Getting Your Business into the Media with Travel Tonic’s Fiona Reece

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Hello everyone and thank you for taking time in your day to join me for this week's episode of the Get Fully Booked podcast.

I'm your host, Sarah Orchard.

Richard.

I'm delighted to welcome another amazing guest to the podcast today, Fiona Rees from Traveltonic.

Fiona runs traveltonic, a specialist PR consultancy and we have known each other for over five years.

We got in the media a lot thanks to Fiona's expertise.

Today, Fiona and I are going to chat about getting your short term rental or glamping business into the media.

Welcome to the podcast, Fiona.

Thank you very much for having me.

No, it's great to have you here today.

So I thought let's start.

For those people that are listening in who maybe don't know anything about your company, tell us a little bit about traveltonic and how, how you've ended up working in pr.

Thanks, Sarah.

And it was a business that I set up after having worked in travel PR for many years.

And the way in which I first got into travel PR was through hotels.

I actually went to work for Best Western Hotels.

I was the PA to the PR manager and I really found that job through sort of networking and knowing some people that were already at Best Western Hotels.

I'd been actually brought up in a hotel, a very small B and B hotel.

So I guess it was a sort of natural career progression for me.

And then after a few in house jobs at Best Western and Intercontinental Hotels, I then moved to the agency side.

So I guess hospitality hotels is really a sort of an area that I've always worked in.

It's in your blood by the sounds of it.

It is in my blood and hopefully I can understand, you know, the challenges and the opportunities that actually hosts have because I have actually been brought up in that sort of area.

That really helps.

But you've worked with some amazing travel brands, global travel brands, as well as ones in the uk.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, everything from, you know, car rental, FL flights to destinations such as Australia, Namibia, Los Angeles, Ireland.

I mean, loads and loads of different Businesses and, you know, small independently run businesses as well.

So I've really sort of seen the sort of, the breadth and the depth of everything and you know, it's been, it's been great to work, you know, for myself now and actually concentrate on more of the doing.

I went back to the doing when I sort of set up on my own because when I was in an agency I was managing a lot of people, a lot of teams and I really missed being hands on actually.

So traveltonic is just a really small boutique agency.

I work with a few other ladies and we concentrate and work for people that we really love and promote areas that we are passionate about.

That sounds fantastic.

I mean, I do identify with that sort of.

When you work in a bigger company and you get more senior, particularly in a, you know, like a bigger PR agency, like you say, you end up not doing the pr, like I ended up not doing the marketing when I worked at Avis and you get more senior, you actually get distance, don't you, from the thing that you love doing.

So I can see why you set up Travel Tonic.

Getting into, you know, PR is something that I get asked a lot in my marketing club, in my membership, the fully booked business club.

People are always sort of saying, you know, how do I get my business into the media?

And they'll often say to me, you know, I've added this new glamping unit, you know, how do I get that into the press?

So if there is a short term rental or glamping business owner listening in and they want to get into the media, what do they have to do?

What do they need to do to achieve that?

I would say the most important thing about PR is actually identifying the right media that you really want to be in.

And you have to really go back to your ideal client and really sort of imagine what their lifestyle is, what the sort of things they will be reading, looking at, you know, it will be, you know, very much sort of dependent on how, you know, old they are, what their sort of outlook is.

But it's really about sort of getting underneath their sort of psych and really understanding what's going to actually really get to them.

Because there's no point in having a sort of huge double page spread in a magazine which is really not going to be read by somebody that can actually maybe afford to stay in your glamping or your self catering accommodation.

So it's all about, you know, the right media.

So I would start at that point.

The other thing is you need to really try and Drill down and really understand how you stand out from the crowd for your competitors.

And that is really quite tough sometimes because there are a lot of people with similar businesses, I'm sure, and sometimes you might have to work a little bit harder to create that.

I call it finding your wow.

So.

So if you don't have an obvious wow, then you need to work hard to create one.

And that's all about storytelling.

So those are the two sort of areas that I would start with, really.

Yeah, I sort of.

I never want to sort of disappoint people, but I sort of say to them, generally, the members, I'll sort of say, just because you've added a new, you know, glamping cabin, for example, or you've renovated a barn.

