3 key takeaways from PR and media practitioners, and content creators

The tourism sector and the national economy are starting to rise upon the reopening of domestic and international travels. One of the nation’s leading sectors, the tourism industry lost IDR 20.7 billion in revenue due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In this recovery stage, the role of public relations and media practitioners becomes essential in rebuilding brand image.

Recently, we have successfully concluded our Media Coffee at The Laguna, a Luxury Collection Resort & Spa, Nusa Dua, Bali on August 11, 2022. More than 100 participants from marketing, public relations, and communication professionals within the tourism and hospitality sector in Bali attended the event.

We invited four experienced speakers in the tourism industry joining us in the panel: Agustini Rahayu, Director of Tourism Marketing for Europe, Middle East, and Africa at the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy, Eve Tedja, Associate Editor of Epicure Magazine, Amanda Valani, Head of Narasi TV Original Content, and Mahwari Sadewa Jalutama, Country Head of Operations TikTok Indonesia. Besides sharing the latest trends and insights in the tourism industry, they also offered tips and best practices for our audience.

Here are some important highlights of the event that you shouldn’t miss:

Start by adopting effective communication strategy

Ms Agustini Rahayu shared the process of developing persuasive communication during her presentation – from setting goals, analyzing the situation, mapping stakeholders and understanding the stakeholders’ perceptions to establishing a communication strategy and implementing it, as well as measuring the impact afterward.

Storytelling is also the key for effective communications, and video being one of the most influential types of content being used in the hospitality industry. According to Hahayu, 64% of customers admit that video influences their purchase decisions.

Understand the target audiences’ needs, values, and interests

By understanding your target audiences’ needs, values & interesting, you would be able to create meaningful, cohesive, and sustainable content that eventually convert to business opportunities.

Amanda shared that 32% of travelers are price-sensitive, while 12% of them prioritize experience. With this understanding, companies should personalize their communications with different audiences and provide them with what they crave for.

Craft an attractive and customized media pitch

Eve shared that it is essential to truly understand the media and their target audience before drafting the media pitch. The press release should be well written with timely and relevant content, specific and short but concise.

Keep in mind that journalists receive numerous pitches every day. Therefore, it is very important to get their attention from the get-go. One of the tips that Eve shared was to start your messages with the journalist’s real name instead of with general greetings, avoid ‘Dear Editor’, ‘Dear Journalist’, ‘Dear Valued Media Partners’ or ‘Dear Friend’. We should try to make our pitch as personalized as possible.

The event is wrapped up with interactive panel discussion sessions, lots of interesting questions were raised by the enthusiastic and curious audience; discussion continuous during the post-event networking cocktails where drinks & nibbles were served for the eager networkers.

For more information and details on our upcoming events, you may follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Meanwhile, you may chart out your comms plan and get travel media pitching tips with our COVID-19 Travel Industry Recovery Toolkit that is tailored for PR pros in the travel and hospitality industry.