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Barks, Bellows and Grunts at World Invitational Moose Calling Championship

 

Many strange noises may be heard coming from the Rangeley region during the weekend of June 22-24, 2012. The Rangeley Region Guides’ and Sportsmen’s Association (RRGSA) has been selected to host the annual Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Moose Lottery drawing.

In celebration of this honor, the Rangeley Lakes Region invites sportsmen from across the state and their families to a three-day festival featuring the World Invitational Moose Calling Championship.

Check out the video below of Maine Guide Roger Lambert for an accurate (and entertaining!) moose calling demonstration. Thanks to our friends at Maine Today Media for this great clip!

Click here for more information about the moose-calling event.

Moose calling with Maine Guide Roger Lambert 
Video by MaineToday Media, Inc.

Seek out Real Relationships in Life and Beware of How You Present Yourself to the World in Social Media

 

Credit: "The Atlantic"

Last week I had the pleasure of speaking to the graduating class at Thomas College, which is where I earned my MBA in 1994.

I told the graduates that the good news is that they may be earning their diplomas but the bad news is that the learning cannot stop.

Technology is changing at such a pace that they need to use their education to continue to learn every day. I’ve encouraged my employees to keep pace with changing technology in communications so we can use the most up-to-date techniques and tactics for our clients.

I also referred to an article in the current edition of “The Atlantic” magazine called “Is Facebook Making us Lonely?” by Stephen Marche that talks about how social media is replacing real relationships between people.

Many people have lots of “friends” in social networks but in all reality they are extremely lonely. This is very sad to me.

I encouraged the grads to know the difference between a Facebook friend and a ‘real’ friend who you know and trust. My mantra has been and will always be that social media should supplement real relationships, not replace them.

Credit: "The Atlantic"

Finally, I encouraged the grads to be mindful of their online profile as they go out and look for a job. I asked them to Google themselves and see what comes up.

I related the story of a grad from another college who wanted to work for NMC a couple years ago and he was sure he was the ideal candidate. But when I pulled up his profile on Facebook, there were photos of him getting drunk and acting in a way that I would consider to be unprofessional.

I said that presenting yourself to the world in this way is not the best route to get a professional position.

Thanks to Bob Moore, the director of advancement at Thomas, for asking me to share my thoughts with this year’s graduates.

I hope that my words had an impact on the students and helped them realize that the way you ‘package’ yourself for a professional career will influence your job search significantly, and that social media should enhance their real relationships (it’s “social” for a reason).

All-Inclusive Resort Nurtures Relationship with Guests

Monday Maine Maven

 

Today’s Maine Maven is Mark Osborn, the general manager at NMC client Linekin Bay Resort (LBR). Osborn, a New Jersey native, has been the G.M. at the Boothbay Harbor resort since 2010, but his family connection to the property goes back nearly 100 years.

LBR General Manager Mark Osborn on vacation in Peru

Osborn’s grandmother, Martha, was a counselor in the 1920s at Linekin Bay Camps – the summer camp for girls started in 1919 by Grove and Elizabeth Branch. The girls’ camp was transformed into the current family vacation resort in 1946.

The Osborn family later began spending summers on Linekin Bay, and occasionally stayed at the resort, which is now owned by the third generation of the Branch family and is New England’s only all-inclusive sailing resort.

Osborn owned and operated The Thistle Inn in Boothbay Harbor for four years, converting the property to a fine dining and lodging establishment in 2003.

As the G.M. at LBR Osborn has added a public restaurant and bar, overseen upgrades and improvements to guest accommodations and common spaces, overhauled the resort website and strengthened the resort’s reputation as a popular wedding destination during the early and late summer season.

Osborn has a business degree from Ithaca College, and enjoys traveling and seeking out new culinary experiences.

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Sharing the Importance of “Real” Relationships

 

This afternoon, Nancy is speaking at the Thomas College convocation about the relationship between social media and career success.

Nancy will share with the graduates that they need to build real relationships that are supported by social media rather than the opposite.

Photo credit: Thomas College Facebook page

Nancy received her MBA from Thomas in 1994 and is looking forward to speaking today.

Photo credit: Thomas College Facebook page

Add Enthusiasm and Passion to Generate Powerful Marketing Campaigns

 

When Angus King was governor of Maine, he told me that he thought he and I were among the most enthusiastic residents of the state.

He said, “You don’t have to be the smartest person, but if you are the most enthusiastic person, it will carry you a long way.”

Hmm…now that I think of it, I am not sure that was such a compliment since he might have meant I had more enthusiasm than intelligence. But knowing Angus, I think he meant that he valued my sense of enthusiasm about public relations and marketing.

I am currently reading a new book by Dr. Wayne W. Dyer called “Excuses Begone!” about how to hyper-charge your life to give it meaning and fulfillment. Dyer describes passion as the secret sauce, which, when added to your work, can take ordinary projects and turn them into fabulously successful projects.

He’s not talking about the kind of passion you feel when you fall in love for the first time, although I believe the same chemistry may be involved. He’s talking about connecting deeply and intensely with the people, the purpose and the messages you are communicating.  It’s like falling in love with your work and infusing it with the same kind of adulation you feel for the people you love most in this world.

I’ve always felt that enthusiasm and passion are necessary for success in any marketing campaign or program.

For example, if you’re pitching a story to a journalist, you have to tell it in such a compelling way that he or she will want to retell it to their audience.