That's not a story to the media.

You know, they're not.

That's not going to get them excited.

It's important to you.

You know, it's important to my business because it was a milestone and I did a little giveaway to sort of promote it, and we got some quite good traction with that.

But you have to have different angles, like you say, the storytelling to get in front of the media.

And also they'll have their own agenda, won't they?

So if it doesn't align with what they want to feature, you're sort of pushing.

You're trying to push treacle uphill, aren't you, with a teaspoon and trying to get that exposure that, you know, they're just not going to pick up on it.

Yeah, and I was.

I was going to say, you know, sometimes if you.

If you haven't actually got a story relating to the sort of bricks and mortar of your business, you may look outside and actually see if there's a story that you can create.

You know, it might be connected with your location, for example.

So there might be something very sort of unique and special happening in your area that you can sort of align to, or you might be able to kind of think of a new service that you can actually quite easily add to the business.

And it might be something which is a bit crazy unique and it will actually make you stand out.

It might not be core to your revenue at the end of the day, but it might actually get somebody to notice you, to actually write about you.

And then, you know, the people that actually read the article, they might not necessarily buy into whatever that is.

But they'll still come and stay because they've noticed you.

Yeah, I think that's a really good point.

So a bit like the, you know, the example I gave of our birthday.

The fact that we'd left corporate careers, there might been more a story about how we ended up in the Wye Valley running, you know, a tree house in the woods.

Having come from sort of, you know, many years in corporate, that might be a bit more, you know, in a certain title.

They might pick that up if it's about, like, career transitions or, you know, doing something different.

So the actual fact that our birthday is five years old probably wouldn't have a lot of newsworthiness, but the angle of how we created it and our mad dream to build it might be something that the media might pick up on.

So I suppose it's always, like, you say, trying to find either a location or a sort of service or business aspect.

And sometimes just the people in the business can be really interesting angles as well, can't they?

Yeah, totally.

And, you know, the, the.

I mean, I use the, the example of a glamping business that I've been working for for a few years now, and the owner is.

She understands that there has to be something new to say.

And so what we do is we sit down and we brainstorm and we see what we can come up with that actually is practical for her to integrate.

And sometimes just, you know, by having a brainstorm, I think I sort of randomly said, wouldn't it be amazing if you could have a kids club?

And she actually made her think, actually that's not such a crazy idea because she had a member of staff that actually was child care registered and it was actually quite easy to set up.

And that gave us a really amazing story.

So, you know, sometimes just by having a brainstorm and chatting through some ideas, you can come up with something which ends up being sort of central to what you're offering.

Exactly.

And enhances your overall experience for your guests as well.

Absolutely.

That gives you that little hook.

So if the listeners were thinking about, you know, do I need to hire a specialist like yourself, Fiona, or could I do it myself?

What's the pros and cons of those sort of two options for the listeners?

So the pros of working with somebody that's a specialist and obviously does it, you know, all the time is the fact that they will have little black book of contacts.

They'll know the people that are writing the, you know, the articles.

They might even be so established that they're actually approached for story ideas.

That's obviously a huge positive.

And if they're a specialist, they'll also have more than one, you know, hospitality travel business.

Therefore it's easier for them to get airtime with the right travel editors because the travel editors will know that they can actually get quite a lot of stories out of a conversation and not just be talking to somebody with one business.

So that's, I guess, a huge positive.

And also they'll know exactly how to pitch effectively.

They might have access to a database of contacts.

So it's what they do.

No, day to day, it's.

They live and breathe it.

So that, that's obviously the positive.

The con would be cost because a lot of small businesses cannot afford to hire somebody who's a specialist.

And I completely see that.

So I guess it's, it's really sort of seeing where your business is and what the value that the PR person could bring to your business and really sort of, you know, it's an investment and is it going to give you the return.

And I think the one mistake that people make when they're investing in PR is they think it's going to be a quick fix.

But sometimes it actually does take a long time.

You could host a journalist, you know, one summer and then you might not see any coverage for quite a long time.

So it's frustrating for some people that really need instant bookings.

So you have to really sort of, I think it's one of many things that you can do to promote your business and you just need to make sure that it's the right thing for you.

