S5 E52: Inside Travel Media Bootcamp Part 1: Working With Tourism Boards

Get the show’s transcript

[INTRODUCTION]

[00:00:06] YD: Welcome to the Travel Media Lab Podcast. I’m your host, Yulia Denisyuk, an award-winning travel photographer and writer, entrepreneur, community builder, and a firm believer that every one of us can go after the stories we’ve always wanted to tell with the right support, encouragement, and structure. 

I’m on a mission to help women storytellers everywhere break into and thrive in the travel media space. If you’re ready to ditch your fears to the side, grow your knowledge and confidence, and publish your travel stories, you’re in the right place. Let’s go!

[EPISODE]

[00:00:42] YD: I recently went to Waco, Texas to lead my first ever two-day intensive workshop called Travel Media Bootcamp for 12 people interested in publishing their own travel stories and learning how to work with tourism boards. Our attendees had a firsthand experience of what it’s like to be on the media trip plus learn so much about pitching, working with tourism boards and PR agencies, storytelling, and more. We laughed a lot, met creative businesses that give Waco its vibrant feel, and I’m not afraid to say, it created some long-lasting friendships.

Today on the podcast, I wanted to share with you a small part of the conversations we’ve had during Travel Media Bootcamp. In this conversation, you’ll learn about working with tourism boards and how this process looks like before, during, and after the trip. You will also hear the voices of Paula Carreiro, my Travel Media Bootcamp partner and travel PR veteran who represents Panama’s Tourism Board, Susan Morrison, a representative for Waco, Texas Tourism Board, and of course, our attendees.

Next week, I’ll share with you another part of this trip where you hear from Paula and get the PR agencies perspective on working with freelance writers and photographers. Our first Travel Media Bootcamp was great success, and Paula and I are already working on our next destination. If you’d like to know when the next trip opens and which destination we’ll go to, be sure to visit travelmedialab.com/trip to be notified when we do. We will link to this webpage on our show notes, so be sure to check it out there. All right, let’s get into this episode.

[DISCUSSION]

[00:02:27] YD: Actually, a lot of what I wanted to cover in my workshop, in this particular workshop working with tourism boards, we already covered with Susan. No, that’s great, that’s wonderful. That means we’re on the same page, right? That means we’re all talking about the same things and that’s important. What we’re going to discuss in this particular workshop is what we do before, during and after a press trip, right? Some key things to remember there. 

Just a bit about me. You guys mostly know me, but again, my name is Yulia Denisyuk. Travel Media Lab is my platform. It used to be called Genius Women, but we just renamed it into Travel Media Lab. You can find me on Instagram @insearchofperfect and @travelmedialab is our handle. I actually have City of Waco here, which I thought that was the official site tag, but you showed a different one. 

[00:03:15] SM: Yeah. It’s #WacoTX.

[00:03:18] YD: Rather than tagging.

[00:03:19] SM: Yeah, because that will go like to the governmenty side. I mean, we’re government, but we’re not governmenty.

[00:03:24] YD: So on this trip, I would so appreciate if you tagged Travel Media Lab, and of course, their Waco, Texas hashtag. I saw Charlie already did that this morning. Thank you so much. It helps immensely. I’ve been in the industry for six years now, working with pretty awesome publications. Now, my mission is to help you publish your travel stories. Because when I started out in the industry six years ago, this didn’t exist and it was so hard for me to break into the industry. I was completely new. I had no contacts. I had no idea how the industry worked. It took me several years to really get the hang of it. The pandemic actually is what started Travel Media Lab for me, because I gave my first, the travel journalism class in the summer of 2020. And I realized I love teaching and it was really special. Some of you, Ashley, are in the room who took that original class and I just realized I love it. Now, here we are.

We have a podcast, Travel Medial Lab. We have interviews with amazing photographers and writers like Lola Akinmade Åkerström, who is just a powerhouse in the industry. She just had a book come out. Ashlea Halpern is a travel editor and a really renowned one as well. We have lots of insights on the podcast. This season, we have an episode with Sarah Khan coming out. She is the editor-in-chief at Condé Nast Traveler Middle East. She’s sharing lots of knowledge in that too, so be sure to check it out.

