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Public Relations Primer

How Much Assistance Should I Offer Visiting Media?

Assistance provided to visiting media should be based on the value of the coverage you anticipate your area/attraction will receive.

The travel editor of a major consumer publication with circulation of several million will warrant more of your time and resources than the freelance writer pitching an article to a newspaper with circulation 16,000.

Ask questions:

1. Are you on staff with the publication/broadcast outlet?
2. (For freelancers) Do you have a firm assignment for this article/broadcast? If not, what media outlets have you worked for in the past and where will you pitch this article/broadcast?
3. What is the circulation/audience reach? (If you are not familiar with the publication/broadcast outlet, check it out in a media directory or ask for more details - geographic area reached, type of publication/broadcast outlet-- family, senior, general consumer, niche, etc.)
   
4. When will the article be published or the program air? How long will it be? Will our area/attraction be main feature or part of a round-up article containing information on several locations?

If you haven't worked with this individual before, ask for clips of travel articles published, aired or webcast in the last 12 months. It's not insulting to ask for clips, and an unwillingness to provide them raises a red flag.

Be skeptical of media who normally write health, entertainment or cooking columns, but want to visit to "research" a travel article. Ask for clips of both regular columns and recent travel articles. If they've never written travel articles before, you may not want to spend your time and resources helping them "break in" to travel writing.

The level of support you offer should fit into your marketing plan, budget, schedule and policy for media tours.

If media request more assistance than you can provide, counter-offer with what you can do. Many visiting media will appreciate the level of support offered and will produce excellent coverage from the resulting visit.