In today's competitive boating market, having a captivating online presence is no longer a luxury - it's a necessity. While boasting a top-notch selection of boats is crucial, potential customers expect a seamless digital experience to navigate your inventory, understand financing options, and ultimately, make a purchase. This is where partnering with a website design company specializing in responsive boat dealership websites becomes an investment that drives sales.

In today's digital age, simply having a great selection of boats and RVs isn't enough. You need a website that showcases your inventory, captures leads, and converts visitors into sales.

The digital landscape is constantly evolving, and staying ahead in the SEO game is crucial for boat/RV dealers and OEMs aiming for visibility and growth in 2024. This year, several key trends are shaping the SEO strategies businesses need to adopt to ensure their online presence is not just seen but impactful. Let's dive into the essentials of SEO trends for 2024.

1. Embracing Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues to revolutionize SEO. Search engines are using AI to refine how they understand and respond to queries, making it essential for businesses to create content that aligns more naturally with user intentions. For boat/RV dealers, this means focusing on detailed, helpful content that meets the specific needs of your audience.

2. Mobile Optimization: A Necessity, Not an Option
With mobile searches overtaking desktop, having a mobile-friendly website is mandatory. Google's mobile-first indexing emphasizes the performance and user experience of the mobile version of your site. Ensure your site is responsive, loads quickly, and offers a seamless experience across all devices.

3. The Power of Local SEO
For dealers and manufacturers, local SEO is invaluable. Optimize for "near me" searches and ensure your Google My Business listing is up-to-date with accurate information, including your business hours, contact information, and services offered. Encourage satisfied customers to leave positive reviews to boost your visibility further.

4. Video Content Dominates
Videos are increasingly favored in search results, providing a dynamic way to engage potential customers. Create informative and engaging video content that showcases your products, offers how-tos, or gives viewers a behind-the-scenes look at your dealership or manufacturing process. Remember, videos can significantly improve dwell time, positively affecting your SEO rankings.

5. Voice Search Optimization
As more people use voice-activated devices, optimizing for voice search becomes crucial. Focus on long-tail keywords and conversational phrases that match the natural language users employ when speaking rather than typing. This approach will help you capture a broader audience who might use voice search to find services or products you offer.

6. Prioritizing User Experience (UX)
UX is a critical ranking factor. A website that's easy to navigate, loads quickly, and offers valuable content will rank higher in search results. Ensure your website design is intuitive, with a clear structure, fast load times, and content that's easy to digest.

7. Secure and Accessible Websites
Security is a top priority for users and search engines alike. Ensure your site uses HTTPS encryption to protect user data. Additionally, make your website accessible to everyone, including those with disabilities, by following Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

8. Sustainable SEO: Beyond Keywords
While keywords remain important, SEO in 2024 is about understanding the broader context of searches. It involves creating a comprehensive online presence that includes social media activity, backlinks, and online reviews. Diversify your SEO strategy to build a strong, holistic online presence.

In Conclusion
For boat/RV dealers and OEMs, adapting to these SEO trends in 2024 is not just about staying relevant; it's about leading the pack. By focusing on AI, mobile optimization, local SEO, video content, voice search, user experience, website security, and a holistic SEO strategy, you can ensure your business not only navigates but thrives in the digital seascape of 2024.

It is well known now that the digital space is always evolving. New technologies are introduced - seemingly by the hour - and businesses are understanding that their websites need to keep up, or else.

1. Technology advancements
Trends and styles change rapidly and your website can quickly become outdated. Two years is a long time on the internet and dealership websites are a great example of this. The good news is, there are many new ways to attract your customers' attention. Speed, performance, ease of use, and a stunning design are all important in your customers eyes and ensure your website stays relevant in browser searches.

Introduction

Customer questions, concerns and objections are a natural part of the selling process. If your customer isn’t engaging you at this level, then chances are they’re not a serious buyer. The feedback also provides valuable insight into the customer’s interest level, how far along they are in narrowing their search and finally, how close they are to making a purchase decision.

Planning for an event can be stressful. The following are techniques deployed by some of the highest performing boat show exhibitors in the industry which will provide you with top-line steps to accomplish a successful event.

A CRM system can provide to your sales team the information they need to close deals, your marketing team data to market more effectively and your customer service team with the tools they need to service customers better. And yet, many companies believe a CRM isn’t worth it or that now isn’t the right time to implement a new system.

