Don't Let The Year End Before Doing This!
Best practices and preparing for 2025. It's almost the end but I still need pitches.
My inbox was flooded with generic Thanksgiving messages, Black Friday announcements and Cyber Monday deals! I got multiple press releases from the same PR person and had to unsubscribe for good. As a result, we may never work together again.
As you wrap up 2024, here are some good practices to help you establish a better work flow and set yourself up for success in the coming year…
But before I get into that, a shout out to Cass Herrington at Visit Asheville who hosted me on an individual media visit to Asheville during Thanksgiving weekend. We had been planning this trip for months, but after hurricane Helene, in which she lost her home, both of us were unsure if we should go ahead. Just a few days ago, water was fully restored and businesses were eager to have travelers back to make up for the lost revenues. In a matter of days, she crafted a well balanced itinerary featuring holiday markets, local restaurants, new accommodations, and even threw in a yoga class and sauna. It was humbling to see how Asheville came together so quickly, mainly because of the positive attitude of the local residents and their resilience in helping each other. Cass herself, embodies this spirit of Asheville!
I would love to get some stories from Asheville, NC out ASAP. Please let me know if you come across any editors who may be interested.
Things You Can Do Now to Prep For 2025
Sometimes PR professionals get stuck in the day-to-day activities, budget planning, team meetings, and not able to look at things that matter most. Don’t make the same mistakes you made last year. Get a head start on your new year’s resolutions to work better, smarter, and be more effective. Let’s help each other succeed by being intentional and personal.
Organize mailing lists
Instead of blasting out all your latest information to everyone, be more intentional about it. Stop sending generic emails, press releases, deals announcements to everyone. Try to segregate your email list serve or get rid of them all together. The best PR folks craft an individualized email to each person they send it to, so they have a higher likelihood of being answered.
Identify journalists your want to work with
If you watched my interview with PR pro Campbell Levy, you would see that it is better to focus your attention on a handful of trusted journalists, understand their style and outlets, and work with them on an ongoing basis, rather cast a wide net and hope for something to stick. This is the best time to look through TravMedia’s wonderful database of travel writers, read their past work and make a list of who you want to work with in the next few month.
Nurture relationships
We underestimate the human element in our daily chatter of emails, texts and social media messages. I am not saying pick up the phone and start calling everyone you know. But how about send a personalized note saying how much you value them and point out how they may have helped you with a particular story this year?
The holidays are also a tough time for many people emotionally, so it’s always nice to make a personal contact.
Do an act of kindness
We all talk about the “holiday spirit” but can we do more than just baking cookies, going to parties, and shop incessantly? If you can afford to send a handwritten greeting card and a bottle of wine, do it. I personally purchased books from all my author friends (I’ll be reading Stephanie Staudinger’s ‘If Heaven Had Cheese Fries’ this holiday season).
There are many non monetary ways to show you care also. You can recognize your colleagues by referring them to an editor, making a connection with a conference or meeting planner, giving them a shout out on social, writing a LinkedIn recommendation, or recommending this Substack :)
My children’s books series are available on Amazon.com and make for great holiday gifts for ages 0-8! Don’t wait till the next conference
Many of you are planning your speed dating meetings at IMM, SATW, PRSA, etc. But you really don’t need to wait till then to connect with journalists. In fact, many of those conferences can be overwhelming, with so many new people and back-to-back meetings. It’s very beneficial to make an intro before even going. Reach out to the people you want to meet with ahead of time, invite them to a virtual coffee or in-person lunch, and you will already have a friend when you get there.
Send your client roasters
Even if you already did in the past, make sure to send the journalists a most recent copy of your client roaster to keep handy as we plan our editorials and travel schedules for 2025.
Look at editorial calendars
Most publications have not only released their editorial calendars, but started assigning stories as well. You can typically find these by emailing the editors or by looking at the publication’s advertising page. I also created this list of broad pitching themes by month.
Think of new story angles from hosted trips
If you have hosted a journalist on a press trip in the past 2 years, touch base with them and send them new story angles to build on. I may not know what’s new or make a connection to what I am working on right now. Having visited a destination gives me a better insight & more incentive to pitch.
Start sending trip invites
I hear from so many folks that they are planning press trips for next year and solidifying dates in Jan-Feb. Guess what? I am already booked until September 2025 so if you send me an invitation in February, I will most likely have to decline. If you have concrete dates in mind for individual or group press trips, start scheduling them out now.
Plan training events and masterclasses
Some of you have reached out to me to do training sessions for your travel marketing team and to speak at your events, which I am super grateful for! Many PR companies don’t have an onboarding program and a new PR specialist is only getting on-the-job learning. Perhaps you can plan virtual or in-person workshops on how to identify and tell better stories, write compelling emails, write better pitches, plan optimal press trips, develop relationships, etc.
