Promoting the Industry

Our goal is to generate great publicity for BedandBreakfast.com members specifically, and for the B&B industry as a whole. In this issue we cover:

Upcoming Publicity for BedandBreakfast.com members
Ask the Pros
Let's Hear it from Innkeepers
Recent Media Coverage


Current and Upcoming Publicity: September through November
9/26/2007: GREAT PLACES TO SLEEP WITH A GHOST: BedandBreakfast.com's 2007 Roundup of Bootiful and Spirited B&Bs. BedandBreakfast.com has compiled an extensive list of haunted B&Bs. We’re sure there are even more spirited tales out there – so don’t hold out any longer – it’s time to give up the ghost! If you haven’t done already, please send info on the ghostly events at your B&B to Marti@BedandBreakfast.com.

9/19/2007: THE BEST OF BEDANDBREAKFAST.COM AWARDS: BedandBreakfast.com Reviews Determine Best B&Bs Worldwide. The Best of BedandBreakfast.com Awards were based upon both the quality and quantity of reviews posted on the site. Be sure to read last month’s feature article for suggestions on how you can generate reviews for your B&B and be a contender for next year’s awards.

Pancakes with Personality®: Thanks to all those who entered the Pancakes with Personality contest. More than 100 recipes, photos, chef profiles and pancake-making tips were submitted from innkeepers throughout the United States. Congratulations to Cyndi Cobb from the Colby Hill Inn in Henniker, NY, and Joanne Nichols from the Arbor Inn B&B in Rye, NH, the two finalists chosen to compete in an early December cook-off. Just as the first Presidential primary vote in the nation is cast in New Hampshire, so too will the first BedandBreakfast.com pancake champion be named. 

Valentine's Day for Singles: Unfortunately, Valentine's Day isn't about chocolates and roses for the 89 million single or recently jilted single Americans. We're looking for packages for single people and/or the lovelorn on Valentine's Day. The media loves these kinds of packages, and so do BedandBreakfast.com readers. Please post both romantic and singles-oriented packages on BedandBreakfast.com's Specials pages. Click here to see last year's release for examples.

Silver-level members and above may post specials; simply log in with your Property ID and password. Select Specials from the table in your Home Base. Enter appropriate offers for either Valentine's Day Specials or Valentine's for Singles. Bronze member? Please click here to upgrade. Not yet a member? Join today!

Coming up next month: we’ll focus on gift certificates, holidays and Valentine’s Day.
 

Ask the Pros:  Why does BedandBreakfast.com bother with publicity?  What difference does it make?

A: Marketing pundits say it takes nine impressions to make a memory. This means travelers need to read or hear about BedandBreakfast.com nine times before it will be top-of-mind when they make lodging plans for their next trip. The BedandBreakfast.com publicity campaign brands the site by sending TV viewers, magazine, newspaper and Internet readers, and radio listeners to the site to learn more about inns and B&Bs. However, an equally important component of BedandBreakfast.com’s publicity campaign is branding the B&B industry. In today’s competitive market, travelers need constant reminders of why B&Bs are a great lodging choice. BedandBreakfast.com’s publicity campaign is the most comprehensive B&B campaign in the U.S., offering the media images, story ideas, recipes, studies and trends from which generate coverage.

Last year alone, BedandBreakfast.com’s publicity campaign garnered 338,835,630 impressions. (Yes, that’s more than 300 million.) If this white space and TV time were to be purchased, it would have cost over a half million dollars. This year, the BedandBreakfast.com campaign has already surpassed that figure. 

BedandBreakfast.com monitors everything being written about B&Bs, country inns and the organizations that represent them. Each day, BedandBreakfast.com’s publicity team completes a thorough review of lodging industry coverage. This allows us to keep a pulse on what’s being written and who’s writing it. As a result, BedandBreakfast.com is in an excellent position to respond to articles which neglect to mention B&Bs as a lodging option or cast a negative light on them, and to create press releases on hot topics. Knowing this, the media count on BedandBreakfast.com to give insight into trends and provide background for stories.

