TAKE A CUE FROM CLIENT COMMUNICATION FOR PR
Often you book new clients on fabulous vacations . But because you are a professional travel advisor , you know that you need to keep building and solidifying your relationships , even when your clients aren ’ t traveling . Of course someday they will be , and you want them to come back to you .
There ’ s an important parallel here with your media relations activities . Sometimes you are in active PR mode : writing a news release or formalized pitch , or being interviewed by a reporter as a source for a story . But when you ’ re not , you want to keep building your relationships with reporters so that — like your clients — they come to you in the future when they need a source . Let ’ s run through how to do that .
Make sure to follow reporters on their professional social media platforms . Like and comment on their posts . Reporters will frequently post their latest stories on social media . Sometimes they will post select personal life updates , like a birthday or marriage . You can use these opportunities to give them a warm congratulations .
As someone who cares about media relations as part of your business plan , you are probably reading , listening to
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and watching the news . When one of the reporters you know has a piece you enjoy , drop them an email . Even if it has nothing to do with travel , everyone wants to know when they have done a good job . Building that sort of goodwill and rapport is important .
If you see something , say something . If you opened your morning newspaper and read about something that affects travelers , email your local reporter network and see if they are working on something similar and want some commentary from an expert — that ’ d be you .
Keep close track of your bookings to pull out trends you can share with reporters . Even in your busiest times , try to find some time to let your media contacts know about what you are seeing .
Ask them what they need . Come to them in the spirit of helpfulness — you might be surprised at what can happen !
Do you have other ways you keep up your client relationships between bookings ? Consider how those can be tweaked for your media relationships .
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