We also have a membership by the way, which five of you guys today in this room are in the membership, which is a community where we provide extraordinary support to get the stories published that you want. Vanessa, Ashley, Kat, Shelly are members. If you’re interested about that, ask me questions on this trip or ask them.

[00:05:07] GUEST 1: Do you take associate members?

[00:05:08] YD: Absolutely. We can talk. We can talk about it. Working with tourism boards, so I’ve had quite extensive experience now working with several wonderful tourism boards. What I want to share with you today is sort of key moments of what you do before, during, and after each trip. Right? Before, what you really want to do in the before stage is you want to understand if there is a fit between what your interests, and your niche, and your audience are and the tourism board and destination that you’re traveling to.

As Susan kind of mentioned, touched upon this already. But from my perspective, this is really key. To understand if the place that you’re going to, if it has the stories that you typically write and that you focus on. Because then, when you pitch those stories to publication, especially as you start building your niche and building your portfolio, you’re going to start being known for specific things. When you pitch a story to publication you know, you will have – and here’s where I’ve written on the subject before for example. So it’s going to be a much easier sell for you to do that.

If I’m talking very fast, let me know. You can ask me questions as we go along as well. But for my take, from my perspective, this is really key points in the before stage as for you to approach tourism boards, approach PR agencies that represent tourism boards like Paula for example, and understand if there is a potential for you to work together, if there is a fit between what you’re looking for and what they have in their destination. Where do you find these people?

Susan mentioned, research the destination, research the convention center bureau, Google Waco, Texas Tourism Board, Waco, Texas Convention Bureau, see what’s out there. A lot of signs on their website, they have a section, travel media for travel journalists, media kit, media center, whatever has the word media in it. That’s where you find all the relevant information for you. You can find them at conferences and events, right? Events like this one, for example, IMM. I always talk about IMM. They should pay me actually to be their brand ambassador. This is a picture from IMM before COVID. But IMM is a great event where you meet – it’s like a speed networking event where you meet – two weeks ago I was, and I met I think 25 different tourism boards, 15 minutes appointments like this. A really great, great place.

Cold intros, right? Ashley, you were asking if I just cold email you, what stands out? I think people underutilize cold intros, really, because I think if you’re interested in a particular destination, it never ever hurts to just reach out, to introduce yourself and to establish that dialogue and start building relationships. That’s the other thing that I always talk about. Maybe this one time doesn’t work out. Maybe you want to go somewhere in March, but for whatever reason, it doesn’t work out.

The most important thing from my perspective, again, is to start building a relationship. Reach out to the Tourism Board, introduce yourself, you never know what’s coming up in their events scheduled later down the road that might be a fit for you later on. The goal is to really get yourself on their press email list. I don’t know if you have something like this. But sometimes, I now get – well, actually, a lot of signs now, I get these emails from tourism boards. Hey! We have this coming up. We have that coming up. I haven’t gone to their destination yet. But because I’ve introduced myself at a conference or wherever else, I’m now part of their email list. So you know, I’m in the loop on what’s happening in destination in destination.

[00:08:34] SM: And if you don’t find that, just sign up for their newsletter. Nearly everybody has a newsletter.

[00:08:39] YD: Yeah, exactly. Exact, you’ll find that on their website as well. This stage is really all about dialogue, right? You’re introducing yourself, you’re telling them what your interests are, what your focus is. And you’re also asking them by the way, what is their priority? Right? A lot of times, they have a strategy. This year, we really want to be placed in National Geographic this year. That’s one of our key strategies. Or our market this year is really focusing on the UK readers or what have you. They might have different strategies. Ask them, "What is your strategy and how can I help you with that?" Right? Notice the difference between, “Hey! I want a free trip,” and you know, "What is your strategy and how can I help you?"

