Contribute Now to the

Public Relations Campaign to Promote Tourism

Why - As with the rest of the country, tourism in Gloucester has taken a major hit.  Stores closing, guesthouses turning to long-term rentals, restaurants coming off of nine down months.  Rockport has been losing market share in all sectors for years.  Salem has been growing and 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, and we have better beaches, better food and a better attitude. 
 
During the conversations about the meals and occupancy tax increases, advertising and marketing programs were kicked around.  With the dream of ten's to hundred's 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 executive director of the Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce.  Bob came from the Penobscot Bay, 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.  Cape Cod Regional Chamber of Commerce has been using a PR campaign for the past nine years, is very happy and plans to continue.

Individual businesses promote themselves and get mentions in publications.  Individual and groups of businesses buy ad space but there are no supporting articles because there is no concentrated effort to promote "the area".  We need to connect everyone together to promote this destination.  The 2008 edition of Yankee Magazine's Great Escapes Travel Issue contains ads for individual businesses and a co-op page of ads but nowhere else is Gloucester or Rockport or Cape Ann ever mentioned. 
 

What - Public Relations is not advertising.  This cannot be restricted to a specific place or business.  This cannot 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, and 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.

One of the advantages is the cost.  A PR firm or publicist on retainer can effectively promote Gloucester for a minimum of $25,000 a year.  Cape Cod spends $40,000 a year. I think this is a great solution to not having hundred's of thousands of dollars available for advertising.   Another advantage is the quality of the impression.  An article or a recommendation is perceived to be more believable and thus make a higher impression than an ad.

Who - Requests for Proposals will go out to qualified Public Relations Firms.  The resulting submissions will be graded by committee and chosen based on the strength of that proposal.

When  - We are looking to start with a one year contract to begin as soon as possible to take advantage of media stories planned in the winter for publication in the summer.

Where - This campaign will be centered on Gloucester.   Because some of the funding is coming from the city of Gloucester, this campaign must be for Gloucester.  If the other Cape Ann communities would like to take advantage of the opportunities generated by the increased exposure, I would encourage them to piggyback on Gloucester's campaign.  The bigger the campaign for this area, the more successful it would be and there is always spillover into neighboring communities.  An important factor everyone on Cape Ann needs to realize is that our competition is not the guy next door.  When it comes to tourists, our competition is Cape Cod, coastal Maine, the Jersey Shore and Chesapeake Bay.  When you start competing with your neighbor, you end up in a price war more often than not and then we all lose.

 Now We Are Asking You to Make This Succeed!!!

How- Join us in putting Gloucester back on the map.  Presently, we have contributions and pledges totaling $29,750.  All additional money will be used to increase the size of this year's campaign and to fund next year's campaign.  If you would like to see Gloucester flourish again, send your financial contribution to ‘P.R. for Gloucester’ c\o the Gloucester Fund, 45 Middle St., Gloucester, MA 01930.   Put ‘P.R. For Gloucester’ in the memo field so it is allocated to this fund.   

We are also collecting Biographical Profiles from all businesses, attractions and events.  Please send a description of your business/event, contact information, your history, your best selling points and anything that makes you unique.  You do not need to make this a sales script; that is the publicist's job.  We are also looking for quirky stories about the area, our history, the people or whatever makes us stand out or "Better" than anyone else.  "A Picture Tells A Thousand Words" wasn't lying.  Send these along also.  Gloucester's scenery is one of our biggest assets and we need to SHOW people what they are missing.  You can e-mail these to tracey@bassrocksoceaninn.com with PR in the subject line or mail to Tracey Muller, 107 Atlantic Rd., Gloucester, MA 01930.   Please forward this to anyone you feel may benefit or could help.

For questions or more information, please contact

Tracey Muller, Bass Rocks Ocean Inn 978-590-4046 tracey@bassrocksoceaninn.com

Bob Hastings, Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce 978-283-1601 h@capeannchamber.com

Mark Harmon, Fund Raising 305-923-3142 harmonmark@bellsouth.net