I think that's a really good point, that it is a sort of longer term investment.

It's not an instant push the button and get instant bookings.

But, but the beauty of it is, I mean, from the launch PR that you helped us with, there's content out there, features, you know, where we've been sort of, you know, from a, say like a journalist stay and there's been a media article and we still get people, well, a, I still get traffic to the website from those sources.

So if you've got an online feature, they're still driving footfall to our website even five years later.

And also when people say, how did they hear about us?

The number of times they'll quote an article and say, like, I just had one.

Literally the guests that have just left said it was in the Guardian.

And you got us in, you got us into that publication.

So you know that Guardian is the holy grail.

Yeah, the long term benefits are huge.

And I think that's the thing, isn't it?

It's like with any marketing, I always say it's not, it's, you know, what you do now is probably going to have an impact in three months time.

It's not sort of instantaneous that you push a button and suddenly it all starts flowing.

But I think it definitely has to be something strategic that you sort of plan in.

But we definitely got an amazing return on our investment in terms of using you for our launch for the Hideout, without a doubt.

In terms of how quickly, along with our email list, how quickly we got bookings in was purely off the back of some of the email marketing list building I'd done.

But also particularly the PR that you helped us with.

Thank you very much.

It was.

No, no, this shows the results that you get.

It is a great product.

So, you know that the, you know, your, your product really stood out because it was, it was, you know, so beautiful.

The location was amazing, you know, so, you know that that's all those great benefits.

But if, you know, if somebody has something a little bit more run of the mill, it doesn't mean to say that they can't get PR coverage because, you know, really at the moment, you know, the editors are really looking for things that are topical.

I had a conversation with Guardian yesterday.

I had a big meeting to kind of go through ideas and I think a lot of people are looking at the news overload at the moment and so they might be looking for remote places that you can go away from everything.

And that doesn't have to be a luxurious product, but it could be something which just has the most amazingly remote location that you can just switch off your phone and get away from everything.

And, you know, if you have a location like that, then you can really bring that kind of out in the way in which you communicate that.

Yeah, and there could be some things that you've built into your guest experience, like not having WI Fi, you know, maybe there'll be elements of sort of helping people sort of disconnect from their devices and all of the noise that that's out there.

Because like you say there's a, there's a lot going on in the world and actually there's, there's lots of strong trends, aren't there, in terms of, you know, things that the journalists and the media will want to talk about.

And it's just making sure that you sort of match up how you align with that.

And like I said, it doesn't Always have to be massively dramatic, you know, either, like, really luxurious or very high investment builds that get the attention.

It's just if you align with the theme and the message that they're looking to talk about.

Yeah, and it's having memorable features, I think.

You know, so we're always thinking about what's the next.

I mean, everybody has gone to town on saunas and wild swimming, you know, so what is the next, you know, because I think probably 10 years ago we were talking about hot tubs, so it's all about that.

And I think the next at the moment is probably a little bit more natural and about taking time and space and enjoying nature and a little bit more sort of authenticity.

So that's something that people can sort of think about.

And there's probably lots of really fun little things that you can do to make sure that your guests can connect to nature.

If you.

If you have a rural location, and if you don't, then, you know, there's a whole host of other kind of trends that will be coming out of kind of more sort of urban locations.

So it's really just Google, you know, what are the current trends?

You know, just have a bit of research, even, you know, dare I say it, use AI.

I mean, just try and sort of link into what is actually the thing that people are really kind of talking about.

And then you can sort of make sure that you can actually create something which, you know, is in line with those things.

Yeah, I think that that's a really good point.

I remember some work that you did for a local client here who actually.

It's a small boutique hotel.

But, you know, nature is obviously something that we have a lot in where we are on the edge of the Forest of Dean.

And I remember that you did something around bird safaris.

So.

So obviously getting close to nature, you know, that was something as an idea which obviously worked really well.

It didn't have huge investments, but it was also just trying to almost like showcase, I suppose, what was available in the area.

But then making it into a guide and having someone who could take people on those activities obviously added something of a wow factor to that particular accommodation, that they were able to talk about it and promote it as something unique.

