Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/264625
March 2014 | Boating Industry | 23 [ Crafting a marketing plan ] www.BoatingIndustry.com a flexible marketing plan allows a dealership to make changes as necessary. "A marketing plan must be somewhat fluid. We all know from recent experience that unan- ticipated changes may happen in our world ... either the world at large or in the world in which we live and market. We must be able to quickly reassess and refocus our goals and priorities, should our world or local conditions dictate and demand a shift in priorities," she said. If new promotions are added during the year, management should ask itself if the new cam- paign fits the dealership's priorities as defined in the marketing plan. If so, the plan should be redrafted, and approval of the new plan should come from all involved, Kenton Smith said. Return on investment No marketing plan is complete without a way to measure each campaign and strategy deployed. "The most important thing for me is I want to make sure it's measurable because if some- thing's not measurable, I can't tell if it's working or not," Fulton said. BMC Boats uses a variety of methods to mea- sure ROI. Through direct mail, coupons offer insight into what drew a customer into the deal- ership. On social media, BMC will sometimes ask that customers mention a post to "Spin to Win." For demos, the dealership requires RSVPs and sets appointments for customers, and on- line, BMC uses trackable Google Adwords and unique URLs. (YamahaBoatsOrlando.com, for example, has been used in the past.) "You have to have some kind of call to action and a measurable way to find out if they got your message or not," Fulton said. Along with Google Adwords, Marine Con- nection uses unique trackable phone numbers and specific landing pages (such as MarineCon- nection.com/Hurricane) to track how customers come into contact with the dealership. Though those efforts measure traffic, they don't track how many website visitors bought a boat, which can be a challenge. "We can track where these customers are coming to our website and how they're getting there, [but] it's difficult to track if that actual cus- tomer becomes a buyer," Gyllenberg said. In order to better gauge how customers learned of the dealership, Marine Connection sends a survey — along with a gift set — to each boat buyer that asks about every place that customer heard about the dealership, not just the most recent. Sellhorst recommends dealers use unique trackable phone numbers to determine which campaigns are working, though he also suggests finding a service that records those calls. Through recordings, a dealership can determine whether those who called each unique number were quali- fied or not and adjust its marketing accordingly. Another way to measure ROI is to ask cus- tomers who come to a dealership's website to request a free download, such as a store- branded boat buyer's guide. To create one, Sellhorst recommends dealers think about what advice they'd give to a friend who was buying a boat in a different market and then write that down. That guide can then be branded with the dealership's logo and information. Discover Boating also offers free resources than can be dealership branded, such as knot-tying guides and winterizing checklists. "You're giving them advice, and you're set- ting yourself up; instead of being a salesperson, you're being an advisor," Sellhorst said. As the website visitor must provide specific information, as determined by the dealer, to re- ceive the free guides, the dealer gathers a lead from a customer who has already shown interest in the sport. Going it alone or seeking help Marine Connection and BMC Boats are great examples of dealerships that are able to run their own marketing in house, but not every dealer- ship finds it possible to take charge of all of its marketing efforts. Knowing when to seek expert help can be just as important as understanding when to pro- mote an upcoming sale or what content to put in an email blast. "If a dealership doesn't have anyone on the staff who really has a clue about marketing, get professional help," Kenton Smith advised. "Avoid assigning this important task to a junior- level staff member or someone who may have interest but no experience, as this will set you Digital advertising, such as this button ad from Marine Connection, has become an increasingly important marketing strategy. Marine Connection markets itself at five boat shows each year. P20x25-BI14MAR-MarketingPlan.indd 23 2/7/14 10:52 AM