Rarely do I wake before 6am, but last Friday I had the chance to get out on a quick backcountry ski lap near Goose Creek outside of Bozeman. What a great way to start the day.
“Dawn Patrol” was an idea started by legendary climber and skier (Montana native) Alex Lowe, who encouraged employees to get up and get outside first thing in the morning.
As a side perk of my gig with the Outlaw Partners, our editorial team allows my creative juices to flow and write small pieces now and then for our publications – The Big Sky Weekly, and Mountain Outlaw Magazine. While I am guessing I am still a far away from writing in the mag (maybe I’ll get a gear review or two), the Weekly is a great tool to communicate with the Outlaw Partners general following and the greater Yellowstone region. A chance to put thoughts on paper is a nice change of pace every now and then from grinding out cold calls, and prospecting for Outlaw marketing services.
The piece below is featured in our “Featured Outlaw” section of this months paper. Enjoy!
OUTLAW NEWS
Digestible Media
By E.J. Daws
Outlaw Partners’ Director of Business Development – Yellowstone Region
Galleries bustled, Lee’s Tees was packed and boardwalks creaked. People were everywhere. I heard groups of Swiss and German folks marveling at elk antler arches, and a southern gentleman raving about the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar. Hotels and lodges were frantically finishing preseason chores as guests arrived.
It’s summertime in Jackson Hole, Wyo., and a good sign of what’s to come here in southwest Montana.
Every visitor served as a microcosm of our daily consumer market, each with needs and wants. With the development of smartphones, tablets and mobile connectivity, their ability to research and make purchasing decisions on the fly has never been easier.
Maybe it was a lodge’s beautiful Instagram photo from last summer that drove tourists to visit remote northwest Wyoming. Maybe it was a mash-up of mountain biking GoPro footage, produced by Jackson Hole Mountain Resort that made them want to ride those same trails. Or was it a stunning advertisement in their favorite magazine that inspired them to save for a trip?
The point is, inspiration for consumers to make a buying decisions could come at any point in the marketing and branding chain. The success of campaigns, or simple sales tactics, depends purely on a business’s ability to consistently brand itself across all outlets and inspire the potential consumer to think, “Yes! I want to do THAT!”
How do you deliver a simple and consistent message in an age of unprecedented distractions and innumerable media outlets? You stick to your values, and tell people why you do it differently, and better than your competition.
One of the most rapidly growing mediums used by companies to reach potential customers is online video.
Estimates show that 8 of 10 Internet users watch online video monthly, and not just sparingly. According to comScore, 181.9 million Americans watched 38.8 billion online videos in April of 2013.
Considering YouTube is the second most-used search engine (thanks in part to Google’s purchase of the online video source) consumers are increasingly spoon-fed content and information.
Does your company have an “About Us” page? Do people actually spend time engaging with that page? Maybe you could deliver your message “About Us” in a two-minute video featuring people and projects, and bring your product to life.
Maybe you create a series of videos focusing on pieces of your business in more detail: Do you have unique people doing unique things? These are stories every company can tell.
Based on the consumption of web-video trends we see, video is an incredibly effective way to tell people what you do, and connect with their emotions.
At the Outlaw Partners, video production is one of the fastest growing parts of our business. The combination of professional videography, proper scripting, and interviews helps bring your business or product to life, in an easily digestible, and shareable form. If you are interested in how Outlaw could help with your marketing needs feel free to reach out to us. We would love to help.
Winter in Bend is a funny thing. I referenced it yesterday, but winter on the high desert is unlike any winter I have been around.
Growing up in Montana you are used to cold and snow (and, I must say, plenty of sun) beginning in November, and sticking around to May. Michigan is bitterly cold with humidity, and even though Lansing didn’t get tons of snow, the grey cloud cover of winter always used to depress me.
I love winter. I love cold. On just one condition: I can play outside in it.
Bend’s winter can be summarized by little to no snow in town (at least it doesn’t stick), tons of sunshine and relatively mild temps. We have been in the 40s and 50s for a couple weeks and out in Redmond, golfers have been spotted putzing around on brown fairways. All the while, the mountains outside of town have been locked in PacNW storms with huge amounts of moisture coming from The Gulf of Alaska.
Sun in town, and gobs of snow in the mountains. Seems to be a nice combo for us.
I took this shot on my way into work this morning.
The new Home Page
Hot off the press: After some serious updates, and bug fixes, Savy’s new website is launched! It went through extensive design processes, and lot’s of knit picking by our group (demanding perfection of course) We are so happy with the end product, and excited to have the architecture in place to build a really deep and thorough site.
DawsFam 