Our award-winning Creator House is back, and we're calling all creators in Canada, USA, Ireland, UK, and Germany to apply for CREATOR COAST NOVA SCOTIA! You can choose from one of 17 different themed trips, travel between now and early in 2025, and report on this glorious Canadian province to your audience.
Calling all creators! We've got two big opportunities for you: 1/ We are recruiting once again for Viator, see this page to apply to participate; 2/ If you are an Alberta (or nearby) based social media influencer, we're planning a trip to Lethbridge in late July to launch some exciting new tours. See this page to apply for this opportunity!
Did you know that this year is the 150th anniversary of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police? If you see ads on your digital channels about their famous Musical Ride going to Fort Macleod, Alberta, in July, that's us who is running those ads for our repeat client, Tourism Fort Macleod! Keep your eyes peeled for that, and for other promotions this summer on how to enjoy that fun town and area.
This summer, we're thrilled to help get the word out about Nova Scotia Summer Fest! We'll be taking over their social accounts, kicking off their email marketing intiative, and reporting live from the event in August. Come find us there!
Are you heading to the Travel Media Association of Canada conference in Sudbury in June? If so, don't miss seeing our very own Pete Heck offer his thoughts on a panel called "Monetizing Your Travel Media Business".
We're so excited to announce a new relationship with Great Canadian Trails. As avid travelers and hikers in our own beautiful country, this is a dream job! Watch their social media channels soon to see our work in action.
After a successful influencer campaign in the spring, we're pleased to be entering into a longer-term relationship with Tourism Lethbridge to advise on further digital marketing strategies.
We are thrilled, once again, to announce our continuing relationship with Viator to expand their influencer marketing program. If you are a creator undertaking some cool travel through February of 2023 and want to partner to promote some Viator tours, complete this form to express your interest.
If you happen to be in Columbus Ohio for the AAA Great Vacations Travel Expo on October 9, 2022, watch for our CEO Dalene to be speaking on "60 Lessons Learned from 60 Countries Visited".
Our CEO Dalene is excited to be taking the stage to present her popular workshop "The Science of Storytelling" at the Annual Tourism Summit and Awards Gala for the Tourism Industry Association of New Brunswick in early November.
We are very pleased to announce a new campaign for a new client - Greater Sudbury, Ontario. Influencers who are interested in traveling to Sudbury this summer to participate can find more information and apply here before July 5, 2022.
After many inquiries for creator consulting services, we are pleased to announce that we are now offering this to any content creator looking to elevate their business. Tap into our decades of cumulative experience to help refine your pitch, negotiate brand contracts, and so much more. Further info can be found here.
We are so pleased to announce our new client - Tourism Lethbridge - to execute an influencer marketing campaign this summer, celebrating new food experiences in the region.
The first Viator campaign in the fall of 2021 was such a success that we are so pleased to once again be helping to boost their brand by working with influencers!
In just over two years, our tourism blog - RoadTripAlberta.com - has seen such great success that we've decided to grow the empire! Introducing RoadTripManitoba.com - created in partnership with Winnipeg-based writer Brenna Holeman, is now live and ready to
We hope to see you at TravelCon in Tennessee in late April/early May, and our founders are proud to have been invited to speak! Join their session to learn about finding success with niche websites.
We're excited to continue our work in southern Alberta and welcome the Fort Macleod Cultural Heritage Tourism Alliance as a new client. We're helping build their new website by providing much-needed content in the way of photos, copywriting, and downloadable itineraries for the region.
We are pleased to be working with The Fort Museum of the NWMP and First Nations Interpretive Centre in Fort Macleod, Alberta. Not only will be shooting new promotional content (video and photos) for their website, but we’ll also be developing a social media marketing strategy and designing content for their social channels.
For the past two years, we’ve received hundreds of proposals from a variety of influencers around the globe to participate in tourism campaigns that involve travel. And so we’ve done what any good spreadsheet-nerds would do, we dove deep into the data to help you – the tourism professional – set your budgets and prepare for negotiations. Visit this page to download this FREE resource (and others)!.
What started as a side-project for our team to practice and test our skills in SEO, content, and social media marketing has turned into a true blogging force. We are so proud to have earned a bronze medal in the category of “Best Independent Travel Blog” for our work on RoadTripAlberta.com from the North American Travel Journalists Association! See the entire list of winners here.
