All-Inclusive Resort Nurtures Relationship with Guests
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.
Award-Winning Editor Becomes Renowned JDRF Advocate
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.
Former VP of Communications Excels in PR
Our Maine Maven today is NMC Account Executive Greg Glynn! Greg coordinates strategic planning for clients, including branding, marketing, as well as media and public relations, and writes copy for e-newsletters, press releases and develops multimedia content for NMC clients, including videos and podcasts.
Greg also works with other account executives and account supervisors to plan media events and press conferences. Greg is known for his strong organizational skills and attention to detail.
Prior to joining NMC, Greg worked as the vice president of communications for the American Hockey League’s Portland Pirates, a minor league hockey team in Portland, Maine.
Greg graduated from Quinnipiac University in 2004 with a bachelor’s degree in mass communications and a minor in marketing.
1.) Greg, you used to be the VP of communications for the Portland Pirates. Are there any parallels between your position there and what you do as an account executive at NMC? Are there any striking differences?
Everyday I see parallels between the two positions, especially when it comes to media relations.
During my six years that I spent in the Portland market, I developed so many great relationships with different reporters and public relations people that I still keep in touch with today.
MPBN’s Rooks Discusses the Difference Between Hosting and Reporting
Today’s Maine Maven is MPBN on-air personality Jennifer Rooks. Jennifer joined MPBN in June of 2007 after spending more than13 years at WCSH-TV in Portland and its sister station, WLBZ-TV in Bangor, where she worked as a general assignment reporter and weekend news anchor.
Since 1994, Jennifer has covered a broad number of Maine issues in every corner of the state.
She has twice won an Edward R. Murrow award: In 1998, for coverage of Maine National Guard and Reserve soldiers deployed in Bosnia and Hungary, and in 2003, for the documentary “Citizen King,” about independent Governor (and former Maine Watch host) Angus King.
Jennifer grew up outside Atlanta, Georgia. She earned her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Virginia, and her master’s in journalism from the University of California at Berkeley.
Jennifer worked at television stations in San Francisco and Monterey, California, before coming to Maine. She and her husband Mike have two children.
1.) Jennifer, you have been an on-air television personality on a network station, WCSH, and on a PBS station, MPBN. What are the differences between the topics you cover?
At MPBN, I host Maine Watch – a half-hour public affairs program. I focus much less on the breaking news each day than I did at WCSH, and much more on the broader issues affecting the state.
For example, last week, we focused the entire Maine Watch program on the idea of creating an East-West highway in Maine.
If I were reporting daily news, I would have covered the topic differently… I might have attended the public hearing about the East-West highway bill and produced a 2-minute story for the 6:00 news.
Another obvious difference is that I no longer stand outside in cruddy weather for StormCenter! ;-)
Maine Adventure Resort President Develops Effective Social Media Strategies
Today’s Maine Maven is Northern Outdoors President Russell Walters. Northern Outdoors is one of Maine’s year-round outdoor adventure resorts, offering whitewater rafting, hiking, fishing, hunting, snowmobiling, leadership retreats, and more at its base in Western Maine.
Born in England and now living in Kingfield, Russell is a leader in the outdoor industry, a former board member of the Adventure Travel Trade Association, a member of the Maine Tourism Commission, and co-founder of AdventureRes, a reservations and management solution for Adventure Travel operators.
In his spare time, Russell enjoys hiking, skiing, snowmobiling and rafting with his two sons and wife, Sheryll.
1.) Russell, you have always been eager to try new marketing techniques and tools.
What do you feel has been the biggest change in marketing over the course of your career?
Two things stand out as the biggest changes in marketing that I have experienced: 1) User-generated content, and 2) exponentially greater distribution of marketing messages/promotions at a 1-to-1 level.
With the advent of social media, we have found our guests are doing a great deal of “marketing” for us, by way of their user-generated content talking about their experiences of their Maine vacation with Northern Outdoors. They do this on multiple channels, in their own words, which become powerful, focused, relevant marketing messaging for us.
Our job is to then focus on delivering the highest quality vacation experiences that make a guest want to share it with their friends!
The resultant distribution of marketing outreach and promotions is at a scale, depth, and relevancy unparalleled by anything I’ve experienced during my career, thanks to online distribution channels. This means that our marketing works so much more efficiently and travels so much further than anything we could have afforded to do pre-internet (for example, TV, radio, or print advertising/PR).