It’s a digital age and keeping up with changes in customer needs can be one of the largest challenges boat dealers face. The rolodex worked well when there were two main methods of communication: phones and snail mail.

Today, customers can reach out via phone, text message, email, social media, instant messaging and more. Keeping track of where relationships stand and when it’s the right time to follow up can feel overwhelming without a system for tracking and automating the process.

CRMs allow business the ability to track a customer’s sales history and monitor your sales efforts from a single dashboard that is designed for increasing efficiency of your sales department. However, as the market continues to grow, a modern CRM system needs much more than a client and sales preview.

Customer relationship management software, or CRM as it is commonly known, is a staple in modern organizations. Not only are CRMs linked with successful contact management, sales management, organizational productivity, etc., they also serve to improve relationships with prospects and existing clients. A CRM system can give you a clear overview of your consumers, which is why Gartner predicts that by 2021, CRM will be the single largest revenue area of spending in enterprise software.

However, the current business landscape is completely different from when CRMs initially started gaining popularity in the early 2000s. From how you produce, to how you sell – everything has undergone drastic changes in the past decade. This has inevitably affected how CRMs optimize your productivity and sales.

Please excuse the underwhelming title… we thought it best to get straight to the point.

Hello again, it’s so nice to see you back - and if you are just tuning in, welcome. In our last article, we discussed the basics of the mean stack and how it greatly improves website load times. As promised, we will be elaborating on that in this page.

Welcome reader to our first-ever Blog series. The next few articles of ours will expand on the newest trends in website technology and how they will directly – and indirectly – effect your dealership website. If tech doesn’t tickle your taste buds, fear not; it's written lightheartedly to soften the otherwise rigid topic because we feel that it's really important to stay on top of web trends. As you know, your web presence plays a vital role in your overall business performance and our job is to help you be the best dealer you can be. So, sit tight, grab a cup of tea, water, scotch… whatever feels right for the occasion, and stick with us through this adventure into the latest trends in website technology.

You did it. Everything is set up and ready, the boat show has begun, and people of all kinds are entering your booth by the dozens. Ideally, each and every adult there could become a lead but it can be a challenge to A) gather a person’s contact info if they didn’t walk in already planning on giving it to you, and B) get in contact with quality leads who are truly looking to buy.

As a dealer, participating in your local boat show is a no-brainer. The trick though, is to be the shining beacon in a sea of other booths that your customers (and hopefully others) flock to when they arrive. In this article we will be sharing some important tips, gathered from veteran boat show participants, on how to have the best booth at a boat show.

Live chat services entered the business realm in 2002 with the launch of LiveChat. This program allowed customers to communicate directly with a representative in the company through the website, no phone calls necessary. The concept was slow to gain traction among companies as it was commonly thought of as unnecessary and not worth the cost. Customers were still more accustomed to picking up the phone or going to the store to have their questions answered.

Rates to market through third party trade sites are on the rise, often consuming hundreds of dollars per listing per month and ultimately is no longer worth the cost. It may be time to consider other options for posting your listings. One alternative is maximizing your own website’s marketing capabilities with a simple addition of targeted microsites. The shift towards the use of microsites is gaining traction with the realized ability to target specific audiences and have full control of marketing campaigns.

Depending on the level of which you need live chat to assist customer service in your business you have the ability to select the specific features that match your regular needs. With this, you can start an evaluation of the customer calls and emails that your customer service team receives on a regular basis. From there you can determine how often your visitors ask which types of questions. You will find that many inquiries are ones that never lead to a sale, but to retain excellent customer service they must be answered with the same degree of care as your buyers. 

A Post-Boat Show Event is one that acts as a follow up event after a local boat show. Often times they are planned in accordance with the boat show and promoted during as a way to attract serious buyers that may still be on the fence about their purchase. Post-Boat Show Events are typically much more personalized and serve as a nice accent to the more public boat shows.

A boat is a major investment. It helps if your customers know what kind of boats you offer and their needs and preferences made before making the final decision of buying one. Your customers will choose based on design, size, brand, intended use and many other features. So, it is important to have your sales and customer service team prepared to walk the customers through every step of the purchase process, at whatever point they walk into your store. Whether they are in the initial search stage or as far as the final decision stage, the best decision can be made with the assistance of your professionals.

