Tips and advice on partnering with travel bloggers based on what travellers looking for from travel blogs, how to plan partnerships (including new models) and getting the most out of working with bloggers
4. Topics?
1. What travellers are really looking for
2. How to plan and deliver blogger programs
1. How to ensure you get the most out of them
4
5. Why do travellers read blogs?
“Real life advice & tips” to reduce risk
5
6. 88% say blogs influence travel choices
47
55
35
22
Used to reduce risk
Entertain Only
Changed Mind
Drove Specific Choice
Reinforced or Confirmed
Source: Survey Monkey Study March 2013: Travel Content Usage Survey – Gary Bembridge / Travel Bloggers Unite. 276 respondents.
6
7. Topics?
1. What travellers are really looking for
2. How to plan and deliver blogger programs
1. How to ensure you get the most out of them
7
8. Which of you …
1. Worked with journalists?
2. Worked with bloggers?
8
9. How did you find bloggers
different to journalists?
Has implications on how you should work
9
10. Journalists versus bloggers
Journalist
Paid
Unbiased
One core expertise
Content limitations
“Push” content
Publishing schedules
Mass audience
Traditional core focus
Blogger
Passion
Opinion based
Multiple content skills
Unlimited content
“Responsive” content
Immediate
Niche audience
Social Media at Core
10
11. Why work with bloggers?
1.
Growing use & importance
2.
Trends in favour
3.
Influential
4.
Deliver specific and niche audiences
5.
Social media active and led
6.
May be existing brand advocates
11
12. When should you partner?
Only when can deliver your objectives
12
13. 7 tactics bloggers most suited for
1.
Increase awareness
2.
Reach new or specific audiences
3.
Recruit and build your social media community
1.
Drive website referrals (to convert to sales)
2.
Generate (quality and evergreen) content
3.
Crisis management and time sensitive activities
4.
Amplify and extend traditional PR activities and campaigns
13
15. Build your social communities
Cruiser who not tried Norwegian
Excursion recommendation for
someone booked to travel
Non cruiser engaged in discussion
15
18. How do bloggers earn a living?
Not from their blog alone
Implications for you……….
Unlikely to get “free” coverage in future
Your opportunity to create new programs
18
19. 6 best ways to work with bloggers
1. Content creation fees
2. Brand advocates, ambassadors & advisors
3. Create campaigns through blogger co-operatives
4. Sponsorships
5. Travel Services (e.g. tours and workshops)
6. Social media management
19
24. Content Creation Blogger trips : Flanders is a Festival
thinkdigital.travel/spotlights/flanders/
•
•
Flanders is a Festival: In what was billed as the world’s biggest blog trip, nearly 100 international travel and music writers
explored, videoed, Instagrammed, Tweeted and blogged their way around a summer of music festivals in Flanders, Belgium.
Number of written blogposts: 257 (so far). 173 Travel Blogposts reach of 7.500.000. Number of unique visitors: 7.500.000. Total reach of blogposts:
11.500.000. Number of Facebook fans of all Bloggers: 300.000. Number of Twitter fans of all Bloggers: 550.000
24
25. Brand Ambassadors: Richmond Canada
365daysofdining.com
•
•
•
•
One-year contract role with a salary of $50,000, living compensation and a daily stipend of $30 for all dining experiences.
One-year membership to the Richmond Olympic Oval fitness centre—to assist in burning off all those daily dining experiences!
Dine at 365 Richmond locations in 365 days, taking photos, shooting videos and blogging about the experience.
25
Actively engaging with the local community—both in person and online through social media—and meeting the people who live, work and play in Richmond.
26. Brand Ambassadors: New South Wales #Unmapped
visitnsw.com/nsw-tales/tours
•
•
•
Six young travellers from all over the world on a month-long road trip in a bus to capture the best that NSW, Australia has to offer
Called it the #unmapped Road Trip as there was no set itinerary. - route was determined by the suggestions of our fans and followers, tourism operators and
destinations belonging to our online social community.
26
We had one goal in mind – to complete as many awesome experiences as possible in 30 days.
