Ski shows. I went to my last show nearly twenty years ago before the last major event disappeared in the Wasatch. Today, marketers are on the fence. Some say it’s a waste of time, others wouldn’t miss them for the world.

So I asked 12 marketers if their resort still invests in ski shows and why/why not. Today I’ll share some of the ways ski show attending resorts get value from these annual traditions.

After some anonymizing to protect specific approaches, here’s what they said.

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EAST

EASTERN RESORT
“Many come up and ask what is your show deal. We sell a product which has a low price point, offers more value than what we sell it for on our web site, and we try to pick off trial at shows. Our metrics tell us that we are still picking off new guests at these events. We’re doing it with salesmanship and offering exclusive show only programs that we can close at the show.”

EASTERN RESORT
“[Our resort] now travels to each ski show with a special offer that is exclusive to attendees of that show. It’s an offer that they must purchase in person at the show and we have staff dedicated to assisting show attendees with their purchases. We keep the offer top secret until the show and it’s always a deal that blows anything offered online or at the ticket window right out of the water. It’s worth the price of admission, as they say.”

WEST

WESTERN RESORT
“Our attendance is driven by our sales team with the marketing department supporting them. In our selection process we look at markets that [our resort] has established and or growing success with skier visits. We use that success as a foundation to build more word of mouth with the end result of driving day visits to our resort.”

WESTERN RESORT
“We now approach the shows as a branding opportunity vs. a sales opportunity. Overall, I’d say the shows are dying. And there is a great opportunity for someone to reinvent the old-school “ski show” into something more relevant to today’s skiers/riders.”

WESTERN RESORT
“We are very selective on the shows we attend. Do we have a direct flight to and from the city? Are we promoting a special product that fits the show? More thought is given to how we measure the success of the shows every year.”

About Gregg & SlopeFillers
I've had more first-time visitors lately, so adding a quick "about" section. I started SlopeFillers in 2010 with the simple goal of sharing great resort marketing strategies. Today I run marketing for resort ecommerce and CRM provider Inntopia, my home mountain is the lovely Nordic Valley, and my favorite marketing campaign remains the Ski Utah TV show that sold me on skiing as a kid in the 90s.