Today I am experimenting with a new type of post. The inspiration comes from my own follies. Sometimes, I get so focused on my marketing tasks at hand, the ones I face and deal with on a regular basis, that when a new problem or hurdle arises I’m stumped. I may have a few ideas, but none of those golden ones that come from letting the issue simmer on the brain for a while.

I want to combine this issue with two other factors. First, there is a ton of marketing talent reading this blog. The marketers I have met since starting SlopeFillers 7 months ago have blown me away. Second, there are a lot of resorts that don’t have access to talent like yours. Here is my proposition.

My goal is to get a semi-regular “what would you do?” post started. Provided with a few basic, somewhat vague details, take a few minutes to come up with some ideas of what you would do if you were the marketing director of the resort I describe. The key here is if we can all start to share some of these ideas in the comments section of the post. This will do three things:

• Spark more ideas by reading others’
• Get feedback on your own
• Help the resort that is being described in the post

This idea may crash and burn, but it may be a great new source of marketing ideas and inspiration for everyone. Only one way to find out. We’ll begin with this situation:

TICKET SALES DOWN, NO BUDGET LEFT
You are a marketing director at a small, family friendly ski area that, unlike most years where the snow is good, has suffered from poor, icy conditions and a late start to the season. Ticket sales are down 30% from last year, the marketing budget is nearly gone. What programs, events, etc. would you throw together to quickly jump-start ticket sales and finish the season strong?

Brainstorm a few ideas and if you feel generous share any you’re willing to below or any feedback you have on this type of post.

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.