As I sit here writing this post, spring seems to be in the air up here in the high country of Colorado. The temperatures are expected to reach nearly 50 degrees today with projections to be even higher for the weekend! I know to some of you that don’t live in the mountains, 50 degrees does not seem real warm. But, after the frigid, snowy winter that we’ve had, we locals will take it! But, this was not the case just three days ago when the Imagine That team took to Arapahoe Basin for the annual off-site “state of the union.”

For me personally, the drive from Blue River, over Swan Mountain Road and up the hill to A-Basin was quite the adventure. The late season snowfall that had already dumped over a foot of snow on the area made for some treacherous conditions, but 4-wheel drive definitely served its purpose that day. By the nine o’clock hour the parking lot was only a quarter full, but I just knew that would not be the case for the rest of the day as another 3-4 inches of “white gold” were projected to grace the slopes over the course of the day. And Mother Nature did not disappoint.

As much as I wanted to immediately get on my skis and enjoy the amazing conditions, there was business to take care of first. We started out by going over the status of our company … where we were, where we currently are and where we are going. Being an employee of Imagine That for only 8 months now, it was amazing (and encouraging) to see the growth and the potential for future growth that this company has seen (and hopefully will see), thanks to our amazing clients.

Then our resident “Web Wizard,” Jeff McElhattan, took us through some of the important changes that have come about in the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) realm – thanks to his participation in the SMX West Conference recently in Northern California. In the past few months, since his participation at SMX, Imagine That has diligently worked to overhaul and upgrade our digital marketing plans to accommodate these changes for the betterment of our current and potential future clients. As a company, we strive to stay up-to-date on all of the current practices in the online marketing world, and will continue to do so in the future.

Now, I will tell you, I am extremely invested in this company and all that we do to help our clients grow their businesses online, but as I sat there looking out the window it was all I could do to stop the itch of wanting to hit the hill. I guess that’s the curse that business professionals deal with when living in Summit County? But, there was still more work to be done.

We really took the time to dive into our SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats) Analysis which resulted in some really interested conversations on our obvious strengths and weaknesses as a company and what we can do to address them moving forward. I am not going to tell you the results of this analysis, but I promise that we all came out of the meeting with a greater understanding of where we would like to be as a company.

Then it was off to the slopes. The wind was howling, but the temperature was most likely hovering around 30 degrees with a few breaking clouds overhead. The snow did not stop falling, though. The first few runs were nothing to write home about, and it wasn’t until we headed over to the Montezuma Bowl where the day took on new meaning.

If you’ve never had the chance to experience the 400-acre Montezuma Bowl on the backside of the mountain, there really are no relevant words to describe it. With 36 runs consisting of terrain for all levels of skiers/riders, including groomers, hike-back terrain, glades and wide-open bowl skiing/riding, it truly is a winter enthusiasts’ paradise. I think I may have taken a total of 8 runs in the Montezuma Bowl that afternoon … taking a different route every time. Even after all of my co-workers had left for the day, my skis just kept telling me one more! In fact, the “lifties” had to advise me of when my last run was to happen. I just couldn’t believe the amazing conditions for a late April day. Sure, I wouldn’t have minded one of those typical Colorado “blue bird” days, but the powder just kept on piling up so I really couldn’t complain.

The moral of the story is really not about skiing, riding or Arapahoe Basin – even though they are all wonderful. The moral is that if you run a business in Summit County you don’t have to have one or the other … why not combine the two into a productive experience? Now that most of the tourists have vacated our little piece of paradise and business has slowed down, it is the perfect time to sit back and analyze your marketing activities for the past year. You can do a complete SWOT analysis like we did, but at the very least you want to ask yourself certain questions; what is the purpose of your marketing plan? Who is your target market? What marketing tools & tactics are already in use? What is your business identity? You want to make sure that you are adhering to the answers to these questions, and if you find that you are not, then get back to the basics and retool.

And how do you get back to the basics you ask? Funny you should ask because the digital marketing experts at Imagine That can help! Our passion is to help you grow your business online with services such as web design & development, brand strategy and a slew of digital marketing tools that bring you into the 21^st Century. If you are not really sure what to do, you are in luck because we will never charge you for a consultation. Like I said, we leverage current and emerging technologies to keep you ahead of the competition. So, what are you waiting for? Give us a call (970-224-1930) or an email () to see how Imagine That can help.

If we don’t answer between now and July 4^th, we might just be on the slopes at A-Basin (not really, but one can dream can’t they?)!

By

Barry Rubenstein

Imagine That: Dream Bigger!

Digital Marketing Strategist

Breckenridge, Colorado

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