The Thing about Travel Dog
PR is a funny thing. It can’t be measured accurately. You can’t really tell what impact it has on your business until you stop doing it. Then, after a few months, you notice the phone doesn’t ring quite so much and it is difficult to pin point exactly why. However, when you restart the PR the phone starts up again.
I have been involved with PR one way or another for the last 20 years. I have been a journalist, run my own PR agency and now I run a hotel. These days I leave all my PR to Mick at Travel Dog, because it is the best solution for my business.
I don’t have the time to network with the journalists, to keep up with forthcoming features, to go to events and meet new people in the press office. And, that is what you need to do if you really want to keep the ball rolling. But, Mick does. He is excellent at organising journalist visits, sending out press releases regularly, finding ideas that will put a good angle onto a story, making new contacts.
I like Mick. He comes down to visit with his dogs and we go out for a long walk and talk PR. We get our best ideas for the hotel and restaurant whilst out on a yomp. He is flexible, adaptable and honest to his fingertips. He is always there at the end of the email. He never takes advantage of the fact that sometimes I am too busy to remember to send him something. He will ring me and chase me for information.
My advice to anyone thinking of doing PR is to have a go at it for six months and see what happens.
Christina Simons, Owner, Cottage Lodge New Forest Hotel