The most important manner of discussion in the issue of fast response service is that it is not a simple and basic definition. There is no one basic method of fast response, and it is developed specifically for any number of industries that are able to service customers quickly. Think about the fact that as drivers we all have memberships to services like AAA or we have purchased insurance that also provides fast response service with immediate towing, repair or assistance with other issues. There is much to be said for that in comparison to the fast response service that marine dealerships have the ability to offer their customers.

One of the greatest things to provide is empathy-powered communication, helping customers realize that the request for their feedback is of the greatest assistance to your business improvement. There is also the ability to show that you appreciate the needs and values that they place on the market. With answers provided in the surveys and questionnaires given to customers, there is much to see in the social network created, much to learn for the coming leads to be gained, as well as the upcoming products and services that may be needed for sale and distribution to old and new customers.

Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) campaigns provide a number of important benefits to help maintain business in the coming seasons. While each marketing campaign has a specific goal, it is important to gain information on specific customer response to your products, marketing strategy, customer service, communication and more, in order to help determine what has gone right and what needs to be updated in the coming seasons. In most cases at this time, boat show season has passed for the year and sales are at their peak. Now it is time to find out how your new and returning customers feel about their interactions with your company and whether they will likely refer friends, family, neighbors and other contacts to you.

As mentioned in the previous article, now is prime time to start the follow-up process with all of those leads and customers gained from boat shows and related efforts. The benefits of inquiring on your customers’ satisfaction with their interaction with your brand are clear.

CSI, in this context, stands for Customer Satisfaction Index and describes customer sentiments towards a business they personally interacted with. A CSI Campaign is an effort to discover how your customers feel about their experience with your dealership. The feedback gathered from these campaigns is invaluable as it reveals what your customers might be telling their peers. Positive sentiments reveals what should continue, and negative sentiments shed light on what can be improved upon. Campaigns of this sort are also an opportunity to thank your customers, which can go a long way in promoting a positive customer experience. 

One bit of knowledge to arm yourself with when setting up online ad campaigns is that you have the right to set everything up to your standards. There is no reason to get “bullied” into spending more that your marketing budget simply to get a few visitors to your landing page, website, or other location.

As you test the results of your existing marketing campaigns, there is much to consider in the remarketing efforts needed to improve your return on investment (ROI). Luckily, if you are improving conversion rates, sales, or other defined goals from updates to your marketing campaigns, then it is easy to believe that your ROI on remarketing to a PPC campaign would be worthwhile for even greater improvement.

Geo-targeting a national pay-per-click (PPC) campaign is an option to add to the overall national presence of an advertisement. There is more than simply creating an ad that is presentable to an audience across the entire nation; details can be worked into the campaign to target specific audiences.

There are a number of reasons that pay-per-click (PPC) advertising can assist in growth of business, brand, and company name. One thing to know is that local PPC will be of great value for boat and other dealerships with the ability to reach your immediate audience closely.

While there are careful strategies to manage in all Pay-Per-Click (PPC) marketing campaigns, there are plenty of agencies that are able to help manage all the ins and out of these campaigns in order to help determine the best options. Two types of PPC advertising are local and national campaigns.

To consider the use of a Pay Per Click (PPC) campaigns for your business or dealership, there are some basics of this technology that are essential to recognize. The first is that rather than a flat rate for a specified length of time you are paying per click made on your Google Adwords or other media links. Additionally, it is important to remember that your ad is placed in more sites on the Google network than Google.com alone. This includes Aol.com, Ask.com and other displayed sites. 

Microsites can be considered a smaller page or group of pages that are created to help assist the needs of a company’s homepage or landing page. Microsites can be created for individual promotions or campaigns to help draw specific customer or audience attention to new or featured products and services. But, there is more than the question of “what” a microsite is; why do they exist?

We have spoken many times about online marketing and the many benefits of SEO for your dealership’s online presence. There is also the importance of positive or White Hat SEO in keeping your company name on the proper side of the business and online world. Most recently we have presented the topic of microsites and the many benefits they can provide to your dealership, especially in the fact that online marketing is so much a factor in today’s business world. Many marketing professionals state the clear benefits of microsites as decluttering the homepage, adding focus for page visitors, adding to marketing tests and promotions, building your company brand and brand awareness and then, finally, SEO influence.

