We are really, really good at marketing ski resorts. And for good reason, we’ve got nearly a hundred years of practice and trial and error that has led us to where we are today. And today’s status is just another step on the journey of learning and progressing.

But what if you’re selling a product that doesn’t have that history?

Something like, say, downhill bike parks?

You could try to build a playbook from scratch. That’s certainly one idea. Or, you could start with a playbook that’s already working. In this case, the playbook for the ski side of the business.

If you were to visit the Whitefish bike park season pass page, you might notice something familiar toward the top.

On the Grand Targhee site, you’d see the list start just below the FAQs.

Schweitzer’s page mentions it in the first paragraph.

And Timberline does similar on theirs.

There are still some ducks to get in a row, it seems – Schweitzer called the group the “Bike Alliance” and Timberline referred to it as the “Dirt Alliance” – but the idea is simple and, thinking of ski playbooks, very familiar:

“The Timberline Bike Park is part of the Dirt Alliance! Purchase a Timberline Bike Park season pass and receive two free Bike Park days at Mt. Bachelor, Grand Targhee, Schweitzer Mountain Resort, and Whitefish Mountain Resort. There are no fees, no collective pass prices, no additional charges of any kind. Simply present your Timberline Bike Park season pass at one of our partner resorts guest services to get your free tickets.”

It’s been fascinating to see the acceleration of bike parks during the last few years. In Utah alone this year Brighton has announced they’re building trails, Solitude is building their first real park, Powder Mountain is opening trails, and Nordic Valley is cleaning up old trails and building new trails for racing this fall and hints at a return to lift-served in the future.

Yes, there are certainly some bike-park-specific tactics that will emerge as marketers get more practice, but I love the simple idea of using what already works during the colder months.

Good stuff and something to build on as momentum with these products increases.

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.