National Dress in Blue Day
Several NMC staff members wore blue today for National Dress in Blue Day. The day was organized to help raise awareness about colon cancer as part of National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month.
"For a Future Free of Colon Cancer"
Learn more about the Colon Cancer Alliance at www.ccalliance.org.
Travel and Explore Internationally, Cook and Eat Locally
Our Maine Maven today is Kathy Bechtel, culinary director of Italiaoutdoors, local chef, and TV show host.
After a career as a telecommunications engineer, Kathy retired and enrolled in culinary school. She graduated at the top of her class in 2004. Since then, she has worn many cooking hats, including leading cooking classes, catering, and as a personal chef.
Early in 2010, Vernon McClure approached Kathy about joining efforts to offer unique active culinary and wine tours in Italy. Kathy pairs a passion for sharing the amazing foods and wines in regions of Italy with her position at Italiaoutdoors.
Kathy complements Vernon’s expertise in recreational programming with an equally strong food and wine program. Their goal is to introduce guests to the incredible diversity of the regional cuisines and local wines they experience first hand each visit to Italy.
Kathy currently divides her time in the US between Newburyport, MA and Sugarloaf, ME. She works full-time as a ski instructor during the winters at Sugarloaf, and enjoys hiking, biking, and golfing in the warmer months. When not in the kitchen, outside is where you’ll find Kathy.
From Social Media to Stickers: PR Pro Successfully Communicates Ski Brand
Today’s Maine Maven is Ethan Austin, communications manager at Sugarloaf. A graduate of Tufts University with degrees in English and environmental studies, Ethan has been a member of Sugarloaf’s Marketing team since 2005, serving as communications manager since 2008.
Ethan is a native of Wales, Maine, and grew up skiing at Sugarloaf in the winters and hiking and fishing the surrounding mountains during the summer months.
An outdoor enthusiast, Ethan is an avid skier, cyclist, and hiker, and completed a continuous thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail in 2005. He was named one of Ski Area Management magazine’s “Top 30 Under 30” in 2011.
Ethan currently lives in Kingfield with his wife Rebecca.
Social Media: One Part of the Ski Industry PR Puzzle
Happy Monday! Today’s Maine Maven is award winning ski journalist Heather Burke from Kennebunk, Maine, with over fifteen years of ski news coverage.
Heather’s husband Greg provides ski photos to accompany her work. Heather’s ski review websites, www.familyskitrips.com and www.luxuryskitrips.com, have extensive reviews on skiing in New England, as well as the West, and Canada, plus news on the latest trends in skiing and snowboarding.
1.) Heather, you and Greg embraced Web technology early on for your writing and PR efforts.
What compelled you to jump on the Web bandwagon when you did?
We launched our first ski site, www.familyskitrips.com, in 1998 as a resource for skiing families. Our kids were young and there were no helpful sites for skiing families like ours.
We knew the power of the web, and wanted to share reviews of the many ski resorts we had visited and provide tips for teaching your kids to ski.
With Greg’s marketing savvy (he started his marketing agency IMS-21 in 1995) and his photography skills, we developed extensive content for skiing families.
In 2008, we launched www.luxuryskitrips.com as a sister site geared more toward sophisticated ski travel with reviews of luxury ski resort lodging, heli-skiing, and high-end ski vacations. Our two sites should surpass half a million visitors this year.
Developing Personas to Help with Targeting
Happy Wednesday! During my workshop at the Governor’s Conference on Tourism, I spoke about creating personas to better target your markets. This is a fun exercise and I encourage you to do it.
Break down your customers or guests into three or four categories. Then create a fictitious person or couple to represent each customer group.
For example, if you own a seaside resort in Maine, you might have the following personas:
1. Eleanor and Harry: They come from Marblehead, Massachusetts and they used to own a Hinckley Yacht. They now live in a retirement community for active adults.
Since they can’t manage their yacht on their own anymore, they sold it, but they still like to look at sailboats as they cruise by the lawn of your resort.
They drive a Mercedes Benz and they are enjoying a comfortable retirement. Harry worked as a physician and Eleanor was a stay-at-home mom who took care of their four children who are all married now and have two children each of their own.
They read Smithsonian Magazine and listen to National Public Radio.
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