And I think, you know, and I know when you and I worked together with VisitDean Wire as well, like the leaf peeping, you know, the actual autumn colors in the Wye Valley, that was there anyway.

But it was a case of trying to create something that.

With a.

With a guide and sort of Resources and someone who was a chief leaf peeper who, you know, we had amazing media pickup for it when we were working together on that project.

So, you know, it's sometimes like you say, it's natural resources and it's things that are out there, but it's.

How do you tell the story and position it that gets.

Gets the pickup with the, with the media.

Yes.

And also when you've been.

When you've got a story, you know, for example, the wildlife safari is a really good example.

It can run and run because you can actually, you can tweak it to become a news story.

So with that client, I was reading about nature journaling and I just sort of said to the lovely wildlife guide, you know, how about nature journaling?

And he was really keen on it and read up about it and, you know, hey, presto, I pitched it to Country Living and that was a new feature on essentially just a slight tweak to what we were already, you know, offering.

So it's all about kind of looking for the new.

And sometimes it doesn't have to be brand new, it's just a little bit of a tweak.

And, you know, it can be something that you can get something new out of.

And I think, like you said, that was a really good suggestion about maybe Googling it, but obviously it just highlights the sort of the pros of using a specialist like yourself, because obviously you're having those conversations with the journalists and the media titles, so you sort of know the direction of travel and what they're thinking about, and it means that you can pitch angles to them.

So obviously that's a massive.

I know that that would be something that.

When we were looking to launch, I was a bit like, I haven't got the contacts.

You know, I could sit there and probably do loads of desk research and find out the names of the travel editors, but they wouldn't know me from Adam.

So obviously, you know, your contacts and that little black book that you talked about was really invaluable.

But, you know, if you don't have the contacts, then I would say that, you know, by reading the publications online in print and actually seeing, you know, are there some names of people that are actually writing about things in your area, then, you know, give it a go.

I mean, nobody is, is.

Is going to.

They'll just ignore you and not get back to you if they're not interested.

And that happens to me as well.

You know, it's, it's, you know, that's, that's, that's email, isn't it?

But if you have come up with something really juicy, then they'll get back to you because actually that's of value to them and they'll think, right, okay, you know, let's, let's do this.

And actually what you need to make sure you do is if it is something which is really, you know, stand out, then pick somebody that you really, really want to target and actually say to them, you know, this is I'm offering this to you first and make sure that they know that that is, you know, the offer because they're more likely to be interested in it because they know that you're not offering it to everybody else and all their competitors.

I mean it is, you know, it's a tough world out there pitching and you have to sort of just take lots of no's.

But actually you may get somewhere, you may just strike lucky and email somebody that actually is looking to send somebody or themselves somewhere to cover, you know, just exactly what you're offering.

So it's well worth a go if you can.

And you know, it's time consuming as well.

So again, you've got to have the time to do it.

Yeah, exactly.

And I know a lot of hosts that do do their own PR and actually that leads us naturally onto, as if by magic to the how do you pitch your story to the media?

And you've given us a few little tips there but if you were advising the listeners on pitching their story to the media, what would be your apart from having very thick skin like say, not minding if you get some no's or you get ignored?

There's a few no no's.

Don't send big attachments with emails because people will not open them and they might not even make it through a firewall.

If it's an in house publication like News uk, Reach some of their email servers literally just rip all the attachments from the emails anyway.

So they're not going to even make it.

So that would be my first tip.

Make sure that the subject never send an email without a subject because nobody's going to open that.

But make sure the subject really says what you're actually going to pitch to them in a very succinct way.

Not hello, I would really like to contact you or something very sort of generic.

It has to really kind of stand out.

I would recommend also putting low res thumbnail images into your pitch if you're talking about accommodation because it means that they don't have to click through to your website to see what your property looks like.

There's nothing kind of more frustrating than having to wade through lots of pros to actually then find where it is, how much it is, and actually what's the usp.

So all those things really need to come out in the first paragraph, I would say.

I also recommend using bullet points and not having really dense copy because it just has to be easy to read.

I know for myself that some people will send me an email and it's just, you know, really difficult to read because it's just a long paragraph of sentences and there's, you know, when you've got so many emails to plough through, it's much easier if something is just spaced out a little bit.