27. Brand advocates and advisors
•
•
•
•
Gary Arndt - everything-everywhere.com
Daniell Noll & Audrey Scott – uncorneredmarket.com
Jodi Eteenberg – legalnomads.com
Nellie Huang – wildjunket.com
http://www.gadventures.com/blog/category/wanderers-residence/
27
28. Brand advocates and advsors
•
•
•
•
•
House Trip Diplomats
The Planet D
Eat like a girl
Velvet Escape
Ciao Bambino
Aviators & a Camera
28
33. Topics?
1. What travellers are really looking for
2. How to plan and deliver blogger programs
1. How to ensure you get the most out of them
33
34. You cannot measure blogger
programs. True or false?
You can if you set clear objectives
34
35. Measurement
1. Set campaign objectives
•
•
•
•
Number of articles, videos or podcasts?
Number of tweets, Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook posts?
Number of click-throughs to site, follows or page likes?
Reach of the campaign?
2. Traditional measures not always possible, but can measure:
•
•
•
Total reach over time (long tail) based in views, listens and reads
Social media amplification measures: Reach, likes, shares, retweets using
Facebook Insights, TweetReach, Pinterest Stats using dedicated campaign
hashtags
Click-through, follows and page links of your branded properties (track with
specific links or landing pages)
3. Leverage and coverage in “traditional Media”
35
37. 10 factors when assessing bloggers
1. Traffic
2. Audience
3. Longevity
4. Strategy & plan
5. Activity level
6. Look and speed
7. Social amplification
8. Engagement
9. Balanced coverage
10. Case studies (with effects)
37
38. Contracting with bloggers
1. What to be delivered & why
2. Where it is to be delivered
3. What you will provide and cover (including Wi-fi and free
time..)
4. When will be delivered
5. How it will be measured
6. Post report requirements
38
39. Watch-outs
1.
Not end in own right
2.
Do not treat like “journalists” and “press trips”
3.
“Free stuff” will not guarantee coverage
4.
Focus on the new ways to partner – think “campaigns”
5.
Spend time finding the right bloggers and build relationships with
some key ones
6.
Set clear measures up front so can track
7.
Ensure you have a clear contract before you start working together
39
41. Digital PR & Blog Trips
Workshop by Gary Bembridge for:
41
Notas del editor
Blog trips are increasingly replacing the traditional FAM Trip, as PR departments are quickly wising up to the power of peer endorsement and the opportunities of working with bloggers to create amazing content. Gary Bembridge will be talking about:what travellers really want and how to:plan,deliver and get the most out of working with bloggers.
I was born in Zimbabwe of Bri0sh parents. • I did all my schooling there, but from a very young age was fascinated by travel and “escaping” to what I saw as the much more exci5ng world of London and Europe. • I moved to London in 1987. For over 30 years I have been in marke0ng. • Working on building global brands at companies like Unilever and Johnson & Johnson. I was a Global Vice President of Marke5ng traveling the world. • For the last 20+ years I have been travelling every month of every year, spending up to 2 or 3 weeks away from home. • I am now “semi-‐re5red” doing some consul5ng for brands around the world and focusing on my travels and blogging. Launched Tips for Travellers in 2005. http://www.0psfortravellers.com • I started podcas5ng and pos5ng videos about my travels in 2005, followed soon by blogging. I was doing lots of research before visi5ng anywhere, and decided to share what I was collec5ng. • I have over 25 million views of my videos on YouTube. Over 600,000 downloads of my podcasts and around 80,000 visitors to the blog last year. Launched Travel Bloggers Podcast in January 2013 hfp://www.travelbloggerspodcast.com• I felt there was a gap to share what I was learning about blogging and to provide on-‐going free resource for bloggers. • The podcast is designed help travel bloggers to become a more professional and valued resource for travellers – and the travel partners looking to reach their audience BrandsAcer ComputersAudio TechnicaZinio.comDK Travel GuidesKnok.comFour Seasons Hotels, Mandarin OrientalHolland America, Norwegian, Silversea, MSC CruisesTalksNew Media Expo (Las Vegas)TBEX USA & EuropeTBU Europe
I was born in Zimbabwe of Bri0sh parents. • I did all my schooling there, but from a very young age was fascinated by travel and “escaping” to what I saw as the much more exci5ng world of London and Europe. • I moved to London in 1987. For over 30 years I have been in marke0ng. • Working on building global brands at companies like Unilever and Johnson & Johnson. I was a Global Vice President of Marke5ng traveling the world. • For the last 20+ years I have been travelling every month of every year, spending up to 2 or 3 weeks away from home. • I am now “semi-‐re5red” doing some consul5ng for brands around the world and focusing on my travels and blogging. Launched Tips for Travellers in 2005. http://www.0psfortravellers.com • I started podcas5ng and pos5ng videos about my travels in 2005, followed soon by blogging. I was doing lots of research before visi5ng anywhere, and decided to share what I was collec5ng. • I have over 25 million views of my videos on YouTube. Over 600,000 downloads of my podcasts and around 80,000 visitors to the blog last year. Launched Travel Bloggers Podcast in January 2013 hfp://www.travelbloggerspodcast.com• I felt there was a gap to share what I was learning about blogging and to provide on-‐going free resource for bloggers. • The podcast is designed help travel bloggers to become a more professional and valued resource for travellers – and the travel partners looking to reach their audience BrandsAcer ComputersAudio TechnicaZinio.comDK Travel GuidesKnok.comFour Seasons Hotels, Mandarin OrientalHolland America, Norwegian, Silversea, MSC CruisesTalksNew Media Expo (Las Vegas)TBEX USA & EuropeTBU Europe
