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Marketing Tips1. The early bird gets the worm. In marketing, as in life, the advantage often goes to those who are first. See: Coke vs. Pepsi, FedEx vs. UPS, Kleenex vs. Scott Tissue. While boating season may seem far away, now is not too early to start spreading the message of boating safety! Go ahead and start contacting members of your local press; place radio and TV PSAs, and devise strategic partnerships to provide your events with free publicity. Remember that the cold doesn’t mean that boaters are hibernating: now is the time when many can take a boating safety course, shop for the season’s life jackets and other safety equipment, and even have a Vessel Safety Check (VSC) performed. 2. Don’t go it alone – teams can make the difference between ordinary and extraordinary. While none of us liked group projects in school – there was always someone who didn’t pull their weight – as it turns out, our teachers may have been on to something. In the real world, few things can make a project more rewarding – or more successful than surrounding yourself with capable people you can trust. Build yourself a “team of champions” that pulls together volunteers, friends, neighbors, and co-workers with a variety of experiences and expertise. Having this diversity at-the-ready will not only grow your “circle of influence” (see December’s “To Do List”), but it will guarantee that you are pulling creative ideas for your campaign from every available source. 3. Be remarkable! Have you ever heard of the “Purple Cow” theory of marketing? A few years ago, marketing guru and bestselling author Seth Godin wrote the book, “Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable.” In it, he defined “remarkable” as “Something. . .worth talking about. Worth noticing. Exceptional. New. Interesting,” and “remarkable marketing” as “the art of building things worth noticing right into your product or service.” Be remarkable with your own boating safety campaign this year; get the message to boaters using out-of-the-box ideas, and unexpected events. Think parades, fashion shows, contests – anything “worth noticing.”
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