The other thing I want to just mention here, which I always find this is a fascinating conversation is a conversation about, should I go on a press trip or should I go on my own, right? As a freelancer for me, this is always a consideration. Because of course, press trip, the benefits of press trip are, you get lots of support, you get – whether coming and paying for travel on your own, you get support, which always helps. You also get a lot of insight or knowledge, right? These people are the experts of this destination, so they will hook you up with all the behind the scenes and all the off the beaten path things that you’re looking for.

Now, when I go on my own, I have lots more freedom. And freedom, what I mean by that, not that they’re telling me what to cover. I mean, I have my own time. I have my own space to go as deep as I need to in any given story. That’s really priceless sometimes. Sometimes some of the stories we work on, they really require that kind of freedom. For example, if I do a story on the Bedouin community in Jordan, I spent months with that community. No Tourism Board can never support that, right? I went on my own a lot of times, but I then developed this really deep story that I placed in National Geographic. This is always a consideration as a freelancer, that’s what I’m always thinking about, right? Do I go there on a press trip and have a really structured experience? Or do I go there on my own time, which means I’m paying out of my own pocket for that trip. But I really then developed something deeper, right? That’s something I’m always thinking about.

[00:10:48] PC: When you talked about bridging the tourism board, an important thing as well is to know yourself and know your outreach, right? Because at IMM, we are talking about big destinations, big publications, and maybe some of them are starting at this point. So maybe you want to start small. A publication such as Waco, it’s a good fit for you to start, and then start within your portfolio. Versus if you’re going to go to IMM, firstly, to an invitation. And then, I’ve been there for Abu Dhabi, Panama, I was going to – I am being pitched by large publications; AFAR, Condé Nast. And if you’re there in to compete with that, so know yourself, what are your strengths, because you are a very strong for a smaller destination, and for a local community newspaper, for example. And you can start there and then start building from there. It’s too big out of like, go to IMM and pitch Dubai.

[00:11:50] YD: Yeah. But I mean, I think the point here is that there are conferences like IMM that are smaller in scale.

[00:11:56] PC: Yes. Society of Travel Writers as well, I was going to mention, but I think you also need to be invited.

[00:12:01] YD: You need to be a member of SATW.

[00:12:03] SM: SATW, I’ve done SATW before and we [inaudible 00:12:07].

[00:12:06] PC: You need to be invited, right?

[00:12:07] SM: Yeah.

[00:12:09] YD: You need to be a member, and then –

[00:12:10] PC: You need to be a member, and to be a member, you need to pass certain requirements.

[00:12:13] YD: But this is actually – this is great that you bring this up, Paula, because this is something I teach all the time, how do you build your portfolio? What’s number one question that people ask me on is, how do you get published in National Geographic? That’s what everybody wants to know. Everybody wants to go straight for National Geographic, and you know, that’s great, like shoot high, for sure. But how do you get there practically? You get there by building your portfolio step by step, stage by stage. If you’ve never been published, and you pitch something to National Geographic, which, by the way, I did that, when I first started out. I totally like pitch them something and never heard back from them. That’s what happens most of the time, because people do it the wrong way. You need to build the house, brick by brick, right? Foundation first, and then higher, higher on top. That’s kind of what you’re talking about, Paula, as well, which is great.

And then of course, the other consideration for press trip or not, is when you go on a press trip, you have to place a story. I mean, there’s just no way around it. Right. That’s the end from from a freelancer side, that puts a lot of pressure on us. And actually, my best experiences of working with tourism boards are when – first of all, we have those frank conversations to begin with is, where do you think you can place that story. But also, they understand my side of it, which is that – as a freelancer, I can never guarantee placement, 100% because I’m not the editorial team who can cut, rearrange, drop stories all the time. I’m a freelancer.

[00:13:36] PC: It’s the chicken and the egg.

[00:13:37] YD: Absolutely. That tension is always there. But the best experiences that I’ve had with tourism boards where we, again, frank conversations ahead of time, where I say, “This is where I usually write. This is where I’m thinking about pitching.” And after that, that’s what I can guarantee you, that I will pitch. I can also guarantee you that I will continue pitching until I find a home for it. You know my commitment to it and my tenacity. But I can’t guarantee you that 100% this will be in National Geographic, because I’m not their editor-in-chief. Only she can guarantee that? People sometimes are afraid to have these conversations, for some reason. It’s like there’s a lot of sort of muddying the water or trying to present something you’re not I find the best approach is really to have these frank conversations ahead of time.

