Inspiration
Stoke Mountain is a lesson in great marketing I could never do.
BLANCHARD
A new ski hill is coming to Seattle. Sorta.
More skatepark that mountain resort, Stoke Mountain is an indoor facility not too distant from a the Hub at Woodward Park City, except that the only people behind it are a father and son with a dream.
Thanks to the Instagram algorithm, I saw founder Nicholas Scott’s first update back in mid-December and have been following along with a combination of two emotions. First, I’m impressed by how effective the updates have been and how successfully they’re pulled the right levers social media needs in order to get some help from the algorithm. Second, however, I’m embarrassed how my content would both look and perform if someone where dumb enough to ask me to do the same thing.
It’s a style of content, a way of talking, a method of organizing a story, a way of holding your phone, that I have zero practice with. I wouldn’t even know how to replicate. But it works, because it’s worked on me and the 27,000 other people who are now following the Stoke Mountain account.
Behind the scenes, though, I recognize some familiar principles. So let me share some examples through that lens.
1. The Hook
The first post that really got legs was the second ever post on the Stoke Mountain account. Throwing skis into the air for a visual hook, setting down a daunting challenge for a strong second element, and making the opening of the facility the star of this hurdle to overcome combined some really strong ideas.
2. Hammer on the Core
I love that in nearly every video, Nicholas starts be reintroducing the core narrative. He hammers this message home again and again so the whole point of all of these updates is never lost in the more particular parts of the story he tells.
3. Vicarious Journey
Behind-the-scenes content is so strong because it combines a ton of elements humans love. First, it show the raw stages of the story to build trust. Second, it lets people with lower tolerances of risk (**cough** me) to semi-experience this adventure. Third, it gives every part of the final result additional meaning once folks are able to experience the features they’re watching getting built.
4. The Tease
Stoke Mountain isn’t quite open, but they’ve brought a few skiers and riders in to test the features. This does a few things. First, I’m guessing at least some of these skiers have decent followings and, with exclusive access like this, you know they’re going to tell their followers. Second, it proves to everyone this idea is real and the ramps are steep enough and long enough to do some really tricks. Third, it helps them work out any kinks before opening day.
Honestly, this is some fantastic marketing. It’s a style I genuinely would not be able to deliver, but it’s worked amazingly well
Is just Instagram enough to build a sustainable business out of? Maybe not, but it’s certainly enough to give them a wave to rise through the early days of the concept so they can get some cash, get some stoke, and turn this thing into something that’ll be around for a while.
Marketing aside, excited to keep following this story.
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.
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