How To Use Technology To Get Media Coverage For Destinations - Forbes

One of the most difficult jobs faced by destination marketers is getting travel journalists excited about a story that’s likely been told a hundred times before. Successful solutions to this age-old headache almost always involve stirring one new element into the story — an element that makes everything look fresh again.

Often, technology-related angles provide that powerful new element to bring new life to oft-told stories. Here’s how my firm successfully leveraged the excitement surrounding electric vehicle technology to encourage journalists to share a fresh look at Nevada’s fascinating ghosts towns and spectacular desert scenery.

We represent a maker of electric vehicles as well as a state agency that markets tourism off the beaten track in Nevada — the wide-open spaces and ghost towns — along with the state's internationally known destinations. Nevada has fascinated journalists from around the world for decades. They’ve published millions of words about everything from glittering casinos to the astoundingly dark night skies over Nevada’s deserts.

But the culture of Nevada these days is more than gaming and gold mines. The technology sector — especially transportation technology — plays an increasingly important role in the state. That technology provided an opening for journalists to hear an intriguing pitch and provide a fresh look at some of the state's destinations and scenery.

We brought together the state tourism agency, a state agency that oversees energy programs and the electric vehicle maker — which has a factory in the state — to create a “road rally.” We selected five journalists to join us in a fleet of the company's electric vehicles for a 440-mile road trip down U.S. 95, the highway that crosses long remote stretches of Nevada as it runs from Reno to Las Vegas.

The route wasn't chosen randomly. A couple of years ago, the state worked with a major utility provider to install charging stations at strategic locations that allow electric vehicles to make the trip. Our goal was to earn media coverage that blended journalists’ adventures in Nevada’s outback with their observations about the technological leadership of the state.

We’re getting the coverage we hoped to see, but not before we overcame some challenges and learned important lessons:

• Partners in the initiative each had their own goals, and some were in direct conflict. The state agency that oversees energy programs, for instance, wanted to promote the use of all electric vehicles — not just those made by our client. That wasn't necessarily our client's goal. Our takeaways: Be completely straightforward with all the partners to avoid early misunderstandings. (People, in my experience, hear what they want to hear.) Encourage partners to compromise — to give a little to get a lot.

• With two government agencies and a company that wants to protect the secrets of its technology, the number of approvals that were necessary quickly became daunting. Our takeways: Start early. Be patient.

• Even though the subject and its presentation were buzzy and sophisticated, most staff writers from legacy media still face the limitations of their outlets’ no junkets rules. Fortunately, the number of online travel writers has exploded in the past decade, so we were able to get good coverage of our event from the participation of freelancers and new-media outlets. Our takeaway: You may have far more writers who are open to your pitch, but it also takes far more time and energy to sort through them all.

• We found that writers tuned us out quickly if we needed more than two sentences to capture their attention with our pitch. For us, the hook that worked was, “Join us for a high-tech trip in an electric vehicle through the history and adventures of wide-open Nevada.” Our takeaway: A one-sentence hook to the story pitch can work wonders.

• We hoped to tie our road rally to Earth Day in April. Between one thing and another, we were forced to delay it by a month, risking schedule conflicts with the journalists who had signed on. (Luckily, we didn’t lose any.) Our takeaways: Stay flexible. Remember that it’s far better to do these events impeccably well, even if plans need to change.

Destination marketers don't necessarily need famous tech brands or 440 miles of desert highway to generate fresh conversations and media coverage. Technology entrepreneurs often can work anywhere in the world. Given the choice, many choose to live and work in the best places — the very locations that travelers seek out for memorable visits.

Savvy destination marketers can find opportunities to build connections with tech entrepreneurs in their markets. Local business groups often sponsor gatherings of tech companies. These are a great opportunity to learn what’s happening in tech in your markets. Take a tech entrepreneur to lunch, ask her to explain her business. Also, ask about other folks doing cool things in your markets. Tech folks know other tech folks.

From those connections, destination marketers can learn what’s cool about the technology developed in their markets and begin brainstorming ways to use the technology angle to bring new life to conversations. Ask yourself these questions while brainstorming: How would a travel consumer use this technology at the destination? How would it enhance the travel experience? An electric car maker is fairly obvious for a road trip. But what about that software that trains endurance athletes? That app for owners of vacation homes? Bring tech marketers themselves into the brainstorming as well. They know their products, and they’re usually eager to generate exposure.

Through technology, destination marketers can discover abundant opportunities to build new and deeper relationships with travel journalists. Like any relationship, this one requires someone — the marketer, for instance — to take the first step.

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