Floating is great for a vast diversity of people, but it is really great for travelers. Hours sitting on a cramped plane, surrounded by stimulation, going through the dreaded airport  processes, disrupted bio-clock rhythms… the list can go on. All of these things can easily be mitigated by the float experience, wiping away the tensions of travel, and leaving people energized and refreshed for the next adventure!

Reaching out to travel bloggers can be an amazing way to generate more awareness, and more customers, for your float center. The articles that bloggers write, and the videos they record, are valuable both to the individual center and the float industry as whole.

Bloggers help to sling-shot the concept of the float experience into lesser known nooks and crannies of the world.  We have seen a significant uprise in online articles, and general float awareness in the past year alone.  There was even an article that came out recently through the Associated Press that is hosted on over 40 different websites.

So how do you find these people? Where are they? Who are they? And once you find them, how do you get them to float?

Finding Bloggers

When I first set out to find compiled lists of bloggers, I thought it was going to be a cut-and-dry process. I thought naively that I would just be able to find some all encompassing online list and go down it with ease.

That was not the case.

What I discovered was that some blogs come and go rather quickly, and that any list that is more than a year old turned out to be mostly decommissioned.

One of the first things that I learned was that current, written travel blogs are harder to track down than video blogs (or vlogs). Podcasts and video blogs are hot items right now as the techniques for recording these mediums are becoming more affordable.

Youtube is an invaluable source for finding both local and international bloggers/vloggers. Many bloggers with Youtube channels also have websites dedicated to their blogs. There are very current and active “top 10” lists for Youtube travel Vlogs. After watching a video or two, I found it very easy to find something personal to speak about with video bloggers (Pro Tip: If you are in a hurry, you can play Youtube videos at 2x speed).

Local Interest Bloggers

Local bloggers tend to be more hidden than their international counterparts. If your city is large enough, there may be a local blog directory which can aid in your searches.

I have found that local bloggers are significantly more likely to respond quickly, and are generally more approachable than international travel bloggers.  In my experience, local bloggers had about a 75% reply rate and were much more likely to try floating within 2 weeks of contact. International bloggers still had a 30-40% reply rate, but the most likely response was something along the lines of, “If I happen to come through in the future, I will let you know”.

Contacting Bloggers

Once you have found some bloggers to contact, your next task is to get them into a float tank.

During the initial outreach, the most challenging thing I discovered was acquiring the blogger’s contact e-mail.  Each travel website is designed a bit differently, and often high-end bloggers hide their e-mail from visitors, instead providing links to Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc..

If you don’t find a “Contact” link at the top, or on the side bar, try looking for small text at the bottom of the page.  Many pages also have not-so-visible contact information on their “About Me” page. Often you will see the format “Name(at)email(dot)com”.

Other pages will have no email listed on their main website, but will have a contact form to fill out. If they reply to your outreach efforts, you can then use the email then respond to you with. Some pages have no direct contact method at all. For these you can alternatively go through social media for initial contact, and sometimes a little google search digging will turn up an email.

A Template for Blogger Outreach

Making an outreach template is an invaluable time saver. Using Google Docs, or a similar cloud based app is great for saving information, and works well for collaborative editing with other team members. The greatest aspect of any outreach template is to make it personal and as casual as possible.

The more business-y or formal it comes across, the more likely it is going to end up in a junk mail folder, ignored, or deleted. If you approach it like you are speaking to a good friend, or a close niece, the likelihood of being received is phenomenal.

Having small sections in your template for specific blogger related content is key.  Specifically referencing a favorite article, or video, really lets them know that you took the time to check out their site. Something along the lines of:

“I really enjoyed reading about your adventures on [insert name of blog], especially the one on [specific blog post]…”

Filling in these blanks is the difference between sounding like a machine and coming across as the human being that you are. It’s also important to look for ways you can make floating relatable to the piece that you’re referencing. Writers who have experience on a topic are more likely to write about that topic again.

As you conduct your initial outreach, it’s very helpful to compile your contacts into a spreadsheet. Keep a record of who you’ve reached out to, and set times to follow-up with bloggers that did not reply to your initial email. Handy columns for your spreadsheet are: name, blog, contact email, number of social media followers, country of origin, google page rank, and notes from your contacts with them.

What’s in it for Them?

Unconditional kindness goes a long way. When reaching out to bloggers, we haven’t directly asked for anything in return, and it has produced some amazing results. Giving out unconditional gifts is a rare thing coming from a business, and sometimes it even confuses people. Be clear of your intentions, and ensure the blogger that you are providing a gift and that no blog is required to participate.

In the email I sent out, it said:

“I’d love to hook you up with a free float and get you in a tank.”

Who wouldn’t be thrilled by this offer?

8 out of 10 bloggers who come in to float write about their experience without prompt. It is often what they do for a living, and not only beneficial for your business, but their readers as well. All of the articles written about us have produced positive results, all without direct sponsorship.

In your initial contact, explaining in brief the benefits of floating is also helpful for the allure. Specifically tailoring the description of benefits towards travelers is even more effective for travel bloggers:

“A lot of travelers find floating especially useful for its ability to recuperate the body/mind rapidly (and it does wonders for jet lag!)”

Follow-Up

People are busy, and that’s true even of travel bloggers, even when you have an awesome business they should know about, and even if you offer them free things. If they don’t respond, assume it’s just because they got overwhelmed, not because they don’t want to hear from you.

Follow-up is the difference in most PR marketing campaigns between successful and mediocre results. Our full schedule for our blogger outreach was:

1. Send initial email
2. Send follow-up email (2 weeks later)
3. Send follow-up email to non-responsive bloggers (3 months later)
4. Send another follow-up email to non-responsive bloggers (3 months after)
5. Send a last follow-up email to non-responsive bloggers (6 months after that)

Go Get Em!

Floating really is an amazing experience for travellers, and travel bloggers are always looking for unique things to do in the cities they travel to. Reaching out to local and international travel bloggers has been one of the most successful PR programs we’ve done, and it all starts with a simple email and a little generosity.

I’ve included the email below to help get you started – the generosity you’ll have to provide yourself.

Love & Light,

Jordan Lamp

 

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Hello there,

I stumbled across your website, and I dig what you’re up to. I really enjoyed reading about your adventures on [insert name of blog], especially the one on [specific blog post].

My name is Jordan and I work with Float On (a sensory deprivation float tank center based in Portland, OR, USA).  If you happen to ever come through our neck of the woods, I’d love to hook you up with a couple free floats and get you in a tank.  A lot of travelers find floating especially useful for its ability to recuperate the body/mind rapidly (and it does wonders for jet lag!)  

Recently, floating has been covered a lot in the news, and even NBC did a great piece on it.

I hope this message finds you well, and that in the near, or distant future you will have the opportunity to visit us.

Safe travels, and keep being awesome!

Jordan

Float On

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