CaseStudy_18_Final-1
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Salem has traditionally relied on tourism during the month of October for its Halloween festivities. However, the city sought to attract visitors throughout the year by promoting other historical aspects of Salem, like its seaport. To develop a new brand, Salem hired a marketing firm that created the tagline "Salem - Still Making History" and a logo representing both the witch trials and seaport. Salem employed various public relations tactics like media relations, hosting travel writers and developing an online media library. These efforts increased awareness of Salem's year-round events and helped boost overall tourism.
CaseStudy_18_Final-1
- 1. CASE STUDY 18: THE FIVE SEASONS OF SALEM A City Hunts for Something More than Witches Haley McGee PR192, SpringSemester, 2015, Dr. Martinelli
- 2. McGee 1 Salem is a town well known for its festivities on Halloween, which is an extremely important financial time for the town. However, in recent years, Salem has attempted to branch out from the Halloween festivities of just October and sought to bring tourism all year round. To achieve this, the city has used many different tactics to attract a broader scope of visitors through different events and media techniques to draw attention to the less known aspects of Salem. To further develop this new image of the town, media relations could be used to enforce a positive notion of these events and inform a larger population of the exciting things that could be seen in Salem. With this positive initiative feeding Salem’s tourism, other tactics such as “progress oriented events,”1 testimonials and photography competitions, television and radio could be used to raise awareness and attract tourists to the city. Most of Salem’s tourism occurs during the month of October, with many of its inhabitants claiming the month to be their fifth season. In recent years, however, the town has made an effort to try to move from being a single month of events to a year round tourist attraction. To do this it hired a marketing firm to “create a brand that would work for all of Salem’s industries.”2 The firm came back with two creations for the town that were released in 2011, a tagline of “Salem--Still Making History,” and a campaign logo, which could be interpreted as either a witch’s hat or a sailboat depending on the perspective of the viewer. This visual illusion showcased both aspects of Salem’s history, the witch trials and its historic seaport. The seaport of Salem is a lesser-known attraction of the town but an important tourist draw. Being one of the oldest seaports in the United States and a nationally funded 1 (Smith, 2013) 2 (Swann, 2014)
- 3. McGee 2 historic site has allowed the seaport to be maintained, with several wharves and buildings preserved to show the history of New England and the United States. Although this site is not as well-known as the festivities in October, the National Park Service noted that its “visitor center had nearly 378,000 visitors in 2010.”3 With Salem using media relations and other public relations tactics, the town was able to boost the number of visitors it experienced year round. The public relations tool, media relations, is an effective method of reaching out to consumers and giving the client’s company a positive reputation. The concept of media relations is “centered around the symbiotic relationship between a PR practitioner and the media most often being described as a journalist, but also, reporter, editor, producer and writer.”4 The relationship is best explained when the media is described as gatekeepers in the information supply chain. It is the public relations practitioners’ duty to maintain a healthy relationship, so they can get as much positive exposure as possible for their clients. This tool is considered to be essential in a PR toolkit as “media relations efforts are the ―tip of the public relations iceberg the most visible part.”5 This is an important tool that Salem did not ignore in its attempt to increase its tourist trade. During the city’s process to expand tourism, Salem developed a public relations strategy spanning many different tactics, among which was its media relations strategy. The town hosted several educational trips for travel writers and also held interviews with key partners so they could help develop an online media library. A calendar of pitch ideas and press releases was also created to generate exposure for visitors, planners and the 3 (Swann, 2014) 4 (Tench & Yeomans, 2006) 5 (Finn, 2003)(Kaul, 2013)
- 4. McGee 3 media; these ideas helped increase awareness of events and allowed Salem to target more niche-based visitors, as well as promoting new itineraries to the media. To help maintain exposure and keep all parties updated, Salem launched a website, which recorded that 87% of its visitors got their information about upcoming events. The site reflected the new branding it had developed and was updated with seasonal promotions and special events as well as a blog to keep potential tourists up to date with changes and other notifications. Each of these tactics seem small on its own but when combined they can have a powerful effect, as can be seen when Audi attempted an image change in China. For several years Audi had been seen primarily as a government vehicle. With the marketplace changing, Audi decided that it needed to reach a much broader demographic to maintain sales. In order to achieve this goal, Audi began a targeted media relations campaign. Employees and key reporters were invited to an Orchestra concert, tour of the facility and a test drive of the Audi cars, allowing staff and reporters to mingle in a friendly environment to create a positive atmosphere about the company and its vehicles. Audi also conducted an interactive workshop that was reported as a huge success “The workshops attracted 214 media nationwide and received their highly positive feedback. “6 By incorporating the media through these events, Audi’s image change was highly successful. Salem’s campaign, Destination Salem, was made effective by media relations and other public relations tools that it used. However, there are more tools that it could have used to further enhance its revitalization. With such a rich history, Salem could have created a progress-oriented event, showing the town’s history and how much had 6 (Finn, 2003)
- 5. McGee 4 changed through the years. This event would not only cater to specific niche markets, but also allow for a much broader audience and for a city-wide event with the potential for a yearly occurrence. Testimonials of previous visitors placed on Salem’s website would be a helpful tactic as well, as it would help show people what a terrific experience the town offered. This tactic could be further developed into photography competitions, enticing people to take the best or most creative pictures, while visiting Salem, to later be used as advertisement with attached rewards; if the rewards were hotel stays, it would also bring repeat traffic back into Salem. An advertising campaign focused around television and radio would also help draw in a wide market, promoting the highlights of the town and the terrific experience that can be had in Salem. This marketing tactic has proved to be effective with other towns in the United States and could further stamp the new image of Salem in the minds of its audience. Salem’s new image creation to further increase its tourism market was made successful through the use of media relations and other public relations tools. Including the media in the renewal of the town’s identity allowed for positive information to be disseminated across many forms of media and aided in Salem’s goal of becoming known for more than just the Halloween hotspot of America. There are more tactics that could be integrated in the future to help boost awareness of all that Salem has to offer. Overall, with the tactics previously used and new ones that could be incorporated, Salem has the opportunity for an even more successful campaign.
- 6. McGee 5 Works Cited Finn, R. (2003, September 2). Bejing Audi Driving Experience Program: A thrilling driving experience. Kaul, V. (2013). PR and the Media: Friends or Foes? Global Media Journal: Pakistan Edition. , 58-82. Smith, R. D. (2013). Strategic Planning for Public Relations. Oxford: Routledge. Swann, P. (2014). The Five Seasons of Salem. In P. Swann, Cases in Public Relations Management: The Rise of Social Media and Activism (pp. 280-293). Abingdon: Taylor & Francis. Tench, R., & Yeomans, L. (2006). Exploring Public Relations. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.