With 20+ years of experience, I have a story to tell about any circumstance. If you need an expert to bring light on industry insights, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Where I am Speaking…
Jan: Visit California’s media panel in New York
Feb: Series of sessions on why its important to learn about other cultures in Atlanta
May: Keynote on how food connects people in Las Vegas
Dec: TEDx in Manila, Philippines (my 4th TED!)
Contact me for keynotes, panels and masterclasses.
Recently Published
Chai Chocolates for Khabar Magazine (PRINT)
A love letter to Gokul Sweets for Atlanta Magazine (PRINT)
I Thought America was the best country to be a women for HuffPost
The 10 best hotels for Nevada for every kind of travelers for NatGeo
Gifts that give back in 2024 for Go Eat Give
Reimagining disability in hospitality for Georgia Trend Magazine
It’s Always Off Season Somewhere for Marriott Bonvoy Traveler
7 Best Shore Excursions on Royal Caribbean for AAA The Extra Mile
Atlanta Travel Guide for Fodor’s Travel
Make a Year End Donation
I founded the nonprofit organization, Go Eat Give in 2011 with a mission to raise awareness of different cultures through what I know best - food and travel.
In the past 14 years, we have accomplished a lot of this through our bespoke journeys, destination dinners, speaker series & our award-winning blog (where you can find over 1000 posts). We partnered with communities in every part of the world to assist with education, women’s empowerment, economic opportunities, and wildlife conservation. It still moves me to this very day when I think about the kids I chanced upon living by themselves in a hut in Bali, are now high school graduates, fully sponsored through our programs. Or the women in northern India who were able to learn a new skill and become independent, rather than stay in abusive relationships.
Our reach goes far beyond just a memorable vacation, and you can read some of the impact on our NEW website.
With the changing needs of our travelers, we have rebranded our organization with a new logo, website & mission statement.
We are also offering new ways to use our services that are curated to meet the needs of each traveler. You can choose from having a one-on-one consultation with me, have us create a self-guided itinerary for you, or take care of every aspect of your individual or group vacation.
Additionally, we are looking to expand our reach to more travelers who want to travel meaningfully & sustainably. And we recognize that such an initiative requires considerable investment in personal, marketing and outreach.
Therefore, I am asking you to consider making a one-time or recurring donation to help us fund a paid staff. All donations are tax-deductible & eligible for corporate matching programs.
Please feel free to share our brochure link with your friends & colleagues. Should you want to organize a fundraiser within your circle of influence, I am happy to come speak at the event as well.
I feel that the mission of Go Eat Give is even more relevant today than it has ever been. By understanding people from different backgrounds, cultures and belief structures, we can create a more just, peaceful & diverse world.
Can you help me in moving the needle just a little bit?
PITCH REQUESTS
Here is what I am looking for at the moment…
Voices in Food for Black History Month. Know of a chef, bartender, restauranteur, cookbook author or anyone in the culinary industry who is Latinx & doing something extraordinary? Voices In Food is a series that highlights important voices of people working in food who SPARK A CONVERSATION. The folks featured talk about the intersection between race, sex and culture with food, the treatment of workers in the labor force, sobriety and much more.
The best pitches are the ones that portray an original voice with a unique story angle pointing to personal challengers & what the character is doing to help bring change in the industry. DO NOT just send me a chronological career outline, resume, or anything saying "elevating his/ her authentic cuisine."
VERY IMPORTANT! Get a feel for the column & make sure we haven't covered this angle/ person already.
Please take a look at the past stories to get a feel for what we are looking for and what TOPICS have not been covered already. It would be very helpful to speak to the person you represent first & get their full story, before pitching. I generally follow up with an in-depth phone interview once the story has been accepted by the editor. Deadline Dec 10.
South Asian (Indian) culinary trends, cookbooks, and products appealing to Indian-American community. See example of a good pitch I ended up writing into a story.
GA based new restaurants (not new menus or list of openings), new businesses (chocolate factory, ice cream store, etc), culinary festivals, human interest stories, cookbooks & fresh ideas.
Manila TEDx Hub is looking for patrons or sponsors (airlines, hotels, tour operators, any businesses) to support event production costs, offer an extraordinary experience to attendees, and extend their shared vision of spreading innovative ideas. Contact Leah lgcioco@up.edu.ph for more information and mention my name.
Good stuff in this, particularly about the editorial calendars and not waiting until the conference to make an introductioin. I'm looking forward to hearing you speak at VCA's IMM panel.