Whether your company is a travel agency, hotel chain, rental car service, tour company, or some other travel, tourism, or hospitality business, chances are you’ve seen the effects of the COVID-19 crisis firsthand.
For companies in the travel industry, COVID-19 is a chance to explore new marketing strategies, create brand awareness, and generate revenue in creative ways.
During this unprecedented period of the unknown, there is no better time to invest in a market research PR survey than right now.
What is a public relations survey?
PR surveys present unique opportunities for companies to earn media coverage, even in the most competitive industries.
Essentially, this type of market research allows a brand to sponsor a survey and use the results to:
- Make newsworthy headlines and grow brand awareness
- Create data-driven content
- Contribute new data to grow thought leadership
At Drive Research, our team of market research and public relations experts works together to create a newsworthy survey that will generate attention-grabbing headlines and unique, sharable content.
Together, we create custom PR surveys that are timely, cost-effective, and credible.
With the power of market research and some marketing magic, your company has the ability to be noticed by journalists, news publications, followers, and customers around the world.
Why should companies in the travel industry conduct PR surveys?
The travel and tourism industry is an extremely large and competitive market, which is why staying top of mind is crucial to being successful. Luckily, PR surveys are a great way to capture the attention of millions of potential customers.
Here are some benefits to conducting a travel PR polling survey.
1. Travel is one of the largest industries.
In 2017, the U.S. travel and tourism industry accounted for over $1.6 trillion. In an industry as large as this one, it’s important to stay relevant and competitive, especially when it comes to marketing efforts.
2. The way people travel is rapidly changing.
New technologies are connecting travelers with a plethora of innovative ways to travel.
Many are opting for a private room in a host’s house booked through Airbnb rather than a traditional hotel room or even jumping on last-minute travel deals marketed through online advertising.
As the way consumers travel continues to evolve, PR surveys are a great way to better understand top sources of awareness and preferred travel methods among any market.
3. COVID-19 has changed the travel industry as we know it.
COVID-19 has certainly proven how much the global economy relies on travel and tourism. With many vacations canceled, pushed back, or out of the question, the travel industry is essentially in a “standstill.”
While the advertisements on my Facebook newsfeed for cruises to the Caribbean and flights to London are certainly appealing, these aren’t necessarily the marketing efforts businesses in the travel and tourism industry should be making right now.
During this era of COVID-19, marketers in the travel industry need to get creative; traditional marketing campaigns most likely won’t do the trick. There is no better time than right now to conduct a PR survey in the travel industry.
For example, our PR survey company recently conducted a COVID-19 travel and tourism study with New Yorkers that generated attention from national news sources such as Yahoo Finance.
4. PR surveys are a great way to stay competitive.
Your competitors have been conducting PR surveys to generate media coverage for years. Just to name a few…Marriott, Hilton, and American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) have made major news headlines with the help of public relations market research.
Especially right now, a simple survey is a unique and tactical way to stay relevant, competitive, and top of mind among consumers.
5. Travel and tourism PR survey topics are endless.
If your company decides to move forward with a travel PR survey, you don’t necessarily have to have your mind made up right away about the topic.
With there being many different types of customers and a plethora of sectors within the travel and tourism industry, there are several research opportunities for businesses.
As experienced market researchers and public relations gurus, Drive Research can take the desire of earned media coverage and turn it into newsworthy survey findings in as little as days.
How can data from PR market research be used?
While PR studies are commonly used to obtain media coverage, there are a variety of other uses for this type of research.
Here are some examples of how your travel company can use findings from an online survey.
1. Press releases
Results from public relations surveys are commonly shared with the media in a press release. Typically, a press release from a PR survey will include an attention-grabbing headline, newsworthy findings, an infographic, research methodology, and media contacts.
2. Marketing strategy
The findings collected from a consumer survey are often multi-purpose!
Your travel company can use the PR survey data to power the strategy of an entire marketing campaign while using notable statistics as content for your website, blog, brochures, email messaging, digital advertising, and more.
That’s a win-win-win-win-win 😉.
3. Blogs and other website content
In addition to social media marketing content and obtaining media coverage, blogs are a great way to share PR survey findings.
Whether it’s simply re-working the press release into a blog or taking an entirely new approach to the research findings, market research results inspire unique website copy that will help you establish leadership within the travel industry.
4. Webinars and other online events
For PR studies, webinars and other online events are commonly a primary or secondary research objective. Whether the findings are shared with internal or external stakeholders, webinars are a great way to share your proprietary data with those who may benefit from it.
Why host a webinar? Webinars allow your brand to contribute new, valuable information to your market.
These online events generate sales leads, helps your company develop authority and trust, are affordable to host, and are great for overall brand awareness.
5. Digital advertising and social media content
Looking to share something different in your digital marketing efforts? PR survey findings make for great content; whether it be organic social shares or paid digital advertising.
6. Promotional materials (i.e., travel brochures)
Promotional materials are a great place to share findings from exclusive research.
For example, being able to say “99% of guests would recommend us to a friend” in a travel brochure lets potential guests know that they’re likely to have a positive experience staying in your hotel.