I was born in Zimbabwe of Bri0sh parents. • I did all my schooling there, but from a very young age was fascinated by travel and “escaping” to what I saw as the much more exci5ng world of London and Europe. • I moved to London in 1987. For over 30 years I have been in marke0ng. • Working on building global brands at companies like Unilever and Johnson & Johnson. I was a Global Vice President of Marke5ng traveling the world. • For the last 20+ years I have been travelling every month of every year, spending up to 2 or 3 weeks away from home. • I am now “semi-‐re5red” doing some consul5ng for brands around the world and focusing on my travels and blogging. Launched Tips for Travellers in 2005. http://www.0psfortravellers.com • I started podcas5ng and pos5ng videos about my travels in 2005, followed soon by blogging. I was doing lots of research before visi5ng anywhere, and decided to share what I was collec5ng. • I have over 25 million views of my videos on YouTube. Over 600,000 downloads of my podcasts and around 80,000 visitors to the blog last year. Launched Travel Bloggers Podcast in January 2013 hfp://www.travelbloggerspodcast.com• I felt there was a gap to share what I was learning about blogging and to provide on-‐going free resource for bloggers. • The podcast is designed help travel bloggers to become a more professional and valued resource for travellers – and the travel partners looking to reach their audience BrandsAcer ComputersAudio TechnicaZinio.comDK Travel GuidesKnok.comFour Seasons Hotels, Mandarin OrientalHolland America, Norwegian, Silversea, MSC CruisesTalksNew Media Expo (Las Vegas)TBEX USA & EuropeTBU Europe
So far I have looked at the very specific content likes, and dislikes, of travellers. I now want to step back and look at the whole area of creating content – and what insight I got from the surveys that can help bloggers to find a real position in the total travel content space. And to help guide the direction of content creation beyond just specific content topics.There was one thing that really stood out to me, and I was not sure why I had not thought of it before. I believe it has a major impact on how we should approach and think about creating content on blogs.This was the realization that, in fact, travellers do not really travel much!80% of travellers that read blogs travel less than 6 weeks a year. Almost 40% only travel 1 – 2 weeks a year (one major annual holiday probably)70% of bloggers travel over 6 weeks a year. Only 28% claim to travel under 6 weeks a year.Travel bloggers tend to travel a great deal. We think, live and breath travel. For us travel is what we aim to do as often as we possible can. However, in the “real world” most people see travel as a once or twice a year chance to take a break from work. This has a massive impact on what we seek and want travel content to do for usI believe we should think about the needs as being the following:Travellers, as they do not travel that much, are looking for help to reduce their risk. They have limited time to travel. They want to make sure that they spend their money wisely. The risk of getting it wrong is so huge – as they only travel once or maybe twice a year they need to ensure it is the best it can be.Bloggers, on the other hand, travel much more. They are constantly looking for new experiences and places to try and explore. The risk for them is that they are not doing something different. For them they want content that will inspire.
I think there is more data in the survey that shows that blogs should and can play a distinctive role in travel content by focusing on creating content that helps travellers to reduce the risk in making travel choices and plans.In response to the question: Which of these has a travel blog made you do?Only 22% said None of these. I read them to entertain me or inform me.35% - Made me change my mind or decision I had made about an existing travel plan.47% - Inspired me to visit a specific destination, stay in a particular place, or travel with a specific company.55% - helped to reinforceor confirm a decision I had made about a travel plan.This not only shows that travel blogs can be very influential, it does show (though) that in general blogs are used to help validate and confirm decisions than be used for just inspiration.It does not mean that blogs cannot inspire – it does mean though (in my view) that there is a real opportunity for bloggers to focus on creating content that travellers can use and refer to when they want to confirm, validate and help them make choices.
