developing lasting relationships with local tourism boards
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Developing lasting relationships with your local tourism
boardLola (Akinmade) Åkerström
Writer, photographer, blogger – www.akinmade.com
Blog at Geotraveler’s Niche – www.lolaakinmade.com
Blogger for Sweden.se
Write and photograph for many publications
Quick Background
Quick show of hands
How many of you are travel bloggers?
Quick show of hands
How many of you have a home base?
…Yes, many bloggers have a place they go back to re-energize before the next trip…
Quick show of hands
How many of you have met with the tourism board*
of your home base?
* - if your base actually has a tourism board
Quick show of hands
Do they know who YOU are?
Are they aware you exist as a blogger in
their backyard?
Goal of workshop
Highlight the benefits of working locally
Explore some case studies
Give you five tips for approaching your local tourism board
Safe to say…
We’re all passionate about travel
Many bloggers always on the lookout for the next big trip; the next blog/media trip
Travel blogging
The travel grass seems to always be greener on
the other side
Travel blogging
Ironically, your local tourism board keeps flying in bloggers and journalists
who think the grass is greener on YOUR side.
Travel blogging
What if your personal situation changes that affects the frequency of your travels?
Temporarily or permanently?
Travel blogging
Here’s why you need to start working with
your local tourism board
Working locally
Reason #1
Opportunity to build expertise
Working locally
The problem with most forms of media trips is that they’re
platonic.
Working locally
Meaning –> It’s challenging to gather
unique content from the same trip 6-10 other
travel bloggers
Working locally
Other bloggers can’t go on every media trip your tourism board
organizes, but YOU can
Working locally
Unique advantage and opportunity to build and be
recognized for regional
expertise
Working locally
The reason you also want to build expertise in a
region is because generic travel blogging
is overcrowded.
Here’s the problem
YOU
+
Thousands ofOther blogs
Travel blogging reality curve
Working locally
Reason #2
Gain deeper access to local resources
Working locally
You can acquire more in-depth content for your own
travel blog than surface material generated from
media trips
Working locally
Battle the plague of “generic” travel
content
Working locally
This will, in turn, help you solidify your personal brand with fresh, in-
depth and frankly, cool regional content.
Working locally
Reason #3
Additional source of income
Working locally
Let’s be real
We would love to be paid to do what we love =
Blogging + Travel
Working locally
Every tourism board has an
annual or at least semi-annual
budget
Working locally
If you have a rough idea of what they’re trying to accomplish, you can get yourself a nice chunk of
that pie
Working locally
How?
Blogging Photography Writing Social Media
Working locally
Reason #4
Less expense for your tourism board
Working locally
They don’t have to fly you in or put you up for 3 nights at a 5-
star hotel – plain and
simple
Working locally
Reason #5
Leads to other work
Working locally
Your local tourism boards has tons of contacts in the travel industry -> airlines, lodging, other destination marketing
organizations (DMOs)
Quick recap of benefits
Opportunity to build expertise
Gain deeper access to local resources
Additional source of income
Less expense for your tourism board
Leads to other work
Working locally
Case Studie
s
Working locally
Case Studies
Candice Walsh Jennifer Miner Micke Kosman Lola Akinmade (ME!) Andreas Susana
Case Study 1
Blogger - Candice Walsh @candicewalsh
Board – Newfoundland Tourism
How long – Since 2011
Case Study 1 – Candice
How they met –> Twitter
“I did a trip around Central Newfoundland with Adventure Central last year. Only travel writer in the Travel Media Association of Canada based out of Newfoundland.”…Candice Walsh
Case Study 1 – Candice
Benefits –> Led to other work
“…Explore Canada Like a Local series on Matador Network. Heavy emphasis on "Newfoundland travel" on my personal blog, and they've helped me build contacts. So I get maybe 3-5 emails a week from people travelling to this province, asking for advice, etc.”