Recently, when Gary Stoller, USA TODAY’s  Business Travel Reporter, questioned B&Bs suitability for business travelers, BedandBreakfast.com responded with survey information from 1,300 innkeepers refuting his claim. This resulted in a full page story publicizing B&Bs as good choices for business travelers, and positioning BedandBreakfast.com as their resource.

BedandBreakfast.com’s publicity campaign works hard to mention as many members as possible, linked by popular and timely themes. The campaign has covered everything from cooking schools and foodie packages to floating B&Bs, train B&Bs, birding B&Bs and great places to say goodbye or “I do” to your lover. Every press release is designed to create a news story about a unique theme in the B&B industry that motels and hotels can’t emulate.

Study upon study of travelers’ habits have found that travelers put more confidence in stories than in ads. With thousands of articles archived on the Internet generated from BedandBreakfast.com’s publicity campaign, not only potential guests but also the media researching stories are more likely to find BedandBreakfast.com and its members. The effect of BedandBreakfast.com’s campaign is cumulative each year.

Be sure to include Marti@BedandBreakfast.com on your press list so we can keep in touch with what’s happening at your B&B. 
 

Let’s Hear it from Innkeepers
”BedandBreakfast.com is a great source of recipes, offering variations away from the same old humdrum pancakes you have been serving. Use these as creative launches for your own recipes, using fruits, vegetables, and spices that you love. Americans love pancakes AND progress in their food!” - Keith A. Neubert, Inn at Long Lake, Naples, ME

Recent BedandBreakfast.com Media Coverage
BedandBreakfast.com’s comprehensive list of haunted B&Bs has been scaring up its usual media attention once again this year. Many thanks to those who sent stories of ghostly appearances at their B&Bs. Some of the many placements for BedandBreakfast.com’s Great Places to Sleep with a Ghost tales include AOL’s Money & Finance section, Yahoo! Finance, Forbes.com, Dallas News, LA Times, Seattle PI, Hartford Courant, the Canadian Syndicated Press, and The Chicago Sun-Times. Other stories appeared in Metro New York, with a photo of the Captain Lindsey House – reputed to have 35 ghosts. Roger Peterson from the Associated Press included a story citing BedandBreakfast.com as a great source in his Haunted Halloween column appearing in the Lowell (MA) Sun and the Colorado Springs Gazette. Even the Tango Diva’s blog included a mention.

We’ve also had some great pick up on the Best of BedandBreakfast.com Awards, due to BedandBreakfast.com’s worldwide campaign and the efforts of individual winners. The Daily Herald’s 35 editions in and around the Chicago area included mentions of a number of the Midwestern winners. The Asheville Times applauded the Bent Creek Lodge for their Best of the South award. The New Orleans CVB included the Avenue Inn B&B’s award in a mailing going to media throughout the country. The Daily Southtown and the Dubuque Telegraph Herald included a mention of the Cloran Mansion’s award. Innisfree in South Bend, IN, was included in a story about the Best of BedandBreakfast.com Awards in the South Bend Tribune.

Kudos to the Olde World B&B for inclusion in the September 23 story in the Cleveland Plain Dealer. The story featured Ohio wineries and places to stay near them.

hotels.com did a story about great places for hiking and cooking classes, promoting more than 1,000 B&Bs online and driving readers to book B&Bs on hotels.com. The story appeared in newspapers throughout the country. Since BedandBreakfast.com provides all the content to hotels.com from its bookable properties, this is a nice boost for all those signed up for online booking on BedandBreakfast.com and hotels.com.

To promote its new B&B page, IndependentTraveler.com and BedandBreakfast.com have teamed up for a gift card giveaway. BedandBreakfast.com is featured prominently throughout the site and in weekly e-newsletters for the month of November.
 

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