7. Branded infographics
Infographics allow your travel company to share an entire story in a graphically pleasing format. Infographics are easy to digest, fun to look at, and highly shareable. They also make a great addition to any press release, blog, social share, or webinar.
Here is an example of an infographic by Egencia.
What questions should you ask in a travel PR survey?
Accommodation, food and beverage, airline, rental car, adventure, entertainment...the list goes on and on.
Regardless of which sector your business falls within the travel and tourism industry, there are many questions that can be asked to collect valuable data and tell a powerful story.
Before drafting PR survey questions, our team of experts works backward with your research goals and objectives in mind.
Often, we’ll brainstorm potential newsworthy headlines before drafting survey questions to optimize the results.
Here are a few ideas for survey questions that can be asked across the different sectors within the travel industry:
- What’s on your bucket list?
- What are your top three travel destinations?
- Have you canceled or rescheduled a planned vacation due to COVID-19?
- Do you establish a budget when traveling? If so, how much do you plan to spend?
These travel and tourism survey questions will allow you to make headlines such as “two in three travelers have had to cancel a vacation due to COVID-19” or “Paris, Los Angeles, and Moscow among top travel destinations in 2020.”
How to conduct a PR survey for the travel industry
If you’ve decided it’s time to get started on your custom study, choosing to work with a third-party that specializes in PR surveys, such as Drive Research, is a great place to start.
When taking your survey findings to the media, having a third-party to back up your data can help boost credibility.
Here are some next steps Drive Research typically takes in the PR survey process:
1. Project Kickoff Meeting
During a PR survey kickoff meeting, our experts will speak to your travel company about any goals and objectives you might have in mind for the project.
We’ll also discuss the timeline you have in mind for the project, any potential questions you may already have in mind, the number of questions and respondents desired, and ways to optimize the survey to obtain the maximum return on investment (ROI).
2. Survey Writing & Design
After the kickoff meeting, our market research experts will draft a survey, which will be designed to meet the objectives and goals established in the meeting.
Whether the goal of the survey is to obtain media coverage, host a webinar, or create new travel brochures, our research team thinks outside of the box while designing questions.
3. Approval & Survey Launch
Once the public relations survey has been designed, we’ll pass the draft over to your team for any potential changes or approval. From there, we’ll get the survey programmed, tested, and soft launch the survey into the field for data collection.
After the soft launch has been carefully reviewed for data quality, the research team will launch the survey in-full to meet your desired number of respondents.
4. Fieldwork Data Analysis
Throughout the fieldwork process, our public relations market research firm keeps a close eye on data quality. We’ll check for survey speeders, non-sense, duplicate responses, and anything else that just doesn’t make sense.
This ensures that the desired number of responses are met while staying on track!
5. Newsworthy Report & PR Survey Deliverables
There are a variety of deliverables available for market research, but even more so for PR surveys because the data is meant to be shared.
However, no two clients, or even projects, are the same, which is why we customize each PR research package for each client based on their individual goals and objectives for the specific project.
Here are some examples of what PR survey deliverables may include for clients in the travel and tourism industry:
- A live dashboard to view responses are they are submitted
- An executive summary highlighting newsworthy research findings
- A custom press release complete with attention-grabbing headlines, research methodology explained, and more
- A branded infographic (as simple or as complex as you see fit!)
- Social media content
- Travel brochure templates and ideas
- Webinar materials, presentations, or templates
Interested in a value-added service that it’s listed above? Every PR survey conducted by Drive Research is completely customizable to meet your individual and specific research goals and objectives!
So, what’s #trending in travel?
Before getting started on a PR survey in any specific industry, we like to do some investigative research on pre-existing themes and trends.
Here are some travel industry trends to keep an eye on in 2020 (and post-COVID-19):
- Staycations: A short (and local) trip with limited expenses made popular again by COVID-19.
- Road trips: Rather than hopping on a crowded airplane, many travelers feel safest in their own personal vehicles or RVs, making road trips a safer travel option during the coronavirus pandemic.
- Travel insurance: Many didn’t intend on needing to cancel their planned and paid for vacations during 2020, but COVID-19 taught travelers that not everything is always in their control.
- Solo travel: No adventure buddy? No problem! Solo travel is becoming increasingly popular, especially as Gen Z ages into young adulthood.
- Last minute: Virtual travel agencies such as HotelTonight and email marketing make last-minute travel cost-effective and trendy for those who prefer to travel on a whim.
Whether you need help drafting an attention-grabbing press release, creating an eye-catching branded infographic, or phrasing research findings in social media content, Drive Research is there to assist you through the PR survey process from start to finish.
Interested in conducting a PR polling survey for your travel and tourism organization? Contact us through any of the 4 ways below.
- Message us on our website
- Email us at [email protected]
- Call us at 888-725-DATA
- Text us at 315-303-2040
Elizabeth Sincavage
Elizabeth has a curious mind and is never afraid to ask “why?” She discovered her passion for research and exploring data while completing her bachelor’s degree at Marist College. As a researcher, she believes you’re never truly done learning.