It's very obvious, those things.

But sometimes when you're rushing to do something, you know, it doesn't always kind of come naturally to present it in that way.

But I think it's really, really important and it probably would be the difference between somebody reading your email and not reading your email.

And that's, you know, that's the gold, isn't it?

Exactly.

So do we need to attach a press release?

A press release is like a thing of the past or just put a summary with bullet points in the actual sort of.

To get their initial interest because I presume, would they come back to you for more information or do you need to deliver it all in one hit?

Because otherwise they're not going to have time to come back to you and ask for more information.

What do you recommend, Fiona?

I would recommend putting.

If you have written a press release, I would cut and paste it into your email and so just do a very short intro and then the nuts and bolts in the press release cut and paste below.

I wouldn't ever send an attachment.

The only time I send attachments, if it's something I'm planning a press trip and there might be a document or some directions that a client is sent to pass on, but if I'm pitching, I would never attach something because it just might not make it through.

Yeah.

So we've almost got to think about that subject line, like a headline on our website or, you know, subject line of our own emails that we've just got to get that interest so that we're not deleted in the preview pane.

Where's the sort of like not bother.

With and little things like making sure that the links that you're sending actually work.

Because that's another frustration.

If they've got hundreds of emails to plow through and they.

They click on your link and the link is broken for some reason, you know, they're just going to click off it.

The other thing I would say is I always say that I've got really good quality high resolution images available.

That's really, really important.

If you haven't, then there's no point in pitching because they won't have anything to illustrate your story with.

I don't always give a link to download those images because it's quite nice when they just kind of clarify that they want to use some images and I can make sure that I give them exactly what they need and therefore I know that they're going to run it as well.

It's a sort of little check situation.

So that's a tip that I use and seems to work quite well.

And also when they come back and ask for the images it might be an opportunity to kind of clarify that they have got the information correctly.

Depending on what this opportunity is and.

Should we have, I presume because often I know that media requests and particularly if you have an opportunist statistics sort of journo request where they might be doing a feature and they want turnaround very quickly should the listeners have put together maybe like a Dropbox or a Google Drive with their images ready.

They're all their best, best high res images so that they've got them there for the journalist if an opportunity comes up.

Yeah, I would really strongly recommend that it's almost if you have a hero image link that you can supply if somebody is really running around very last minute.

And also it means that you know, if you're on the go and you're asked for it, you've just got something that you can pass on so so quickly because you might not be in an area where you've got very good signal to use, you know, the likes of Wetransfer.

And also I mean I sometimes use Wetransfer if I'm creating very bespoke a list of images that somebody has asked for.

But I always make sure that I would create the link and put it within the body of an email, not just send it from a retransfer, the actual retransfer email because again those go to junk very quickly.

But more and more, you know, creating Google or Dropbox links I think are sort of really effective.

And it just means that also the journalist or the picture editor can keep it and doesn't have to download it immediately if they, if they don't want to use it immediately because then they'll just come back to you and say, can you resend that link, please?

Yeah, you get frustrated with having to like resend stuff and it's a really good tip because then you could have the link to your.

I mean, there are other services available.

We're not promoting Dropbox or Google Drive or similar, but you know, you could have that on your phone.

So like you say if you're out and about, obviously busy hosts doing changeovers, then you might be, you might even be on holiday and a request comes in and you don't want to miss the opportunity because you haven't got the ability to be on your laptop, at home, in your office.

Because sometimes these opportunities come up and I know I've had them and it's literally like, what can you say?

You know, I need to have it by today at like 3:00.

And if you're busy and you're out and about, you don't want to miss the opportunity.

Opportunity, yeah.

And the, the other thing I would say about images is make sure that if it's, if it's an external picture, you need to think about seasonality and make sure that you don't, you know, take your hero images with daffodils or bluebells around because that's going to, that, that, that probably is very useful for obviously the correct season, but it just means that they won't be able to use it in the winter or the height of the summer, etc.

So, you know, the best thing to do is actually to have some different season pictures as well because then you can really take advantage of being able to deliver something, you know, very, very original and of the right season.

