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After publishing my interview with Michael Rueckert earlier this week, he and I were going back on forth via email about the value of side hustles. As you may know, I am a huge believer in starting things from scratch, learning to build momentum, and finding product market fit all on your own.

So, toward the end of our conversation, I said:

I could fill books with all the lessons I’ve learned from building brands like that from scratch. There’s nowhere to hide and no wave from previous marketers to ride, your marketing either works or it doesn’t. I love it.

I really could fill books with those lessons because that sink-or-swim mentally has been at the core of so many of the most important lessons I’ve learns and strategies I’ve relied on. But I want to talk for a second about the opposite. Because, if I’m being totally honest, there are many days where I wish I had a predictable wave of existing momentum I could tap into.

The truth is, every resort is already riding a massive wave.

These waves comes from the sport as a whole, from last season’s snowfall, from ski media, from recent efforts of the marketing team, and from the cumulative effects of thousands of emails and ads and press releases and logos and banners over decades.

This existing momentum means that whenever someone new takes the reigns at a resort, there’s always a tension between what’s already working and what could work even better. You probably don’t know the market as well as your predecessor, but you also have your own style and lessons and experiences that suggest other ways of working might be better. How much do you keep? How much do you replace? How much of your plan should be filled with trying something new versus sticking with what’s already moving the needle? And for how long?

The way I’ve started to think about this, the more I realize that this isn’t an either/or question. The strategy that seems to work the best is taking what’s already working and applying your unique experience and skills to make it work better.

I think Michael did this really well when it came time to apply the lessons he was learning from his AI platform. Here’s what he said:

When AI sees a consistent message across a range of mediums it deems important, from Reddit to earned media to review platforms, it starts to create strong associations. Snowbasin has always been an industry leader in PR, and this year we doubled down with our No. 1 ranking. This all helped lead to an 88% increase in AI visibility for Utah-based ski resort prompts from January to today.

I love this concept because he’s combining three things:

• He’s recognizing what the resort is already great at.
• He’s connecting the dots between an opportunity and that strength
• He’s trying to do that thing even better to take advantage

That temptation to reinvent the wheel with a totally new strategy or a new website or even a new brand can be strong, but I think the moments that call for this type of pivot are rare. Instead, I think Michael is spot on: marketing is usually much more about connecting the dots between existing waves of momentum and potential new opportunities, and then using your unique skills and creativity to give that swell a little extra energy.

And, at least as I consider my own experience, that seems to hold true. Big, dramatic pivots rarely pay off as much as taking something that’s already working and, leaning into our strengths, finding creative ways to do it even better.

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.