Posts by Nicole
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…
Read MoreBorrowing from the Tourism Marketing Playbook: Why Agencies Collaborate
When solutions to our clients’ business issues require disciplines outside of our expertise, we borrow from the tourism marketing playbook and look for ways to collaborate with other agencies to deliver better results.
Read MoreCreating Your 2019 Travel and Tourism Marketing Strategies and Plan
We recently released a 5-part video series on how to create your tourism marketing plan for 2019. 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 that we…
Read More7 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…
Read MoreHow 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…
Read MoreMuseum 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…
Read MoreThe 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…
Read MoreCollaboration in Marketing – Destination Marketing Ideal Benchmark
Collaboration in marketing makes good business sense and is a core value at Break The Ice Media. Working together, partners with similar goals, values and visions can leverage combined resources to create marketing programs bigger than they can do on their own. We have several clients who understand the many benefits of collaborative marketing. They…
Read More5 Key Ingredients for Marketing Campaign Success
When I started Break The Ice Media in 2009, I saw how new digital tools were causing PR and marketing to collide and decided to start an agency that would assist small businesses in bringing both disciplines together. For 9 years, my team and I have been constantly learning and adapting our skills to integrate…
Read MoreHow to Market a Destination
Last month, I attended the “Win More Business” workshop for Agency Owners given by Agency Management Institute and The Mercer Island Group. Many of the principles from the workshop apply to how to market a destination. Especially for tourism marketers and CVB sales teams who are looking to attract group, meeting and convention business. Understanding…
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