… Candice Walsh
Case Study 1 – Candice
Unexpected rewards –> Incredible contacts
“Since St. John's (and Newfoundland, really) is such a small community, I've made incredible contacts and have landed other work with various media folks (i.e. web copy)..”… Candice Walsh
Case Study 2
Blogger – Jennifer Miner @thevacationgals | @LA_COT
Board – Los Angeles' CVB Discover LA
How long – Since 2010
Case Study 2 - Jennifer
How they met –> In person
“ Two years ago, I founded the Los Angeles Consortium of Online Travel (LACOT), an open, lose group of LA-area travel bloggers, writers, and tourism professionals. Carol Martinez, VP of Discover LA came to our first meet up and has a been one of LACOT's strongest supporters ever since.”…Jennifer Miner
Case Study 2 – Jennifer
Benefits –> Led to other work
“Having Discover LA be such a strong advocate of the group led to LACOT being a partner with the Los Angeles Travel & Adventure Show and helping host the International Pow Wow when it was in Los
Angeles last year..”…Jennifer Miner
Case Study 2 – Jennifer
Unexpected rewards –> Filled a gap
“This has been a wonderfully mutually beneficial relationship. LACOT filled a hole that Discover LA had in terms of finding and working with local travel bloggers and attraction publicists, and having representatives of Discover LA be active members of LACOT adds an instant legitimacy to the group.”……Jennifer Miner
Case Study 3
Blogger – Micki Kosman @barefootnomads
Board – Kamloops, British Columbia
How long – Four months and counting
Case Study 3 – Micki
How they met –> Email
“We approached the tourism board, via email, with a proposal to work with them. We didn't ask for any sponsored activities or accommodation in our pitch. Instead, we focused on building a relationship with them.”…Micki Kosman
Case Study 3 – Micki
Benefits –> Unique story ideas for blog
“Kamloops Tourism has helped steer us towards some interesting topics and story ideas we may have missed on our own. It's also been illuminating to get a good feel for what their goals are. Often, bloggers are so focused on their trip and their stories that we don't consider what the tourism boards are trying to focus on. In our case, our tourism board did a great job of getting us to think about the needs and perspectives of different visitors.”…Micki Kosman
Case Study 3 – Micki
Unexpected rewards –> In-depth knowledge
“Working locally has given us a much deeper appreciation of what our local area has to offer. It's made us see our small city through several different sets of eyes: our tourism board, international visitors, and even visitors from another province .”…Micki Kosman
Case Study 4
Blogger – Lola Akinmade Akerstrom @LolaAkinmade
Board – Sweden.se
How long – Since 2010
Case Study 4 – Lola
How we met –> Twitter and Email
Twitter – I tagged them on blog posts about Sweden
Email – I sent an introductory email to an editor about writing articles for them
Case Study 4 – Lola
Benefits –> Led to other work
- Image Bank- Visit Sweden- Visit Stockholm- Recommendations to other publications,- Etc
Case Study 4 – Lola
Unexpected rewards –> Access to resources, contacts, building expertise
Access to a lot of places and people Editors and publications reaching out
for work from Sweden
New relationship
Blogger – Andreas Susana @Travelwriticus
Board – City of Graz, Austria
How long – A few days old
New study – Andreas
How they met –> Blog trip
“I was invited to do a blog trip in Graz which is actually my native city. I was approached by the organizer of the blog trip: Creative
Tourism Austria”…Andreas Susana
New – Andreas
How they will work together
Andreas will feature Graz tours and restaurants on his blog
Andreas hopes to gain in-depth knowledge of his city Graz and the traditional dishes of Styria
Working locally
Five tips for approaching your
local tourism board
Working locally
Tip #1Send a letter of
introduction
Working locally
Tip #2Send any and all links to blog
posts about the location to their press contact.
Working locally
Tip #3Start engaging with
them via social media.
Working locally
Tip #4Attend local press
events and subscribe to newsletters.
Working locally
Tip #5Propose a cool partnership idea
Working locally
Yes, I know and I get it
Always hopping on the next trip is loads of
fun!
Another advantage
Bloggers can work transparently without compromising their own
personal brands.
You live there. You know the realities on the ground.
Working locally
Remember -> You’ve got to know what
you’ve got at home as well.
Contact Information
Twitter - @LolaAkinmade
Portfolio – www.akinmade.com
Blog – www.lolaakinmade.com
Facebook - www.facebook.com/GeotravelersNiche