In college, my Business Law professor used to love to toss our random latin phrases to both sound smart and confuse his students.

If it weren’t for a bizarre combination of name, voice, and facial expressions, he may have accomplished both points instead of just the latter.

But today I want to start with the phrase I lead with in the headline.

Ceteris Paribus
Ceteris paribus is another way of saying, “all other things equal” or “everything else held constant” to preface a question or idea. It’s a way of saying, “ignore the effects of everything else and just focus on this one piece and the effect it might have on the system.”

I want to introduce a content strategy by saying that, ceteris paribus, what Sugarloaf did with their New England Pass videos was a very smart, very clever move.

We all have content strategy ideas, so let’s just focus on this one. If we don’t, just like in that college classroom, we’ll get bogged down in the details and miss the point.

Content With a Purpose?
Here’s the short version. Sugarloaf created a series of short, to-the-point mini-stories about Sugarloafers (which is a big part of their brand). Each one, however, was focused on promoting a product. Moreover, they were focused on promoting a season pass deadline.

I tried to sum that up with a tweet to which Troy Thompson, a super-smart Travel marketing guy, said:

@slopefillers Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa…whoa. You mean we don't create content just to have content? …Whoa.

— Troy Thompson (@travel2dot0) October 1, 2013

Why would that be so shocking? Because, when you look at the vast majority of resort content, it is made simply for the sake of making content with small, more vague goals of engagement, brand awareness, etc.

A Smart Approach
Now, content for the sake of content, if guided by an overarching brand goal or mission, has it’s place. But I absolutely love the idea of content built around products because, and this is kind of the point, if the content wins, the product wins. And if the product wins, the bottom line wins.

So instead of just taking photos/videos/etc, the photos/videos/etc would have a theme.

• Content about the first snow becomes “what passholders who don’t miss tomorrow’s deadline will be skiing next month. [link]”
• Scenic vistas and approaches as “the views people who book during our 33% off sale will enjoy this winter. [link]”

I guess the point I was hoping to pry from my brain’s reluctant grasp was this: content moves me closer to your brand. It does. Every piece of content I consume slowly build the relationship between me and you. Moreover, focus that relationship so every piece of content moves me closer to the same goal.

Instead of leaving me with nothing to do, give me an outlet for our small moment of social media bonding – like what Sugarloaf did.

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.