Press Trips: Let's Get Started

Taylor Talks Newsletter - 6/29/2020

Welcome to the first week of Taylor Talks! This newsletter is for bloggers wanting insider information. Basically this is for small to mid-size creators wanting to level up. So... if you want to learn more about blogging and/or influencing then you are in the right place. I will share EXACTLY what we do to land press trips and brand deals, share email pitches, and more. Terms and Conditions are at the bottom. Please read that.  Since we have downtime and traveling is scarce thanks to COVID-19, now is the time to research cities, restaurants, and bars to work with for a press trip once things are safer. Personally, I am working with hotels now. Not full-on but in some capacity. Keep reading for “Press Trips: Part 1” and see the homework at the end. Email me with questions you have.  What type of press trips/sponsored travel is available? (FYI - I mention this in a blog post, but I am elaborating in the Newsletter for you ONLY) There are two ways you can go about sponsored travel: 1) Get invited by a brand - A press trip is a trip that is paid for by another brand in exchange for content creation on your end. Press trips are usually organized by PR agencies and or private brands. This type of travel could also be called a familiarization trip (aka FAM trip). These trips are all-expenses-paid, flight, food, activities, and accommodations...for the most part. There are limitations to FAM trips. For one, the itinerary and dates may not line up with your brand and availability. You can’t pick and choose the details of the trip. You wake up at the time they say, eat at the restaurants they choose and do their activities...even if they don’t interest you. 2) DIY press trips - If you want to control the details and/or you are not getting invited by PR agencies, then you can create your own press trip. This is what we will talk about in the Newsletter! How to start planning  Phase 1 Pick where you are going and when. If you want to create opportunities for yourself, DO NOT TRAVEL TO A CITY DURING PEAK SEASONS. Tourism will be high and brands are less likely to work with you then. For example, my press trips to New Orleans here and here were sponsored but we got that because we visited right before Mardi Gras in early February/ late January. TIMING IS EVERYTHING. If you want a city or a hotel to work with you, pick a place that is not super popular but also not boring. L.A. and N.Y.C. are cities that are really hard to work with for small creators. Trust me, we tried. They are just too big and have tons of tourism revenue already. We traveled to Portland, San Francisco/ Napa, Austin, and more for the blog so check out cities like them.  Phase 2  Google “All opinions remain my own [insert name of your destination] blog.” This search will show you which hotels and brands have already collaborated with bloggers. You can get a feel for what city and hotel already work with creators and how big those creators are.  How do we know this? Well if a person has a sponsored travel post on their blog they have to include the saying, “All opinions remain my own…”  So, when you look up these keywords or phrases you’ll find companies that you can reach out to.  When you click on the blogger’s link in google, scroll through their post, and see where they went. Like we said above, this will give you an idea of what brands work with bloggers in your desired city. Some posts will have details like the person of contact, hotel owner and etc.  Phase 3 As you are researching, open up a google sheet or excel spreadsheet and title it “[Insert Name of Your Destination] Pitch Contacts." This will be the place where you keep all the links and contacts you find. We like to reach out to and work with the list below when we are traveling: Hotels; Restaurants; Bars; Official city boards; PR companies; and Tour companies ORGANIZE IT LIKE THIS:

We like to have columns that list the name of the brand, website, contact email or number, and notes.  Phase 4 Finding contact information could be easy or hard. For example, we spent weeks searching for all of our contacts for our New Orleans press trip. You just have to be patient and willing to dig deep into that brand’s site to find the right contact. We typically like to look for an email address to the owner or director of that brand or contact information to that city’s tourism board. If you can’t find a PR email address, try LinkedIn. SERIOUSLY.  It is important that you don’t email every contact that you find and see who will sponsor you. Always read Google reviews and make sure the hotel or company is aligned with your blog’s mission and goals. For example, we are vegans here at What Taylor Likes (WTL). You will not find us sending pitch emails to a BBQ place unless they have great vegan options.  If you can’t find an email address, never email their general info account. We had a few successes emailing info@blahblahblah.com but it is a shot in the dark. It is better to just find them on social media and send them a DM introducing yourself and requesting an email or phone number to their PR rep. Most people are pretty good about responding. HOMEWORK: Find a city you want to visit for your brand, create a google sheet or spreadsheet and start collecting the contact information.  We will be back next week with an email template (OUR EXACT EMAIL) and what to do next. Reach out to me with any questions. We are working on creating an access portal for you so that you can view past Taylor Talks in case the Newsletters get deleted or lost from your inbox. More information on that will come next week. If you have specific requests you would like us to talk about, send it our way. Do you like the length of the Newsletter or should it be shorter?

NEED MORE HELP ASAP? Schedule a Zoom call with us if you need personalized help pitching to brands, finding brands, analytics, advice, resources, and more! We will tell you exactly what works for us. Seriously. No fluff or beating around the bush. What to know how to travel for your blog? We got you. Need help writing a pitch email? Let's edit it together. 

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