And it's tough, you know, you won't necessarily immediately have those images, but just think whenever the season changes and you can take some really quite good pictures on an iPhone these days.

You don't have to always have a professional photographer each time.

So just think about that as well.

I think the amount of times that, because I also work with destinations and so I will be calling in images from, you know, glamping self catering cottages and the amount of times I request images and people just don't have high resolution images and you know, I say to them, I'm really sorry, but I can't really pitch you if I don't have images.

So it's so important, I can't stress that higher.

It's so important to have those professional shots.

And though, like you say you can take stuff on your, you know, your iPhone or a smartphone, it's not the same as Using a professional photographer, I'm a huge fan.

So things like Twilight shots as well, because like you said, they don't give away the season.

So sometimes those can work quite well.

Obviously it depends on the angle of the feature, but they can be quite, quite useful for different times, times of the year.

But like you say, having seasonal photography all year round, and that's, that's a recommendation that I know I've been given in the past.

I have a question for you about.

This always comes up, two things.

Should you have the towels on the end of the bed?

And also the other one, people in shots.

And people say, like, should I have people in my pictures?

Should I have the towels neatly rolled up on the end of the bed?

Can I ask the expert, what's your view?

So the towel question, I would say an absolute no.

It's picture editors over the.

Over the world's number one gripe.

And you might see them occasionally being used, but it's probably because they're really desperate.

I mean, I had the Sunday Times picture editor, I had a very funny conversation with her, this is many years ago, and she says, you know, do they think that people are going to book their property because they've got towels?

So it just, it just mucks up the look.

You know, it might be a practical thing that you actually leave the towels on the bed for the guests, but from a picture point of view, it's not the best look.

And the other thing, just before I come back to the second question that I suddenly remembered was I had a beautiful cottage in Carmarthenshire that had the most stunning pictures.

But the trouble was the lady had put bunches of daffodils everywhere, and those were in all of her internal pictures.

And when I asked if she had any without daffodils, she didn't.

She said, that was the photo shoot.

So when you're doing a photo shoot, I mean, we could spend a whole podcast on photoshoot.

We may have to do another one.

Maybe we should do that actually, because there's so many tips and tricks, but, you know, just make sure that, you know, maybe take some with the flowers and then some without the flowers.

And that does lead on to people.

So most publications, as a rule, will not use people in the pictures, but some will.

And I also think that seeing people in pictures is really useful for your social media.

It's really useful for websites and other marketing opportunities.

So if you can do both, then I would say do both.

But from a media point of view, I would always have plenty without People.

I think I agree with you because I think having even just an essence of people can be so good for social and for your website to give them a feeling of it being lived in and the experience.

But obviously you need different imagery potentially for the media opportunities.

I think I'm going to invite you back.

We're definitely going to have another chat about the PR photography tips as well, because that would be really, really insightful in terms of sharing that with the audience.

But I think that we've covered all of the points that I wanted to ask you today and you've shared some amazing tips with us, Fiona.

So thank you so much for being so open about the, you know, the opportunities and also giving some really practical tips on how people can potentially pitch for PR opportunities themselves.

No problem at all.

And you know, I would just say to people, you know, it's, it's, it's worth giving it a go, it definitely is, but just do your research so you know what you're pitching and who you're pitching to.

Yeah, I think there's nothing worse that's probably from, from the editor's point of view or the journalist's point of view when they get a pitch and they can tell that you, you have no understanding of their title and their, their angles and their style, you know, and, and you're less likely to be successful.

So it's like you say, do your homework.

So definitely have a go, have a thick skin, don't take the nose personally if you don't get a reply and make research and know about that title and actually read, you know, maybe you've read some articles by that particular editor or journalist as well so that you know, you know, the angles that they're featuring.

So thank you for all those amazing tips today.

No problem.

Thanks for listening.

I'll be back next week with a solo episode where I'm looking at how you can write your website copy not only to delight Google, but also to attract your potential guests too.

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I'll see you next time.

Thank you for listening to Get Fully Booked with Sarah Orchard.

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Head to my website get fully booked.com quiz and and let's get you more direct bookings and more profit in your pocket.