I was born in Zimbabwe of Bri0sh parents. • I did all my schooling there, but from a very young age was fascinated by travel and “escaping” to what I saw as the much more exci5ng world of London and Europe. • I moved to London in 1987. For over 30 years I have been in marke0ng. • Working on building global brands at companies like Unilever and Johnson & Johnson. I was a Global Vice President of Marke5ng traveling the world. • For the last 20+ years I have been travelling every month of every year, spending up to 2 or 3 weeks away from home. • I am now “semi-‐re5red” doing some consul5ng for brands around the world and focusing on my travels and blogging. Launched Tips for Travellers in 2005. http://www.0psfortravellers.com • I started podcas5ng and pos5ng videos about my travels in 2005, followed soon by blogging. I was doing lots of research before visi5ng anywhere, and decided to share what I was collec5ng. • I have over 25 million views of my videos on YouTube. Over 600,000 downloads of my podcasts and around 80,000 visitors to the blog last year. Launched Travel Bloggers Podcast in January 2013 hfp://www.travelbloggerspodcast.com• I felt there was a gap to share what I was learning about blogging and to provide on-‐going free resource for bloggers. • The podcast is designed help travel bloggers to become a more professional and valued resource for travellers – and the travel partners looking to reach their audience BrandsAcer ComputersAudio TechnicaZinio.comDK Travel GuidesKnok.comFour Seasons Hotels, Mandarin OrientalHolland America, Norwegian, Silversea, MSC CruisesTalksNew Media Expo (Las Vegas)TBEX USA & EuropeTBU Europe
I was born in Zimbabwe of Bri0sh parents. • I did all my schooling there, but from a very young age was fascinated by travel and “escaping” to what I saw as the much more exci5ng world of London and Europe. • I moved to London in 1987. For over 30 years I have been in marke0ng. • Working on building global brands at companies like Unilever and Johnson & Johnson. I was a Global Vice President of Marke5ng traveling the world. • For the last 20+ years I have been travelling every month of every year, spending up to 2 or 3 weeks away from home. • I am now “semi-‐re5red” doing some consul5ng for brands around the world and focusing on my travels and blogging. Launched Tips for Travellers in 2005. http://www.0psfortravellers.com • I started podcas5ng and pos5ng videos about my travels in 2005, followed soon by blogging. I was doing lots of research before visi5ng anywhere, and decided to share what I was collec5ng. • I have over 25 million views of my videos on YouTube. Over 600,000 downloads of my podcasts and around 80,000 visitors to the blog last year. Launched Travel Bloggers Podcast in January 2013 hfp://www.travelbloggerspodcast.com• I felt there was a gap to share what I was learning about blogging and to provide on-‐going free resource for bloggers. • The podcast is designed help travel bloggers to become a more professional and valued resource for travellers – and the travel partners looking to reach their audience BrandsAcer ComputersAudio TechnicaZinio.comDK Travel GuidesKnok.comFour Seasons Hotels, Mandarin OrientalHolland America, Norwegian, Silversea, MSC CruisesTalksNew Media Expo (Las Vegas)TBEX USA & EuropeTBU Europe
I was born in Zimbabwe of Bri0sh parents. • I did all my schooling there, but from a very young age was fascinated by travel and “escaping” to what I saw as the much more exci5ng world of London and Europe. • I moved to London in 1987. For over 30 years I have been in marke0ng. • Working on building global brands at companies like Unilever and Johnson & Johnson. I was a Global Vice President of Marke5ng traveling the world. • For the last 20+ years I have been travelling every month of every year, spending up to 2 or 3 weeks away from home. • I am now “semi-‐re5red” doing some consul5ng for brands around the world and focusing on my travels and blogging. Launched Tips for Travellers in 2005. http://www.0psfortravellers.com • I started podcas5ng and pos5ng videos about my travels in 2005, followed soon by blogging. I was doing lots of research before visi5ng anywhere, and decided to share what I was collec5ng. • I have over 25 million views of my videos on YouTube. Over 600,000 downloads of my podcasts and around 80,000 visitors to the blog last year. Launched Travel Bloggers Podcast in January 2013 hfp://www.travelbloggerspodcast.com• I felt there was a gap to share what I was learning about blogging and to provide on-‐going free resource for bloggers. • The podcast is designed help travel bloggers to become a more professional and valued resource for travellers – and the travel partners looking to reach their audience BrandsAcer ComputersAudio TechnicaZinio.comDK Travel GuidesKnok.comFour Seasons Hotels, Mandarin OrientalHolland America, Norwegian, Silversea, MSC CruisesTalksNew Media Expo (Las Vegas)TBEX USA & EuropeTBU Europe
