It seems most travel press releases are a bit shit, according to founder and head of content Lauren Quaintance, who’s seen her fair share of travel PR in her career.
“If I see a press release telling me to ‘Discover Canada’, I want to reply, why?” she said.
“The press release is pretty much dead, it’s less effective than ever. They’re always written from the brand’s point of view, with little thought of its relevance to the editor.
“It’s like the boy who cried wolf. If you send too many press releases, a journalist is less likely to respond when you actually have a story they’d be interested in.
“Smart travel marketers are telling stories; the kind of stories you’d actually tell your friends.
“So few travel marketers passing this simple test – would you tell your friends this? Would you tell your neighbours? Would you tell your grandparents?
“So why are brands switching to storytelling? Because nothing else works anymore. Forty-seven per cent of emails are binned before even being opened.”
Quaintance has seven hot tips for how to write travel stories that will get noticed:
- Show a new side to a familiar topic
- Make readers feel like they’re discovering something new
- Create a sense of urgency and timeliness
- Be the highest, longest, fastest, scariest – digital loves a definitive
- Tell me something I didn’t know – follow the rule ‘would you tell your grandma this?’
- Don’t be afraid of having a point of view
- Don’t be generic – don’t use phrases like ‘the magic of Canada’ or ‘the place to be’ – why is it different?
