You can spread the word about your business and its offerings in numerous ways, including working with travel media, influencers, and content creators.Determining what type of creator to work with depends on your goals, budget, and resources. Understanding the difference between the types of creators and what they offer, and if it aligns with your goals, will help you decide if they are the right advertising/marketing option for your business. This is especially important as planning for 2024 gets underway.


Understand the Differences


Travel Media

Travel media tend to be journalists, writers, and bloggers working within traditional outlets like newspapers, magazines, blogs, and TV. These individuals often have a specific assignment from an outlet they are working with; however, they may also visit a region as part of a familiarization trip to learn more and pitch stories to applicable outlets. Travel media do not ask for payment in return for the pieces they produce, as they are paid by the outlets that publish their content. That being said, covering the cost of their experience or giving them a media rate is the industry norm.


Content Creators and Influencers

Content creators and influencers are typically individuals with high follower counts and/or an engaged audience on social media channels, most commonly Instagram and TikTok. They may also have a strong audience through owned channels like their website. When working with content creators and influencers, always ask for information on audience demographics and engagement, and samples of work they may have done with similar businesses. If their audience doesn't align with your typical customer base, it’s generally not a good idea to move forward with that particular influencer, unless you want to create awareness with the demographics of their audience. Both creators and influencers often have additional fees. 


Be Clear on Your Marketing Goals

Understanding your customers and online audience is vital before working with media and influencers. As outlined above, not all media and influencers are created equal, so ensure you’re getting true value from working together.

Before finalizing an agreement, be sure to ask the following questions, at a minimum:

  • What is the composition/demographics of their audience, as it relates to their social media channels or the outlet(s) where an article will be posted?
  • What kind of engagement do they get on social media posts (e.g., Reels, In-feed posts on Instagram, TikToks, etc.)?
  • When will the article or content be published?
  • What are they asking for in return for the content/exposure, and what are their rates?


Create an Agreement or Contract

Once you have your itinerary/assignment finalized, an agreement or contract is a good idea to guarantee follow-through and avoid any surprise costs or changes. To learn more about Tourism Kelowna's policies and guidelines and to see what information we request when contacted by media or influencers, click below:


Connect with Our Team

Our Marketing & Communications team has much experience working with media, influencers, and content creators. We also have access to different platforms that can be used when vetting people to make sure their audience or outlet aligns with your marketing goals. In addition, if you’re interested in adding travel media or influencer marketing to your advertising/marketing mix, we have lists that we can pull from to assist you in finding the best fit for your business.

Lastly, let us know about coverage you have received and let content creators or influencers know they can tag Tourism Kelowna and use #exploreKelowna when posting so we can help spread the word and extend the reach of their work to our audiences. 


Have questions? Connect with me shereen@tourismkelowna.com or (250) 861-1515 ext. 204.