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Today I am going to show you the basics of Marine Digital Marketing.
I remember my first introduction to the marine digital marketing world. At the time I was running several marketing campaigns for an RV dealership who had just decided to start selling boats. It was way different than we all expected. In this beginners guide I will let you know everything you need to know about marine digital marketing.
What is Marine Digital Marketing?
This may seem like a simple question however it is a robust inquiry. Marine digital marketing is the process of utilizing several different marketing tools to acquire a customer to purchase your product. In the marine world there are a plethora of tools to use and we will discuss what you need to use those tools and the best way to use them.
Step 1: Know Your Perfect Customer
To execute marine digital marketing successfully you must build your perfect customer. You will have to review data in your area to fine tune your perfect customer. Our demographic has drastically changed since COVID. Since COVID new boat sales have surged 40%, not only introducing more customers but introducing a new type of customer as well. COVID gave rise to a new marine customer: The Millennial. Millennials are individuals that were born from 1981-1996. Pre-COVID the average marine customer was a Baby Boomer with a large amount of disposable income. Since COVID the ideal customer is split almost perfectly three ways; The Baby Boomers (1946-1964), Generation X (1965-1980), and Millennials (1981-1996).
Step 2: Find Your Perfect Customer
Now that we know who our customers are we have to know where they are. If you have been selling boats for a while you can look back at your previous customers and notice a trend. Marketing has no political bias, ageism, racism, or sexism. Marketing is simply making decisions based on numbers. For this reason we always gather as much data as possible. While you may want to attract the corporate executive who reads finance magazines and business daily and also has an income of $200,000 that is not who buys the most boats. By the numbers over two-thirds of customers who purchase boats have a household income of less than $100,000 a year. You are now one step away from starting your journey in marine digital marketing.
Step 3: Reach Your Perfect Customer
Now for the final step of marine digital marketing: Reach your perfect customer! Now that you know who and where your customers are it is time to go get them! This can be achieved in a variety of ways. The free way is always the best way to start. What does this mean? Repurpose, repurpose, repurpose. Any time you have a product that you think is special it only takes 60 seconds for a slow walk around video that can have some text added and light music and then be posted on social media! The best way to do this is to start a TikTok. Even if you have no followers this will be your easiest app to film and edit videos effortlessly. Videos can be filmed on Tiktok and shared on every other social media platform. The goal is to get in front of your customer as many times as possible regardless of what app or website they are on. Even make connections with your local marinas and ask to tag them in posts as well. The more eyes you can get on your product for free the higher your profits will grow!
You’ve done the free stuff and made some profit but now you want more? Time to invest that new profit into PPC ads. PPC ads are Pay-Per-Click. They are the ads you see everywhere. They pop up on google, on the side of your favorite website, on Facebook, and even on the ads on your phone. This is where Step 2 is the most important. Create specialized individual campaigns for each of your target audiences. You may be tempted to create one big campaign with everyone in it. If you do this you will be wasting money on inefficiency. With specialized targeted campaigns you will be doing a lot more work monitoring, analyzing, and adjusting campaigns but, you will get the greatest return on your investment. If the marine world knows anything it is fishing. The same practice applies to fishing: In order to catch a certain type of fish you must cast in a certain area with a specialized rod, reel, jig, bait, and more! The same principles apply to marine digital marketing.
Now you have found your customer and got them in the door. Now to sell them. Good Luck!
Want to focus on selling and have AbnerConnect do your Marine Digital Marketing for you? Request a free consultation today!