“Everything’s Bigger In Texas” is certainly a true statement, and nothing is bigger and better in public relations than when the PRSA Travel and Tourism Conference convenes in Houston on Monday, May 23. The best PR minds in the travel and tourism industry get together to share their ideas and practices that deliver success.
One of the online best practices they engage in is Visual Storytelling - that seems obvious to you and I considering the nature of their business, but when you examine how they present their message, mainly through images, video and carefully placed content, their expertise in this endeavor shines through.
iPR Software is looking forward to presenting at the conference regarding our work with online newsrooms and what we see as impactful to their field, but I thought I would take a minute to share some excellent examples of how Visual Storytelling can be done, whether you’re in the travel and tourism industry or not.
Let’s start with images - a picture tells a thousand words, right!? Well, the use of images in your story, or simply by themselves in articles, social media posts, or blogs, increases your open rates by over 70+%. Look how Salamander Hotels & Resorts and Pinehurst Resort, both golf and resort meccas, use images to tell their story while attracting the media, and their guests, with hi-res views of their accommodations, food and beautiful golf courses.
Sharing your organization’s mission and goals through Visual Storytelling is no better exemplified than with aquariums. Encouraging their visitors to respect and contribute to wildlife and their ecosystems through priceless images and video - with and without written content- grabs the attention of the press every time while advocating for their causes. The Georgia Aquarium and Monterey Bay Aquarium are two great organizations that seek to improve the quality of life of marine animals and the environment, and they use Visual Storytelling to do it. Imagine grabbing the attention of your audience through images and videos like these?
Another solid example of Visual Storytelling - especially with video - that is done right is with Convention and Visitors Bureaus. They are tasked with selling the value of their communities, and the best way to do that is through Visual Storytelling. The extensive use of multimedia attracts journalists to write about what your city has to offer and provides a preview of what the visitor will experience upon their trip. Some great examples of combining all the Visual Storytelling elements together are the Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau and Visit Kansas City. I particularly like how they use Visual Storytelling to highlight the topics important to their audience - food, neighborhood attractions, people - and use various visual elements to achieve that goal.
What’s the old saying? Emulation is the greatest form of flattery? Even if you’re not in the travel and tourism business, there’s a lot to be learned about Visual Storytelling from examples like the ones above and an industry who’s PR and Marketing is rooted is capturing our attention through our visual senses.
If you’re going to be in Houston for the PRSA Travel and Tourism Conference I hope myself and our team get a chance to meet you. If you’re not heading to Houston, call iPR Software and we’ll start you off on your Visual Storytelling experience.
