What’s Flying With Fish About? – A Note To Marketing Pros

I feel almost funny writing “So What Is Flying With Fish About?” more than six years after I first created what would become the Flying With Fish you see here today.  I feel compelled to address what exactly Flying With Fish covers for two reasons.

The first reason is that this blog is receiving a more diversified group of readers, far from the original intentions of Flying With Fish. This other reason is an interesting turn in the types of e-mails I am received from public relations and marketing folks.

So … where to begin … hmmm?  I guess we begin with the original reason Flying With Fish was created.  This blog was originally created to help 10 photographers travel more effectively, and hoped that maybe I’d pick up a few more photographers who liked to travel as well along the way.

Somewhere along the way the topics on Flying With Fish started to splinter from the primary reason Flying With Fish was originally created to address and they gradually moved into topics I had an interest in outside of merely providing photographers tips for traveling.  While I still try and write topics for photographers when I can, clearly the majority of the topics I write about are more focused on airlines, travel and security as the blog has evolved.  The airline and travel information were a natural progression of my interests and experience. Coverage of security issues grew out of my interests based on years of covering homeland security and aviation security as a photojournalist.

So what is Flying With Fish about? It’s hard to categorize, but the blog exists to explore a wide range of travel related topics of interest to primarily travelers and airplane geeks.

Most days I am amazed that regular readers include photographers, legislators, Department of Homeland Security officials, airline marketing professionals, folks from the three largest commercial aircraft manufacturers and other aviation and travel bloggers and journalists.

…where do public relations and marketing folks come into all of this? Let me tell you … recently I have begun receiving an increase in story pitches from PR/Marketing professionals that clearly do not read Flying With Fish.   These are not the people from tourism boards that contact me without any idea I do not write about travel destinations … but those representing the marine and fishing industry.

While it may be hard for me to define what Flying With Fish is about, I can safely tell you that it is not about boating or fishing.  What used to be amusing is now slightly irritating with e-mails such as this coming in:

“Hey Steven,

 

I am an avid reader of Flying With Fish and enjoy your blog almost daily. I represent [redacted] and would love to host you as our guest at the [redacted] Expo during the fresh water fishing exhibitions.  [Redacted] represents the finest in fresh water fishing boats to cover a wide range of anglers from hobbyists to professional competitors.

 

Blah blah blah blah blah ….”

The above is a real e-mail with the name of the company removed … and it is one of more than a dozen I have received in the past few weeks.

I think a media relation professional at the world’s largest airline hit the nail on the head with this one “They were thinking of boatingwithfish.com, which I’m sure is almost as cool as yours.”

So if you’re a PR or Marketing professional working in the airline, airport, aviation or aerospace industry, feel free to send me your pitches and releases … and if you’re a PR or Marketing professional in the fishing and marine industry, do me a favour and read Flying With Fish, not just the title.

Happy Fishing! …OK … no seriously … Happy Flying!