Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/264625
24 | Boating Industry | March 2014 [ Crafting a marketing plan ] www.BoatingIndustry.com www.BoatingIndustry.com When creating a marketing plan, one of the more challenging elements can be fi nding content to deliver to prospective customers, so readily available — and free — resources can boost any dealer's efforts. Because Discover Boating's goals include getting more people to enjoy boat- ing and increasing participation, therefore increasing boat sales, the organization pro- vides a variety of resources for boat dealers to get a jump on their marketing efforts. "We've allowed dealers to take some of our content and put it on their site, the stuff that's applicable to them," said Carl Blackwell, president of Discover Boating and Grow Boating. For their websites, dealers can use a Boat Loan Calculator, Cost Comparison Tool (comparing the cost of boating to other hobbies), Spousal Conversion Kit and Take Me Fishing Hotspot Map. Videos, includ- ing the popular "Good Run — A Boating Story" are also available. To add those, dealers simply copy code and embed it into their website (which a website programmer should be able to do with ease). Physical tools include Welcome to the Water door window clings, bumper stick- ers, windshield stickers and a continuous loop DVD for in-store video displays. Discover Boating can also supply guides on winterizing and other boating skills for dealers to distribute. For dealers who are looking to earn local airtime or editorial space, Discover Boating's website offers PR University, which provides tips for media interviews and more. "That just tells dealers some of the things that they need to think about when they're getting interviewed. We keep the in- dustry statistics up to date on that, so when people get asked a question, they have the ability to tell them the size of the industry," Blackwell said. The organization also recommends dealers share any of its social media con- tent. Discover Boating has amassed more than 675,000 Facebook likes, making it the third most popular Facebook page in the up for failure. Honestly, marketing is too important to your dealership to put it in inexperienced hands." Experts can be hired to help create and implement an entire marketing plan, or they can be brought on when a dealership simply wants to run a few ideas by a marketer. "A dealership working on its fi rst marketing plan solo might produce a marketing plan document and then pay an outsider/expert to review it and pro- vide constructive feedback. This will allow a novice marketing team to go through the process and then validate its effort, while enjoying critical appraisal that might save time, money, or help avoid mistakes," Kenton Smith said. She recommends dealers ask non-competing dealerships or local businesses for referrals. College and university professors may also know some area marketing professionals, or their students may be willing to take on the dealership's marketing efforts as a class project. Sellhorst says dealerships should turn to an expert whose main commodity is their knowledge and ex- perience, rather than a service provider that's trying to sell a product. "I think the big thing is to work with an expert to help generate your strategy. When you look at turn- ing to an expert, it's when you're spending a lot of money, and you have no idea what your results are, or you're not getting certain results," he said. Fulton knows from her years at BMC Boats that marketing can be a challenging, time-consuming task that takes passion. Because of that, she says paying for marketing services would be appropriate for dealer- ships without marketing-minded people on staff. "It's got to be the right person. It can't be just somebody who throws something together. Truly you have to be dedicated to it," she said. Marine Connection has focused so much on mar- keting that it has a team of three marketing employees in addition to other store employees who help create and implement the plan. The dealership prefers em- ploying its own marketing staff rather than relying on an outside vendor. "We've always had an in-house team because we were able to deliver a message based on our com- pany's values and strengths," Gyllenberg said. No matter how a dealership gets the job done, what's important is that each business thinks about how it's reaching potential customers and if it is seeing a return on that investment. "If you need customers, spend some money and get them in the door," Sellhorst said, "but I say spend it smart." DISCOVER BOATING OFFERS FREE MARKETING RESOURCES "People don't wake up one morning and buy a boat." — Carl Blackwell, president, Discover Boating and Grow Boating P20x25-BI14MAR-MarketingPlan.indd 24 2/7/14 10:52 AM