In this episode, you will learn about what your destination can do to attract international travelers.
Nicole Mahoney started Break The Ice Media in 2009 in response to the evolving needs of small to medium-sized businesses, in particular, the rise of social media. Break The Ice Media is a boutique marketing and communications firm with a focus on travel, tourism, food, wine, and hospitality. As CEO, Nicole is responsible for working with clients to understand their marketing needs, develop strategic marketing plans and execute those plans. She is also responsible for building a team that can deliver.
Break The Ice Media specializes in collaborations that leverage resources of multiple partners for the creation of successful marketing programs within the travel and hospitality industry. Break The Ice Media views these programs as “coop-etition” where partners cooperate with their competition to create a program that is larger than one they can execute alone. Building these programs requires a leader who is level-headed, an effective listener, with an ability to move a group towards consensus in order to move forward.
Nicole received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Rochester Institute of Technology and a Master of Arts in Communications from The College at Brockport, SUNY.
Nicole loves the Finger Lakes region of New York State where she was born and raised. She is raising 4 daughters with her husband, John.
A transcript of this episode is available here: destinationontheleft.com/nicole-mahoney-solocast-episode-3
In this episode, you will learn about collaboration across county lines with a FAM tour from Rhonda Vaccaro, Vice President and Senior Consultant at Break The Ice Media.
Today Rhonda brings more than 20 years of sales and new business development to the table. She's a master at creating relationships and has a deep understanding of sales strategies, creating win-win opportunities for BTI's tourism clients. Rhonda and her staff are able to act as a much-needed sales arm for Convention and Visitors Bureaus (CVBs), providing management, tracking and reporting, and of course-- closing those sales successfully.
With her easy-going personality and high attention to detail, Rhonda is able to put her management skills to work as BTI's HR person, and Office and Operations manager.
A transcript of this episode is available here: destinationontheleft.com/rhonda-vaccaro-fam-tour
In this episode, you will learn everything you need to know to get started working with a travel influencer from Colleen Knopeck, Associate Consultant at Break The Ice Media.
Imagine being a Kindergartener and winning a writing award from a national PBS Kids show. Or by fifth grade, regularly writing for the Buffalo News’ Kids Page — and having the chance to interview Buffalo Sabres hockey players. And yet, that’s exactly what Colleen Knopeck did. It’s like she came fully hatched as a writer. As the Communications Specialist for Perry’s, a New York State maker of ice cream, Colleen handled Perry’s sponsorships, public relations, and media relations. She wrote everything from customer and consumer e-newsletters, the blog, social media, annual reports, to writing and directing an in-house video. If you were a blogger or members of media that were lucky enough to have ice cream dropped off to you — you could thank Colleen for coordinating it.
Her gift for writing articles and short stories translated into Colleen’s ability at Break the Ice to find the essential story in each client’s industry, and develop targeted messages. Because clients are often so close to their technical side or information, they can have a hard time sorting it all out. Clients may feel it’s hard to explain or put into words. With great listening skills, Colleen helps each client save time by doing that required distilling. She’s able to get that information to the consumer, or the media, that works best for a particular audience. Her innate ease with and understanding of social media allows her to see opportunities for effective advertising.
A transcript of this episode is available here: destinationontheleft.com/colleen-knopeck-travel-influencers
In this episode, you will learn about the best social media tips from Jessica Reilly, Associate Consultant, at Break The Ice Media.
Jessica is a graduate of SUNY Plattsburgh with a Bachelor of Arts in Public Relations and Political Science. She started at Break The Ice Media in 2016 and brings with her a duality of knowledge, combining her classical PR training with marketing skills. She has a passion for social media and analytics. Her personal strengths include a love of research, and a strong sense of curiosity. She brings a fresh perspective and attention to detail to all the client projects she works on.
A transcript of this episode is available here: destinationontheleft.com/jessica-reilly-social-media-marketing-tips