Creating your Tourism Marketing Strategies and Plan

We recently released a 5-part video series on how to create your tourism marketing plan for the new year. The planning process can be broken into 5 easy-to-follow steps: setting marketing objectives, reviewing research and the current situation, defining target audience, creating key messages and outlining the tactical plan. Planning is the most critical thing…

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Using Anniversaries, Celebrations and Awards for Tourism Marketing [image of several people with wine glasses bringing them together to cheers]

Break the Ice Media just celebrated a milestone anniversary, 10 years since I started the company and I was recognized with the Small Business Person of the Year award from the Small Business Council of Rochester.  As I reflect on the celebration, I am reminded of the many celebrations, anniversaries and awards that have been…

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A Decade of Tourism Marketing - 10 Key Changes Making an Impact. And Break the Ice Media turns 10!

And Break the Ice Media turns 10! It has been a decade of tourism marketing! The official date of incorporation for Break the Ice Media is October 14, 2009 which makes October officially our “birthday month”. As the marketing and tourism industries have changed, we have evolved right along with them. When we started our…

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Museums' Approach to Tourism

Each of these museums has found a remarkable and stand-out way to promote inclusivity, attract diverse new audiences, and further integrate their work with other tourism and cultural efforts of their communities.

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Are DMOs Evolving into Placemakers?

Since the beginning of 2019, I have been exploring the changing role of destination marketing organizations (DMOs) through conversation with guests on my podcast Destination on the Left. My question revolves around DMOs taking a more holistic approach to managing the destination’s brand and story by engaging with locals in addition to focusing on attracting…

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7 steps in creating a marketing plan

Creating a strong marketing plan is an important part of planning for your destination’s year-to-year growth. Writing such a plan should be a collaborative team effort, pooling your team’s knowledge and resources to make sure everyone is on the same page and everyone’s ideas are heard. Breaking down the plan into actionable steps can help…

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How Association Management Companies help multi-stakeholder tourism marketing programs

Multi-stakeholder entities and collaborative partnerships are pervasive in the world of tourism. When DMOs, TPAs, counties and other representatives of regions come together, their marketing and economic impact exponentially increases. A new approach to serving the travel and tourism industry goes beyond the typical agency/client relationship. They are called association management companies. According to AMC…

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Museum Marketing – Beyond Cultural and Heritage Tourism

Museums and cultural institutions are proactively changing to expand their reach and appeal to new audiences, strengthening their role beyond cultural and heritage tourism.  I recently attended the 2018 Museum Association of New York annual conference to learn what is happening in the industry. The theme of the conference was “Visioning Change,” and I was…

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The Growing Importance of SEO In Tourism Marketing

SEO is a term we hear often in our marketing and PR circles, but what does it really mean for tourism marketing? What strategies should tourism businesses and destination marketing organizations be focusing on to achieve SEO success? Before I answer these questions, let’s first define SEO. I like the definition provided by MOZ: Search…

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