It seems to me that internet marketing might be at odds with the customers/participants of outdoor adventure sports in that the technology doesn’t necessarily meet these enthusiasts in their natural habitat. A skier, kiteboarder, climber or avid hiker isn’t plugged into twitter when experiencing a natural high. So how and why do companies such as #Salomon, #OceanRodeo, #Naish and #MEC manage to have such a well developed online presence? There’s no big secret coming on this question, but the topic does bring together some great talking points about the customer journey (or funnel) and brands. So let’s take a closer look.

I don’t think it comes as much of a surprise that the outdoorsy people we’re discussing are often gear-junkies. These personalities seek out information about many products, read reviews, look for the best deal and track weather conditions religiously.  A well positioned brand can take advantage of all aspects of customer inquiry on the aforementioned points to drive traffic and convergence. The most tactful companies use all channels (facebook, website, twitter…) but they also diversify their message even more by using tags and names specific to each sub-segment so that each message is refined. For example, the Salomon brand curates salomonrunning.com, salomonnordic.com and salomonfreeski in addition to at least 5 other product categories. This is an exhaustive example, but there is a trend towards this type of fracturing even with smaller brands. Intuitively, to me, this is indicative of simplification and impactful landing pages that give the customers what they want with the fewest required clicks.

And what are the customers looking for? Well, as previously mentioned, many research products down to the last detail but this also drives them to messaging outside the control of the brands themselves. Customer reviews and outside opinions are very highly regarded in the sports gear industry since they are the next best thing to actually testing the product. This is certainly the case for any product but the effect is amplified here because these toys can be the difference between life and death, or life-altering fun and a broken leg. So, with that in mind, how do these companies stay above the noise and in turn direct the conversation from afar? I have found that many companies are delving into a “show don’t tell” system to guide the gear-talk. Through videos, short movies and interactive graphics, the websites are able to demonstrate that ski X will not break, or that carabiner Y can hold up to the world’s most technical climb. The most clever marketing rolls these product placements into an overall brand message with sponsored athletes doing the heavy lifting.

Having videos extolling the virtues of a ski is nothing new, but this is only the beginning. With the advent of the GoPro camera, every Redbull drinking teenager has become a brand embassador and defacto product reviewer. And many companies are facilitating these interactions. The reviews cannot be controlled, but the videos don’t need to be because by their very nature, they show that the proof is in the product pudding.

I wanted to delve into online brand messaging a bit more, but I will take a breather and comeback to it in a few.