The Travel Scene: LMA Communications

This month in our series The Travel Scene, we catch up with Jerry Grymek, Account Director at the award-winning public relations and marketing firm LMA.

Jerry has been a strong supporter of Travel Massive in Toronto. He regularly attends and even hosts meet-ups for the travel brands he represents like Visit Florida, Visit Philadelphia, the Hilton Hotel, Travel Media Association of Canada and Society of American Travel Writers. We asked Jerry about why he joined Travel Massive 3 years ago and get his insider tips about travel and PR.

When did your brand first get involved with Travel Massive?

LMA first got involved with Travel Massive back in 2011. We had heard about the group through Mariellen Ward and were instantly interested – there are other travel associations however this one focused on bloggers and online media specifically. We wanted to jump at the opportunity.

Why do you choose to host Travel Massive meet-ups?

It’s the fact that we are reaching bloggers, vloggers, and online travel writers directly as a group. The travel industry has grown so much that it would be crazy for us to not include them in our PR efforts! But let’s not forget how great the Travel Massive team is and how easy they make it for us to work together on an event. 

We think more travel brands should tap into the online media industry. What benefits have you seen from hosting Travel Massive meet-ups?

We noticed more social sharing, awareness and blogger interest for the travel brands we represent. We also see this as a specific targeted audience we can help our brands reach out to.

How do you work with the online travel industry?

Aside from Travel Massive events, we also invite bloggers and vloggers on various press FAM trips for our hospitality and tourism clients. We are always looking for new opportunities to connect our clients with emerging and established online travel writers.

What do you look for when working with bloggers?

Their reach, unique monthly visitors (UMV’s), social networks and overall klout are what we take into consideration. We also look for third-party referrals or recognition such as awards they’ve won or if they reach additional audiences through other blogs or publications they write for. As much as possible, we work to sync up the right travel blogger with the right client. For example, if we have a client FAM trip that is family focused, we want to target a family blogger that will help promote the destination.

What is your best tip for bloggers who want to work with brands?

Make sure you find out as much as possible about the brand that you are looking to partner with. Then ask yourself two questions:

1. What could I do to make this brand standout more?
2. What is unique about myself that makes me stand out from other bloggers?

The online travel industry constantly evolving. What are the biggest challenge(s) you would like to see resolved or improved?

One of the biggest challenges is a proper ROI measurement tool for online coverage. This is a hot topic among our clients. In traditional media for example, you might have a feature in a print newspaper – it’s easy to determine the ad equivalent for that. We hope there will be new tools to help measure ROI for online media too.

Looking into your crystal ball, where do you see the online travel industry in 5 years?

Wow, if I can determine that, I would have a million dollar idea! I definitely see more unique travel experiences coming into play such as ed-venture (educational adventure). When there is nothing left to see, wouldn’t it be nice to learn a new, unique skill while on a vacation?

I also see the rise in customized online itinerary planning with synchronicity between bloggers, itinerary planners and direct bookings – sort of an evolution of the travel agent. For example, say a blogger writes about a trip to France, readers will be able to book the same trip through the story, step by step. It’s a type of read and ride effect.

If you could book a ticket tomorrow, where would you go?

Back to the Maldives! It is such paradise with its private islands. It is possible that the islands in the Maldives may no longer be accessible in the next 10 years because of rising sea levels, so any chance I can get to go back I would take it in a heartbeat.

**

Jerry Grymek is the Account Director for LMA Communications where he represents travel brands in the tourism and hospitality industry. You can follow him on Twitter or connect with him on LinkedIn.

The Travel Scene is a monthly series that profiles unique brands in the Travel Massive community around the world.