Growing use and importanceMerging of “old” and “new media”- as traditional media shrinking blogs already online and established in search and social media and building audiences. Se optimisedetcSearch roleTrends- microbloggingSearchVideoImagesaudio
I was born in Zimbabwe of Bri0sh parents. • I did all my schooling there, but from a very young age was fascinated by travel and “escaping” to what I saw as the much more exci5ng world of London and Europe. • I moved to London in 1987. For over 30 years I have been in marke0ng. • Working on building global brands at companies like Unilever and Johnson & Johnson. I was a Global Vice President of Marke5ng traveling the world. • For the last 20+ years I have been travelling every month of every year, spending up to 2 or 3 weeks away from home. • I am now “semi-‐re5red” doing some consul5ng for brands around the world and focusing on my travels and blogging. Launched Tips for Travellers in 2005. http://www.0psfortravellers.com • I started podcas5ng and pos5ng videos about my travels in 2005, followed soon by blogging. I was doing lots of research before visi5ng anywhere, and decided to share what I was collec5ng. • I have over 25 million views of my videos on YouTube. Over 600,000 downloads of my podcasts and around 80,000 visitors to the blog last year. Launched Travel Bloggers Podcast in January 2013 hfp://www.travelbloggerspodcast.com• I felt there was a gap to share what I was learning about blogging and to provide on-‐going free resource for bloggers. • The podcast is designed help travel bloggers to become a more professional and valued resource for travellers – and the travel partners looking to reach their audience BrandsAcer ComputersAudio TechnicaZinio.comDK Travel GuidesKnok.comFour Seasons Hotels, Mandarin OrientalHolland America, Norwegian, Silversea, MSC CruisesTalksNew Media Expo (Las Vegas)TBEX USA & EuropeTBU Europe
MSC Cruises launch of MSC PreziosaP&O Cruise Ships
Not from the blog aloneDecliningSponsored posts & linksAdvertising GrowingConsulting, training & talksContent creation feesCampaign creationManaging brand’s social media (twitter chats, facebook, blogs etc)Services (e.g. escorted tours, events, support services)Books, publications & merchandiseSponsorships
By browsing each column during the day, I find interesting content that I can then use instantly or spread out over a day’s worth of @gAdventures tweets. We follow many handles including our ‘Wanderers in Residence’ bloggers - @everywheretrip, @wildjunket, @nomadicmatt, @legalnomads and @umarket. This group of vagabonds are our brand ambassadors and travel non-stop. When they are on a G tour, it’s great to see what they’re up to easily by creating a Hootsuite column based around their adventure.We are a company of passionate travellers, running trips that get people off the beaten path through authentic travel. The people chosen as our Wanderers in Residence truly represent the spirit of travel and are inspirations for us all—putting aside everything to get out and see the world, selling belongings, quitting jobs, and saving. Then saving some more. All told, they’ve been on the road for a combined 15+ years. Our Wanderers include:Gary Arndt (everything-everywhere.com), Daniel Noll & Audrey Scott (uncorneredmarket.com), Jodi Ettenberg (legalnomads.com) and Nellie Huang (wildjunket.com).These industry-leading bloggers join us on various adventures throughout the year, speak at travel events on behalf of G Adventures and starting in 2012 will work closely with our non-profit Planeterra. We want to build a better world through travel, get people out to explore and this program allows the world’s best travel bloggers expand their horizons as we gain insights from these incredible travellers to make our trips even better. This is just the beginning of the story. Over time, we hope to continue this dynamic program with other passionate bloggers, explorers, travellers—changing the world for the better through travel.
