Promoting the Industry

Marti Mayne The BedandBreakfast.com Press Room is a popular feature for the media: Visit the Press Room to find a wealth of information on package ideas, travel advice for guests, press releases, and a complete editorial calendar, offering B&B story ideas for each month. Additionally, you'll find B&B industry history, facts and figures, as well as links to Sandy Soule's wonderful travel tips and advice columns. If you're interviewed by a writer, please refer him or her to the press room for great background information. We're very proud that BedandBreakfast.com offers one of the most comprehensive one-stop story shops in the industry, one that can also serve as a great resource for your own publicity efforts.

Special Promotions & Media Relations

The BedandBreakfast.com's publicity efforts continued in February while Marti Mayne traveled to China to adopt her second daughter. Throughout February and March, we've responded to media requests from Smart Money Magazine, USA Today and syndicated writers. BedandBreakfast.com stories reached more than 5.7 million readers and viewers. If this coverage were purchased as advertising, it would have a value of close to $10,000. Details below.

When we say "it pays to respond to publicity leads," we mean that news coverage will translate to interest and bookings in your B&B. For those who did not see this in February, please click here, then scroll down the page to read how the Oak Park Inn in Whitehall, WI came to appear on the nationally televised NBC TODAY show because they responded to BedandBreakfast.com's media requests.

Similarly, we heard from Linda Hovell of Aunt Sadie's B&B in Branson, MO, who was recommended (through BedandBreakfast.com) as a top romantic B&B last November in Redbook Magazine: "I received approximately 20 calls regarding the Redbook article directly, and resulting in revenues of $6500. Even better are the miles and miles of indirect advertising that it's produced." Linda's comment speaks to the intrinsic value of publicity. Not only is your name in the media, giving credence to your B&B and prompting calls, but long after that the coverage has appeared, you can continue to get mileage if you reference it on your website, brochure, signature, and other marketing materials.

Our thanks if you responded to BedandBreakfast.com's publicity leads last month. We received hundreds of emails to our recent request for family summer packages and movie-tie ins. While it is impossible to respond individually, we will be in touch if we have questions when we create press releases from your input. Increasingly, we are hearing from innkeepers with comments and suggestions for press releases, including our request for movie tie-ins.

The goal of the BedandBreakfast.com publicity program is to promote the industry and the BedandBreakfast.com website. If our stories are newsworthy, topical, and have broad-based appeal, we can entice the media to write articles that promote the website and our member B&Bs. This approach has garnered over 200 million impressions in the past year. Just as a rising tide floats all boats, BedandBreakfast.com hopes to create as many stories as possible about as many inns as possible, while keeping BedandBreakfast.com top-of-mind for the media.

If innkeepers have ideas for releases that might apply to a broad range of inns, we encourage you to contact us with your story ideas. If you have won an award or been featured recently by the media, be sure to add that to the copy on your listing page. If you have a package that incorporates your event, we suggest add it to the BedandBreakfast.com specials section. Please send your ideas for press releases to Marti.Mayne@BedandBreakfast.com.

Publicity Primers: PAII 2004's Publicity Workshops

Marti Mayne and Sandy Soule will present valuable workshops in the Marketing Track at PAII 2004 in Providence, RI, April 17-21. Come see us, and get great ideas and tips from us and other innkeepers on getting publicity for your inn. On Monday, April 18, the highlight is sure to be PR Tips from the Experts, where you'll get first-hand advice from travel editors like Yankee magazine's Mel Allen, and the Providence Journal's Doug Riggs.

Top 5 reasons to post your packages in BedandBreakfast.com's Specials section:

1. BedandBreakfast.com specials are popular with the media. Studies show that reporters on assignment are more likely to use search engines to find information than any other means of research. BedandBreakfast.com's search engine optimization efforts have paid off, and your specials and listings on BedandBreakfast.com are often found at the top of the search.
2. A direct link to BedandBreakfast.com specials is included in all press releases sent. When BedandBreakfast.com creates a press release on a certain theme such as Girlfriends Getaways, we add that theme to the Specials Section, then mention it in the release.
3. Consumers look for specials. Affordable travel is the buzz word of the day. The Specials section is among the top visited sections of BedandBreakfast.com's Advanced Search.
4. Specials can be searched by theme or by state/province, allowing you double the chance for your special to be discovered. For best results, post your specials both on BedandBreakfast.com and on your own website.
5. You can post a special in one of our suggested themes, or enter your own topic. To see what other innkeepers are doing, and to check out the 16 different special themes, click here

BedandBreakfast.com Media Coverage

Here's a sampling of some recent articles:

Both Frommers.com and Travel & Leisure Magazine recommends BedandBreakfast.com Hot Deals: Frommers.com says: "Best of all, however, is their Hot Deal newsletter, delivered by e-mail every Wednesday, which may alert you to some marvelous bargain in a spot you'd like to visit. Or even to remind you of some place you haven't thought about lately, but realize you really, really need to visit." Click here to read the entire recommendation. Travel & Leisure's "Best Deals" section recommended Hot Deals too: "To save on a short-notice getaway to an intimate bed and breakfast or inn, go to www.BedandBreakfast.com. They also recommend BedandBreakfast.com as their top B&B choice in their "Best of the Web" list.

Woman's Financial Network Online featured BedandBreakfast.com's Top Ten Really Great B&B Family Ski Packages, along with high-traffic websites from Lycos Finance toCBS Newswatch.

An article appearing in The Boston Globe suggested BedandBreakfast.com as a source to find B&Bs while visiting New York City.

The Des Moines Register led their readers to BedandBreakrfast.com's Hot Deals for ski deals and mentioned the Rico Hotel in Telluride and the Brooks Street Inn in Taos.

Tom Parson's article on inns offering affordable accommodations for skiers and snow riders that first appeared in Best Fares Magazine was picked up throughout the country, from the Green Bay Press-Gazette to the Journal Times in Racine, WI. This article mentions BedandBreakfast.com and a number of its members as great sources for skier and rider deals. This article even appeared in several Florida newspapers. In another article in the Dallas Morning News, Tom Parsons recommends: "if you're unsure of your destination or want to choose from among several options, www.bedandbreakfast.com is a good starting point…"

"Only Thirty Days Left to Vote for the Best of BedandBreakfast.com Awards" release appeared everywhere from DallasNews.com to Rocky MountainNews.com, and on websites from Yahoo! to NBC6.com.

After reviewing some of these articles, we believe you'll now agree that it does pay to respond to BedandBreakfast.com's publicity leads. Through our PR efforts, your packages and features are listed on major media outlets - often with links directly to your site.

This Month's Sponsor

Online Trade Show

Click to visit our newest vendor members:

• VintageTubs.com
• DNJ Specialties
• Cloth & Clay
• InnVisibility
• Rare Brick Design
• Flavia Coffee Beverage Systems
• RezOvation

More vendor info...

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Woolverton Inn, Stockton, NJ

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Inns for Sale

"We advertised our B&B in your Inns for Sale section in January, and started getting inquires a week later. In February, a couple came from Florida to visit us in Cat Spring, Texas. We made a deal, and they begin officially on April the 5th as the new owners. What you are doing really works." Sunny and John Snyder. Email us today and we'll put you on our special offer mailing list. Read more

Online Bookings

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