[00:14:24] SM: Because you mentioned that certain publications like National Geographic won’t take a story that was from a press trip, but then do people want you on the press trip because you have a connection with National Geographic? How does –

[00:14:37] YD: Yeah. This is a very great question. By the way, National Geographic absolutely take stories from press trips. The ones that don’t that I know of two of, two of them. BBC Travel, it’s in their guidelines, and they don’t say press trip stories, and New York Times Travel don’t take. However, I learned – by the way, at IMM this year, that BBC Travel also has some leeway. Somebody whispered that to me.

[00:14:59] PC: Yeah, they both have. Yeah. I mean, they say, the more professional outlets that they cannot accept press trips. Their staff writers are not going to accept press trips, because it’s not fair. But they do accept stories from freelancers who have been on press trips. The most top tier one publications, Wall Street Journal and New York Times, they are not going to commit ahead of time to you as a travel writer, like other publications may do. But they do both stories of freelancers who have been hosted on press trips. So yeah, there’s –

[00:15:35] YD: There’s leeway. I think the way which was I thought interesting, the way about BBC travel, the conversation that I had about BBC travel, is that when you pitch BBC travel, and you say, you know, you actually have to disclose, right? I went there as part of a press trip, and I had tourism board support, because let’s say, it was in a hard-to-reach area, or they gave me specific knowledge that I wouldn’t have gotten otherwise. You explain it as such, and then they’re open to the story, which I was also surprised, because I know that BBC travel says that they don’t accept press trips, but – 

[00:16:09] PC: For them, for their travel staff writers?

[00:16:12] YD: No, no. Not just for freelancers too, it’s their pitching guidelines that they don’t —

[00:16:17] PC: They know what they have to say about what they do.

[00:16:20] YD: I think the key lesson for any of us in this industry is to always ask and always, always find out rather than not asking at all, because that’s –

[00:16:29] SM: To disclose, like if you’ve been on this trip. 

[00:16:32] YD: Even ask them if you can pitch them something based on the press trip. What I mean is that I see a lot of time, there’s hesitancy to even ask, and I think that we should always ask whatever it is, whether it’s their tourism board support, ask.

[00:16:46] SM: What’s the worst they can do.

[00:16:48] YD: Exactly. But why I bring this up is that I do see a lot of hesitancy a lot of times, that people don’t even ask or assume it’s unknown right away. I think it’s important.

[00:16:57] SM: My guess is that this is probably your experience, because once you get published, then it’ll be easier to get published going forward, and you may see that they actually come to you with ideas for stories, places to send you.

[00:17:10] YD: Absolutely. That’s exactly the case. This role becomes easier and easier as you go through it, you guys. So for sure. All right, during a press trip, Susan also mentioned this too, but research, research, research, especially if you’re going on a group restaurant that’s really structured, you have to really maximize your time. What I mean by that is that you have to come into it with a plan of your own, right? What you want to cover, have an idea in mind of what you’re there to do, what story you’re there to do. There, I also say leave room, because sometimes, the stories might surprise you, or what you find out the destination might surprise you. So you might think that you’re going in to do a story on X, but you actually end up doing story on Y, right?

Leave room for surprises and for discoveries. But in general, know what it is that you want to do in that destination, right? Don’t show up there and just sort of think, “Oh! I’m going to find out during the trip, because a lot of times these trips are really like – they go like this, and you need to really know why you need to know because you need to then carve out time for you to go and explore it, whatever it is that you need to write about, right? Because a lot of the group press trips are – I’m telling you guys, they’re really structured, everybody goes through the same sort of highlights of the destination, right? 

But then usually, they leave you time to explore, and you can notice that that’s how we’re structuring ours as well, because that’s how they usually are, right? We have all these explorations we’re going to do together, but then there’s time for you to go and pursue something on your own, because that’s how it usually works.