If you’re creating an ad or a brochure for a client, you need to embrace the essence of what you’re communicating to make sure it connects in a laser-like way with the intended audience.

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Local Nonprofit Spreads Message of Empowerment Through Social Media, Website and Employees

Monday Maine Maven

 

Our Monday Maine Maven today is Darryl Wood, the executive director of Life Enrichment Advancing People, Inc., better known locally as LEAP.

LEAP is a nonprofit agency providing a variety of residential type supports for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

The support required for individuals is based on functional needs and is developed through Person Centered Planning.

Providing individualized support to people in Central and Western Maine, LEAP works to empower persons to lead joyful lives with dignity, independence, and autonomy.

Darryl has a medical background in nursing. He is interested in leadership and best practices for nonprofits, as well as supporting people with IDD.

On a personal level, Darryl loves to spend time with his family and in the outdoors. An avid sportsman and woodlands wanderer, he maintains a Maine Guides license, in hopes that someday there is part of a living in that.

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Is Your Brand Ready for an Audit?

 

How to deposit into your customer’s memory bank and accrue interest

 By Renée Black, NMC Account Coordinator and Graphic Designer

You’ve got an excellent handle on your company’s marketing plan this year. You’re doing traditional advertising, you’ve got a website, you’re doing cost-per-click (CPC) marketing, and you’re even on Facebook and Twitter!

You’re doing everything you can to make sure you’re up-to-date on the latest trends and working hard to hit your targeted demographic, but (there’s always a “but”) are you maximizing your impressions?

As a marketer, of course, your ultimate goal is to affect your audience in such a way that they will remember your brand, service, and/or product. When a message is received, the brain undergoes a series of cognitive processes to categorize where and how the memory will be mentally filed.

Will your message be filed under short-term, long-term, or sensory memory, or will your message simply be forgotten? The strategy and consistency of your messaging contributes to how (and if) the viewer will categorize your brand.

Extensive research shows that repetition and consistency hold certain power to persuade human behavior. Several studies have concluded that it requires at least seventeen impressions of a brand before a consumer will consider a product trial.

If you have several competitors within your market, it may take even longer for your audience to actively associate your brand with your product. To achieve best results and maximize your return on investment (ROI), you should conduct a “communications audit” to evaluate just how effective your impressions are.

A communications audit consists of five key factors that contribute to brand consistency and thus, effectiveness.

 

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Award-Winning Editor Becomes Renowned JDRF Advocate

Monday Maine Maven

 

Writer and advocate Moira McCarthy is today’s Monday Maine Maven. Moira was an award-winning newspaper editor and investigative crime reporter before she reached her goal of working as a top ski writer.

Moira was east editor for Snow Country Magazine and is currently a contributing editor at SKI Magazine, SKI AREA Management Magazine and is the weekly winter sports columnist for the Boston Herald.

She has published five books on everything from golf to skiing, to raising a child with diabetes to raising teen girls (the last would star Linda Blair, were it a screenplay).

Moira was president of the Massachusetts American Cancer Society and president of her children’s school PTO (where she raised 100 times more than any other president had in one year).

When Moira’s youngest daughter, Lauren, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, she turned all of her donation time to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) and its mission for a cure.

Moira has served on almost every committee of JDRF’s International Board, was “ChairMom” of their International Children’s Congress, president of the New England chapter and was named JDRF International Volunteer of the year.

Moira is an avid tennis player and holds a number of club championships and is a tepid golfer who holds some really cute golf hats. She lives in Plymouth, Mass. with her husband, Sean. Moira’s daughter Leigh, 25, is a teacher. Lauren, now 20, is thriving as a student at George Mason University majoring in – what else? — political communications.

Moira considers herself part Maniac because she’d skied with Paul Schipper and has made jello shots from a Maine cookbook.

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Schooner Mary Day is Ready for Spring

 

At NMC we’ve been noticing signs of spring’s arrival throughout Maine. We’ve felt it at our offices in Augusta and North Anson, and we hear about it from our friends and clients around the state.

Today’s Fab Foto features our friends of the schooner Mary Day in Camden. With spring upon them, Captains Barry King and Jen Martin are busy booking windjammer vacations, sharing news on their Facebook page, and, most importantly, getting the beautiful schooner Mary Day ready for the season!

Below is a photo of Captain King and his crew after uncovering Mary Day this past weekend (photo credit to Mary Day’s crew member Zachary Simonson Bond).

Make sure to read Captain King’s own blog to see more of the uncovering process at MaineWindjammerBlog.com.

Captain King and his crew uncover the schooner Mary Day. Photo credit: Zachary Simonson Bond

 

Can’t Stand Writing? Then You’ll Want to Read This.

Maine is and has always been a destination for creative people.

Artists like Andrew Wyeth and Winslow Homer, writers like Edna St. Vincent Millay and Harriet Beecher Stowe, and musicians like Noel Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul and Mary fame have lived and made their art here. Even modern-day celebs such as John Travolta, Kirstie Alley and Kurt Russell spend their vacation time here.

These are just a few of the names of people who have found Maine’s beautiful landscape to be an inspiration for their creativity.

As valuable as new ideas are to creativity, basic skills like good writing also play an integral role to a work’s success. NMC Integrated Marketing Communications Strategist Jennifer Boes shares today’s Witty Wisdom about the value of good writing

I hope this piece inspires you as much as it does me to take your writing to new heights.

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