There are a lot of things to consider when developing microsites for the growth of your dealership’s online presence. Other online marketing outlets like social media have made it so that microsites as a way to build traffic, have taken a back seat. While those outlets do have their own benefits, microsites serve purposes far beyond likes and page views. Microsites are not meant to draw just anyone and everyone to your business. They are used as a method to attract specifically targeted audiences which is a handy tactic in boosting online traffic. After all, why not create content just for those who are most likely to do business with you?

One of the greatest things about microsites is that they exist outside a company’s main website. Though they are similar to landing pages in many ways, they also provide specific functions for ecommerce needs. A landing page exists alone with the search for contacts and leads. Microsites, on the other hand, can have many pages with the presentation of several key points of your company’s products, services and more.

There is much to be gained from the development of microsites for a boat dealership. From SEO benefits to the ability to target specific audiences, the potential for traffic growth with microsites is promising. What is a Microsite?

With the idea that customer loyalty is one of the most valuable ways to maintain and increase business, one of the best options is to introduce a loyalty program to incentivize existing customers. Such reward programs help build customer relationships and ensure their return for further sales and positive reviews spread to others.

Over the past ten years the growth and development of online sales and marketing has evolved to suit the demands of fast pace internet users. There is plenty of increased availability that helps to access many brands that would not have been previously seen in the mall or shopping center down the street. There is more to the available online store than the purchase. Customer support has become accessible through the internet as well, and has since grown into a necessity for business. Live chat is one form of online support that has become a favorite among users in recent years. Instant messeging businesses? Who would have thunk it?

While there has been much to consider with the caution and care of the customer, working closely for quality and never speeding ahead of the process to make sure that customer support is handled efficiently, there is in fact one place where customers expect a speedy response. Think about the overall communications that are sent on social media channels, primarily those like Facebook and Twitter. They are primarily considered to be more of a personal and social form of communication, and the response is an immediate and personal response, not necessarily one that is thoughtful and investigated for the quality of the information at hand. It is important to many social media visitors to at least see the initial response that states there is an answer coming, even if the final one is not received immediately.

Sometimes we get so caught up in the “do” factor of customer support, that the numbers and statistics become the most important factor. In the same way our customers then turn into people whose feelings and responses are no longer valid. This can be a slippery slope that leaves you and your team wondering why your efforts are generating adverse effects. Rather than having only a rigid protocol for your customer service techs to adhere to, allow some flexibility that is geared towards understanding and caring for the customer’s needs. Empathy is key. When communication is positive and truly supportive, there are better odds of receiving positive customer reviews. As we now know, positive reviews lead to consumer confidence in working with your dealership, increased traffic, and ultimately more revenue.

We have been discussing the positive effects of customer service, at all times in the process of sales. It is wise to treat your customers with quality service even before they have made their initial purchase, especially considering the likelihood that the mention of your quality service from another customer is what brought them to you in the first place. There is definitely the need to provide overall incredible customer support for those who return with questions and additional servicing needs as well. Customer reviews and feedback spread out the positive reputation of your business based most importantly upon your customer support that they appreciate so much.

Some studies have in fact come to show that customers are willing to pay more for better customer service. This means that quality customer service is no longer a follow-up and long-term relationship feature, but a front-end selling point that will help you stand out from the competitor. In fact, it has been stated by the customers themselves that this is in fact one of their key research points in the buying process, whether it is an initial purchase or returning occurrence.

You may notice that lately we have been discussing the value of customer service and the importance of keeping existing customers happy. With the knowledge that those happy customers will remain loyal, will keep in touch and will spread the positive word of your business to their friends and family, the retention of those customers has proven in many studies to be the best way to improve business and profits combined.

We consistently mention the importance of good customer service as the ideal function to keeping existing customers happy, spreading the word of your positive business to others, as well as the potential for more sales.

We have recently discussed the most frequent presence of marketing and promotion and that is word of mouth. We know that happy customers are likely to spread the word to their friends and family of how happy they are with your business. Now, there is the question of how many existing and former customers are out there with an unhappy memory of working with your company, either in a purchase, customer service or other way.

We have all heard at some point in our lives that the customer is always right, knowing that there is no better reason to keep a customer happy than the fact that positive feedback is best spread by word of mouth. We have the benefits of social media, surveys and other digital messaging, but those customers who you keep consistently happy will continually pass along a positive reference in your favor when their friends and family are looking for the greatest marine service in the biz.

The definition of Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising is as simple as it sounds. When you have set up an online marketing or advertising campaign as it is set up from both your web platform, or advertising space purchased in the search engine. The amount your company will pay for the campaign is not a flat fee, but based upon the number of clicks on the ad that will follow through to your website, campaign, landing page or other location. One of the primary spaces where PPC ads are used is with Google, where you have the option to place strong keywords in your ad or campaign statement, and with the number of clicks that come through based on your placement at the top of search results, the benefits for you are great visibility with the potential for paying a higher bill because of your appearance at the top of the results list.

We are so proud to announce that Marine Dealer Solutions
is now a Certified LiveChat Expert!

Well, we have talked much to this point about SEO and its benefits, as well as that importance of White Hat over Black Hat SEO. Now, there is something to consider in the ability to outsource internet marketing and SEO to a local buzz service. A local buzz service is a marketing service that works on behalf of its clients for all ends of the internet marketing world.

We have discussed the topic of remarketing earlier this year, and we know that it is not the same marketing campaign to promote the same product or service. In general, it is important to know that analysis of response to email, online, print or other marketing campaigns must be continually analyzed to ensure that leads are gained, sales are made and even that feedback is received from those whom you reach.

There is much to be said for customer service in all industries today. Whether your business is based upon product or service there is always the importance of fast response in relation to quality relationships with your customers. No matter whether you sell a product, such as boats or boating products, or if you offer a service to the locals in your town, there is much for all customers to appreciate in the speedy service you may offer when they are in need.

With the great benefit for SEO to all business websites, there is the forward and positive nature for product dealerships in the use of White Hat SEO. Considering the fact that consumers are searching online for not only quality products but for quality dealers from which they are shopping, trust and meaningful relationships are important. Therefore, White Hat SEO is much more valuable over Black Hat SEO.

We return to the fact that SEO in general works with the goal to pull your company’s website to the top of the most popular search results, but now we also know that there are the best ways to handle that goal. With the two different types of SEO, White Hat and Black Hat, there is something to be said for ethical content versus spam. There is more to Black Hat SEO than just a definition as spam, when this content digs at the consumer with content that meets exactly what they want to hear or read about a product or service, but is most likely not true at all.

We all know that there is a great value to search engine optimization in the increase of your website rankings, but when taking on the SEO activity there is much more to consider. The simple definition of search engine optimization can too easily be taken from one angle that can lead to troubles for your business in the long run. SEO needs to be taken on carefully and with thorough planning in order to make sure that there will be quality search engine results for your site, quality leads and customer relationships, as well as a long-term business to be built.

There is a great deal to know about microsites and what they can do for your company’s website. The best thing to consider is the ability of your team to design each microsite specifically within the specific guidelines of your company and any individual campaign you are running, product being sold or other marketing goal.

Social bookmarking is a concept that many are now familiar with. The act of sending your friend a link via an email or text is proof enough that you are part of this massive movement. Social bookmarking refers to the act of saving the link to a site you would like to revisit in the near future. These links can easily be shared with others as well, further expanding your visibility and thus, expanding awareness of your brand.

With a number of social bookmarking sites out there, your dealership has the potential to stand out from the crowd in many different locations, on and off line. Among the most common are Pinterest, LinkedIn, Stumbleupon, Delicious, Reddit and Digg, along with many more. By registering with these different sites, your website, microsites, blogs and other online marketing campaigns are available for added exposure and sharing with the simple existence of their icons within your work. Especially considering the fact that most of these are no cost for registration, providing you a free form of advertisement and expansion of your business outside your local area where only those who may view your dealership from the road may enter!

Benefits of the microsite campaign work well for boat dealers all over the country! There is much to present for current and future customers alike through online marketing, and there are many potential campaigns that you could use based upon the different boats and services your company offers. It is great to realize the benefits of microsite campaigns before beginning, then your team will be able to plan best for the type of campaign that will work for your company. No matter whether your sales are boats, boat service, fishing and other on-the-water trips, boat docks and much more, there is always a way to market with online strength to customers everywhere.

It is easy for all of us to fall under hundreds of assumptions about the acronym “SEO” and the thought that it is easily interwoven to your website in order to improve your placement on large search engines like Google, Yahoo and many others. While there are many benefits of SEO used in your web content, there are also many misconceptions that must be considered when planning your content for search engine optimization, of which five we will discuss here.

