A few weeks ago I shared my enthusiasm for The World Record Ski Lesson effort that Mary Jo, Hugh, and others have created and championed.

If you read that post, you’ll likely remember that I promised Ryan Solutions was going to comp any client emails that were dedicated solely to this cause.

But, whether you use Ryan Solutions or not, I also said I would tell you what campaigns I would send if I were in your shoes. That time has come.

The Pieces
Now, before I share what kind of emails I’d send, let’s back up and remember what makes this such a powerful opportunity.

In a word, it’s meaning. I takes something that’s already fun – skiing and learning to ski – and then layers on top the ability to be part of something – a Guinness World Record.

It’s that one-two punch of fun + meaning is how I’d plan my attack.

Subject Lines
I think it’s probably obvious, but the angle here is the chance to be part of a record. So something like

Be part of a Guinness World Record.
-or-
Your name could go in the record books this January.

Use that to get them to open, use more specific, relevant copy to get them to click.

Copy / Images
Assuming you have a landing page set up or even a product in your store with details about how this works, the email could be as simple as the title, an image, a few lines of copy, and a link to learn more.

As I often say, emails are really good at moving people from their inbox to your website. It’s tough to sell a product in an email, so don’t. Just sell them on the idea of clicking through to a place that is better equipped to do so.

Email Idea #1: Past Beginners
The idea here is to segment off list of people who have taken lessons in the past but suppress those who did return and progress (good indicators might be a season pass or multi-ticket pack purchase) or have transacted at all since then. In other words, they’ve shown intent to learn before, but there’s no indication they ever caught the bug.

Keep the message simple, get them excited about being part of a record, and let your website seal the deal.

Email Idea #2: Core Skiers
This is playing to the “bring a friend” initiative that time and time again has proven to be one of the most effective ways to introduce people to the sport. Build a list of loyal skiers/guests (season passholders would be a great place to start) and use that classic “bring a friend” language to make the ask.

You could even try something a bit different and take the email sent to beginners, add a messages that’s meant to be deleted at the top, and ask them to forward it to someone who they’ve always wanted to see on snow.

Bonus Idea: Bounce Back
I pinged the Ryan Solutions team for more ideas and Kurt Kinscerf shared both a great point and a great idea. He noted that when this big, banner events happen, sometimes the instruction is lost in the crowd.

So, why let the value of this effort end once the record is set? His idea was this:

“What about some sort of bounce back, barcode email that allows all participants to earn a deeply discounted lesson for themselves or a friend later in Learn to Ski month? We can make it fully trackable so we can show true conversion to the actual record day.”

Automated, built to be tracked, geared toward true conversion, further capitalize on record-day enthusiasm…I like that a lot.

A Few More Thoughts
These are two basic ideas, but there are lots of people who have relationships with your resort who could easily be added to either campaign:

• Summer guests with no winter transactions.
• Winter guests who usually come in January (“Bring a Family”).
• People whose only transaction is snow tubing.
• Families in general (“Skip School & Make History”).

It’s a great opportunity to reach non-skiers with a product that has a slightly higher chance of getting them off the couch. Don’t be afraid to experiment, try new things, and see what works.

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.