Every day for more than 10 years I’ve received daily alerts from any mention of resorts in the news. When I sort back though those headlines, some common trends emerge.

• Expansion plans
• Announcements for a new, high-speed lift
• Early openings or extended seasons
• The opening of new hotels/lodges
• New owners buying the mountain
• Big events coming up

Media outlets want compelling stories and these sorts of big money, big change, big crowd angles are as likely as any to get notice and, hopefully, shared.

But what about all the other bits of news?

Sundance’s New Trail

Sundance has a new hiking trail. Now, to be sure, it’s a great trail with great views. But there are a lot of great trails with great views. Many communications folks, myself probably included, might write this off as interesting but nothing that will get headlines. And, for that reason, I’ve only seen a hiking trail show in my alerts a couple times over those years.

But Sundance, very much to their credit, didn’t give up on their story. They gave it a chance.

First, just like with a bigger release, they captured a bunch of beautiful photos rather than just a quick snap with a phone or map illustration showing where it is.

Even< a target="_blank" href="https://www.sundanceresort.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Pahneekavets-Trail-Guide-7.pdf">the trail guide was impressive.

Second, they put in the work to tell a beautiful, compelling story. I didn’t get to see the actual release, but from the snippets in the coverage and their blog post, it’s clear this wasn’t a “well, just toss a quick blog post together about it” afterthought.

And the result? Coverage…on ABC4, Powder, Unofficial, and others.

A Lesson

To me, this is a great lesson in not giving up on a piece of news just because it’s not one of the big, flashy stories.

Large or small, Sundance had a story. And by putting in the work to tell that story well and support it with great visuals, they were able to earn headlines about something other resorts haven’t.

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.