Oftentimes, as destination marketers, we get so excited about big public relations wins that we pop the cork a moment too soon. Landing coverage in a target publication that reaches our prospective travelers or being featured in a travel series is fantastic, but these media placements should only be the starting point of our path to progress.

There are benefits, both short-term and long-term, to touting your own success stories after each public relations win. It may seem like you are doing PR for your PR—and you are—because it will amplify your success and reputation in ways that can only benefit your destination marketing efforts.

Goals aren’t endpoints, afterall. They are motivation to keep performing and, if all goes well, to keep winning for your whole team. Here are some reasons to hit your goals and keep pushing forward.

1. Create Shareable Content

Having content to share on social media and in presentations to partners can sometimes be difficult. You may feel like you’re sharing the same content over and over again. Your PR successes, however, are ideal options to showcase the freshest fruits of your labor.

Whether it’s repurposing a feature article to share on LinkedIn or screenshots of television placements for a slide deck, these PR wins keep giving beyond the initial visibility or awareness they created. By publicizing your PR wins, you’ll inevitably increase your ROI.

2. Reach Wider Audiences

Publicizing your PR wins also helps reach audiences that were not initially part of your target audience. Consumer media hits or stories in trade publications may have influenced their initial target audience, but your destination partners are not necessarily reading these publications.

By repurposing your PR wins on social media, across your partner materials, in newsletters, and basically anywhere you can, your destination marketing team can make sure everyone knows about the impactful work you’re doing.

3. Produce Teachable Moments

Viewing your success stories through a pedagogical lens can help partners and other team members understand what works for your destination. Don’t just celebrate these wins. Consider them keys to unlocking future successes.

Like a football team reviewing gameplays after winning the big game, your PR team can use your PR wins to inform others—partners included—about strategies that generate the results your destination needs and wants. 

4. Reinforce Your Reputation

It feels good to rack up those “likes” on LinkedIn, doesn’t it? Promoting your destination organization’s wins is a strategic way to frame your work–tastefully–for other marketers, partners, and even competitors to admire.

It also shows other members of the media that interest is buzzing for your destination. This approach will ensure you get on new radars sooner than later.

5. Educate Your Colleagues

It's easy to forget that other people in your organization follow don't follow your media wins quite as closely as the PR team does. But that doesn't mean they won't be excited to hear the good news. Boost company-wide awareness and demonstrate your team's value–and your budget–by sharing major PR wins across your organization through your internal channels and chat systems.

6. Boost Morale

Your DMO’s team and local community both need to see concrete ways that your efforts are paying off—and a PR win will do just that. Communities, partners, and fellow marketers alike want to feel proud, and what better way than by working and living in the destination that a major publication or brand is talking about in a positive way?

By promoting your PR wins to these people—even though they aren’t your primary target audiences—you are doubling down on your destination organization’s ultimate goal of bettering the lives of your local community through destination stewardship. Show them the big wins whenever possible, and let them join in on your celebration. After all, your locals are the reason we’re doing all of this destination marketing in the first place.

The hardest part is the initial PR win. With that in the bag, consider the many ways your team can stretch the success a bit further. It will be a little extra work, a little more effort, and a little more time, but publicizing your own PR wins offers big benefits to destination marketers who embrace it.

How to get started? Through a few realistic, achievable, and effective strategies, you can put your PR wins to good use, to showcase the fruits of your labor in promoting your destination. Download your Checklist for Promoting PR Wins here.