As the route Marketing Coordinator, you may work with travel writers and bloggers who come to visit the route in order to give it some media exposure. Setting up their trip can be a lot of fun, and creating a diverse and varied itinerary for them while they’re in the area will help the establishments on your route You may be wondering what the difference is between traditional travel journalists and bloggers.
Journalists
Traditional journalists are usually able to adhere to an itinerary and have specific properties or activities that they are looking to cover for an assignment. Also, traditional journalists frequently take notes and follow up for images and more information after their trip when compiling their article. If the journalist works for a specific publication such as Weg/Go or Getaway, be sure to find out ahead of their trip what the specific angle of their story is.
Freelance journalists
Freelance journalists usually enjoy everything that an area has to offer and will do as much as possible in order to provide as many different angles and stories as possible which they can sell to various publications. A freelance journalist can create up to 10 different stories for as many publications from one trip and will sometimes sell different versions of their story to various travel magazines as well as specialist publications, such as mountain biking, hiking or fishing as a few examples.
Travel bloggers involved in a November 2014 campaign for Open Africa.
Bloggers
Bloggers, on the other hand, usually enjoy more free time to explore and discover the quirks of an area. Bloggers are essentially freelance writers who have an impressively large social following. This means that they run their own blogs and have created a personal brand that is big enough for them to be able to make a decent living from it. Sounds great, doesn’t it? Bloggers are usually very active on social media channels, such as Instagram and Twitter, and promote trips or stories through images with a link back to their blog. They also usually tweet or post photos on Instagram throughout their trip to create engagement and interest from their followers (your customers) for a prolonged period, making them a rather valuable marketing tool.
All bloggers have a specific area of interest; some are young and enjoy adventure travel; some are older and focus on environmental issues when travelling; others focus more on the food and people of an area; some are photographers at heart; and some do a little bit of everything! Be sure to target the right kind of blogger to visit your route so that you know they will enjoy the itinerary you have planned.
It is important to bear in mind that while many of the trips bloggers take are sponsored, they still need to put food on the table and require payment in the form of more than a free holiday. Be sure to research them properly and check out the media kit on their website or contact them to find out what their rates are. With enough research, clear communication and a brief, bloggers are very pleasant to work with, so be sure to manage your expectations up front and let them know exactly what you require from them.
Take a look at these popular South African travel bloggers:
- Natalie Roos – Tails of a Mermaid
- Anton Crone – Bright Continent
- Dawn Jorgensen – The Incidental Tourist
- Meruschka Govender – Mzansi Girl
- Kate Els – IndiKate