Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Timing is Everything

(1:02) So you've worked hard to develop the perfect promotional message. One that highlights your advantages while offering boaters the useful content that they desire. Maybe it's a killer discount to introduce your facility to new customers. Or a unique amenity only you can provide. Or simply presenting an inviting destination boaters won't be able to resist. That's a good start but you're not done yet.

(0:52) To truly succeed you need to get that message in front of boaters at the moment they are making their planning decisions. A message delivered too soon will fall on deaf ears. While one delivered too late is, well, too late.

(0:46) Old fashioned advertising relied heavily on repetition. Put the message in lots of places with the hope that one would reach the consumer at the right moment. That method no longer works. Your customers are bombarded with information. If your message is not relevant to me at the moment it is presented, I won't see it.

(0:38) As I've discussed in various Minutes in the past, the key is to reach boaters at the moment your message is relevant. It is this relevancy that makes the ActiveCaptain partnership with the third party marine navigation apps so important. Now your perfect message is appearing at the perfect moment: the moment I am planning and implementing my cruise. And with the Cross Promotion tool you even have a last-chance to attract a boater considering a competing facility.

(0:27) Cross-Promotion provides ActiveCaptain Sponsors with a brief, one line message that appears in the marker of nearby non-Sponsor marinas. It's your chance to present your special advantages as the boater is looking at your competitor. Perhaps you have great fuel prices for the area. Perhaps your hot tub is a big draw. Or just perhaps you know that your competitors have poor service and inexperienced dock hands. This is your chance to point out these differences.

(0:16) Cross-Promotion is about understanding your own business and where your advantages lie. Take out a sheet of paper and write down the 2-3 things that make your marina different from the others you compete with. The objective is to make a clear and honest assessment of your strengths.

(0:07) That list of 2-3 things becomes the basis for your single, small, Cross-Promotion message. Set it, measure the results, and modify it as needed.

(0:02) And that's the marina minute.