Industry Insights: 5 Press Trip Invite Do's and Don'ts (Part 1 of 5)
Hello, friends and happy Thursday!
As you know, I’m traveling this week, and not at my computer at the present moment (I’m actually currently frolicking in a botanical-laden valley in Ireland. I hope I’m wearing my hair in side braids as I do so…)
But it felt like a good time to schedule ahead some content that everyone has been asking about.
You may recall that last week, I co-hosted a press trip-focused AMA session, with two of my favorite travel writers (and just fantastic friends) —Jill Schildhouse and Alice Dubin — and as promised, we’re sharing the highlights over the next few months, including some content that even the attendees didn’t get to hear because we ran out of time!
So, be sure to keep your eyes peeled for the next four sections after this one (we’ll be releasing them spaced a little bit apart as it’s a lot of information to digest all at once).
We received so much great feedback, including:
“Thank you, all, for a phenomenal press trips AMA – I learned a lot, which I will very much keep in mind for those Italy invitations!”
“Thank you very much for allowing me to partake in today's press trip seminar. The information provided was extremely helpful and I know that I will be taking everything learned and utilizing it when planning future press trips.”
We firmly believe that the ROI you get out of a press trip is directly proportional to the thought and care you put into your press trip planning and execution — and that’s why we’re sharing all this insider info!
Disclaimer: Yes, I’m currently on a trip but none of the “don’ts” below is in any way about or a reflection of the trip I’m currently on (which is great) - just so there’s no confusion! This is all highlights taken from last week’s AMA webinar and this post has actually been pre-scheduled.
Before we dive in, we want to set the record straight on one thing so we’re all on the same page:
Press trips definitely aren’t a free vacation for us. In fact, they aren’t even a vacation and oftentimes we LOSE money by attending them.
We’ve heard some comments from publicists over the years along the lines of, “Well, you get all these amazing free vacations …” No, press trips aren’t vacations. Are they fun? Usually! Do we enjoy them? Usually. Are we grateful for such cool jobs? Absolutely!
But please don’t forget that we’re working our butts off on these trips — not only by running around with you for 12-18 hours a day, but also trying to keep up with client emails, editor requests, source interviews, and assignments (not to mention our families and personal matters, etc.) in the little bit of downtime we get. This often means we’re answering emails or getting writing done at midnight or 5 am.
And we’re often having to turn down assignments that would need to be done during a press trip because there’s not enough time in our schedule to get it done, which means we are actually losing money in the process.
Choosing to attend a press trip is a massive time commitment and monetary investment on our end, just like it is on your end. We all need to prove ROI at the end of the day.
So we’re starting at the beginning of the process, with invitations: