5 Free Marketing Channels You Should Prioritize in 2019 http://bit.ly/2ZxuMUj
Which marketing channel should you use?
You don’t want to get this wrong.
A good marketing channel will work with you to grow your business. A bad one can work against you.
And time is of the essence.
When your marketing budget is close to zero, you can’t afford to waste what little time you have on a dead-end marketing channel.
So, which marketing channel should you choose and which ones are most suited to you and your business.
Read on to learn more about five free digital marketing channels worth exploring in 2019.
What are Marketing Channels?
Marketing channels are platforms, tools, and strategies that businesses use to communicate with their target market in an effort to sell their products or services.
For example, you might use Facebook advertising to promote your new line of women’s clothing. Or you might hand out flyers to promote your next pop-up store.
There are countless types of marketing channels in 2019.
However, in this article, we’re going to focus solely on five free digital marketing channels.
Why Focus on Digital Marketing Channels?
Before digital marketing channels became widely available, businesses would usually have to spend money on advertising, promotions, and sponsorships.
In other words, you needed money to make money. Today things are different.
Free digital marketing channels can be harnessed by anyone with a computer, an internet connection, and a passion to succeed.
Take social media.
Never before could the average Joe communicate with the world’s population. Using social media marketing channels, anyone can grow a following and build a business with just a few bucks.
What’s more, digital marketing channels are easy to scale.
Regardless of whether it reaches 10 people or 10,000 people, it still only takes a few minutes to create a social media post.
So which free digital marketing channels are available in 2019?
A Complete List of Free Digital Marketing Channels in 2019
Before we explore five free digital marketing channels in depth, here’s a complete list of free digital marketing channels in 2019, along with links to learn more about each of them.
Owned Digital Marketing Channels
Your website
Your blog
Email marketing
Social Media Marketing Channels
Facebook
Instagram
YouTube
Twitter
Snapchat
Pinterest
LinkedIn
Quora
Reddit
Organic Search Engine Marketing Channels
Google Search
YouTube
Bing
Other Digital Marketing Channels
Influencer marketing
Tinder (guerilla marketing)
Podcasting
5 Free Digital Marketing Channels You Should Prioritize in 2019
Here is a rundown of five types of marketing channels in 2019 that you can use to grow your business – for free.
First up?
1. Social Media Marketing
Social media is the perfect digital marketing channel for scrappy entrepreneurs looking to start a business.
It’s free, it’s powerful, and when done right, can effectively drive sales.
A massive 79 percent of the U.S. population uses social media and the opportunity available is incredible.
For example, Instagram has grown to more than one billion monthly active users.
Plus, more than half of Instagram’s users visit the platform at least once per day and 70 percent of Instagram users actually want to consume content from brands.
So how can you succeed with social media marketing?
Social Media Marketing Tips
1. Choose the Best Social Media Platform for Your Brand
There are tons of social media platforms in 2019, but not all are created equal.
Some social media platforms are more suited to people with certain demographic or psychographic characteristics.
For example, Instagram tends to be better for Millennials, Snapchat is great for marketing to Generation Z, and LinkedIn is usually better for business-to-business marketing.
In fact, 92 percent of B2B marketers prefer to use LinkedIn over all other platforms.
So do some research to ensure that you choose the best social media platform to connect with your target audience.
2. Prioritize Relationships over Sales
It might sound counter-productive, but the way to sell more is to focus on relationships, not the sales themselves.
This is because, at its core, social media marketing is relationship marketing. The time for the hard-sell is further down the sales funnel.
Social media marketing is all about the long-term.
The idea is to develop a genuine connection with your target audience over time. This way, you’ll build a following of loyal customers and advocates who regularly purchase your products and promote your brand.
Do it right and it will pay off handsomely – for example, repeat customers spend 67 percent more than new customers.
3. Be Consistent
Relationships take time, so consistency is vital.
You have to show up and develop an intimate, authentic brand presence that your followers enjoy interacting with on a regular basis.
This is why we post around two or three posts per day on Oberlo’s Facebook page.
Plus, this is another reason to choose just a handful of social media platforms to focus on.
If you try to use them all, it’s likely that you’ll spread yourself too thin and find it difficult to maintain an effective social media schedule.
2. Influencer Marketing
There are many social media influencers that will partner with you to promote your products or services to their loyal and engaged followers.
It’s an effective way to get your products in front of your target market.
But why does it work so well?
Influencer marketing harnesses a powerful social phenomenon called “social proof.” This refers to the fact that people are heavily influenced by others’ opinions, actions, and recommendations.
Other commonly used forms of social proof are product reviews, testimonials, and case studies.
There are six key types of influencer marketing campaigns:
Sponsored content
Product and content collaborations
Reviews
Competitions and giveaways
“Takeovers” on your platforms
Long-term ambassadors
Many larger influencers will expect you to pay them a fee in exchange for promotion.
However, plenty of smaller influencers will happily promote your products if you offer them freebies or promote their account in return.
So what should you bear in mind when using this marketing channel?
Influencer Marketing Tips
1. Make Sure you do Your Research
The whole point of influencer marketing is to expose your products to your target audience through someone they trust who will… well, influence them to buy from you.
Success depends on two things.
First, are their followers your exact target market? In other words, there’s no point partnering with a beauty influencer to sell mountain bike gear.
Secondly, how engaged are their followers? Sure, they might have 100,000 followers, but how many likes and comments do they get? You want diehard fans, not vaguely interested people.
2. Stick to Micro-Influencers
Micro-influencers typically have between 5,000 and 50,000 followers.
Compared to the big-hitters, micro-influencers are easier to connect with, are less likely to demand large fees, and are actually more effective than big-name celebrities.
In fact, Collective Bias found that only three percent of shoppers are influenced by celebrity endorsements, while a massive 30 percent of consumers are likely to buy a product recommended by a non-celebrity blogger.
This is because they tend to have stronger relationships with their followers.
3. Get Proactive and Reach Out
“Start with a direct Instagram message,” says Zach Benson, Founder of Assistagram.
“Just let them know that you’re interested in working together. Keep your DM short, clear, and conversational. Include the relevant accounts, a direct request, and your trade.”
Here’s one of the messages Benson has used in the past:
4. Develop Long-term Relationships
Long-term influencer partnerships can be incredibly powerful. Most brands call these influencers ambassadors.
Gymshark has a page on its website dedicated to promoting their ambassadors.
Ambassador relationships increase social proof and deepen market penetration. In other words, if you work with an influencer over a longer period, a larger proportion of their following is likely to become customers.
3. Content Marketing
Content marketing is the process of creating, publishing, and distributing content to attract and engage your target audience.
(This article you’re reading is content marketing!)
Plus, there are tons of different types of content that you can create for free, such as:
Videos
Blog posts
Images
GIFs
Infographics
Case studies
Ebooks
White papers
Podcasts
Content marketing can be incredibly effective.
One study found that it can cost 62 percent less than traditional marketing and generate three times as many leads.
Content marketing is also a large part of social media marketing and search engine optimization (SEO).
So, how can you get started with content marketing?
Content Marketing Tips
1. Focus on Value
The content you create must be interesting and engaging.
Think about content that entertains your target audience or teaches them something new that they care about.
For example, hair extension brand Luxy Hair often creates video tutorials for their audience.
With more than 3.2 million YouTube subscribers and over 465 million views, it seems to be working!
2. Repurpose Content for Different Channels
Creating great content takes time.
Thankfully, you don’t always need to create content from scratch. Instead, you can repurpose every long piece of content into many other pieces of content.
This is a great way to get more out of each piece of content you create.
For example, say you write a long-form blog post for your website, you could repurpose it into:
Long-form video for YouTube
Video snippets for Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and Twitter
Shorter social media posts for Facebook
Each of Luxy Hair’s video tutorials is also turned into a blog post for their website.
3. Invest in the Long-Term
It can take time to gain traction with content marketing.
Just like with social media marketing, to succeed, you must consistently create and publish quality content.
4. Search Engine Optimization
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of trying to rank high in the search engine results pages (SERPs). The idea is to expose your website or content to people interested in your niche.
Like any effective marketing strategy, SEO takes time and effort.
However, when you consider that Google receives more than 74,000 searches per second, it’s well worth the effort!
For example, when you search “dropshipping” on Google, Shopify pops up as the first result – they’ve also claimed Google’s featurd snippet.
Plus, in the image below, you can see that an average of 450,000 people are searching this term each month – that’s a lot of free exposure and traffic!
Although there are plenty of alternative search engines, Google rules the roost with 78.23 percent of the worldwide search engine market share.
So how can you get started with SEO?
Search Engine Optimization Tips
1. Research Effective Keywords
There are many different aspects to a successful SEO strategy. However, a good place to start is with keywords.
Keywords are the way in which Google indexes your website and content, and how searchers find it. In the example above, the Shopify webpage has been optimized for the keyword “dropshipping.”
You can use tools like Chrome extension Keywords Everywhere to find keywords with a substantial flow of traffic.
You can also use content research tools like Buzzsumo to find topics that are popular with your target audience.
2. Optimize Your Website and Content for these Keywords
Once you have a set of keywords that your target audience is searching for, you need to create content and web pages around them.
For blog content, you can use an online tool like SEO Review Tools, Yoast, or SEMrush to help.
Shopify makes it easy to optimize your webpages for SEO – check out this guide on how to add keywords to your website.
3. Continually Refresh and Update Old Content
Google prioritizes up-to-date content.
This makes sense – up-to-date content is likely to be more relevant to searchers.
So, as your content ages, it helps to go back and update it. Just remove the outdated parts, add any new relevant information, and optimize the keywords.
Although you can’t update parts of a podcast or YouTube video, you can revisit popular topics in new content to ensure that you always have relevant content available.
5. Email Marketing
Email marketing is one of the oldest forms of internet marketing. And although it might not be as cool as it once was, it still has a huge return on investment.
One of the best things about this marketing channel is that you’re in control. This means that it’s unaffected by third-party developments, such as social media algorithms.
There are tons of different types of email marketing campaigns you can use to grow your business, including:
Send a follow-up email to consumers who abandon their shopping carts
Nurture new subscribers with a welcome sequence
Promote new products
Share discounts, offers, and giveaways
Follow-up with new customers to land repeat sales
Ask for reviews and gather feedback
Re-engage inactive subscribers to land repeat sales
So how can you get started with email marketing?
Email Marketing Tips
1. Create a Compelling Lead Magnet
Think of a lead magnet like bait.
This is often some sort of premium content or a discount designed to attract new leads that you can nurture into customers.
Here’s an example from jewelry brand Biko in which website visitors can sign up to receive $15 off their first order.
2. Segment Your Email List
Email list segmentation is a way to carve up your subscriber list into groups.
This allows you to send different emails to different groups of people. In other words, you can strategically target subscribers at different stages of the buyer’s journey.
Email list segmentation is incredibly effective.
In fact, the Direct Marketing Association found that 77 percent of email marketing ROI comes from segmented, targeted, and triggered campaigns.
Check our full guide on email list segmentation to get started.
3. Use Email Templates
Writing incredible emails from scratch can take time – especially if you’ve never written an email campaign before.
Instead, get started with some effective email marketing templates.
Summary
You don’t need tons of money to start a successful business.
Thanks to these free marketing channels, it’s possible for anyone with a computer, wifi, and some elbow grease to start an online business.
Here’s a summary of the key takeaways from each marketing channel:
Social Media Marketing
Choose a few social media platforms so you don’t spread yourself too thin.
Make sure a large portion of your target audience spends time interacting on these sites.
Prioritize relationships over sales.
Be consistent with your social media schedule.
Influencer Marketing
Create a compelling offer – what’s in it for them?
Make sure to thoroughly research influencers before you partner with them.
Stick to micro-influencers, to begin with.
Get proactive and reach out to many influencers.
Develop long-term ambassador relationships.
Content Marketing
Focus on producing and sharing value.
Entertain your target audience or teach them something.
Repurpose content for different channels and platforms.
Invest in the long-term.
Search Engine Optimization
Research effective keywords that your target audience is already searching for.
Optimize your website and content for these keywords.
Continually refresh and update old content to ensure it stays relevant.
Email Marketing
Create a compelling lead magnet to get people to sign up to your mailing list.
Segment your email list into groups so you can strategically target people at different stages in the buyer’s journey.
Start by using effective email templates to save time.
Which marketing channels are you currently using to promote your business? Let us know in the comments below!
Want to Learn More?
9 Ways to Boost Sales by Making Your Store More Trustworthy
What is Native Advertising and Why Is It So Powerful?
15 Seriously Inspiring Mission and Vision Statement Examples
23 Inspirational Videos That Will Completely Blow You Away
The post 5 Free Marketing Channels You Should Prioritize in 2019 appeared first on Oberlo.
from Oberlo
Which marketing channel should you use?
You don’t want to get this wrong.
A good marketing channel will work with you to grow your business. A bad one can work against you.
And time is of the essence.
When your marketing budget is close to zero, you can’t afford to waste what little time you have on a dead-end marketing channel.
So, which marketing channel should you choose and which ones are most suited to you and your business.
Read on to learn more about five free digital marketing channels worth exploring in 2019.
What are Marketing Channels?
Marketing channels are platforms, tools, and strategies that businesses use to communicate with their target market in an effort to sell their products or services.
For example, you might use Facebook advertising to promote your new line of women’s clothing. Or you might hand out flyers to promote your next pop-up store.
There are countless types of marketing channels in 2019.
However, in this article, we’re going to focus solely on five free digital marketing channels.
Why Focus on Digital Marketing Channels?
Before digital marketing channels became widely available, businesses would usually have to spend money on advertising, promotions, and sponsorships.
In other words, you needed money to make money. Today things are different.
Free digital marketing channels can be harnessed by anyone with a computer, an internet connection, and a passion to succeed.
Take social media.
Never before could the average Joe communicate with the world’s population. Using social media marketing channels, anyone can grow a following and build a business with just a few bucks.
What’s more, digital marketing channels are easy to scale.
Regardless of whether it reaches 10 people or 10,000 people, it still only takes a few minutes to create a social media post.
So which free digital marketing channels are available in 2019?
A Complete List of Free Digital Marketing Channels in 2019
Before we explore five free digital marketing channels in depth, here’s a complete list of free digital marketing channels in 2019, along with links to learn more about each of them.
Owned Digital Marketing Channels
Your website
Your blog
Email marketing
Social Media Marketing Channels
Facebook
Instagram
YouTube
Twitter
Snapchat
Pinterest
LinkedIn
Quora
Reddit
Organic Search Engine Marketing Channels
Google Search
YouTube
Bing
Other Digital Marketing Channels
Influencer marketing
Tinder (guerilla marketing)
Podcasting
5 Free Digital Marketing Channels You Should Prioritize in 2019
Here is a rundown of five types of marketing channels in 2019 that you can use to grow your business – for free.
First up?
1. Social Media Marketing
Social media is the perfect digital marketing channel for scrappy entrepreneurs looking to start a business.
It’s free, it’s powerful, and when done right, can effectively drive sales.
A massive 79 percent of the U.S. population uses social media and the opportunity available is incredible.
For example, Instagram has grown to more than one billion monthly active users.
Plus, more than half of Instagram’s users visit the platform at least once per day and 70 percent of Instagram users actually want to consume content from brands.
So how can you succeed with social media marketing?
Social Media Marketing Tips
1. Choose the Best Social Media Platform for Your Brand
There are tons of social media platforms in 2019, but not all are created equal.
Some social media platforms are more suited to people with certain demographic or psychographic characteristics.
For example, Instagram tends to be better for Millennials, Snapchat is great for marketing to Generation Z, and LinkedIn is usually better for business-to-business marketing.
In fact, 92 percent of B2B marketers prefer to use LinkedIn over all other platforms.
So do some research to ensure that you choose the best social media platform to connect with your target audience.
2. Prioritize Relationships over Sales
It might sound counter-productive, but the way to sell more is to focus on relationships, not the sales themselves.
This is because, at its core, social media marketing is relationship marketing. The time for the hard-sell is further down the sales funnel.
Social media marketing is all about the long-term.
The idea is to develop a genuine connection with your target audience over time. This way, you’ll build a following of loyal customers and advocates who regularly purchase your products and promote your brand.
Do it right and it will pay off handsomely – for example, repeat customers spend 67 percent more than new customers.
3. Be Consistent
Relationships take time, so consistency is vital.
You have to show up and develop an intimate, authentic brand presence that your followers enjoy interacting with on a regular basis.
This is why we post around two or three posts per day on Oberlo’s Facebook page.
Plus, this is another reason to choose just a handful of social media platforms to focus on.
If you try to use them all, it’s likely that you’ll spread yourself too thin and find it difficult to maintain an effective social media schedule.
2. Influencer Marketing
There are many social media influencers that will partner with you to promote your products or services to their loyal and engaged followers.
It’s an effective way to get your products in front of your target market.
But why does it work so well?
Influencer marketing harnesses a powerful social phenomenon called “social proof.” This refers to the fact that people are heavily influenced by others’ opinions, actions, and recommendations.
Other commonly used forms of social proof are product reviews, testimonials, and case studies.
There are six key types of influencer marketing campaigns:
Sponsored content
Product and content collaborations
Reviews
Competitions and giveaways
“Takeovers” on your platforms
Long-term ambassadors
Many larger influencers will expect you to pay them a fee in exchange for promotion.
However, plenty of smaller influencers will happily promote your products if you offer them freebies or promote their account in return.
So what should you bear in mind when using this marketing channel?
Influencer Marketing Tips
1. Make Sure you do Your Research
The whole point of influencer marketing is to expose your products to your target audience through someone they trust who will… well, influence them to buy from you.
Success depends on two things.
First, are their followers your exact target market? In other words, there’s no point partnering with a beauty influencer to sell mountain bike gear.
Secondly, how engaged are their followers? Sure, they might have 100,000 followers, but how many likes and comments do they get? You want diehard fans, not vaguely interested people.
2. Stick to Micro-Influencers
Micro-influencers typically have between 5,000 and 50,000 followers.
Compared to the big-hitters, micro-influencers are easier to connect with, are less likely to demand large fees, and are actually more effective than big-name celebrities.
In fact, Collective Bias found that only three percent of shoppers are influenced by celebrity endorsements, while a massive 30 percent of consumers are likely to buy a product recommended by a non-celebrity blogger.
This is because they tend to have stronger relationships with their followers.
3. Get Proactive and Reach Out
“Start with a direct Instagram message,” says Zach Benson, Founder of Assistagram.
“Just let them know that you’re interested in working together. Keep your DM short, clear, and conversational. Include the relevant accounts, a direct request, and your trade.”
Here’s one of the messages Benson has used in the past:
4. Develop Long-term Relationships
Long-term influencer partnerships can be incredibly powerful. Most brands call these influencers ambassadors.
Gymshark has a page on its website dedicated to promoting their ambassadors.
Ambassador relationships increase social proof and deepen market penetration. In other words, if you work with an influencer over a longer period, a larger proportion of their following is likely to become customers.
3. Content Marketing
Content marketing is the process of creating, publishing, and distributing content to attract and engage your target audience.
(This article you’re reading is content marketing!)
Plus, there are tons of different types of content that you can create for free, such as:
Videos
Blog posts
Images
GIFs
Infographics
Case studies
Ebooks
White papers
Podcasts
Content marketing can be incredibly effective.
One study found that it can cost 62 percent less than traditional marketing and generate three times as many leads.
Content marketing is also a large part of social media marketing and search engine optimization (SEO).
So, how can you get started with content marketing?
Content Marketing Tips
1. Focus on Value
The content you create must be interesting and engaging.
Think about content that entertains your target audience or teaches them something new that they care about.
For example, hair extension brand Luxy Hair often creates video tutorials for their audience.
With more than 3.2 million YouTube subscribers and over 465 million views, it seems to be working!
2. Repurpose Content for Different Channels
Creating great content takes time.
Thankfully, you don’t always need to create content from scratch. Instead, you can repurpose every long piece of content into many other pieces of content.
This is a great way to get more out of each piece of content you create.
For example, say you write a long-form blog post for your website, you could repurpose it into:
Long-form video for YouTube
Video snippets for Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and Twitter
Shorter social media posts for Facebook
Each of Luxy Hair’s video tutorials is also turned into a blog post for their website.
3. Invest in the Long-Term
It can take time to gain traction with content marketing.
Just like with social media marketing, to succeed, you must consistently create and publish quality content.
4. Search Engine Optimization
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of trying to rank high in the search engine results pages (SERPs). The idea is to expose your website or content to people interested in your niche.
Like any effective marketing strategy, SEO takes time and effort.
However, when you consider that Google receives more than 74,000 searches per second, it’s well worth the effort!
For example, when you search “dropshipping” on Google, Shopify pops up as the first result – they’ve also claimed Google’s featurd snippet.
Plus, in the image below, you can see that an average of 450,000 people are searching this term each month – that’s a lot of free exposure and traffic!
Although there are plenty of alternative search engines, Google rules the roost with 78.23 percent of the worldwide search engine market share.
So how can you get started with SEO?
Search Engine Optimization Tips
1. Research Effective Keywords
There are many different aspects to a successful SEO strategy. However, a good place to start is with keywords.
Keywords are the way in which Google indexes your website and content, and how searchers find it. In the example above, the Shopify webpage has been optimized for the keyword “dropshipping.”
You can use tools like Chrome extension Keywords Everywhere to find keywords with a substantial flow of traffic.
You can also use content research tools like Buzzsumo to find topics that are popular with your target audience.
2. Optimize Your Website and Content for these Keywords
Once you have a set of keywords that your target audience is searching for, you need to create content and web pages around them.
For blog content, you can use an online tool like SEO Review Tools, Yoast, or SEMrush to help.
Shopify makes it easy to optimize your webpages for SEO – check out this guide on how to add keywords to your website.
3. Continually Refresh and Update Old Content
Google prioritizes up-to-date content.
This makes sense – up-to-date content is likely to be more relevant to searchers.
So, as your content ages, it helps to go back and update it. Just remove the outdated parts, add any new relevant information, and optimize the keywords.
Although you can’t update parts of a podcast or YouTube video, you can revisit popular topics in new content to ensure that you always have relevant content available.
5. Email Marketing
Email marketing is one of the oldest forms of internet marketing. And although it might not be as cool as it once was, it still has a huge return on investment.
One of the best things about this marketing channel is that you’re in control. This means that it’s unaffected by third-party developments, such as social media algorithms.
There are tons of different types of email marketing campaigns you can use to grow your business, including:
Send a follow-up email to consumers who abandon their shopping carts
Nurture new subscribers with a welcome sequence
Promote new products
Share discounts, offers, and giveaways
Follow-up with new customers to land repeat sales
Ask for reviews and gather feedback
Re-engage inactive subscribers to land repeat sales
So how can you get started with email marketing?
Email Marketing Tips
1. Create a Compelling Lead Magnet
Think of a lead magnet like bait.
This is often some sort of premium content or a discount designed to attract new leads that you can nurture into customers.
Here’s an example from jewelry brand Biko in which website visitors can sign up to receive $15 off their first order.
2. Segment Your Email List
Email list segmentation is a way to carve up your subscriber list into groups.
This allows you to send different emails to different groups of people. In other words, you can strategically target subscribers at different stages of the buyer’s journey.
Email list segmentation is incredibly effective.
In fact, the Direct Marketing Association found that 77 percent of email marketing ROI comes from segmented, targeted, and triggered campaigns.
Check our full guide on email list segmentation to get started.
3. Use Email Templates
Writing incredible emails from scratch can take time – especially if you’ve never written an email campaign before.
Instead, get started with some effective email marketing templates.
Summary
You don’t need tons of money to start a successful business.
Thanks to these free marketing channels, it’s possible for anyone with a computer, wifi, and some elbow grease to start an online business.
Here’s a summary of the key takeaways from each marketing channel:
Social Media Marketing
Choose a few social media platforms so you don’t spread yourself too thin.
Make sure a large portion of your target audience spends time interacting on these sites.
Prioritize relationships over sales.
Be consistent with your social media schedule.
Influencer Marketing
Create a compelling offer – what’s in it for them?
Make sure to thoroughly research influencers before you partner with them.
Stick to micro-influencers, to begin with.
Get proactive and reach out to many influencers.
Develop long-term ambassador relationships.
Content Marketing
Focus on producing and sharing value.
Entertain your target audience or teach them something.
Repurpose content for different channels and platforms.
Invest in the long-term.
Search Engine Optimization
Research effective keywords that your target audience is already searching for.
Optimize your website and content for these keywords.
Continually refresh and update old content to ensure it stays relevant.
Email Marketing
Create a compelling lead magnet to get people to sign up to your mailing list.
Segment your email list into groups so you can strategically target people at different stages in the buyer’s journey.
Start by using effective email templates to save time.
Which marketing channels are you currently using to promote your business? Let us know in the comments below!
Want to Learn More?
9 Ways to Boost Sales by Making Your Store More Trustworthy
What is Native Advertising and Why Is It So Powerful?
15 Seriously Inspiring Mission and Vision Statement Examples
23 Inspirational Videos That Will Completely Blow You Away
The post 5 Free Marketing Channels You Should Prioritize in 2019 appeared first on Oberlo.
http://bit.ly/2WFUi7V June 14, 2019 at 07:01AM http://bit.ly/2F8IDIK
0 notes
New Post has been published on Local Freshies | Be a local wherever you go
New Post has been published on http://localfreshies.com/10-best-spring-skiing-resorts-us-canada/
The 10 best spring skiing resorts in North America
Last Tuesday marked the spring equinox, officially bringing an end to winter. Does that mean your ski and snowboard season is over? The answer to that question is absolutely not! Think we’re crazy? Don’t know what we’re talking about? Let us prove you wrong. Put up the bathing suits and grab the snow gear. Put that trip to the Caribbean on hold. This spring, head to the mountains! Why you ask? The days are longer, the crowds have reduced to a trickle, and the winter storms have given way to sunshine and warm temperatures. If you haven’t taken a trip out West this year, now is the time! Here are the 10 best spring skiing locales in North America!
Why you should GO!
Great deals to stay & ski
Sunny weather and warm temps
Non-existent crowds
The ability to do other stuff like golf, mountain bike AND ski in the same day
Chance to get in a sneaker pow day
Before you pick your resort, there are a few things you should know about spring skiing. First, don’t expect to ride a full day. Instead, focus on the full experience. The Après ski is almost as important as the skiing in spring. Is there a cool town to hang in? Do you have a place to grill and a patio to chill? How about a mountain bike park or a golf course? Now you feelin’ it? These are quite different questions to ask than a winter trip, right? Next, don’t expect the resorts to be at full operation but this is good news. It means you’ll have a ton of terrain all to yourself and can lap those runs until you can’t feel your legs. Lastly, even in April or early May, there’s still a chance for a sneaker pow day. We’ve had quite a few and they are awesome!
