November 28th, 2023

Showing Off Our Travel PR Credentials

What I’m going to talk about here, is what I again put down to the Axl factor.

Regardless of whether it’s popular opinion or not (and I’ve never really been anyone who didn’t make up my own mind about anything, so who cares), had I not finally shaken myself out of my slumber, hauled my backside to the Guns N’ Roses concert in Toronto and been completely inspired by Axl Rose’s performance, seeming happiness, showmanship and superb commitment to the show, I wouldn’t be writing this today. And I believe what I believe. I could kiss his crucifixes.

Do check out my Catapult PR Show podcast on channelling my inner Axl, by the way! When I can get him on to Poodling Around, I’ll let you know, but he may think it’s about poodles (which I know he hates), which it isn’t. It’s just an English way of saying pottering, exploring etc etc etc. It just happens to have poodle on the cover!

Bushels and physicians

I’m not quite sure which of these phrases is more appropriate to this article. On the one hand there’s ‘hiding your light under a bushel’. On the other, there’s ‘physician heal thyself’. I suppose both apply in this case, but it’s only just dawned on me.

I’m always so busy doing everything here – from crafting PR campaigns, to writing all PR and content materials, targeting press and coming up with ideas – that I often overlook just what’s been achieved. I kind of take it for granted that everyone will somehow appreciate that it’s pretty remarkable for an agency of our size and then forget to tell them just how impressive it is. 61 awards and counting. 6 more nominations this week (at this point, I’ve just panicked, as we literally have no more room for any awards!)

Forgetting to tell people what’s been achieved has very much been the case with two of our core areas – insurance and financial services PR and travel PR. In fact, it’s only because I’ve had to tot up the number of awards won for both, of late, that it’s struck me that it’s time to shout about it. Duh, Jane!

Banishing the grey

So that’s what I’ve done. A few weeks ago, I created an insurance credentials document called ‘Banishing the Grey’. The title says exactly what we do here, making insurance relevant, humanising topics and not doing the same old, same old type of marketing that gets trotted out in this sector. I don’t do grey and I don’t do beige. I’m more on the fuchsia or lemon scale. Maybe it’s down to my Viking (or my very much North European) blood! Perhaps it’s because such a surprisingly small part of my DNA is British!

I followed the insurance credentials document up by commissioning some consumer research, to find out what consumers think about insurers and insurance companies and brokers, right here, right now. That formed the basis of our publishing ‘Your Insurance Marketing Wake-up Call’, about a fortnight ago. It clearly shows that many insurance marketing departments need a different approach. Quite frankly, they need to get communicating and inject some personality!

Both insurance documents can be downloaded from our credentials and downloads areas of our websites, respectively. I also recorded a podcast about the research, which can be found at our Catapult PR Show podcast.

Travel marketing, travel PR awards and our expertise

But then I started thinking about travel and all the many years that we’ve been generating fantastic headlines for all manner of travel businesses. We had all these national and regional PR and marketing awards sitting here, but so few people know about it. I record hugely interesting podcasts with some travel clients on our ‘Poodling Around’ show, but then fail to tell people that I am often, or have been, the architect of a lot of what we’re talking about.

Get this, as well. We’re based on the Fylde Coast, just 5 miles from Blackpool, but we so rarely get asked to pitch for a travel or tourism brief. Clients here invariably look to Manchester, despite the fact that we’ve won travel, tourism, leisure, arts, culture, small budget and community awards year after year. Despite the fact we’ve crafted travel campaigns deemed the best in the UK! Something is sadly wrong.

Travel PR and content writing credentials

So, having had this moment of enlightenment, I’ve finally put together a travel credentials document that sums up the vast amount of travel PR and tourism PR we have handled, both at home and abroad. You name a niche within travel and tourism and we’ve probably created at least one campaign that addresses it. I can also confidently say that we will have done so with great panache, a plethora of quirky ideas and tons of passion. That’s our formula.

What was so striking, when creating this downloadable credentials document, was that I’ve evolved our offering so much. Our more recent campaigns encompass a wide variety of different types of digital content, which we create with enormous energy and many hours spent in researching facts, figures – even genealogy! Who else has created a children’s history guide that has a nod to Horrible Histories, but is almost entirely based on their client’s venue and its long history, whilst being simultaneously supportive of National Curriculum themes?

Making the most of travel marketing budgets

Our travel PR clients all have very modest budgets but their results are far outweighing those of competitors. Our ideas allow the campaigns to box above their budgetary weight and really capture the imagination. They also deliver those all-important factors – footfall, bums on seats and ticket sales. Added to that, they are memorable and attention-grabbing, creating very many spin-off benefits.

So, with the arrival of this booklet, there’s no more hiding of the light or not doing for my own business what I do for everyone else’s! This, sitting alongside the insurance and financial services collateral (which should also make clients in those sectors stop and think hard about their PR and content results and impacts), will hopefully give us a little more credit in the sectors in which we work.

We’re sure our clients just love us being hidden PR gems but sometimes you just want to sparkle like a diamond and get to tackle a little bit more. So whether you have a full brief, need a newsletter or content download, website copy or something that’s going to ignite your target audiences, you know where we are!