The Public Relations Society of America created a new definition of PR in 2011 to reflect how PR now operates within the digital age where user generated content and engagement are essential. Modern PR creates and manages new media like social media and blogs, and engages customers and journalists through new media outlets. For the Ventura Visitor's Center PR to succeed, it must capture stories that people are engaged with, help create, and will share with friends by providing easily shareable, relatable content. The PR plan outlines strategies like blogging regularly, curating user generated local stories and images, and directing journalists to website content instead of press releases to encourage sharing and engagement.

1. Ventura Visitor’s Center
PR Plan

2. The Public Relations Society of America created
a new definition of PR in 2011:
“Public relations is a strategic communication
process that builds mutually beneficial
relationships between organizations and their
publics.” (http://prdefinition.prsa.org)

3. Why did they need to change the definition of
PR?

4. Old School PR was:
• Based on personal, face to face, relationships
with journalists and media.
• Analogue methods were used to propagate
information.
• Methods were deliberate and slow.
• Text was king.
• PR created stories for placement in mass media,
assuming their audience was passively consuming
the information fed to them.

5. New Media PR is:
• Based on remote – e-relationships.
• Digital methods are used to communicate
information.
• Images are King – technology now propagates
pictures, video and ephemera.
• PR people of the future need to think about
themselves as storywriters and media content
producers.

6. • Real people think in terms of images.
• Modern new media understands that people
create their own peer-to-peer trusted
communication communities via their friends,
family and coworkers on social media channels.
• Increasingly people think marketing can be
credible IF they are involved, not just reading
someone else’s story, but feeling as if they are a
part of the plot themselves.

7. The Public Relations Society of America created a
new definition of PR in 2011 because PR is now
operating within the digital age: user generated
content and engagement is the essence of New
Media and the Digital Age.
Modern PR creates and manages new media, such
as blogs, social media, media content AND engages
and creates relationships with customers and
journalists via New Media outlets.

8. For VCB’s PR to succeed within new media and
technology, it has to capture a story, a narrative,
one that people are engaged with, help create,
and will SHARE with their friends.

9. Why?
People want to be involved in creating the
stories: these are the stories they will share; and
these are the stories the news publications,
journalists and media will share.

10. What does this look like?

12. “We write at least 25 headlines for each post,
and test them rigorously. Sometimes, we even
make up a word to catch your eye.”
“This Amazing Kid Died. What He Left Behind Is
Wondtacular.”

13. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDC97j6lfyc

14. “Upworthy posts don’t go viral because people
click —Upworthy posts go viral because people
share. By far the most important factor in
getting people to share a post is the actual
quality of the content in the eyes of the
community. To share, they have to love what
they see.”

16. Ventura’s Facebook Page
Vs
Santa Barbara’s Facebook page

18. Post “likes”

19. Posts “SHARED” with family and
friends

20. Percentage of fan base who “liked”
content

21. Percentage of fan base who “SHARED”
content with family and friends

22. Why is VCB’s content shared and where is VCB’s
“shareable” content coming from?

23. USER GENERATED CONTENT
Content discovered and curated through
consistent outreach and communication with
VCB’s fans – people that LOVE Ventura and want
to share it.

25. Why does user generated content matter?

26. People trust other people more than they do
advertisers, marketers, or people with an
agenda.
Therefore, when people are sharing their images
with us, other’s believe what they see when we
post the images: they are relatable.

27. Why does it matter if people “SHARE” VVCB’s
content?

28. Consumers are 71% more likely to make a
purchase based on social media referrals from
family and friends, or, people and businesses
they choose to follow:
(Hubspot http://bit.ly/1gEctn5 )

29. So, what does this look like in terms of PR?

30. The same thing that is happening on VCB’s social
media, is going to start happening with PR and
outreach to journalists, bloggers, travel writers
and media:
We will provide content that is easily
SHAREABLE and relatable.

31. Why?

32. PR now is about creating relationships with
people online, SHARING information that is
relatable, interesting, and easily shareable.

33. VCB’s Website Houses the PR Content
• Traditional PR pushes marketing on people.
• Inbound PR pulls people in: they are reaching
out to you for more information.
• Getting fresh and informative content onto
VCB’s website is essential. A website today,
even when it is built and optimized the right
way (99% are not) is still dropping in the
search rankings without a content or Inbound
Marketing strategy.

34. The new BRANDING CAMPAIGN has helped VCB
and Downtown Ventura understand who their
target audience is, and what people love about
Ventura.