Take lots of notes, whether it’s recorded, written photography, whatever it is that you need later on to write your story. Because trust me, don’t rely on your memory, please don’t rely on your memory because it’s just going to – it’s not going to be enough. You need lots of notes, and also, get all the context for your later follow up. Maybe right now, when you go through a press trip and you’re visiting some, let’s say, a museum or what have you, you’re there for an hour. Maybe you didn’t get to ask your questions, be sure you check their contacts, so later on, you can reach out, have a Zoom call, whatever it is that you need and do that follow up later.

[00:19:16] SM: And your CV is always a resource for context or places you’ve been.

[00:19:20] YD: Absolutely. Also realize that not everything will go according to plan and that’s absolutely okay. Especially if you go to some interesting destinations, like this picture is in Rwanda, press trip in Rwanda. And of course, have fun, right? This is why we’re here in this job because we love travel, we love exploring. The more fun you can make it for yourself, the better.

[00:19:40] PC: In terms of context, I would add also. Like Susan now have organized for you a complete itinerary with restaurants and hotels, so you can also have their contact information of those restaurants and specifically for the hotels. Because then we’re going to talk tomorrow about that, but you can go directly to the hotels to enhance your chances of being hosted directly by them without necessarily having to say anything to the tourism board. The contacts from the PR, or marketing hotels are very important for you and for influencers, content creators and those who are starting. They have a much better chance to be hosted directly by the hotels.

[00:20:22] YD: Any questions for the viewing? All right. And then after, the after period is also very important, right? After you return, you have to play a story. That’s where a lot of times, that’s where the real work begins. A lot of times people ask me, should I pitch before I go or after I go? This is a very, very common question I get. I always recommend that you pitch publications after you come back from the press trip. You can already see that tension rising its head again, right? Because when you’re talking to a tourism board, they want to know where you’re going to place the story, where you’re pitching this. That’s where also knowledge of your own interest, knowledge of the publications you want to work with becomes important. Because at that point, when you’re talking to the tourism board, you have to be able to say, I’m planning on pitching this to X, Y, Z, I think it will be a great fit there, right? But I recommend that you pitch after you return, because your pitch will be much stronger when you return, than before you left.

[00:21:20] PC: I have to jump in and say the contrary.

[00:21:24] YD: I love this. I love this by the way. I love this. You’re seeing both perspectives here. I love it.

[00:21:30] PC: No. I think that to have better chances, and that’s also something that we’re going to discuss tomorrow to be hosted, have at least one story sold ahead of time, at least one story. Then you can continue doing this and selling more stories to [inaudible 00:21:45] and increase your outreach. But at least one story to secure your spot, so yeah.

[00:21:53] YD: I love this conversation?

[00:21:54] GUEST 2: How would that work, then you invite people and then they would have to pitch and then say, “I think I can get —” Do you then choose? 

[00:22:03] PC: You have a strong relationship with a travel editor or an editorial for community paper and you tell them, “I am going to go to Waco. This is where you’re going to write about. Are you interesting?” Ad you build a relationship with the editor, and he will tell you, “Yes. If you go there, and you write and, I trust you, I’ve seen your portfolio, whatever, go and you have my say that you’ll have a spot there.”

[00:22:27] GUEST 2: You’re saying you have better chances of getting on a press trip if you can get –

[00:22:30] YD: Yes.

[00:22:32] PC: So you have at least that story sold. I’d say, “Okay. Well, now, I’m going to move with support, with you being closer because I know that at least you have that conversation going. Then maybe you can sell more stories like Julia said, after the trip, continuous [inaudible 00:22:46] better for me. But at least you have that story. If I host you, if we host you and we pay for transportation, hotel, restaurant and everything, and you produce nothing, we are in trouble.

[00:22:57] SM: For example, we had recently – we get a lot of girls trips here. Recently, we had some travel writers reach out to us and they wanted to do a travel writers girls trip. We didn’t do their transportation, but we did their lodging, and attraction tickets and stuff. It worked out really well, and I actually wound up getting them in Harp House and there were eight of them. That was kind of – it was very different from this, because they were on their own while they were here. But they were people who already knew each other who all had different platforms that they –

[00:23:29] GUEST 2: So they basically pitch to you what they wanted to do.

