Choosing the Best Marine Marketing Company

July 15, 2021

These days, it’s no secret that any business can expand its bottom line through targeted digital marketing. However, there’s never any one-size-fits-all marketing solution, especially when talking about different industries, like the marine industry. That’s why hiring an experienced marine marketing firm like WSI B2B Marketing will serve you best.

But if you’re still not clear on what the differences are between a traditional marketing agency and one that specializes in marine marketing, we’re here to clean up some of those discrepancies. Below, you’ll find all you need to know to choose the best marine marketing agency for your marine business.

Here are the things you need to keep in mind!

What Are Your Long-Term Goals

Before developing any marketing plan, it’s common to assess what your goals are for marketing campaigns both long and short-term. Try making a list of the things you’d like to improve upon to boost your bottom line. This list can include any number of things, such as:

• Boosting Engagement Between Sales & Prospects: One of the best ways to boost sales and qualified leads is to make a personal connection, so consider trying to improve the communication via sales staff and prospects. This can be done through a variety of ways, such as email campaigns, or even connecting with potential clients in person or over the phone.

Boosting engagement between sales and prospects is something that needs to be standardized. Whether it’s working out a pre-planned follow-up process that’s consistent across the board or having sales teams do what they can to decrease the amount of time between when you connect with a prospect and when they’re ready to purchase a boat.

Relying on phone calls and emails can only go so far. That’s why you can have your marketing department assist you with more innovative tactics to increase communication and make better, faster connections.

• Generating More Leads: Another important part of creating the right goals is assessing how your leads are generated, and then trying to increase that frequency. One of the best ways to increase your leads is understanding your ideal consumer persona, in this case, the boat buyer. For marketing teams, this is where research into who is going to buy a boat, and why, will truly pay off.
• Boosting Your Sales Margins: If you want to increase the sales margins on the number of units you sell each quarter, tweaking your messaging and also providing 24/7 buying options in terms of an expanded e-Commerce site could be just the thing. You might also consider additional training for your sales staff.

For those who feel they have a well-performing sales team, boosting your sales margin might be as simple as presenting the price of each unit in a better way, as well as adding more emphasis on negotiating sales. Coming up with some more inventive sales packages and showroom messaging can also often help; again, it’s your marine marketing team that will take the reins on these things.

• Uncollected Revenue: Are there any other areas you might be overlooking that can offer untapped revenue sources? Perhaps you maintain a service department that could use more business or a parts department that’s lacking in sales. The right marine marketing agency can help groom these departments into stronger revenue sources.

Where Do You Need the Most Help?

After considering some of the aspects mentioned above, in which areas do you think you need the most help? Which ones are the most important to you? Now is the time to work with your marine marketing agency to determine what’s working well and what needs to be changed. There are a few different ways you can do this, the first one by reading your sales staff’s emails to prospects. Listen to phone calls to leads generated from all of the different sources where you’re running campaigns, and lastly, start beefing up your e-Commerce site and turning it into a digital showroom.

You can also take a look at what others are doing, both your competition inside the boating industry, as well as seemingly successful companies in general. Try to determine what’s making them the most money and then develop a clear, concise list of improvements you need to implement. This is the best way to boost your profits and also generate better marketing ROI.

Evaluate Your Marine Marketing Options

Once you’ve taken a close look at everything mentioned above, it’s time to search for a marine marketing company that can help meet those goals and expectations. One of the easiest ways is to search for experienced digital marketing companies online, talking to others in your industry, and doing some research on Google or other reliable search engines to see what’s out there. Once you’ve identified anywhere from 5-10 potential marine marketing companies, it’s time to vet them to find out the one that will work the best.

Here’s How...

Evaluate Each Company On Your List

If a digital marketing firm is going to help you increase more leads and sales, they need to show you precisely how they’re going to do it. Ask them about their processes and whether they have any systems in place to generate proven results, whether it be performing extensive competitor research or initiating campaigns like SEO or PPC.

Since targeting the right audience is so important, it’s essential that any potential marine marketing company illustrates the type of consumer research that’s involved in identifying your key target audience and buyer personas. It’s even better if they can provide extensive data and analytics to back up the success of such strategies they’ve implemented in the past, like case studies.

Then, create a PROs and CONs list for each company. While doing so, you may also find that many of the services they offer will also help your sales team in addition to your overall marketing efforts. Once you highlighted your top companies, it’s time for the next step...

Speaking with Your Top Marine Marketing Choices

After evaluating all of the potential marine marketing companies and whittling down your list, it’s time to speak to all of the top choices and see if they’ll be able to meet your needs. Talk to them either in person or over the phone and don’t be afraid to ask as many questions as possible; after all, you should be treating this just like a job interview for any potential employee.

Here are several key questions you should always ask marine marketing providers before hiring them:

• What type of proven results are you able to generate and on what type of budget?
• What other marine companies have you worked with in the past?
• What type of tools and services do you use to generate results? (lead generation tactics, social media campaigns, website optimization, and design, etc.)
• Do you work with any other local client similar to my business using the same types of techniques or marketing blueprint?
• Do you offer any guarantees (WSI B2B Marketing offers a full money back guarantee), and if so, has any past client ever exercised their right for such a guarantee?
• Can you provide me with some client testimonials and references for those who you’ve worked with in the past?

If the marine marketing firm you’re speaking with is able to answer all of these questions easily and confidently, they’re likely a good match for you. Any hesitancy to answer any of the questions above should raise red flags.

Before Signing on the dotted line...

Lastly, but certainly not least, before signing with any potential marine marketing company, ask them who you’ll be working with from their end and how they plan and strategize year after year. Is there a focus on both short and long-term campaigns? Do they use a general blueprint for all their clients then tweak it accordingly as campaigns get underway?

The very best marine marketing companies will begin with a strategy session to clearly outline your needs and expectations, then provide you with an action plan to generate proven results. Communication is a huge part of running a successful marketing campaign, so the company you’ve chosen should illustrate how they’ll be communicating results, whether through quarterly meetings or reports, or other methods.

For those in need of an experienced digital marketing team with all of the tools necessary to develop a winning marine marketing strategy, WSI B2B Marketing would love to hear from you. In addition to marine marketing, we also work closely with the manufacturing and medical device industries, so contact us online today or call 1 (800) 494-6212.