We’re adding “professor” to our resume right now! Our founders, Dalene and Pete Heck, are currently developing a course for the Barcelona School of Tourism, Hospitality, and Gastronomy entitled “Content Creation for Tourism Professionals”. This will be a culmination of their combined decades of experience in developing award-winning content for the travel industry. Watch for registration to be announced this spring.
We pride ourselves on our marketing prowess for new businesses, which is why we know that working with Pixel Lights will be so rewarding! From website development to content creation, copywriting, and more, our start-up marketing package will ensure they get off on the right foot.
Unless you’re new here, you must know that our first love is travel! That is why we’re so thrilled to be helping the innovative Country of the Week find curious new customers via assistance with their social media marketing.
Our home city of Lethbridge boasts a low-cost operating environment for businesses and for living! To push this and other “Choose Lethbridge” core messages further in western Canada and beyond, we’re happy to be tapped to help Economic Development Lethbridge with an influencer marketing campaign scheduled for the spring of 2021.
As big fans of our home city of Lethbridge, Alberta, we’re thrilled to welcome the Lethbridge Lodging Association as one of HMI’s newest clients. HMI will immediately be leading all marketing efforts of their brand Visit Lethbridge, including content development, social media management, and influencer marketing.
We’re so pleased to welcome Sherpa Tours as one of HMI’s valued new clients. Sherpa Tours is an innovative app that offers high-quality GPS guided walking tours led by an AR guide, with over 130 tours available in over 80 cities! The tours were each created by local guides and experts, many of whom have MA or PhD degrees. HMI will immediately be leading the social media efforts of Sherpa Tours and later, we’ll work on influencer marketing initiatives.
The Creator House concept is in action once again! This time, it has become Creator Coast as it takes over the beautiful province of Nova Scotia for a week in August, and another in September. In partnership with Tourism Nova Scotia, we are aiming to invite influential creators from across Canada and the world. More details can be found here.
We’re excited to welcome Drop Zone Golf Center as a client. As a new business, and the only indoor golf facility in Lethbridge, Alberta, we’re pleased to assist with website development and social media marketing services to kick-start the growth.
The Creator House concept has won another award, this time winning an IABC Gold Quill award of merit for Creator House Calgary. Starting last August, Tourism Calgary and Travel Alberta welcomed 22 influencers over 3 months who were all given the freedom and resources to curate their own Calgary experience. The program exceeded all expectations by showcasing more than 70 tourism partners to more than 3 million potential travelers on Instagram and Youtube. The full list of award winners can be found here.
We are so pleased to announce the first Creator House to take place outside of Canada! In partnership with South Bohemia Tourism in Czech Republic, we are so pleased to run a Creator House based in its capital city of České Budějovice. Qualified creators will be eligible for five nights in the city and access to the surrounding region.
The 2020 ambassadors for HMI client Trover have been announced! Follow along as Alesha & Jarryd ( @nomadasaurus), Tyler Glass ( @tylerwayneglass), Sarah Kim ( @lusttilldawn), Allison Anderson ( @photoallison), and the Hambrick family ( @thetravelingchild) share details of their exciting year ahead promoting the Trover brand.
In partnership with QuébecOriginal, we are so pleased to bring Creator House to eastern Canada for the first time. Qualified creators will be warmly welcomed to one (or more!) of five different regions of Québec over three weeks in March, in order to experience the magic of a Canadian winter.
We are excited to announce that our long-standing relationship with the mobile app Trover (owned by Expedia), specifically for influencer marketing, will be continuing into 2020.
HMI has received a W3 “Best in Show” Award for our Creator House Banff campaign. The W3 Award winners are chosen by the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts, and we share the honours with such big brands as BMW, Crayola, Johnnie Walker, and more. (The full winner’s list is here.) Many thanks once again to our partners at Travel Alberta, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, and the phenomenal creators who all took a chance on the Creator House concept and made it an outstanding success.
In our ongoing commitment to help improve your storytelling skills as they relate to tourism marketing, we have published this resource: “Storytelling with Social Media”. Download it today for free!
It’s a rare occurence to be recognized in the Washington Post, but that is exactly what happened today for HMI’s founders, and then again a few days later in print, on the front page of the travel section.
