ANNA MARIA ISLAND – After a year of quarantine, visitors are beginning to once again plan vacations. With tourism being so vital to the economic well-being of Anna Maria Island and Manatee County in general, public relations campaigns are essential to draw travelers to the area. At last week’s Manatee County Tourist Development Council (TDC) meeting, the Marketing and Communications Director for the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB), Kelly Clark, along with Aqua Public Relations Director Megan Brewster, discussed how public relations is being used to encourage tourism in the area.
Over the past six months, the CVB has put together a multi-phase public relations campaign. Phase one focuses on hyper-local social media influencers. These are people with a strong social media presence that live in the area. According to Clark, these people are a safe way to spread the word about events and activities that will be of interest to potential visitors. They developed tiered packages based on how many people each social media influencer reached. Top-tier influencers, who reach hundreds of thousands of people, were offered a two-night stay experience. Those with less of a following were offered day trips.
“The itineraries focused on what was open, what was safe, wide-open spaces, and stuff that research showed us people were looking to do if they were considering traveling,” said Brewster, who added that in exchange for hosting the influencers, participating partners received Instagram posts with direct links to their business via @Visit_Bradenton as well as Instagram stories at each stop. The combined audience reach of this phase of the campaign is 380,000 people.
Phase two involved short trip itineraries for some in-state travel writers. Brewster said research showed that short trips would be the first to return after restrictions were lifted. This is known as the “drive market,” since those making this type of trip would most likely be coming by car from within the state of Florida. The slogan “Unwind With Peace of Mind” was used for this phase of the campaign.
“You can come here, we’re being safe, and here’s how we’re doing it,” said Brewster, speaking of the slogan. Brewster also said this phase of the campaign garnered interest from Indulge Magazine, which is produced by the Miami Herald and has a large reach. Orlando Magazine, a lifestyle magazine for family-oriented professionals in the Orlando area, also visited and did a feature about Anna Maria.
Phase three focused on markets of lift, bringing in travel writers to coincide with Southwest Airlines’ inaugural flights to Sarasota Bradenton International Airport (SRQ). With flights to Houston, Baltimore/Washington, Chicago and Nashville now added, social media influencers and media from all four of these markets were brought in for a visit. The most influential of these outlets to be hosted on Anna Maria was Forbes Magazine. With an audience reach of 33.7 million people, the in-depth article with multiple photos and interviews with area residents and business owners is great publicity for the area.
Clark reviewed upcoming efforts, which include expanding Lift Market outreach in appropriate markets, continuing to expand markets showing SRQ passenger demand, expansion of outreach to national outlets, and shifting of focus to family travel in summer.