Things to consider when picking a spring locale
Where should you go? Here are the things to consider when picking a resort:
Historically open late into the season
Large amount of terrain above treeline
Deep snowpack
Ski resort that’s received lots of snow for the season (at least annual average)
Best Spring Skiing Resorts in North America
#10 Killington
Average April/May Snowfall: 24 inches
Projected Closing Day: Typically May dependent on weather
Image taken by: Chad Burgess
We had to at least tip our hat towards the East. Besides Mammoth on our list, Killington also pushes the envelope on extending their season as long as possible. Through mid-April, there’s a good chance the majority of the mountain will be open for you to shred. Killington has even been known to stay open into late May and even into June. With a summit elevation of only 4,241 feet, how can that be? They do this by making snow on one run called Superstar all winter long. The snow on this trail stacks up to nearly three stories tall. Talk about dedication to skiing and snowboarding!
#9 Loveland
Average April/May Snowfall: 71 inches
Average Maximum Snow Depth: 70 inches
Terrain Open: 100% open through end of April conditions permitting
Projected Closing Day: May 7th
Sharing the Slopes Image taken by: Richard Johnson
Most people zoom past as they head to one of the major resorts like Keystone, Copper, or Winter Park. A no frills destination, Loveland is a great example of a mountain still tapped into the soul of skiing and snowboarding. The focus is all about the mountain and not about real estate. Receiving some of the highest snowfall counts in the region and hugging the continental divide, this translates to a season that starts in October and lasts into May or longer. Powder days still happen often in April! By this time or year, the snowpack is deep enough, allowing you to access all of the cool terrain Loveland has to share. This quaint mountain packs quite the punch and is highly recommended! The only reason it’s so low on the list is because of its early closing date.
#8 Snowbird
The Cirque at Snowbird Image taken by: Craig Yoas
Average April/May Snowfall: 74 inches
Average Maximum Snow Depth: 109 inches
Terrain Open: 100% open through end of April conditions permitting but typically only Little Cloud and Mineral Basin Express in May to closing
Projected Closing Day: Still to be announced but at least May 30th
Jane Enjoying the Snowbird Tram Image taken by: Jason Cameron
If Alta is the powder capital of Utah then Snowbird is the spring skiing locale. Being the highest ski resort in Utah and most of its terrain facing north, these attributes help keep the snow in its best condition possible. In April, they receive on average nearly 64 inches, meaning the base actually gets refreshed. Finally, with it only being 30 minutes outside of Salt Lake City, the gateway to what some consider the richest and most diverse natural surroundings of any major city, you have access to hiking, mountain biking, and even hot springs. Good times for sure!
#7 Timberline / Mt. Hood Meadows
Heather Bowl, from the top of A-Zone Image taken by: Ben McLeod
Average April/May Snowfall: 37 inches
Maximum Snow Depth: 131 inches
Terrain Open: 100% open through closing at Mt. Hood Meadows and 1,500 vertical feet on the Palmer snowfield (@ Timberline) which is skiable all summer.
Projected Closing Day: May 7th (Mt.Hood Meadows) / September (Timberline)
Spring Skiing: Freestyler’s Delight Image taken by: Nathaniel “Ragingterror” Hayden Twitter @Ragingterror
Mt. Hood contains four major resorts and Timberline stays open all year round except for a few weeks of maintenance in September. It is THE home for summer skiing and snowboarding in North America. If your looking for a bit more of a challenge, Mt. Hood Meadows just down the road is open through the first week of May.
If comparing Oregon for the spring season, Mt. Bachelor offers more extensive terrain with far superior snow conditions to either of the Mt. Hood areas. Think about timing if heading to Oregon so you get the best spring skiing for the time you plan to hit the slopes.
#6 Lake Louise / Sunshine Village
Average April/May Snowfall: 35 inches
Maximum Snow Depth: 81 inches
Projected Closing Date: May 22 (Sunshine Village) & May 7 (Lake Louise)
Riding Goat’s Eye Over Village Image taken by: Doug Zwick
Spring at Sunshine Village Image taken by: TaylorAndKevin
Always one of the first to open and last to close, spring is prime time for Lake Louise and Sunshine Village. The extremely cold weather has retreated and the sun has begun to shine. Don’t fret about the snow conditions though. Even now, mid-winter powder conditions prevail due to its northern latitude. And, for those looking for a party scene, Banff is only a few miles down the road. This town is filled with amazing cuisine, great shopping, and awesome watering holes. If that wasn’t enough, the views of Lake Louise from the summit are some of the most amazing in the world. One thing to consider with Alberta is to make sure they’ve had an average to above average winter for maximum coverage.
#5 Alpine Meadows
Alpine Meadows Image taken by: Paul R Bolt
Average April/May Snowfall: 46 inches
Maximum Snow Depth: 115 inches
Terrain Open: As much as possible
Projected Closing Date: Mid-May
Alpine Meadows Image taken by: DBonny
Its bigger brother to the North, Squaw Valley, may get all the glamour, but this resort is nothing to sneeze at. Alpine Meadows is a big craggy mountain with most of its terrain above tree line. Tahoe’s climate of cold freezing nights and warm sunny days plus the ski resort’s topography creates some of the best corn you’ll find anywhere. Squaw Valley may be open longer but Alpine’s terrain lends itself to be the one you should try to hit before it closes for the season. For more about corn snow, check out last season’s spring skiing guide found here.
