I got featured in a big (online)newspaper article. (this is what happened)

So I started the Luxury Flight Club about a year ago (tomorrow is the 1st anniversary). I post business class and first class flight deals on the website. And I also send out an email alert to the members when I find a new deal.

Since then, it grew steadily to 1600+ members. But I wanted to try something new to get the word out. I wanted to get PR from a major news outlet.

But why would they want to write something about my website? How could I give them any value? Well if there's one thing I learned the last year — it's how to book a cheap business class flight.

So this would be my strategy. In the email I sent, I showed some deals I have found in the past (proof). And I would offer to give some tips and tricks on finding cheap business class flights (value).

With some helpful advice from @HaileyFriedman and @royledoyle I made a list of 14 reporters who have written about flying business class. And I started to send out personalized emails. These were the results:

• 6 Reporters answered that they weren't interested
• 6 Reporters didn't answer at all
• 1 Reporter would forward the email to someone else in the company (but I didn't get an answer)
• 1 Reporter replied that she wanted to make an article with me (yay!)

It was someone from the Daily Express. An (online)newspaper from the UK with 149 million monthly visitors! I didn't want to screw this up and I tried to give as many valuable tips as I could. And in the end, I would ask for a mention of the Luxury Flight Club and a link to the website. After a few emails back and forth it was time.

That morning the article went live I was really nervous. I thought this could be my 'Overnight Succes'. But after a few hours, I realized that was not going to be the case.

Traffic was not really taking off. And in the end, I got 66 new visitors and about 10 new members. But there are a couple of positives:

• I got a backlink from a highly rated domain
• I get to put 'as featured in the Daily Express' on my website
• In the future when I contact reporters or bloggers, I can link to the article (social proof)

And what do I think I have learned?

In the past, I have done a cross-promo with a relatively small blogger. And that resulted in 300+ new members. So I will try to get the attention of people in the 'luxury travel niche'. And see how I can give value to them.