Microsites are small websites made of one or a few pages, customized and branded for a specific purpose and function, which work in conjunction with a larger website. They provide visually stunning presentations and are used to drive specific campaigns. As such, they play a major role in online marketing. Cutting right to the chase, some of their roles include:

There are plenty of benefits from the production of a microsite. A microsite for your boat dealership has the potential of developing and presenting a new brand to marketing your campaigns and award-winning products and services alike. Given the ability for a microsite to link to your website and campaigns, along with all other places for the presentation of your dealership online, you have the ability to spread your digital identity farther and farther out the world internet. With the ability to draw further inbound marketing and SEO, greater attention is brought to your dealership as a leader in the industry as well as friendlier and more trustworthy to the customer. 

As many businesses are opting for the cloud for marketing their ventures, simply having a website is no longer enough to gain clients. There are countless SEO tactics and other online marketing strategies to help drive traffic to your business. One of those tactics is the use of microsites.  There are many purposes microsites can be used for, however, todays article is focused on those used for specific regions. To give an example, say a user wants to find a dealership in their city, somewhere close to them. They might type into a search engine “(their city) boat dealers” or “Boat dealers near me.” That user may not be willing to travel or wait for shipment of the items they are searching for, so a microsite designed to showcase products available it that area alone could be just what the potential  is looking for.

“Digg – what the internet is talking about now”! There is much to be said for placing the name of your dealership at the head of the table on a site that promotes EVERYTHING. This is a quality social bookmarking site that can help pull the presence of your site up the list in the Google and other search results. While it may take a few link submissions to improve your presence on Digg, there is nothing better than to continue attempts and press your name and brand out into the online world.

Those who own or run websites desire that they attract as much traffic as possible. The use of social media networks to market your website is in order as well as social bookmarking sites. Social bookmarking sites came to be in 1996 and they have since grown to attract a great following. In addition to the rising popularity of these sites, their usefulness has grown to accommodate the needs of their users.

We all refer to social media as an extreme benefit to the improvement of online and inbound marketing for your boat dealership. There is one addition to social marketing that can help improve online marketing for the growing sales of your business. Social bookmarking sites are those that most frequently update the images of the products a business provides for sale, along with the events and presentations being made by your team. These sites are often the ones where immediate photos are most easily uploaded, and the accounts are most easily maintained from various devices, including mobile phones and tablets.

Business telephones are key for all moments of the day, with incoming and outgoing calls moving off the hook. One matter to consider is the most frequent locations where all of those incoming calls come from, for sales, customer service and more. There are many services and apps that help to record and report customer demographics via all of the incoming calls to your company’s phone lines, including Google Voice among many others.

The most important relationships to consider when building your business Are those with your very own customers. While the adventure of gaining as many leads and new customers as possible is an exciting and sometimes overwhelming challenge, there is also the important job of retaining their business for future growth and development. One of the best methods to the growth of business is to move forward without losing current customers. It can be done with some simple, basic steps!

Let’s start by explaining what exactly a microsite is. A microsite is its own smaller site that lives outside of your direct website URL. They are an extension of your brand but have a separate and specific objective – usually to run a campaign toward certain groups or regions. Microsites have become a powerful online marketing tool as they are meant for very targeted tasks; they are not meant to be.

Search engine optimization is the method that affects the visibility of a website. We shall focus on what SEO will be in the coming decade and the advancements it will make or if it still exists in 10 years to come. Here are some expected transformations;

If you are a new startup business owner or learning about the latest in technological advancements in marketing, you may wonder what the value of inbound marketing is over simply investing in the complete marketing department of your company. Here are some of the most important key points to know about the value of inbound marketing for lead generation and the growth of your sales:

We all know that the search engine is the easiest place to find the most popular websites for products for which we are shopping, information we need for research, and any other basic data to cover all our needs. The internet has become the encyclopedia of the 21^st century, and with the millions of websites, blogs, articles and many more pages out there, it is a battle to appear at the top of the list.

Search engine optimization (SEO) was not in existence until the early 1990s but really picked up in the mid-90s. It is at this time that webmasters realized that to rank better on search engines, they had to pay attention to the kind of content that they were churning out.

We all know that when building a business choosing the proper promotional events and strategies can be extremely costly and difficult at the same time. There is nothing better than to take some time to evaluate the many methods that are available to help minimize the cost in these promotions for your boating company, reaching out to your potential customers with passionate and active branding and vision.

