, etc.
Of course this is more easily achieved in the budget/backpacking niche then luxury travel, where it seems most press trips reside. And by the way, why is that?
Hi Dave,
thanks for your comments and good point: perhaps I should say the business model doesn’t work at the moment. Regardless, your comment illustrates my point
– if
I understand correctly you imply that it is best to avoid accepting a press
trip. I hope that you will see
that accepting the right kind of press trip is perfectly acceptable if
handled properly on both sides.
perfectly acceptable if handled properly on both sides.
My preference (or advice to others) isn’t to avoid press trips, but rather ensure I’m not beholden to them to generate new content and visit new places. I think this allows the blogger to choose more wisely, rather than feeling pressure to take a trip that might not be a good fit for his/her blog.
I went on a great PR trip to Rwanda this past March. Trekking with mountain gorillas is not a cheap affair, and I was grateful to have had the opportunity to experience it while doing my thing (writing and tweeting about it).
The PR rep on the trip simply did as you said, facilitate the experiences which we would later write about.
After reading so many post-TBEX posts from bloggers, it’s good to hear from the public relations front too. Thanks for sharing your thoughts! (Off to explore the rest of your blog now…)
This is a great list!
Thanks so much for your insights, Lisa. I found the PR panel really fascinating, because thought processes of PR folks have always been a mystery to me. It’s nice to know you “get” the personalized approach to bloggers. Of course, I think those of you in PR who took the time to come to TBEX are naturally going to be the ones who “get” it already. Keep spreading the word to your peers. I’m happy to work with PR folks, but as many have said, it’s got to make sense for my readership. I think we can help each other a great deal, as long as we all understand it’s got to be a good match. (The “Match.com” analogy was terrific!)
It was fantastic chatting with you at TBEX Lisa ~ in fact, I’m getting ready to put you in touch with the Idaho-based writers I told you about. Prepare for an email coming your way!
Thanks for your insights and support of the travel blogging community. I look forward to working with you in the future.
I love this: Just say no to group FAMs. Sadly, there are so many of those and not so many independent trips. I love working with BC and Hawaii because they’ve (mostly — not always) made it possible for me to have travel experiences that echo what I’d do on my own. That lets me write about places from a much more reflective POV. Reading this from you makes me feel more, oh, I’ll just use the damn word, “empowered” to ask for individual travel when I’m approached with a FAM proposal.
We still talk about our time in Idaho, just so you know. It. Was. Excellent.
Lisa, this is fantastic! I especially love #7. Your travel is my interior design. For my furniture/interior design clients, I am the PR person and the blogger. (And the PR person who works with other bloggers!) I love reading home decor mags & blogs. Sometimes I can’t sleep because I’m mentally re-arranging my furniture and when I do zonk out, I dream that my job is naming paint colors.
So when I talk with an interior design blogger or magazine editor, it is usually a conversation about a common interest. A shared love. I know you are the same way with travel.
Great insights and as several comments reflect, I know people love working with you!
Lisa – LOVE this manifesto and feel that all bloggers, journos, PR pros AND their clients should read it, especially #6.
Bravo.
Lisa, Hope to work with you some day as you are obviously a PR person who understands how to get results instead of just blasting out crap and hoping someone will bite. #5 is the key. I WISH I only had to delete 15-20 press releases a day. On an average day it’s 100+ no matter how many unsubscribe buttons I hit and how many “take me off your list” pleading messages I send back. I almost never use anything from a release, so I’m lucky if one a week is relevant to anything I’m working on. A giant waste of time and energy.
Thanks for the comments Tim! I look forward to working with you one day!
Great post! Spot on as usual… can’t pick a favorite number cause I found myself nodding at all of them! Particularly like ‘I swear, I am not a cheeseball talking head. I am a normal, fun person to work with 😉
glad you liked that one. : )
I like this website very much, Its a very nice position to read and obtain information.