By browsing each column during the day, I find interesting content that I can then use instantly or spread out over a day’s worth of @gAdventures tweets. We follow many handles including our ‘Wanderers in Residence’ bloggers - @everywheretrip, @wildjunket, @nomadicmatt, @legalnomads and @umarket. This group of vagabonds are our brand ambassadors and travel non-stop. When they are on a G tour, it’s great to see what they’re up to easily by creating a Hootsuite column based around their adventure.We are a company of passionate travellers, running trips that get people off the beaten path through authentic travel. The people chosen as our Wanderers in Residence truly represent the spirit of travel and are inspirations for us all—putting aside everything to get out and see the world, selling belongings, quitting jobs, and saving. Then saving some more. All told, they’ve been on the road for a combined 15+ years. Our Wanderers include:Gary Arndt (everything-everywhere.com), Daniel Noll & Audrey Scott (uncorneredmarket.com), Jodi Ettenberg (legalnomads.com) and Nellie Huang (wildjunket.com).These industry-leading bloggers join us on various adventures throughout the year, speak at travel events on behalf of G Adventures and starting in 2012 will work closely with our non-profit Planeterra. We want to build a better world through travel, get people out to explore and this program allows the world’s best travel bloggers expand their horizons as we gain insights from these incredible travellers to make our trips even better. This is just the beginning of the story. Over time, we hope to continue this dynamic program with other passionate bloggers, explorers, travellers—changing the world for the better through travel.
iambassador offers an attractive range of advisory and media services to help you market your destination or travel brand.The iambassador product can be customised to meet your objectives, requirements and/or budget. For instance, a social media event centred on a specific destination, product launch or travel theme can be organised as a stand-alone campaign and whilst Twitter, Instagram, Google+, Vine and facebook are the primary platforms used by iambassador, other social media platforms like Pinterest can also be added.Each iambassador concept is unique. Concepts can be created to generate online multimedia content, enhance your social media presence and/or market a specific theme or product.Moreover, sponsors can determine the duration of the campaign and the number of participating bloggers.Blog trip planning and advisory#LoveCapeTownEach blog trip is different and can be planned to focus on a destination, a specific theme (culture, cuisine, luxury, wellness, nature, etc…) or event.The iambassador team has a proven track record of cooking up new and exciting blog trip concepts and social media marketing campaigns.Examples include the #GoJordan social media campaign during which almost 2 million people were reached in two days; the hugely successful #Blogville project, a ground-breaking partnership with the Emilia Romagna tourism board that resulted in a wealth of quality multimedia content; #LoveCapeTown, a collaboration with the Cape Town Tourism Board with a focus on crowdsourcing local travel tips and ideas; and the historic #MeetSouthAfrica campaign with South Africa Tourism.Social media campaignsThe #StayMovenpickPinterest boardSocial media campaigns can be organised during the blog trip, post-blog trip or as stand-alone campaigns (utilising existing content on travel blogs). In addition, the iambassador team can also help you expand your presence in social media. Content created during a blog trip can be used to populate a variety of social media platforms such as facebook, Google+ and Pinterest. One example is the #StayMovenpick campaign whereby bloggers content was used to enhance Mövenpick Hotels’ Pinterest presence.Campaigns can also be organised to generate exposure for a brand by means of contests or give-aways.Media partnershipThe iambassadors such as Traveldudes and Velvet Escape are amongst the most influential travel names in social media. Media partnerships for social media campaigns, events or blogger outreach programmes can be discussed. The team also comprises specialists in specific social media platforms such as Facebook and Pinterest.Seminars and workshopsKeith Jenkins speaking at the EIBTUR conference in Brazil.The iambassador bloggers are also experienced speakers and are available to share their expertise with the local tourism industry and travel bloggers. Workshops on blogging, photography, video-production and social media can easily be combined with a blog trip. Training local travel bloggers can be beneficial to tourism boards in various ways: improved online content from a local perspective as well as an expansion of social media reach help destinations increase their online visibility.Photography and videoThe iambassador team includes award-winning photographers and video producers. High-resolution images produced by the bloggers are available for purchase. Images for online or social media purposes such as Facebook pages are also available.Professional destination and/or corporate videos are also offered. The number of crew, video length, duration of filming and distribution channels will be determined in consultation with you. “Destination appThe iambassador team is partners with a Germany-based app developer who is experienced in creating mobile apps for travel and tourism. The team can build a destination app and populate it with content from iambassador bloggers.
