Following the Annual Conference and the BOD meeting in Lake Placid, CCSAA is aiming renewed focus on member outreach.
CCSAA convened a committee to specifically look at member benefits on t
he consumer facing side. Over the last month the committee has met weekly with discussions and ideas of every aspect of what CCSAA does to promote their member ski areas, suppliers and retailers.
Following is the action plan resulting from those meetings. While a few elements need to be detailed out a bit more, many items have already been completed and in operation.
Website – Every ski area and retailer listing has been enhanced with a corresponding map at the top of each State page. That map pins act as a live links while showing a visual proximity of all members in the category. When you click on the map link or the listing itself, it will bring you to an enhanced listing with a local map and a driving direction calculator. There is still more work to be done here and the entire listing should be fully updated in the next month.
The website itself will get a review looking at functionality, architecture and content. The timeline here is August.
Printed Directory – The printed directory was brought back last year and was printed in the Ski Trax Annual Guide. We are currently working with the designers to enhance the printed and PDF version of the directory and creating a strategy to place the guide in many more places. This will include a PR program around the lifestyle of cross country skiing and where to go. The directory will be printed in August, so getting membership updated in a timely manner is critical.
Newsletter – We have created an updated look and feel of the newsletter with more functionality. We have also increased the frequency of the newsletter to twice monthly and shortened the content to make it easier to read. Many of the sections will still link to a larger piece with more complete information.
New Social Media Strategy – We have stepped up our social media presence across all channels. In April we asked all members for content to post including images, short text and press releases. We received about 10 sets of content and have posted everything we have. This plan of daily postings will continue, but we need your content. Please continue to send content to Reese for posting. Details here!!
PR – CCSAA is revamping its entire PR strategy following our fall initiative. The plan is to take a far more targeted approach different than the shotgun approach we used in the fall. This targeted approach will take advantage of existing media relationships many of our BOD members have in addition to cherry picking media lists we have from other events we have worked in conjunction with such as trade shows and the Olympics. We have begun the creation and outreach to an updated media list and will continue to build on this.
We are also creating a new consumer facing message about the lifestyle and enjoyment of cross country skiing. A key element here will be promoting the website and ski area and retail listings as a resource.
Partnerships/Sponsorships – The final piece of the member promotion strategy is to partner with groups that would be willing to share our story of cross country skiing. Targeted companies here include AARP, AAA, in-flight magazines, health and wellness programs, mommy blogs, and more.