[00:23:32] YD: I have a very important distinction here. Because what – actually, what Paula is talking about, what I am talking about are two different things. When I say pitch up till you return, I’m talking about your –

[00:23:42] PC: The travel editors, right?

[00:23:44] YD: I’m talking about pitch a new publication that you’ve never worked with, your pitch is going to be much stronger after you return. You know your angle. You have a lot of details. If you have a relationship with the publication, you absolutely will reach out to them beforehand. This is happening to me right now in National Geographic, for example. We have such a great relationship now that it’s okay for me to email them and say, “Hey, I’m thinking about going here and pursuing a story about X. Would you be interested?” So I’m getting that sort of self-approval ahead of time.

[00:24:16] GUEST 2: I guess my question is more to get on that press trip if you don’t have that experience, like to get that invitation. How does that work? Do people apply to get on a press trip?

[00:24:29] PC: Normally, every side, they have a section there that nobody reads that say, “If you want to come on a press trip, complete your information there.” I mean, at the end of the day, you have to work directly with the tourism board PR or the PR agency, but they’re not going to come to, unless you’re a very top travel writer.

[00:24:50] GUEST 2: So say you had an idea or you pitch, then you would approach to see if they have a press trip coming up to then try to –

[00:24:56] PC: They’ll organize a press trip. It’s the chicken and the egg. They organize a press trip once they have a group. I mean, they’re not pre-scheduled press trip. I wish, but three times a year, it’s not like that. It’s normally, “Okay. We have the batches, let’s bring the group and then we’ll start pitching media.” That works. But you’re not going to come on a press trip if at least you don’t have one story secure. What I asked is, Okay. Have you been talking with any editor ahead of time?” Like she said, “She has a good relationship with the National Geographic? She can tell me, yeah. I mean, they already published this.

One trick to point out. Some outlets like – it used to be Huffington Post, Forbes. You can become a columnist on Forbes in turn – I don’t like it, because everybody can write about anything right now. But international destinations. Love Forbes. It has a great outreach. If you told me I’m a columnist at Forbes, at least that, I'm like okay. Well then, I can apply your information, then put, okay. This writer is going to write a piece here, she is going to have X amount of followers, or readership and that works. And then you can keep on selling stories, so [inaudible 00:26:16].

[00:26:16] YD: What she’s talking about is that, Forbes' structure is different than any other publications. It’s not that you’re pitching to a specific editor, is that I think – you have to apply to become a contributor to their platform and then you have freedom to publish whatever you want on their platform.

[00:26:33] PC: It’s like you are yourself at the –

[00:26:35] YD: It’s like you’re a blogger at Forbes, basically. Yeah.

[00:26:38] PC: Right. Yeah. I mean, if somebody comes to you and told you, I’m a Forbes travel contributor, I’m like, “Okay, I’m listening."

[00:26:46] YD: Yeah, that’s a great one. That’s one way. But I think, when I said to put some color to this, it’s a lot of sense. It’s very individual. It’s all about conversations, right? Communication is key. It’s all about – it’s all about communicating what you can or cannot do at this moment in time. Then the tourism board decides if it fits with what they want to do. 

A lot of times, there’s individual press trips too. A lot of times, it’s not a group press trip, a lot of times, they cannot give you full support, but they can give you some support. It’s all like – it’s very fluid. But I think for me, no editor is going to say, “Yes, we will take the story,” before you went on a trip. They can give you a soft approval, they can say, “Yes, I’m interested. Pitch me when you return.”

[00:27:31] PC: But that works, that works. 

[00:27:32] YD: But that’s enough.

[00:27:34] PC: I mean, we used to ask an assignment letter from the editor, –

[00:27:39] YD: The freelancer would be like, “I can give you –

[00:27:41] PC: Yeah, I know. But not, if you can show me that you’ve been talking to the editor with an email – and that you have a good relationship.

