Cabot Shores brings its wilderness experience to life online through TDAP

For more than two decades, Cabot Shores Wilderness Resort has offered visitors a place to experience Cape Breton through its landscape, culture and community.

Located along the Cabot Trail near Indian Brook, the year-round resort welcomes guests to stay in yurts, domes and chalets, explore nearby beaches and trails, enjoy locally inspired food and live music, or take part in retreats and wellness experiences.

But capturing everything that makes Cabot Shores distinctive — and communicating it to someone who has never visited — is another challenge entirely.

For owner Paul Weinberg, strong digital content gives prospective guests a way to picture themselves at the resort before they arrive.

“This is kind of like an electronic word of mouth because when you make it immediate and personal enough — people can imagine themselves here,” he says.

That could mean seeing a family gathered around a fire, musicians sharing the stage, guests heading out on the water or a meal being served at the resort’s bistro. Together, those moments help convey that Cabot Shores offers more than a place to spend the night.

“We're not just about lodging, we're about experiences,” Weinberg says.

Capturing the Cabot Shores experience

Cabot Shores first participated in the Tourism Digital Assistance Program (TDAP) in 2023.

Funded by Tourism Nova Scotia and administered in partnership with Digital Nova Scotia, TDAP connects eligible tourism businesses with qualified digital consultants. Participants can access up to $5,000 in services to strengthen their online visibility, digital marketing and the online experience they provide to travellers.

Although Cabot Shores already had a website and an active social media presence, Weinberg felt its photography and video content did not fully reflect the quality or breadth of the guest experience.

Through TDAP, the resort worked with a Digital Service Provider who spent time on-site capturing content of the accommodations, food, events and outdoor activities. The resulting collection included photography and videography of everything from canoeing and beach excursions to live music and group gatherings.

Rather than producing content around a staged moment, the project captured Cabot Shores as guests experience it: active, personal and closely connected to its surroundings.

The content has continued to serve the business several years later.

“We've leveraged those pictures in so many places,” Weinberg says.

Cabot Shores has used the assets across its website, blog, social media and promotional materials. The resort can also share the content with retreat organizers, tourism partners and others looking to highlight Cape Breton experiences.

For Weinberg, that long-term usefulness is an important measure of the project’s value.

“I've never had much patience for likes. I'm much more interested in, ‘Does it turn into business?’,” he says.

Turning ongoing change into a story

Cabot Shores returned to TDAP in 2026 with a different digital need.

As a busy year-round operation, the resort continually has new stories to share, but finding time to tell them consistently can be difficult. Paul and his team are responsible for everything from welcoming guests and managing bookings to maintaining accommodations, organizing experiences and overseeing day-to-day resort operations.

“So it's the marketing and selling that creates the energy and the money to do the housekeeping and to do all the other stuff,” he says.

Through its latest TDAP project, Cabot Shores received support with copywriting and the development of a more consistent newsletter. The goal was to create a stronger connection between the resort’s email marketing, website, blog and existing media library.

The newsletter also gave Cabot Shores a way to bring guests along as the property evolved.

After flooding damaged one of its yurts, the resort documented the process of rebuilding and creating a new accommodation in its place. More recent projects—including a chalet and a new bridge-accessed dome—have provided additional stories that can be shared from construction through to completion and, eventually, the first guest stays.

Those updates offer past visitors a reason to reconnect while introducing prospective guests to experiences they may not have known were available.

“The media that you've helped us with is putting us back in people's minds,” Paul says.

The approach also allows Cabot Shores to tailor its message throughout the year. While summer attracts families and international travellers, fall and winter can appeal to couples, retreat groups and guests looking for food, wellness, music or a quieter Cape Breton getaway.

Rather than sending the same message to everyone, the resort can use its digital channels to show different audiences what a stay could look like for them.

Helping rural tourism businesses compete

Paul says programs like TDAP are especially valuable for independent tourism operators working in rural parts of the province.

Cabot Shores employs approximately 20 to 25 people during its busiest periods and maintains a smaller team throughout the winter. Staying open year-round supports local employment while giving visitors and residents access to accommodations, dining, music and other experiences outside the traditional tourism season.

Yet smaller operators are often balancing marketing with every other part of running the business. Access to outside expertise allows them to improve the quality and consistency of their digital presence without stepping away from the work that keeps the operation moving.

“Getting help from TDAP means that whatever level we're at, the media can be at a higher level than the digital contribution that we're able to make,” Paul says.

For Cabot Shores, the results extend beyond polished photos or a more regular newsletter. Paul says the support has helped the resort reach prospective guests, strengthen its visibility in search results and generate business.

“It's really nice to have local support — meaning Nova Scotia. It makes a difference,” he says. “It increases our bookings. It increases our search engine visibility.”

Most importantly, the work helps Cabot Shores translate the feeling of being there into something travellers can see, understand and connect with online.