Regional ambassadors have been chosen for this year’s #CBTAmbassador campaign for the Canadian Badlands. Follow the hashtag and our ambassadors on Instagram for a deep look at their stellar base of work: Ryan Kiedrowski ( @rykieimagesevents), Tara Hodge ( @tara_h03), Kandra Forbes ( @kforbes_photography), Kurtis and Chelsey Hawkins ( @kurtisandchelsey), Kyle Bullock ( @theBullockLife), Joel Fabrick ( @joelfabrick), and Cory Skretting ( @coralee_marie).
For Southwest Alberta, the #MySouthernAB ambassdors are: Dena Lewis ( @bigskyfarmer), Brittany Siebert ( @britt.sieb), Brad Hepworth ( @bradhepworthphotography), and Lisa Kinnear ( @bound_for_mountain).
Adding onto our recent announcement of continuing the ambassador program with the Canadian Badlands, we are also adding on a new region of Southwest Alberta! Watch for new and exciting content from this beautiful region of Alberta.
In partnership with Travel Alberta, Tourism Calgary, and Residence Inn by Mariott Downtown Calgary/Beltline District, we are so pleased to announce the third edition of Creator House to run from August 6th through October, 2019, in Calgary, Alberta. Creators will be invited to enjoy up to five days in Calgary and the surrounding areas and share their experiences with the world. More details can be found here.
In continuation of a successful ambassador program that HMI has executed over the last two summers, we are pleased to announce that our relationship with the Canadian Badlands will continue. This summer, watch for ambassadors living in the Badlands to create exciting content from their home region.
After weeks of painstaking analysis, we have released our latest review on The Truth About Influence on Instagram . Of the 200 influencers we studied, 65% of them are currently engaging in shady behaviour to boost their Instagram following and/or engagement. More revelations can be found in this article.
Results from the very first Creator House, currently wrapping up in Banff, Alberta, are beginning to pour in! It has been a tremendous success on all accounts, as evidenced by this article released by Travel Alberta.
Introducing a beautiful new website built specifically for our Creator House initiative, with illustrations done by the talented Becky Hill. Watch for updates showcasing new content, case studies, and announcements of where it is going next!
We’re thrilled to welcome new client Club Adventures (powered by AAA Exclusive Vacations) to HMI. As a part of our first campaign, five influencers will be heading out on exciting trips across the globe. The influencers include Sherry Ott of Ottsworld, Brenna Holeman of This Battered Suitcase, Rachel Orth of Angie Away, our own Pete Heck of Hecktic Travels, and Erick Prince of Minority Nomad. This first trip begins at the end of March, search #ClubAdventures on all major networks to follow along.
Join our founders, Dalene and Pete Heck, at TravelCon this coming June in Boston, USA. They will be speaking to influencers about effectively working with brands.
In partnership with Travel Manitoba and Inn at the Forks, we are so pleased to announce the second edition of Creator House to run from June 25th through August, 2019, in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Creators will be invited to enjoy up to five days in Winnipeg and the surrounding areas and share their experiences with the world. More details can be found here.
The 2019 ambassadors for HMI client Trover have been announced! Follow along as Jeff Bartlett, Oneika Raymond, Mike Corey, Audrey Bergner, Rob & Nat from Love and Road, and Jules & Christine from Don’t Forget to Move share details of their exciting year ahead promoting the Trover brand.
The awardees for the very first HMI Storytelling Scholarships have been announced! Read about the talented recipients, plus a message from our CEO on why she started the #ShareBetterStories program, in this blog post.
In partnership with Travel Alberta and Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, we are so pleased to announce the very first #CreatorHouseAB to run January through March, 2019, in Banff, Alberta. Creators will be invited to enjoy up to five days in Banff and the surrounding areas and share their experiences with the world. More details can be found here.
We are excited to announce that our long-standing relationship with the mobile app Trover, specifically for influencer marketing, will be continuing into 2019. Watch for exciting changes as we launch a top-tier ambassador program. Details to be announced soon.
Our CEO Dalene Heck will be speaking at the International Indigenous Tourism Conference on “Working with Influencers”. The event will be held on October 30-31, 2018, on Treaty 6 Territory and in the Homeland of the Métis, at TCU Place in Saskatoon.
Our CEO and COO, Dalene and Pete Heck, will be speaking at the Rocky Mountain Social Summit on “The Science of Storytelling”. The event will be held on March 5-6, 2019, in Banff, Alberta.
