Guest Post from Katrina Julia
Think you have to have a certain number of followers on Instagram to travel or get a press trip? Think again. There are more ways to get a press trip, travel for free, and even get paid beyond having hotels hosting you.
Are you an entrepreneur, blogger, or influencer creating content like a boss and you want to travel more? Maybe you’ve tried getting press trips but you are struggling to stand out from all the influencers pitching the same hotel brands? You want to inspire people to create a life they love and travel the world.
3 Unique Ways to Get Press Trips
If you want to stand out, it will require you to think outside the box and offer value in abundant ways compared to the typical press trip pitch. There are platforms looking for you to volunteer social media services to start, retreat centers, and subscription travel services. These may not be your typical way to get a press trip.
You’ll be amazed at these 3 unique ways to get press trips (and pitch for long-term collabs too).
Thinking Outside the Box with Press Trips
You love to create and travel. Yet, the typical press trip pitch to hotels hasn’t worked for you yet. You know there has got to be easier ways, yet you don’t know where to begin when it comes to thinking outside the box with press trips. Creating a life and business you love is speaking to your soul with time and location freedom.
I get it in every way. From traveling to >27 countries, being a keynote, and creating retreats, I love transforming and traveling. Yet, I am not your typical travel blogger and influencer with a huge Instagram platform of 50k plus. So, I started thinking outside the box with my skillsets (in wellness, finances & business), experiences in >7 industries, and community creation and results with influencer marketing.
I started innovating and creating unique ways to get press trips and get paid. If I created it, so can you. Make a choice to take action with what I share here immediately after reading or listening (and tag me @katrinajuliafit and Alexa when you do!)
Each step leads to the next step. Before you know it, you’ll be going on a press trip!
Ways to Get Press Trips (And Get Paid)
I love to research and find resources on the internet of things. Any of my other boss babes, travel bloggers, and entrepreneurs feel the same? There are so many resources you have at your fingertips to create what you love and travel the world.
Whether you want to be a digital nomad, travel blogger, or have a home base and travel the world any time you want, there are infinite amounts of resources at our fingertips so get excited!
These are a snapshot of some of the resources I love to help you with unique ways to get press trips you never dreamed of. Before you know it, you will be flying off to your next destination.
1 Use Volunteer Sites (Like Workaway) to Help Business Owners Create Content for Their Site And Yours
Maybe you’ve heard of Workaway and other volunteer sites to travel the world. Perhaps, you thought these sites were to help babysit, housesit, and/or do landscaping. Think again.
There is a new wave of business owner’s specifically requesting social media, photography, and videography for their business in exchange for a stay at the villa, retreat centers, and/or payment and more.
In less than a month of being on the site and reaching out to about 10 locations, I have landed my first trip for February 2020 at a villa in Marmaris in Turkey.
Here is an example of my profile via Workaway to help you create yours. You may see in my bio how I focus on wellness, entrepreneurship, and media as well. My typical outreach includes searching by “social media” in the country I want to visit, reviewing the reviews,s and saving to my host list.
My letter to the business owners includes:
- Kind words about their location
- What I may create for them on their site (and backlinks to mine)
- Content creation I will do on my own site as well (more backlinks)
- Photos & videos & social media posts
- Possibilities to extend the work beyond the stay & possibilities
- Examples of my content & travel & social media & media kit
- Dates I may come & articles I may submit to other sources
This shows anyone that I am serious & will provide extensive value in every way. As you may see, this is very similar to a hotel.
Here is an example of the first stay I received in Turkey for February 2020.
Some next steps for you could include exploring the Workaway site, signing up for a small fee tor annual access, and Diverbo and others like it. Once you create your profile, narrowing down the countries you want to explore and sourcing by “social media”. What I love is you may reach out to travel buddies on the site too! This is a great way to showcase for brands what you may create on the villa’s site, your blog/podcast, and your media kit!
2 Connect with Retreat Centers and Tour Promoters
You are just getting started with your possibilities of scoring press trips and travel around the world! I am a huge believer in infinite possibilities!
“I truly believe the world is our playground.”
Why in the world would you stop at volunteer listings, centers, and villa owners! How about googling retreat centers and sending them the same type of outreach?!
This is exactly what I’ve done with sites like WeTravel (we recently featured Jen on our blog & podcast)! WeTravel not only lets you list retreat on their platform, but they also have a listing of retreat centers for you to explore too!
So you can list your retreat on their site, and reach out to retreat centers to help them promote their center and retreats similarly to how I covered with Workaway. In addition, I recommend offering not only a stay but ongoing promotion for their center as well!
Another great example of this is Airbnb! Yes, you can list experiences on Airbnb, which you may have heard of via Brains talk about this via Alexa’s podcast (and you can too!). We list our experiences on Airbnb too, What you may not have known about though is Airbnb Adventures, and Airbnb Partners!
I am a Community Manager with Airbnb in Atlanta (volunteer basis hosting a meetup every 3 months and managing a Facebook community group). Recently, I received a surprise of being awarded an Airbnb Adventure to Mexico! I’ll be sharing content on @katrinajuliafit end of November – December 2019. In my post, How to Create Content Like a Boss I share more!
3 Travel Subscription Services Like Just Pack Up and Go!
You may or may not have heard of the rise of travel subscription services for luxury, co-working and surprise trips like Just Pack Up and Go! It’s literally the rise of NetFlix for Travel! Who knew? Could you have imagined such abundance 10, 20, 30 years ago?
Just Pack Up and Go is one of the travel services I recently connected with. They readily offer press trip submissions and small business invitations to connect with them on their site! They want YOU!
I absolutely love seeing disruptors in industries innovating. Lillian, the creator of Just Pack Up and Go, is exactly that. She started the company in 2016 after being inspired by a surprise vacation through a Dutch travel agency.
Ms. Rafson stated, “I had never worked in the travel industry before, had never started a business before, and really had no idea what I was getting myself into, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that the concept would do well in the United States.”
Don’t stop at simply traveling to these sites and writing about them on your platform, connect with magazines and editors to share your experiences (and get paid!)
Getting Press Trips in Unique Ways
These 3 unique ways to get press trips will help you fly away sooner than you think. Whether you choose to connect with volunteer sites like Workaway, retreat centers with social media ideas, and/or start traveling with subscription services like Just Pack Up and Go, you will get your next trip before you know it!
Don’t limit yourself with free travel, think outside the box with brand ambassadorship, and ongoing possibilities to share your travel experiences with their community and yours!
What action are you taking next to score your next trip? Please share with 52 perfect days and me too! Tag us on social media and/or email to share!
If you love this article, you will love 52 tips to become a travel writer or blogger.
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Do You Have a Blogging or Travel Writing Tip to Share?
I’d love to hear what you have learned in your blogging journey! Give back to the travel blogging community by sharing your tip in this new series “Travel Blogging Tips for Success”.
Alexa thank you for all the value you always share – from the FB group to the podcast & episodes I’ve learned from to Perlu & opportunities like this for features!!