A GUIDE TO PUBLIC RELATIONS

What is public relations?

Public relations is a group of activities aimed at influencing people's attitudes about your community or attraction with the ultimate goal of getting them to vacation there.

Public relations is one "tool" in the marketing toolbox that you can use to promote yourself as a vacation destination. Advertising is another marketing tool, perhaps the best known one. A key difference between the two is that advertising is paying the media to run your message and public relations is providing your unpaid message to the media without control over it and how they run it. You must rely on the creativity and value of the information you are presenting to get the media to carry your message to the public. Successful public relations creates an extremely credible third-party endorsement.

In this section of the workbook, we'll review tips and techniques for successful public relations, including how to write a good news release, how to "pitch" information about your community or attraction to the media, and how to develop and maintain relationships with reporters. We'll also cover how to develop a public relations plan and how to use public relations in the management of a crisis or specific issue. .

read more...