In response to last week's newsletter titled "Is Food Tourism making a comeback?"
Food tourism has always been a part of the travel experience and it's not new.
Since 2015, I have been writing about local and authentic food experiences on Authentic Food Quest, a food and travel website I co-founded at www.authenticfoodquest.com
The goal has always been and continues to be about inspiring people to seek out local food and culinary activities on their travels. We share content about cooking classes, food and wine tours, recipes of emblematic dishes all aimed at helping people experience local culture through food.
Since the pandemic and also keeping with the rise in travel, we've seen an increased consumption in our content. And, when traveling and participating in various culinary activities around the world, we see more people and a higher interest in learning about local foods and drinks.
The key is not to make food tourism a "passing fad." The plat du jour that will be replac...
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I am seeking inspiration on the best ways to pitch yourself to a tourism board, travel company, or PR for traveling and writing. What are some best practices, tips, or recommendations?
I used to be the Executive Director of a CVB, and for me it was about the numbers. Now I work for an affiliate network, and I was thrilled to see that if you work with the right partner, you can literally track the number of room nights, people, total hotel spend, etc., of the visitors that come from your article. No guessing, no impressions, just cold, hard facts. Prove that you can bring people to my area and I'd sponsor you all day long!
That is something I'd like to track! What programs are available to writers for that use?
I know on our platform (Awin.com) we have reservation-level tracking on Booking.com for sure. I actually am working with a travel conference so they can show how many room nights they bring to an area who hosts them. Very exciting!
To add to the things already mentioned:
1. Contacts: DMO websites typically have pages dedicated to press/media where you can learn about what their current focus is and who to contact, sometimes there is even a press trip request form. As Erin mentioned, TravMedia is also a great resource to network and see press releases from destination. There is also the International Travel Writers Alliance, more useful for those in Europe.
2. Outreach: Be clear about what you offer, share examples of past work, especially other partnerships or if it is about the destination you are talking to. Once you gain a connection (through a reply or an in person meeting), nourish that connection through casual (not too often) follow ups, have something new to say and share in them though (personal growth, achievements, new work examples, etc).
3. Be a good person: And yes this must be said :). Be respectful and polite, be aware of the situations and respect people's personal boundaries and space. I know this seems obvious but I've been on trips and press events where ... people's behaviour was a shortcut to burning bridges and careers, from inappropriate intoxication to actually missing return flights.
Happy pitching :)
Hi Nick. I recently reached out to local tourism boards and asked to be hosted on a wine tour. The wineries in that country are just coming into their own, and there hasn't been much written on them. I also asked for a driver to take me to the wineries. I had 5 cheese plates that day!
My blog www.superbubbie.ca, has just been launched so I don't have a lot of followers yet. I didn't ask for a full press trip, that would include accommodation, airfare, and meals. I found it was important to do some homework on the wineries, and decide which ones I wanted to visit to get a good mix of established and newer ones. My pitch includes the first paragaph of my article, and an outline of how I will develop it. I also wanted to mention that I had an assignment with a travel blog and that helped me get hosted.
Hope that helps!
I agree, I want to reach out and pitch even if it's only partially covered and not a full press trip. It's a good way to start.
You can also try the Matador Network They have press trips from time to time.
Hi Nick, you might want to check out CJ Affiliates. 👀
Cheers,
Caroline
I will take a look at them
I have a super helpful free series on blog & show on www.bit.ly/influencermarketinglikeaboss like a boss that includes pitching & proposals
Pro tip : Definitely integrate Ai in your pitches with personalization! Getting over 50% responses on these lately like with 🇵🇱 Poland
There’s a helpful blog & show with Ai too you may love 💕
I tried to purchase your book but for some reason it's not letting me pay. Is it possible for you to send me a link via email and I try through this kind of channel? jeff@outcastvagabond.com
Super weird :) it’s the same one as above & working fine:) maybe try different browser it’s via kajabi so 100 all good:) maybe you have a blocker of some sort :)
Tested again works great:) Make sure you complete all fields and boxes etc
Thanks so much for reaching out to let me know:))))
Here's a few tips (in no particular order)
1. Have a clear "work with me" page that outlines your value proposition to brands, including links to your social channels, reach / traffic, past campaigns, and how to get in contact. Your work with me page (theworldoverload.com/work-with-us/) is kinda the opposite of this and not what a brand would expect to see. Have a look at some bloggers here on Travel Massive (you can filter by "work with me") and see what their "work with me" pages look like, for some ideas.
2. Get a niche. You can't be everything to everyone — so pick a few things that might make you stand out. If you're the blogger that reviews micro-breweries or white-water rafting tours, then you might have more chance of being considered by a destination or brand looking to highlight these aspects.
3. Define your audience. If you're looking to work with affiliate partners, then you will need (usually) lots of traffic. TBH you might be too late to this game, and it will also change the style of content you create as you'll be focused on keywords and search algorithms. This is where being niche (point above) can come in handy — you can't compete on "Top 10 Things To Do in X". But you could compete on "Top Micro breweries in X".
4. Network! Find as many local networking events you can get to. Most tourism boards will host events in their source destinations aimed at travel agents and/or media. Apply to attend as many of these events as you can, and figure out if you've got something to offer. Build personal connections — it's often these connections that help you out in the future.
5. There is no such thing as a free press trip. Even if you are hosted, you will be expected to return something in terms of content / exposure that can be measured. Everyone wants to get their ROI from bringing you on the trip. Also, unless your time is worthless, those days on the trip are a sunk cost to you (you could have been working and earning $).
6. Attend conferences — for example TBEX is a great starting point for new content creators and there's lots of great speakers and presenters with years of experience you can learn from.
7. Start local. Find a local attraction that you could write about or promote, in return for a case study you can provide to brands you want to work with. Then you can say "I worked with this local brand in my community to help boost their audience and here are the results from my work".
Hope these are helpful tips. The other tips in this thread are also helpful!
Thanks, Ian, that is some good info. I will do some more research and implement those changes on my page. You are right about being late to the game with affiliate partners and well can't compete on certain topics at this point. And I have been looking to maybe to the TBEX 2024 in Puerto Rico if I have the time.
The travel blog for me is a hobby/passion project aside from my full-time job and life so do what I can when I can. But every little bit helps.
Someone also suggested searching for 'travel content marketing agency' + the place that you are looking to travel to. You can email companies that come up. Another site to look into is TravMedia and connect with people here.