35. Target Audience is:
Relaxed, laidback, wants to slip into a place that
feels like home, a place where good food and
good people welcome you.
~We’re not Santa Barbara…and, as we have seen
from the Facebook fan responses, no one wants
us to be~

36. So who do we target on New Media?
Bloggers: outdoor, travel, beer, wine, music,
foodie, travel and mommy/family.
Media: local media and outdoor travel, beer,
wine, music, foodie, travel, mommy and family.

37. What is our product?
A simple, beautiful community and lifestyle: one
you can slip right into for a weekend and feel at
home.

38. How do we distribute our Press releases and the
narrative of our city and people?

39. Press Releases:
Rather than e-mailing a press release, VCB will
send journalists to custom landing pages on our
website created just for that specific
announcement, or even directing them to a
YouTube video.
*Although press releases can be e-mailed to journalists, the volume
they receive is often overwhelming. This could result in a press release
being overlooked or discarded. A well-designed website can create a
positive image and further the company’s agenda.
Websites are an excellent tool for releasing information to the media.

42. Digital Press Kits
Once the branding campaign is complete, VCB
will create a Digital Press Kit available for
downloading off the website.

43. 3-4 times a week Blog
A mix of VVCB’s PR, choice images from our
social media channels, videos, re-posting of
travel writer’s articles on Ventura,
-ANDwe start engaging with locals to publish material
they write about Ventura called “Locals Share”.

44. •
•
•
•
•
•
•
Blogging
Blog frequency impacts customer acquisition. 92% of companies
who blogged multiple times a day acquired a customer through their blog.
(HubSpot State of Inbound Marketing, 2012)
The global population of blog readers keeps growing. (eMarketer,
August 2010)
81% of marketers rated their blog as useful or better. (HubSpot State
of Inbound Marketing, 2012)
There are 31% more bloggers today than there were three years ago.
(eMarketer, August 2010)
46% of people read blogs more than once a day. (HubSpot Science of
Blogging 2010)
Most people read 5-10 blogs. (HubSpot Science of Blogging, 2010)
Nearly 40% of US companies use blogs for marketing purposes.
(eMarketer, August 2010)

47. Google Affect
This will come as a surprise, but Google does
NOT rank websites, but rather ranks web pages.
Every web page can only be optimized for one
main keyword term.
A blog with regular content gives you hundreds
of pages and thousands of opportunities to rank
more keywords and get more traffic. A typical
brochure-like website might have 15 pages
(chances to be found in a search). A site that
contains a blog might have 500 or more.

48. “Locals Share” on Blog
Topics can range from:
Ventura breweries
Ventura Outside
Ventura wine trail
Ventura nightlife
Downtown Ventura
Channel Islands
Ventura Outdoors
Ventura Surf
Ventura Hotels
Ventura Events
Family affairs-eventsLocal arts and events
Happy Hour
We will do outreach to locals for user generated content. Select the stories by local
writers are published on VVCB’s Blog.
VVCB pushes these stories out on social media channels to inspire travel writers, local
newspapers to pick up, use, or be the stimulus for their articles.

49. SEO/Blog on VCB’s Website
We will mine Google search results for
keywords; inject these keywords into compelling
metaphorical image use and online
content, whereby combining SEO and
storytelling.
*Using words people actually use, we can create a bond and relationship with
people. Our stories will be readable, relatable, and searched out more often
because of natural language use.

50. Cross Pollination
As stories are written about Ventura, we will
share them on our social media channels,
website and email newsletters.

51. Itineraries and Travel Ideas
We will have designated pages on VVCB’s
website dedicated to travel trips/ideas based on:
Outdoors, Channel Islands and water excursions,
Family trips, Foodie-Craft beer-Local Wine trail
trips, Festivals and Special Events.

52. LinkedIn
LinkedIn has become the defacto social network for B2B
marketing. For a long time it was all about resumes and
job searches, but now it has become much more
interactive with groups and questions being asked and
answered by people talking about business products and
services.
We will update VCB’s LinkedIn page regularly with Blog
content, new articles on Ventura and PR Releases.
LinkedIn is becoming a location where travel writers and
journalists mine for information, content and articles. We
will provide informative, shareable content on this
channel.

53. VIP program at VCB
Management of social media for the anchor
businesses important to Ventura’s tourism.

54. Conclusion:
Social media and New Media PR go hand in
hand: they are based on friends and families
sharing information and easily accessible and
sharable information provided to journalists and
bloggers.