SEPTEMBER 28TH, 2011
By CONTRIBUTING BLOGGER
Bob McCann, Director of Education, ARI – We find that most new prospects who visit a dealer’s booth at a boat show for the first time aren’t ready to commit on the spot. In fact, most sales are closed with prospects that dealers have been working with for quite a while, even as far back as past shows. Boats are luxury purchases that often require a long-term research and buying process, so this first visit usually marks the beginning of the sales process rather than the sale per se. Read more >>
AUGUST 10TH, 2011
By CONTRIBUTING BLOGGER
By Jim Ackerman, President of Ascend Marketing — What does it cost you to acquire a new customer? It’s important to know, it’s easy to figure out, and it’s a good bet that not one boat dealer in 20 knows the number. Read more >>
MAY 11TH, 2011
By CONTRIBUTING BLOGGER
By Jim Ackerman and Paul Furse — For most dealers, your trophies go largely unnoticed, to the detriment of your sales. Read more >>
MARCH 4TH, 2011
By CONTRIBUTING BLOGGER
By Jim Ackerman and Paul B. Furse, Ascend Marketing — As a marketer of boating equipment and accessories, you have two tasks … 1) Educate your prospects as to why they should do business with you, and 2) Ask them to do business with you. That’s it! That’s your job! Just as there are ways to build boats with smooth sleek lines, there are smooth and sleek ways to ask your prospects to buy. Discover them now, as we examine the anatomy of offers. Read more >>
JULY 30TH, 2010
By CONTRIBUTING BLOGGER
By Gary Druckenmiller, Jr., co-founder, TheOpenSea.com – We’ve all been there. You spend hours putting together your marine plan for, well, something. Could be communications, operations, marketing, etc., and you come to realize that all those hours have returned very little. Now that you’re knee deep in execution, you sense something isn’t right. Not that you didn’t try your best, your plan just is not working — either in comparison to what’s out there across the marine landscape or what you expected going in. Read more >>
MAY 4TH, 2010
By LIZ WALZ
A week ago, I was on the phone with Fred Pace, managing director of Destin, Fla.-based dealership Legendary Marine, who said something that surprised me. He’s seeing a return of first-time buyers in his local market place. Read more >>
APRIL 21ST, 2010
By CONTRIBUTING BLOGGER
By Jeff Scherer, Associate Partner, Callbutton LLC – Unless you live in a cave you have probably been over-exposed to Burger King’s ads that actually feature McDonald’s in them. Last quarter the focus was “BK’s Double Cheeseburger vs. Mac’s Double Cheeseburger.” This quarter they are running an ad that actually shows “the King” physically stealing Mac’s recipe for the Egg McMuffin. (Okay, note: Having two teenagers in our house means I have an unwarranted intimacy with these companies.) It would appear that by including Mac’s products in their ads, BK has resigned themselves to a “me-too” marketing message. Read more >>
APRIL 19TH, 2010
By CONTRIBUTING BLOGGER
By Peter Granata, president, Granata Design and the Marine Design Resource Alliance — If the product you are selling needs a price cut in order to sell, then it’s very likely that the design appearance of the product does not measure up to the asking price.
Read more >>
APRIL 16TH, 2010
By MIKE DAVIN
By Mike Davin, online editor, Boating Industry — The very first post we published on this blog was about savvy companies looking outside their traditional demographics to target women and girls with their marketing. At the time, I hoped we’d start to see more of that in the marine industry, but in the ensuing year I haven’t seen a lot of new boating initiatives aimed at women. Read more >>
MARCH 25TH, 2010
By CONTRIBUTING BLOGGER
By Gary Druckenmiller, Jr., co-founder, TheOpenSea.com – In marine marketing, retaining loyal customers has always been a hard thing to do. And in the age of media fragmentation — as hundreds of technologies and thousands of Web sites compete for audience attention — the traditional siege-mentality approach to marketing is giving way to a new paradigm known as “engagement.” This approach uses technology as the centerpiece to establishing and maintaining continual connections and conversations with key customers. Read more >>
