In this Newsletter
PR: The CVB Industry's Most Underrated Resource

When the recent best-selling book, "the Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR" made the strong case that PR/ publicity runs circles around advertising in producing customer credibility and building brand awareness, you'd think its tactical implementation for destination tourism marketing would increase exponentially.

Not so--but there are encouraging signs ahead.

Don't get me wrong. A number of savvy CVB marketers are now shifting resources to this important initiative. They're hiring new dedicated staff for the PR function. And some are bringing aboard seasoned PR firms to support them in opening doors to new publicity opportunities.

Still, the PR function continues to play second fiddle to advertising as a tactical resource for most DMOs.

According to today's industry surveys that measure CVB marketing allocation resources, expenditures for advertising traditionally dwarf PR programming. And in a number of categories--such as PR firms employed by CVBs--it's not mentioned at all.

What we are seeing is that a number of savvy CVB marketers are beginning to reallocate financial and manpower resources to support the PR function. Clearly, there are compelling reasons why.

People trust editorial coverage

For starters, we're in a new era where today's consumers--particularly those of younger generations--are extremely wary of advertising claims. Instead, they conclude that unpaid media editorial coverage provides the most believability of all communications. Thus, messages that appear on editorial pages in stories, and not purchased advertising, get much higher marks for consumer credibility. That's a giant advantage for media publicity in producing destination awareness and customer interest to visit.

The Big Bang: Tourism Media has exploded to serve Tourism and the consumer

Also, there's also such a pervasive media interest in tourism because of its impacts everywhere.

As examples, travelers throughout America now generate about $1.3 trillion in annual economic activity, produce $100 billion in tax revenue for local, state and federal governments and provide travel generated employment for more than 7 million people. So it's easy to understand why tourism is the focus of so much consumer media attention.

(Continued click here.)

Then there's the avalanche of daily tourism media stories that were once relegated to feature segments on TV and in weekend newspaper travel sections. Prime time travel industry coverage now appears regularly as business news and in the business sections of national publications--all because of the important economic contributions of the tourism industry.

Another major contributing factor to the growing prominence of travel industry PR has been the explosion of news media outlets dedicated to covering travel.

CNN devotes considerable time to industry news. New cable channels are now devoted to travel and food. Every Friday, USA Today, America's largest circulation daily newspaper, publishes an extensive travel section. Both the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times have expanded their weekly coverage of tourism. And a number of influential publications such as Conde Nast Traveler, National Geographic and Travel and Leisure Magazine have emerged as prestigious leaders.

Add to this the explosive growth of technology, in particular the Internet, and the emergence of hundreds of new channels on cable TV.

More media outlets provide new opportunities for CVBs

Media publicity now affords destinations an indispensable, relatively low cost and effective initiative for producing top of mind customer awareness, and interest for the destination that can lead to desire to visit, and ultimately customer action.

In summary, new CVB efforts are focusing on this mission:

To proactively secure coverage to increase top of mind consumer awareness, interest and desire to visit --and, as a result, convert, over time, new visitors and resulting economic impacts for the community and its travel business constituents.

Employing staff vs outside Resources

For most destinations, the genesis of their PR efforts began with a reactive approach to writer needs; standing by to answer media questions, preparing press releases at writer's requests and occasionally assisting in writer visits.

Then later, when a market driven, proactive approach is initiated, additional staff are usually added to handle an expanded publicity planning program that includes outreach to writers by sales calls, regularly scheduled press publicity, event planning, destination familiarization programs, trade show participation, special promotions, etc.

In more and more bureaus, PR firms are contracted with, too, because of their strong relationships with the communications fraternity and their special expertise in opening doors for enhanced destination coverage. But whether you hire new staff and/or a PR firm, the principal objectives of any ongoing effort should be to:

If you're going to hire a PR firm, you need to develop a planning process to assure success. This will include preparation of a comprehensive Request for Proposal (RFP) to contract/hire the Public Relations firm to support the CVB's media publicity function.

Be sure you're inviting the right agencies with track records of achievement that can best assist you. Ask for a detailed marketing plan with methods to benchmark success. And be sure you're getting the optimum program for the budget.

You should further evaluate PR firms through agency presentations that assess past performance and offer speculative concepts for your consideration.

Finally, as you prepare to launch your new PR effort, your new marketing plan should:

Of course, there's a whole lot more to the PR function than media publicity. In our next newsletter, we'll take a look at your opportunities and benefits in forging stronger government, community, media and stakeholder relationships.

You can now access previous newsletters on a variety of marketing topics by visiting:
WWW.MMTOURISMMARKETING.COM