I was born in Zimbabwe of Bri0sh parents. • I did all my schooling there, but from a very young age was fascinated by travel and “escaping” to what I saw as the much more exci5ng world of London and Europe. • I moved to London in 1987. For over 30 years I have been in marke0ng. • Working on building global brands at companies like Unilever and Johnson & Johnson. I was a Global Vice President of Marke5ng traveling the world. • For the last 20+ years I have been travelling every month of every year, spending up to 2 or 3 weeks away from home. • I am now “semi-‐re5red” doing some consul5ng for brands around the world and focusing on my travels and blogging. Launched Tips for Travellers in 2005. http://www.0psfortravellers.com • I started podcas5ng and pos5ng videos about my travels in 2005, followed soon by blogging. I was doing lots of research before visi5ng anywhere, and decided to share what I was collec5ng. • I have over 25 million views of my videos on YouTube. Over 600,000 downloads of my podcasts and around 80,000 visitors to the blog last year. Launched Travel Bloggers Podcast in January 2013 hfp://www.travelbloggerspodcast.com• I felt there was a gap to share what I was learning about blogging and to provide on-‐going free resource for bloggers. • The podcast is designed help travel bloggers to become a more professional and valued resource for travellers – and the travel partners looking to reach their audience BrandsAcer ComputersAudio TechnicaZinio.comDK Travel GuidesKnok.comFour Seasons Hotels, Mandarin OrientalHolland America, Norwegian, Silversea, MSC CruisesTalksNew Media Expo (Las Vegas)TBEX USA & EuropeTBU Europe
Not from the blog aloneDecliningSponsored posts & linksAdvertising GrowingConsulting, training & talksContent creation feesCampaign creationManaging brand’s social media (twitter chats, facebook, blogs etc)Services (e.g. escorted tours, events, support services)Books, publications & merchandiseSponsorships
Press Kit
I was born in Zimbabwe of Bri0sh parents. • I did all my schooling there, but from a very young age was fascinated by travel and “escaping” to what I saw as the much more exci5ng world of London and Europe. • I moved to London in 1987. For over 30 years I have been in marke0ng. • Working on building global brands at companies like Unilever and Johnson & Johnson. I was a Global Vice President of Marke5ng traveling the world. • For the last 20+ years I have been travelling every month of every year, spending up to 2 or 3 weeks away from home. • I am now “semi-‐re5red” doing some consul5ng for brands around the world and focusing on my travels and blogging. Launched Tips for Travellers in 2005. http://www.0psfortravellers.com • I started podcas5ng and pos5ng videos about my travels in 2005, followed soon by blogging. I was doing lots of research before visi5ng anywhere, and decided to share what I was collec5ng. • I have over 25 million views of my videos on YouTube. Over 600,000 downloads of my podcasts and around 80,000 visitors to the blog last year. Launched Travel Bloggers Podcast in January 2013 hfp://www.travelbloggerspodcast.com• I felt there was a gap to share what I was learning about blogging and to provide on-‐going free resource for bloggers. • The podcast is designed help travel bloggers to become a more professional and valued resource for travellers – and the travel partners looking to reach their audience BrandsAcer ComputersAudio TechnicaZinio.comDK Travel GuidesKnok.comFour Seasons Hotels, Mandarin OrientalHolland America, Norwegian, Silversea, MSC CruisesTalksNew Media Expo (Las Vegas)TBEX USA & EuropeTBU Europe
Blog trips are increasingly replacing the traditional FAM Trip, as PR departments are quickly wising up to the power of peer endorsement and the opportunities of working with bloggers to create amazing content. Gary Bembridge will be talking about:what travellers really want and how to:plan,deliver and get the most out of working with bloggers.
I think the survey confirms my hypothesis that everyday travellers are really looking for content that will help them to reduce risk when making travel choices.In response to the question “Below are some reasons other people say they read travel blogs. Which of these best reflect why you read travel blogs?”: 58% said: I like to hear the opinions of others about places they visit.48% said: I am looking for unbiased and honest reviews and opinions.47% said: I like to read about the real life experiences of travellersOnly 34% said: I am always on the look out for new travel ideas and inspirationI believe that this insight about helping real world travellers to reduce the risk in travel decisions is something that bloggers could capitalize on when creating content – and help to differentiate and distinguish from other sources. Travel brands are trying to sell their destination, resort etc. and so will be focusing on the positives and the upsides.Sites like LonelyPlanet, Frommeretc tend to focus on what to do and how to do it.Blogs can focus more on helping travellers to make up their minds and reduce risk in the short times that they are able to travelThere is another piece of data from the study that I think helps to make this case even stronger