[00:27:50] SM: Or that you published with them in the past. 

[00:27:53] PC: Or you published. I’m like, “Okay. It seems like it’s true. So yeah.”

[00:27:56] YD: And I think the other point to this is, actually, what I think Susan, you said that’s something about people who want to come and just have a free trip. I had this conversation at IMM, a couple of weeks ago, where a tourism board told me, “Okay, Yulia. You’re a professional.” I’m like, “What do you mean? I’m a professional.” She’s like, “You come in, you pitch yourself, you know what you’re talking about.” She’s like, “You know how many people come here, and they just want a free trip?” Understand the environment in which you’re working on. These people, they’re burned by the fact that many people just come in. They just want a free trip. If you’re starting that conversation, you’re like, “Here’s where I’ve been published, here’s where the editor I’m talking with. By the way, I’m going to keep pitching this until this finds a home.” They will be more than happy to work with you, I think, because they see, “Okay. This person doesn’t just want a free trip. They’re a professional in this industry.” Right? Wouldn’t that’s also –

[00:28:48] PC: I think that IMM, what I get the most is people that, content creators or influencers, they want to sell. That’s something that we’re going to talk again, tomorrow, but we are PR and media. We don’t buy. I mean – in the case of Susan, she has some lieu to do marketing, but we don’t buy partnerships or sponsorships. It’s like –

[00:29:14] YD: It’s different departments.

[00:29:14] PC: It’s different departments. I’m like, “Oh my gosh!” 

[00:29:18] YD: Which is what we talked about yesterday on the trip here, right?

[00:29:21] PC: Most influencers in social, they don’t get it. It’s like you have tons of money, let me explain this. Yeah. It’s good to know that ahead of time, and we’re going to talk tomorrow, but it’s the marketing department, and the PR department and the money for content creation comes from marketing. In the large tourism boards, they don’t even communicate that much. So the PR person doesn’t have budget to pay to content creation, but they can help you with hosting opportunity. So it’s good to know that.

[00:29:55] SM: And every tourism board has a different kind of budget.

[00:29:59] PC: That’s true.

[00:29:59] SM: Yeah

[00:30:00] YD: So on that note, and by the way, the more media trips you will do, the better you will get a pitching just like anything else. I say this all the time, the more pitches you do, the better your pitches will be. This applies also to pitches that come out of media trips, right? Some of my pitches from four or five years ago, I look at now and I cringe. And some of my stories, I look at it and I cringe. But that’s the evolution that you have to go through, and the only way to go through that evolution is by doing the work. That’s how you get better. 

Then finally, there are opportunities everywhere to work with tourism wars. The one thing that – we actually discussed this in the membership, I think a couple of months ago. Your local tourism board of the place where you live is an underutilized resource, you guys. Because there’s much less pressure, they don’t need to sponsor you for flight, right? You can start working with them as your local tourism board and start developing that relationship, start building that experience, reach out and introduce yourself. I’m a travel writer who lives in your area, let’s work together, right? It’s so underutilized, I find.

Always, the goal is to start a relationship, a long-term relationship with a media, with a tourism board with a publication. It’s all about long-term relationships, you guys, not a one-time interaction, not a one-time pitch, one-time trip. For me at least, that’s how I view this. It’s always about building long-term relationships. That’s it for this part of the presentation.

[END OF DISCUSSION]

[00:31:28] YD: Thank you so much for listening today. I hope you enjoyed hearing a bit about how our Travel Media Bootcamp in Texas went. If so, please consider leaving us a review so that more listeners could find our show. I can’t stress how important it is for us to get reviews of our podcast. It really helps us to get in front of more people who might enjoy our show. If you’ve been inspired by something you heard today, or in any other episodes of our show, please consider leaving us your review. 

That’s one of the best ways you can support our podcast. Don’t forget, if you’d like to know when the next Travel Media Bootcamp opens, and which destination we’ll go to, be sure to visit travelmedialab.com/trip to be notified when we do. That’s T-R-I-P. Thanks again and I’ll see you next week when we’ll hear from the travel PR industry veteran, Paula Carreiro.

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