Wednesday, August 21, 2019
Tourism Nova Scotia works directly with journalists and social media influencers to tell stories about Nova Scotia that inspire travellers to choose the province for their next vacation. Pam Wamback is a Travel Media Advisor on our market development team. She was nominated by journalists for the Individual Industry Award and was behind the Nova Scotia Lobster Crawl media campaign that took home the Industry Campaign Award at the 2019 Explore Canada Awards of Excellence.
We asked her to share her insights on Nova Scotia’s travel media strategy and tips for tourism operators on working with the media to promote their business.
Q: Why is it important to work with travel media?
A: Media coverage of Nova Scotia is a third-party endorsement, which often has more influence on people’s travel decisions than traditional advertising and can usually generate a bigger return on our investment. The results of our travel media program generates the equivalent of $10-$15 million in ad value annually. That’s a return on investment (ROI) of approximately $65-$70 for every dollar we spend – we can’t buy that kind of advertising! And I think what’s even more rewarding is that we go on to build long-term relationships with a lot of our media guests that are maintained and nurtured. These relationships are key to influencing a high-level of positive editorial coverage about the province whether through direct visits, round-ups, photo editorials, Q&A’s and more. They trust us to provide them with good quality content that is reliable and delivered in a timely manner. Since our overall goal is to increase consumer awareness about Nova Scotia as a travel destination, these relationships then translate into published content that we and our media guests know their readers and followers are interested in and will respond to!
Q: What is TNS’s strategy for working with travel media and influencers?
A: All media have the ability to influence travel – they do so by building followers or respect within their communities by providing fair and unbiased evaluations of the destinations and the experiences offered. We target travel media that are within our target markets (Canada, United States, United Kingdom, Germany, China) whose audiences are a good match for what we have to offer. Our travel media program aims to tell the story about Nova Scotia’s incredible vacation experiences by working with journalists and influencers to create content that resonates with our target travellers. We develop relationships with key media and influencers to generate positive articles, videos, social media posts and more about the province. We make this happen by hosting press trips and developing itineraries for media, media pitching, and meeting journalists at conferences and marketplaces like GoMedia.
Q: How do you engage with journalists and influencers to generate interest in Nova Scotia?
A: Rule number one is to listen and do your homework. Find out who they are, who their audience is, what their reach is, and what their interests are. Then craft a pitch that is specific to them that will help them in turn pitch a story to sell to their editors, publishers, and contacts. Afterall, this is their livelihood and the more we can help them sell their articles (and thus make the living!), the better for all of us. We have such great diversity in terms of our geography, our culture, our product offerings and our awesome operators that it’s very easy to customize something a little different every time I talk with a travel influencer.
Q: What makes something interesting to media? What’s a hook?
A: It’s the things that set us apart. People know we have great seafood, but they often don’t know we are a growing wine region with award winning wines that compliment our seafood. They have heard of the world-famous Cabot Trail, but they often haven’t heard of the multitude of great hiking or whale watching opportunities located around the trail or that we are home to some of the top ranked golf courses in the world. They have seen the pictures of Peggy’s Cove but often don’t realize that we have dozens of accessible lighthouses around the province that are just as photo worthy. And of course, our fresh lobster – it’s renowned around the world but to have it this fresh and prepared so many different ways leaves our media guests wanting more! And did I mention we have the only airport in the world with a lobster pound in it? I’m always looking for the hook and the ways to set us apart from our counterparts. It’s easy when we have such a pool of fantastic products to pick from!
Q: What is a press trip?
A: They are organized business trips for journalists with press credentials that provide an opportunity to gather information on the destination and its products to share with their audiences.
Q: How do you pick locations/attractions to include in a press tour or recommend to media?
A: It’s based entirely on the interests of the media. Some journalists or influencers will have specific areas of interest they specialize in – like wine or kayaking – while others are looking for road trip itineraries. We put our best foot forward to show our world-class accommodations and experiences. We create the hook to draw media here and then we work with our operators to lure them in with their tempting “bait.” But at the end of the day, we are catering to the needs and requirements of our media guests to help them create content that appeals to their audiences and is a match with our core marketing objectives.
Q: How important are your partnerships with operators and tourism organizations for raising awareness about Nova Scotia in travel media?
A: Vital! We can’t do this without them! Partnerships with our operators help leverage limited budgets and make marketing investments that provide a much larger ROI. We are working on behalf of our operators to help showcase the quality and diversity of our product. We truly are a destination that offers a visitor so much and I believe that gives us a huge competitive edge.
Q: What is your top tip for tourism operators when working with media?
A: Do your homework and vet the media to determine if they are a good fit for your business. And don’t think of it as “giving away” a room or admission to your attraction - view it as a marketing opportunity that develops a relationship with the media that will reward you several times over.
Q: What does it mean to you to be nominated by journalists for the Explore Canada Individual Award of Excellence?
A: As corny as it sounds, it truly is an honour to be nominated. The finalists are reviewed almost “blindly” based solely on the written submissions. But the nominations initially come directly from media, and so for them to take the time out of their busy schedules to sit down and write a nomination truly means so much to me, more than the award itself. I’m truly touched and humbled!
Q: What influencers is Tourism Nova Scotia hosting in 2019?
A: We are in the very fortunate position of being a destination that gets more requests for press visits than we can financially accommodate. So, we are diligent in our reviews of these requests to ensure we find the right people to share our story in the right markets and the right outlets. We have hosted media on assignment for outlets such as The Globe and Mail and Westjet’s inflight magazine; film crews that are creating videos for online channels such as Bon Appetite and National Geographic Traveller; bloggers and vloggers who are creating content to share with their audiences, not just during their visit but also in the months following their visit, such as Goats on the Road and Germany’s We Travel the World. These influencers can post, repost, share, sell, engage and pitch their content across multiple media channels providing us with a number of ways to keep Nova Scotia top of mind with their audiences.
Check out some of the articles generated so far in 2019 through our travel media program:
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