What's
love got to do with it?
Cynics
might argue that marketing is basically about manipulating people.
Getting them to buy stuff they didn’t really want,
do things they wouldn’t normally do. Any restaurant knows
the value of date-specific promotions - and don’t they just
love it when the 14th February falls on a Monday?
But
sometimes the tried and tested PR angles can backfire when you
use the
hackneyed tactic of Valentine’s Day as an angle.
Or do they?
Cheesy
marketers recently used the heart-shaped peg to promote Rotherham & Luton. And guess what? It resulted in a little
light ridicule. Maybe not surprising since neither of them spring
to mind as romantic hot spots. But let’s take a closer look.
They both generated press coverage in publications that command
high advertising rates.
There
was plenty of coverage about the travel agents in Hull forced
to withdraw
an offer of a Valentine's Day break after no one expressed
any interest in going to Rotherham. There were tongue in cheek “pros
and cons of romantic Rotherham” articles. Most of these seemed
to conclude that Rotherham people are friendly and warm-hearted
and that Rotherham has fantastic car parking facilities. It wasn’t
clear if these two facts are connected. But at least we now know
a little more about Rotherham. And that you can snog in secret
at the award-winning Magna visitor attraction because much of it
is badly lit.
But
the publicity continued with unexpected spins. In the Saturday
Times the featured
hotel was… the four star Hellaby Hall
Hotel in Rotherham, the focus for the romantic breaks that Hull
residents didn’t want.
Luton
has also been using the Valentine’s angle, with a
campaign by Luton First to persuade Lutonians to love their town.
A story apparently so newsworthy that the current edition of The
Economist has a half page dedicated to it. Useful since Luton First’s
other mission is to persuade companies to invest in Luton. Possibly
the very same people who read The Economist.
So should you use the love theme or any other trite theme? Well,
it does grab attention. The angle of getting local residents to
love and enjoy their own town is certainly becoming more and more
popular, and one The Tourism Network has done much work on.
What
is certainly worth doing is getting out your diary and looking
at significant
dates and anniversaries and planning in advance
which hooks to use for future PR angles. The media feel duty bound
to cover these dates so are surprisingly grateful if you can offer
them some fuel, as Rotherham’s example demonstrates.
To help you do this, in May The Tourism Network will be publishing
a Handbook which will include details of useful dates for marketing
purposes, as well as other ways to make your job easier.
In
the meantime, a final word of advice. Whatever marketing approach
you use,
good targeting is essential. Rotherham didn’t get
any takers for its romantic weekends, but according to the travel
agency that was promoting them, neither did Paris. Perhaps Hull
couples are just not keen on leaving their town. They probably
love it too much.
If
you have any good examples of marketing to local residents or
the Visits
to Friends and Relatives’ market, or want to
hear more about these markets, please get in touch: susan@tourismnetwork.org
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