For those who have questions about how Public Relations campaigns work, I hope that I can answer some of your questions.  First, I have no background in PR and I have never used a publicist.  So why are you asking me?  I have no idea.  I urge you to research this yourself as I have so you can have an informed opinion.

Anyway,  this started in the spring with the news of a lousy winter for tourist and service based businesses in Gloucester and Rockport.  Stores closing, guesthouses turning to long-term rentals, restaurants coming off of six down months.  Rockport has been losing market share in all sectors for years.  Salem has been growing, coastal Maine has been growing.  What have they been doing that we are not?

What do you see and hear about?  Look through the magazines, read the national papers, watch the human interest stories on news programs.  Where do you see mentioned?  Not Gloucester.  We have a prettier coastline than Cape Cod, we are closer to major Northeastern cities than Maine, we have more history than Salem, we have better beaches, better food and a better attitude. 

Then I looked at who was getting mentioned.  First, Woodman's.  Woodman's is a destination not just for the North Shore but also for the rest of  the country.  They are listed in "1000 Places to Go Before You Die" ( or something like that).  We have guests that come from western states that say they came because of Woodman's.  Woodman's has a dedicated team of three people that promote the name.  They use a combination of PR and advertising.

Rockland ME, the second Coolest Town in the US.  Who says?  CBS's "The Early Show" from an online poll by Budget Travel Magazine.  Rockport ME, one of the seven prettiest coastal towns in America, by Forbes Traveler.  Brunswick, Camden ME, Cape Cod, best seaside drives, by Coastal Living.  Mid-coast Maine doubled their tourism sensitive sales over a five year period after hiring a PR firm.

During the conversations about the meals and occupancy tax increases, advertising and marketing programs were kicked around.  With the dream of ten's to hundreds of thousands being available for the first time to really promote Gloucester, there was a lot of excitement.  As the issue was tabled, those funds disappeared.  But the possibility of PR came up again from Bob Hastings, the new president of the Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce.  Bob came from the Mid-coast Maine Chamber that used a PR firm and still does to this day.  He has envisioned being able to do the same thing for Cape Ann.  Unfortunately, at this time, the Chamber budget does not afford them the luxury of pursing this.  

One of the advantages is the cost.  A PR firm or publicist on retainer can effectively promote Gloucester for $25,000 a year.  I think this is a great solution to not having hundred's of thousands of dollars for advertising. 

How does it work?  This is not advertising.  This can not be restricted to a specific place or business.  This can not be controlled to a specific publication or a specific story.  It's like dumping a bag of marbles on the ground, some will land in the circle, some will land out of the circle.   The trick is to make sure the firm you hire has a proven track record for your target market.

A sample from the draft proposal shown below is fairly specific:

The Public Relations Program’s primary goals are to:

·         Support and enhance ongoing efforts to promote the City of Gloucester as a high quality destination with diverse and compelling reasons to visit.

·         Focus outreach to build upon the region’s established identity, “America’s Oldest Seaport”.

·         Generate unique and appealing stories from the region.

·         Develop any and all outreach with mindfulness towards retaining and preserving the attributes that attracted travelers to the region in the first place.

·         Increase national exposure of the region by feeding  stories, opportunities and event schedules to the media

·         Pursue enhanced media coverage of Gloucester in northeastern publications.

 

A more simplistic way it was described to me by a publicist was:

You have two folders.  One contains lists and descriptions of all businesses, attractions, and places of interest within the community.  Another contains story ideas, hooks, local lore, history, anything and everything that makes your community special and unique.  The publicist then uses this information to 

1. build stories that they place through their contacts into appropriate publications, media and online.
2. keep abreast of current trends in media and take advantage of popular stories slanted in our direction.
3. keep our information at their fingertips for quick reference when they are called upon by their contacts for leads and story ideas.

It would take about three months to gather the information, learn about the product (Gloucester) and start marketing.  It could take much longer to start seeing our name in print and then longer to see the results.  But PR was described as the gift that keeps on giving.  Once some buzz is started and our name keeps cropping up, it will start building on itself.   It may also go off in another direction.  A story may start about the 3 lb. blue lobster that was pulled from a trap in Gloucester and set free on Niles Beach, but when the reporter calls for a quote, he hears about the 5 lb.lobster with three claws so and so's cousin caught in Vinylhaven last year.   Or the Food Network comes to checkout our clam chowder and decides that Essex fried clams are a better story.  A couple of weeks ago, Accommodations at Rocky Neck was given a mention in the New York Times in a story about Crane's Beach.  From that story, they have already booked six reservations.  How did it happen?  The reporter was lost on Rocky Neck trying to find the Paint Factory (don't know why she was looking for it while doing a story about Crane's Beach) and Katherine Faherty helped her find it.  While walking through the neck, they talked about what they do for a living, one thing led to another, Katherine gave her a tour of Accommodations and wound up in the New York Times. 

Why am I pushing this?  Because we need to do something and our circumstances point us in this direction.  Using PR for my specific property won't work.  If I had an award winning restaurant, that may help.  Even if I had ghost, I might get something out of it.  I don't have enough of a story.  People have short attention spans, they need to be constantly entertained.  Restaurants provide a lot of different hooks.  The fact that Gloucester has just about every kind of pizza imaginable would make a story.  The Crow's Nest would make a story, how unique can you get plus the name has already been made famous.  Sea serpents, witches, brave tales of fisherman at sea, throw in the breathtaking scenery and they'll want more.   Together, Gloucester has a great story.

Am I doing this for myself?  Of course I am.  Will I benefit any more than anyone else?  No.  If Gloucester loses a couple of businesses this year and then a few more next year and then a few more after that, what will happen to the rest of us.  I can have 300 people a day that need to eat lunch and dinner somewhere.  They need something to do besides go to the beach.  They need to put gas in their car, buy a t-shirt, visit a museum, ride on a boat, catch some fish, bring some lobsters home, feed the parking meters and get an ice cream.   Every business that sells to a tourist, every employee of that business, every supplier to that business, every employee of that supplier and the tax man will benefit.  Every resident that shops at that store or eats at that restaurant will be glad it is still here.   And most certainly the city will benefit.