San Francisco shares PR Tips for Travel Startups

Travel startups in San Francisco learned more about how they can leverage PR and target the travel industry with the right strategy.

This event recap was written by Edward Hu, San Francisco Travel Massive’s co-leader. He is also the CEO of ARRVL.co, a company that provides travel essentials for international travelers. When he’s away from the office, you can catch him wandering museums and climbing mountains.

The San Francisco Chapter was lucky enough to have Victoria Voorhees, co-founder of Voorhees Segal Communications, lead a very informative session on the ins and outs of PR for travel startups.

Our group of 20 entrepreneurs and travel writers were hosted by the team at Werqwise, a co-working space in the heart of San Francisco’s SOMA district.

Using both best practices and storytelling, Victoria taught us from her experiences working with everyone from Hawaii Tourism to emerging startups in Silicon Valley.

It is always a risk to speak to the press. They are likely to report what you say. – Hubert H. Humphrey

Below are some of the best practices that I think all entrepreneurs can consider when evaluating if PR is right for them.

Is it the right time for PR?

PR is earned media – this means your organization should have something newsworthy or insightful to share in order to get coverage. This could include:

New funding
New partnerships
Seasonal timeliness
Unique perspectives about a trend in the market

Who to pitch to?

If the timing is right for a PR opportunity, the next step is to find the writer(s) that will give you the type of coverage that you want. This will require research on digital outlets, magazines, and even blogs. You can also start following writers on Twitter and see if they make call outs for stories about a particular topic that might be right for your team.

Other resources you can use include HARO (Help a Reporter Out) and editorial calendars of your target publications (there are often found with publication media kits).

How to craft your message

Most writers who you’ll want to cover your story are probably flooded with leads. That’s why you’ll need to entice them with a unique story that goes beyond – i.e. “We created the Uber for X”. Differentiating yourself will be a challenge if you’re entering a competitive space, like travel.

Some considerations when pitching:

Take a “reactive approach” to pitching – did a major news event happen that you have a unique perspective on? Make a pitch from your perspective and tell the writer why it’s unique.
If you have valuable insights or data from customers / users, include that in your pitch.
Hijack a news moment – if another organization gets acquired, write an alternative opinion about why it might be bad for the industry.

How to pitch

Once you’ve got the message written and you’re ready to pitch, Victoria has some suggestions on how to get noticed and picked out from the rest:

Offer to take the writer out for coffee or a cocktail and meet face to face.
Host a happy hour or roundtable discussion with notable guests that writers may be interested in meeting.
If one of your investors is high profile, ask them to participate in a dinner where you can invite writers where both of you will talk about trends in your industry.
Create a mailer – it allows you to bypass their email inbox. Make sure you connect with them first to to get an address and notify them you’ll be sending them something.

Too Difficult? Pick a PR Agency

Working with a PR agency can be a tremendous asset to your startup’s success. When selecting the right agency, there are two tips that you should keep in mind:

Ask to see the recent stories they’ve earned for their clients – check the dates and make sure they aren’t showing you outdated work.
Check if the stories are the type of stories that you want to have written about you.

While PR can seem daunting, I walked away from the event feeling like I had a playbook for how to approach writers and media. Thanks again to Victoria for providing us such informative, insider tips.

Thanks also to the members who came out to participate in the event – I hope you all learned as much as I did.

If you’d like to learn more, download a copy of Victoria’s presentation here.

Follow Edward Hu on Travel Massive and connect with San Francisco’s community of travel insiders.