If all goes as planned (which it never does), today is the day i’ll become a past-skier in your database that resides within a puzzle very few marketers have been able to crack.

I’ll go from a young skier with time, money, and the ability to travel in one moment, to exactly the opposite in the next. Instead of getting 30 days on the snow next season, I may only get 5 or 10. Instead of spending long days lapping my favorite chair, my shred time will often come in short, sporadic bursts.

My first child’s due date is today.

The Beginning
You guys know that I love first-hand data. If I see something shared by another marketer, I’ll almost always try to come up with my own data set and draw my own conclusions. Season passes, email, social media…you name it.

I’ve long wondered how hard it is to ski with a child. To pack up the car, get ’em dressed, haul the fam to the mountain, unload, ride shuttles, organize gear, and finally take some turns. Over the next few years I’ll find out and you’d better believe I’ll document it.

But, as this day has approached, something tells me that all of those things may be minor factors in a much deeper formula that influences how attractive I’ll find your carefully crafted offers going forward.

A Hidden Switch
For the last 4-5 years, I’ve done one, major bike race at the end of each summer. And when I say major, the shortest one was 125 miles. So, when a friend shared his condolences that I wouldn’t have much time for riding anymore, I was a little confused because, honestly, I wasn’t the least bit sad about it.

Parenthood is something I’ve been looking forward to for a long time. I’m not kidding myself about the challenges, but my family has always been the core of my lifestyle, and starting my own is an exciting step toward furthering that.

In other words, while I love my hobbies, they’ve been a big part of my life partly because I haven’t had anything more important to do instead. That includes biking, golf, and yes, even skiing.

The Reminder
I guess the point I’m getting at is that during a few points in my life, skiing was the top priority. I retook college classes because of too many powder days and exhausted vacation time when Spring storms pounded the Wasatch.

That’s no longer the case. Family is the top of my list now.

It’s not that I think any less of skiing, I just think more of family. Until those two priorities can work together, that’s how I, and thousands of other new skier parents, will likely feel.

So, how will you market to me?

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.