#4 Arapahoe Basin
Average April/May Snowfall: 66 inches
Average Maximum Snow Depth: 81 inches
Terrain Open: 700+ acres through closing (almost all of the terrain)
Projected Closing Date: At least end of May but most likely longer
Spring Shredding Image taken by: Zach Dischner
Arapahoe Basin could be considered the “King of Spring” for the Rockies. Always pushing the envelope to stay open until the snow melts, there have been years that they’ve been skiing until July 4th. Typically in April, it’s less about the corn and more about skiing and snowboarding their packed powder with the steep Palivaccini terrain facing more north and ranging from 10,800′ to 12,200′. The parking lot is called the “Beach” and you can watch people skiing down the mountain as you grill right in front of your car. If this isn’t on your bucket list to visit… it should be!
#3 Whistler Blackcomb
Average April/May Snowfall: 43 inches
Average Maximum Snow Depth: 106 inches
Terrain Open: As much as possible through April 23rd and at least 2,500 vertical of terrain serviced by the Jersey Cream, Seventh Heaven and Glacier Express lifts
Projected Closing Date: May 22
Glacier Creek Lodge: WSSF 2014 Image taken by: Jordan Yerman Instagram @jordanyerman
Whistler embodies what every other ski resort wishes to be. The village is car-less and there is a plethora of different priced options to eat, drink, and hang out all across town. The bad news first is the weather. With close proximity to the coast, there is a possibility of overcast/rainy weather but this issue is more likely mid-winter than in the spring. Don’t worry though. Whistler makes up for it in spades with how many things you can do besides skiing.
Towards the end of April, you can ski in the morning in the upper alpine bowls and then mountain bike in the afternoon on the bottom half of the mountain. April is also when the largest winter sports and music festival in North America takes place right next to the gondola. With it now being owned by Vail, we hope they stay dedicated to keeping as much terrain open as possible late in the season. Time will tell on this one so we’ll all have to wait and see.
#2 Mammoth Mountain
Average April/May Snowfall: 68 inches
Average Maximum Snow Depth: 133 inches
Terrain Open: 100% in April; at least 2,000 acres through May; 500-1,000 acres through June and July
Projected Closing Day: July 4th
Mammoth is a unique mountain compared to the others on our list. First, due to it close proximity to the Pacific Ocean, they receive snowfall with higher moisture content. Second, it’s elevation is comparable to the resorts in Colorado. What these two facts translate to is a deep snowpack with warm days and freezing nights, helping ensure that the best conditions are possible even into May! Mammoth’s dedication to grooming and having at least 2,000+ acres open makes it a great candidate to hit in late spring.
#1 Mt. Bachelor
Average April/May Snowfall: 68 inches
Average Maximum Snow Depth: 145 inches
Projected Closing Day: May28th
Terrain Open: 100% in April and at least 2,000 acres with over 3,100 vertical feet through closing
Three sisters in the distance as you descend Mt Bachelor
This place should be on everyone’s bucket list for spring skiing and snowboarding. It could even be argued that it’s better to visit Mt. Bachelor in the spring than in the winter. This is mainly because of the Summit chairlift. Accessing 1,700 vertical feet of above treeline skiing, it is closed at least 30% of the time during the winter due to storms barreling Mt. Bachelor. In the spring though, this sometimes elusive terrain is wide open and ready for shredding.
With nearly 2,000+ acres available to you, Bachelor has some of the largest terrain footprints open in late season. In between storms when the temperatures rise, you will find plenty of corn ripe for the harvesting. The resort is a giant dormant volcano, allowing you to use it as a sundial finding the perfect conditions based on day & time. When the snow begins to sour in the afternoon, the Après scene heats up. Being next to Bend, OR, an outdoor mecca, there’s plenty to keep you busy. From hiking, mountain biking, kayaking, paddle boarding and even golfing, you’re sure to find an activity to occupy the rest of your day. After you’ve worked up a good thirst, there are dozens of breweries with relaxed atmospheres to sit back and wind down.
For more about Bend and the breweries, check out our write up here. If you’re looking for a guide to Mt. Bachelor, we got you covered there as well! Read our Ultimate Guide to Bachelor here.
March shouldn’t be the end of your season but rather the time for you to turn up the volume! What will you plan for April, May and even June? Happy Spring Shredding!
0 notes