Tourism
Marketing
Public
relations' activities are about directing carefully selected
messages to key target groups. They can range from
ensuring all your staff present a tidy and friendly image
to the public, to lobbying Members of Parliament and trying
to obtain coverage in the media.
Effective PR can influence a vast range of different groups
of people, encouraging them to buy your product. However, you
will have little control over whether or not your efforts are
successful because you are not paying for coverage or people's
opinions.
PR activities might include:
• lobbying
politicians and opinion formers to improve services or legislate
on matters which are important to you.
For example, regional tourist boards might lobby for improved
access to their area, or to encourage acceptance of an airport
development;
• convincing opinion formers in your local community to support
your activities and encourage others to do so, often through
positive word-of-mouth publicity;
• initiating positive media coverage of your activities through
selected media by issuing press releases or invitations to
members of the media to experience your facilities first-hand;
• developing contacts with local, national and specialist media
and being ready to help them should they call with any requests
for information or interviews on a subject related to your
activities, thus developing a reputation as a spokesperson
in your field.
Improving public relations
PR is essentially about developing and maintaining awareness
of your product, so that people are encouraged to buy it. You
can influence and attract your target markets by carrying out
PR activities which generally show your organisation in a favourable
light.
These activities may not show tangible results but should be
part of developing a successful business. Networking is a common
way of getting business, developing word-of-mouth referrals and
personal contacts.
Some of these activities do not relate directly to your target
markets, but will help to raise your profile. It is worth making
time to:
• hold
open days and invite the press, members of the public or travel
trade to see the facilities which you offer
in an informal setting;
• develop links with other people involved in the tourism industry
or similar field as you. This might be a trade body or membership
of your local tourist board;
• speak at conferences, lecture or write articles on your specialist
subject for consumer or trade press;
• attend exhibitions and events where you will have the opportunity
to meet the press or buyers such as tour operators.
The bulk of PR activities centre around channels of communication
such as the press, and broadcast media. This section concentrates
on these.
Advantages of PR
• most
PR activities are low cost and rely more on resourcefulness
than resources, unlike advertising;
• when carried out effectively, PR activities can reach a very
wide audience, helping to raise your profile and position your
product in a positive light;
• PR activities can help to inform the public and generate sales
during quiet or off-peak periods;
• PR activities can result in media coverage which is viewed
much more positively than advertising. Coverage is often perceived
as an endorsement of your product;
• information which is published as a result of PR activities
appears impartial whereas advertising is often treated with
suspicion;
• PR activities can be carefully targeted, to appeal to specific
and even specialist, markets.
Disadvantages of PR
• unlike
advertising you cannot control the result of PR activities.
As many as 90% of all press releases are simply
thrown in the bin;
• sending out press releases can be time-consuming. Forward planning
is essential so you must have a sustained and positive approach.
Occasional PR activities are unlikely to have an impact;
• you are unlikely to know whether your press release has been
used by all the media you have sent it to. When they receive
your release most editors will make a decision whether to publish
or not, without contacting you;
• press releases are rarely published in their entirety. Most
of the time, the first paragraphs are the main ones to be reproduced.
This might mean that information is misinterpreted.
Planning PR activities
Whatever PR activities you undertake, you should plan them in
advance. Consider your target markets, and identify key messages
which you wish to communicate to them. You might wish to:
• convey
a general image or feeling, such as building an image as a
caring company, or offering value for money, or
diversity;
• promote a particular range of events or packages;
• develop off-peak business;
• target new markets who have a low level of awareness of your
product, and who require more detailed information about the
'experience' you can offer them.
The next, and most important step is to draw up a timetable
of activities. Good timing is critical to the success of many
PR activities. Your timetable should take into consideration
the times when people make decisions to book or come to your
area, and highlight any times when you will be looking for extra
business, as well as including any special events, whether they
are internal or external.
Use a calendar to ensure you don't miss key dates when people
might be persuaded to buy your product. For example, bank holidays
and special events like Mother's Day. For each of the featured
dates you will need to work out which publication or programme
dates might be relevant, and when they need information from
you.
For example, if you are arranging an Easter Sunday Egg Treasure
Hunt and Easter falls in the middle of April you might decide
that your target market is local families with young children
and that some of the local press could be interested in the event.
Some people might decide to take part after having read about
the event in the Sunday paper, but most of them will have planned
their Easter Sunday in advance.
This will probably mean that you want to be featured in the
midweek editions of local daily newspapers and in the previous
week's edition of the weekly paper. Monthly magazines often bear
one date and appear a month earlier so if your area has a monthly
magazine you will probably want to appear in the March rather
than the April edition.
There is no guarantee that any of these publications will publish
details of your event, unless you take out paid advertising.
However, you can significantly increase your chances by simply
sending information at appropriate times.
Bear in mind lead times, which may be a month in advance for
weekly publications and up to three or four months in advance
for monthly publications. That means that the March edition of
the magazine you wish to be featured in could well be planned
before Christmas. You will need to take all these factors into
consideration in your PR timetable and list the media you plan
to approach and different types of story for each date.
If you wish to target daily papers, remember that papers particularly
welcome information which reaches them on Monday morning, when
other news is thin on the ground. They are also more likely to
publish information in July and August when political news items
are less frequent.
It is useful to produce general information sheets about your
organisation so you have some basic facts readily at hand. These
can be included with press releases as background information.
They should be brief and to the point, including information
about key personnel, facilities, and advance notice of any special
events.
|