At HMI, we believe in the power of stories. And we want to help travel bloggers up their game! We are thrilled to introduce the first HMI Scholarships. We will be awarding seven people access to Mike Sowden’s “Engage: A Storytelling Course for Bloggers” and the application process opens on October 1st, 2018. For more details, click here.
After a successful summer job with HMI, we are pleased to welcome Sophie Schneider as a permanent member of our team while she continues her studies in communications at Mount Royal University.
The ambassadors chosen for this year’s #CBTAmbassador campaign for the Canadian Badlands. Follow the hashtag and our ambassadors on Instagram for a deep look at their stellar base of work: @brokencurfew; @tara_h03; @kindredspiritsphotography; @rykieimagesevents; @smashley1991; @palomadelapaznavarro; @prairieeyes; @kforbes_photography; @jaimevedres; @julielowellcan; @_bozlo_ ; @nurselovesfarmr; @peachtreee_; @hecktictravels; @travelswbaggage.
HMI has been named a finalist for “Social Agency of the Year” at the second annual Hashtag Awards, as put on by SocialWest, the largest digital marketing conference on the Prairies. The awards will be announced in Calgary on June 13, 2018.
We’re so pleased to welcome Kaira Weatherall to the HMI team! Studied in Communication Arts, Kaira is a passionate graphic artist with expertise in social media management and marketing.
After completing two successful content marketing campaigns for World Expeditions in 2017, we are embarking on a third to begin this summer. We will be inviting adventurous bloggers to share their #BestMountainTreks from around the globe – watch for their exciting stories to be shared via that hashtag across social media.
In continuation of a successful ambassador program last summer, we are pleased to announce that our relationship with the Canadian Badlands will continue. This summer, watch for ambassadors in new areas within the Badlands create exciting content from their home region.
We are pleased to announce that our CEO, Dalene Heck, will be joining the Board of Directors for the Destination Management Organization in her home city of Lethbridge, Alberta. Dalene is very excited to contribute and for the personal growth that such an opportunity will bring.
Last summer, HMI led an exciting influencer marketing campaign with the Canadian Badlands. It involved the Canadian icon Tom Jackson, four influencers from across North America, and the talented local videographer Luke Fandrich. Luke’s first beautiful video of the project has been released, with more to come.
Join the HMI team and a score of prominent Canadian influencers in the next #AllTravelChat Twitter sponsored by Tourism Nova Scotia. The chat will take place on April 26th at 1pm EST/10am PST.
HMI has signed Brendan Van Son for a second 3-month round of ambassadorship with our long-standing client Trover (Expedia), to supplement the monthly influencer marketing campaigns we have been coordinating for over a year. Brendan has contributed significantly to the Trover mandate of app downloads and an engaged community, and we look forward to further developments.
Our CEO and COO, Dalene and Pete Heck, have signed on to speak at the inaugural Travelcon, scheduled to be held in Austin, Texas, on September 20-22, 2018. Focused towards an audience of content creators, they will be presenting on “How to Work With Travel Brands.” The event quickly sold out, but a waiting list is available.
We are pleased to announce that our CEO, Dalene Heck, will be speaking at the HOST Tourism Saskatchewan conference on April 12th, 2018, in Regina, Saskatchewan. Dalene’s speech is titled “What’s Your Story?” and focuses on using the science of storytelling to drive home tourism marketing messages. More on the conference here.
Our popular ebook How to Work With Travel Influencers has gotten a facelift, and included some valuable new updates. Read the glowing reviews and download your free copy here.
We are so pleased to announce our new relationship with Heritage Inn for 7 lunch-and-learn sessions on social media training for small businesses, to be held throughout April in High River, Alberta. Get your tickets here.
Today we welcome Tawny Bertolozzi as a new Project Manager with HMI. Tawny came to us most recently from the Chinook Country Tourism Association, and brings with her a wealth of experiences from running FAM tours to creating quality content. She was recognized with an ALTO Award (from Travel Alberta) for Marketing Excellence in 2016 and is a significant addition to our team.
Find our own HMI Project Manager Megan Stetzel and a score of other fabulous speakers at the Women in Travel Summit in Quebec City from May 4-6, 2018. Megan will be leading a talk entitled “Next Level Pinterest: From Social to Search Engine” to shift your thinking with this platform from being a social to search, and take your strategy to the next level.