Boating Industry Canada April 2015 - (Page 17)

days and the like are very effective tools and the company promotes those whenever it can. That addresses Yamaha's slice of the pie, but when it comes to expanding the total pie by bringing in new boaters, Tim feels that is beyond the scope of his company's marketing and falls to the industry as a whole. That's where Discover Boating comes into it as the marketing arm of the NMMA and NMMA Canada. Over the years, there has been a lot of soul searching about building boating. It's tough to think of the long game as the economy "roller coasters" and the media landscape shifts. When it comes to younger consumers, even the dinosaurs among us now realize that online communication is fundamental. Second most important is getting them out on the water - turn that virtual excitement into reality. This is a mission for Tracey Hart, the director of marketing of Discover Boating Canada. Tracey notes that NMMA is well aware of the need to engage young adults and has focused lots of its effort in that direction. On the Discover Boating site there's a pretty good collection of go boating information - how to select, buy, insure etc. Needless to say there's always more to cover. People, including young people, will get everything they need on the site and could well get hooked, but how do you get them to click their way there? To attract site visitors, DB is using its media bucks online, buying exposure in places where Canadians who might have a potential enthusiasm for boating will visit, such as the Weather Network and outdoorsy sites. Some encouraging news is that Discoverboating.com, the US version of the site, reports a large bump in youth demographics in recent months and an arrow pointing upward. Beyond those ads, Discover Boating has a frequently updated Facebook page with 37,000 Likes (Canadian band Magic! who emerged just this year has 544,000, but still...). A key weapon with 25+ potentials, according to Tracey, is the site's Stories of Discovery section where they position young people as boating enthusiasts. In addition Discover Boating tweets regularly, posts on Instagram etc. The basics are covered. Marketing always comes down to Reach and Frequency and those two factors always add up to $$$ unless you can find other ways. The weapon Tracey hopes to succeed with is YOU. On the Discover Boating site, there's a collection of tools that dealers, manufacturers - everybody can use to drive interest. By doing so, the impact of the campaign will be multiplied and eventually very stakeholder benefits. As I sit here looking forward to getting out on the water, I nonetheless despair that I, and my generation, are the problem. Our aging that is. People like me need to be supplemented with young vigorous boaters who can keep things booming. www.boatingindustry.ca 17 http://www.Discoverboating.com http://www.csbc.ca/en/ http://www.boatingindustry.ca

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Boating Industry Canada April 2015

Insight
Industry News
Ad Nauseam
Impact - John Pfeifer
Propulsion - Mercury's Latest & Greatest
Product Innovation - Xantrex
Made in Canada - Nova Kool
The Boat Shop - NMEA

Boating Industry Canada April 2015