I love Solutide, let me just get that out there. It’s an incredible, overlooked mountain that I am even more excited to keep an eye on now that Deer Valley is at the reigns.

I’ve always loved much of their marketing but, more specifically, the message that exists within their name. To me, that perfectly aligns with a big reason I ski and love the mountains.

With all the aspirational video content that exists, I really liked a more direct approach used by Solutide. Here’s how it goes.

Step #1a) Well-Made, Clear Video Message
The video sends a few, simple messages about parents who have considered taking a ski vacation with their kids:

1. Families of 4 can stay very comfortably.
2. Mom and Dad have options to ski alone if they want/need.
3. The kids won’t get bored when the lifts close.

It’s direct, easy for parents to see themselves in the place of the couple in the video, and does all this in almost exactly 60 seconds.

Step #1b) YouTube Pre-Roll Ad
I first saw this as a YouTube pre-roll ad shown an a video with a very similar focus and message. So far, this video has been watched just under 17,000 times.

At the end of the video is an annotation that lets the viewer click through to the next step.

Step #2) Discount Page and CTA
That step is a simple, concise page with discounts and offers…

…and a large, clear call to action at the bottom. No frills, no waiting for inspiration to turn into action, just a direction message, a direct landing page, and a direct call to action.

Optimize Me
Yes, I would love to see some direct reference to the product I’d need to buy to ski alone with my spouse (“Is it lessons, is it a big group, etc.”). Yes, I wouldn’t mind seeing something like a promo code to “mention” to tie to video to the call center, but that’s the point.

When you start with such a clear, direct structure – moving people from Point A to point B and from Point B to Point C – you’ve established a system that doesn’t have to work right out of the box. Check conversion rates, pause the YouTube campaigns while you tweak, run it again and repeat until you’ve got it right.

I love inspirational content, but I’m even more fond of this type of direct, measurable, optimizeable approach from Solitude. Good stuff.

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.