We are big fans of social media marketing. All the way from the biggest to the smallest firms, social media marketing is a proven tactic that delivers. However, can there be too much of a good thing?

There is an adage in marketing of go where your audience is.

No matter how good your product or service is if you are speaking to an empty room no one is going to listen.

You need to go to the room where your clients are hanging out and set out your stall out there.

In the ski industry this has come to mean a presence on social media is almost an essential. It is where our main audience is spending most of their time.

Social media is where our clients are researching products, communicating with each other and relaxing.

This makes it an excellent space for businesses to build their brands, interact with customers and increasingly though social shopping sell directly on the digital shelf.

Top tip: Not sure what social platform your audience is spending their time on? Try a platform like Sparktoro to find out.

In this article we will look at:

• The pitfalls of relying too much on social media marketing
• The benefits of an all-round marketing approach
• Marketing tactics that amplify your social media marketing
• How to pick the right marketing tactics

Disadvantages of an over reliance on social media marketing

However, despite it’s clear upsides, we have seen some businesses overinvest and rely too heavily on social media. It is important to be aware there can be drawbacks to social media marketing and reasons to be cautious.

The first reason for caution is you don’t own any of the data. The customer data belongs to the social media giants who are granting (or charging) you access.

This is a double edged-sword. On the plus side you are gaining to a vast amount of data you would otherwise never be able to access.

However, you also have no long-term rights to access the data. A platform can change the algorithm of how your content is displayed to users with little notice or explanation.

Or remove your access entirely to the platform at any moment with no recourse. In a moment destroying entirely your social media audience you have worked so hard to build.

Even the entire platform you have built your audience on can lose popularity and disappear. Just as quickly as a social media platform gains popularity it can just as quickly lose it.

The second issue is many social media platforms have increasingly become pay-to-play. You can rank organically through truly great content, but often the only way to get seen is through paid ads or through sponsored influencers.

Luckily, many of these drawbacks can be heavily mitigated by adopting a social media across multiple channels and being selective in influencers used.

To be clear, these are not reasons not to invest in social media marketing.

It is a proven and effective form of marketing. It is just important to treat it like traversing a glacier, a constantly moving landscape with some rather larger pitfalls. So best to take some precautions and rope up.

The benefits of an all-round marketing approach

So, beside social media what are your other options? And what are the benefits to a holistic approach to marketing?

The first key benefit is that marketing tactics don’t happen in isolation, your marketing tactics amplify each other. So even when investing heavily in social media marketing, investment in other marketing channels will work in tandem to increase the effectiveness of your social media marketing.

Think of the whole journey a client might take to purchasing your product or service. They don’t see your brand only at one touchpoint - but multiple. They might first see you on first on social media, then maybe at an event, they might even sign-up to your newsletter and receive some marketing emails, before finally visiting your website to make a purchase.

The journey between an initial trigger and final purchase is made up of constant cycles of exploration and evaluation. This process has been termed by Google as the ‘messy middle’.

Embracing multiple marketing tactics that influence the key biases that impact the customer purchase decision allows customers to better navigate the messy middle. Especially compared to offering a single path to purchase.

The next benefit of marketing tactics outside of social media is you can own the data you gather. Your list of followers on socials can be deleted. But your email database and list of past clients belongs to you.

The more detailed and accurate you can make this data the more targeted and effective you can make your marketing tactics.

The final benefit to holistic marketing is it mitigates risk. Overinvestment in any tactic presents a risk. If that channel suddenly stops working you have to rebuild your marketing from scratch. By using multiple marketing tactics and channels you mitigate this risk.

Marketing tactics to compliment your social media strategy for winter sports businesses

When it comes to alternative marketing tactics that work for winter sports business you are not short of options. Good marketing is figuring out what tactics are right for you amongst all the options and adding them to your marketing strategy.

Common marketing tactics to work alongside your social media marketing for ski businesses include:

Events Marketing

Events marketing is a fantastic way to reach out to potential clients and give them a positive experience of your brand. It can be anything from hosting your own events to sponsoring or partnering with existing events.

Email marketing

Email marketing might be a less fashionable cousin of more modern digital marketing methods, but this doesn’t make it less effective. It is still one of the few tactics with which you can deliver a truly personalised message to a contact on a database you own.

Content marketing

Content marketing is the fuel for other tactics. An email of social post is only as good as the content it includes. Without a content hook, it can be hard to convert impressions from other marketing tactics into conversions.

SEO

Your website can function as the hub of your marketing activity. Entirely owned and controlled by you it is the point of reference for other marketing tactics. And through well-thought-out Search Engine Optimisation strategy is a proven a traffic driver in its own right.

Testimonials and Reviews

Social validation in the form of customer testimonials and review has long been a vital factor in a consumer’s purchasing decision.  With ever quicker access to online reviews, it can now be the definitive factor in making a purchase for many consumers.

Paid Search

Paid search can be a particularly strong tactic near the point of conversion – when you can’t get there organically. A great way to capture a potential customer who has decided on the type of product they are looking for and are now looking for a company to purchase from.

Retail Media & Shopper Marketing

When selling products through third parties, whether bricks-and-mortar stockists or online meta-search engines, how your product appears ‘on-the-shelf’ is important. An effective retail media and shopper approach can help you win right at the point when consumers are ready to make their purchase. In the context of online shopping, winning the digital shelf is fast becoming a specialist area of marketing in it's own right.

How to pick which marketing tactics are right for me?

In marketing there are no ‘good’ or ‘bad’ tactics. A tactics that works well for one business might not work for another.

Think closely what marketing tactics best fit your marketing strategy, work well together and play into your business’ strengths.

And yes, in the ski industry this might well mean a social media marketing strategy.

But stay curious and be cautious.

You will not want to be over reliant on one tactic, but neither will you want to spread yourself too thin. So, choose a few different tactics that complement each other. Then spend some time to integrate them together.

Depending on the amount of marketing resource you have, your tactics might be simple in their execution or highly sophisticated.

No matter whether you are taking a simple or sophisticated approach – consistency is key. Better to have an achievable plan put in action, than an ambitious plan left on the drawing board.

Take the time to do your marketing justice and reflect on what went well and what could do with improving.

Don’t be scared to experiment with new tactics or platforms from time-to-time. Not all experiments will work – as failure is the price of innovation. But the landscape is always shifting and a willingness to test new marketing opportunities will help you fine tune your approach and beat your competitors to the punch.

So, while there is no one answer to the question what marketing tactics are right for me. An openness to new ideas and a spending the time to think about what works with your marketing strategy can help you diversify your marketing.

If you are looking for a specialist ski marketing consultant for your winter sport business and would like to discuss your options - get in touch and book a complimentary consultation with one of our marketing experts. We will be able to chat through possible approaches to your marketing and advise you on next best steps.

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