You have invested time, money, and resources into your display at the local boat show or expo. What next? Once your customers arrive, they have every bit of freedom to roam around the venue as they please. The goal is then to get them to your booth and want to stay there, rather than wander to other displays. Below are some methods you can implement to entertain and delight your customers into staying at your booth.  

Summer months pose an unpredicable sales success in the marine industry. Too much heat can cause folks to stay indoors. Too little rain during the wet season can cause droughts. Or, summer could offer the perfect time to indulge in the boating lifestyle. It varies year to year. This article is focused on how to increase Summer sales during those not-so-forgiving hot seasons.

Social media is here with us and certainly here to stay. It has proven to be one of the best modern platforms for communication, and with it came many other uses. Many customers are ebracing online shopping, and a majority of those shoppers are on one or more social media platforms. Industries have begun to embrace social media as a marketing platform for their products and services, and the marine industry is no exception. In fact, given the highly social and fun-loving character of the industry, social media has become an integral part of any marine business. People in the niche love going to events like demo days, boat shows, water sport tournaments, fishing tournaments, and more. What better way to reach those folks than social media where the action is.

We now know that social media is effective in many ways for both life and business. There are several social media platforms which can be helpful to both attract and communicate with potential and existing clients, however if you want to spread your business further across the boating and marine industry there may be some specific areas of focus.

Most businesses take prospects very seriously and converting those into customers requires knowledge of consumer patterns. This article reveals the best time of the day to contact your leads in the marine industry. Most marketers are enthusiastic when they ascertain the hour to pass essential information to consumers without it going unnoticed. It is not always necessary to wait for a persuasive event, investigate the purchaser and craft messages accordingly. Sometimes, all the marketer needs to know is the best opportunity to successfully gain the attention of their prospects. Here are some of the best times to do so.

Okay, we all know that having a promotional show is a great way to meet potential customers and land new business. One thing that we often overlook is going out of our way to personally invite existing customers to come take a look around and talk to you again. Remember that if these customers have already purchased a boat from you in the past there may be any number of future purchases needed!

So, you are hosting a local boat show where all of your wonderful products will be on display and ready for sale at the drop of a hat. Well, don’t let a single drop of potential business “sail” away into the wind!

Social media marketing capitalizes on the human desire to network with other people, build new friendships and exchange experiences. This sphere creates a whole new audience that comprises would-be consumers. This article is aimed at exploring the possible signs that point toward the need to invest in social media.

There are a number of studies that have shown that having a little fun or entertainment on the job can help boost or recharge the batteries of those who spend so many hours per week together. Personal experience for many of us can attest to this. When there is something fun to look forward to, or good memories to look back on in the workplace, it raises the energy among the workers.

A successful boat show is an exciting prospect, no doubt. It is a culmination of relentless marketing efforts and detailed planning. So, what happens after a successful show? After-sale services and other follow up strategies further work towards breaking new ground in boat sales and customer satisfaction. This article is aimed at exploring the benefits of calling customers after a successful boat show.

All businesses face competition and it is wise to learn what the ‘other guys’ are doing in order to see what works best, what doesn’t work, what they might be missing that your dealership can capitalize on, and so much more. This information can be invaluable.

Loyalty and excitement in the workplace can be a difficult aura to manage, from both sides of the fence. Employees can find themselves frustrated and undervalued or the employer can see a lack of work or energy on the side of employees. Workplace morale can heavily effect productivity and for that it is important to keep staff energy, excitement and loyalty at its best.

It is a known fact that for any business to survive and thrive, several strategic partnerships need to be secured. The need to make friends and partners ensures the smooth continuation of business operations at a time when new trends are seemingly transforming the business landscape as we know it. This article is aimed at exploring four kinds of partnerships that benefit boat dealerships and the inside scoop on each.

Today, lead generation and follow up is the main reason most business set ups invest in a social media presence. Merely having social media accounts doesn’t necessarily mean automatic results; like everything else, social media does require some strategic planning and execution. For small up-and-coming businesses, expenditure on marketing, lead generation and follow up doesn’t always make much sense. Social media is the new marketing arena and the competition knows this. This article is aimed at exploring the various ways in which you can increase your reach on social media and, in doing so, give your firm a strategic advantage.

While we all know that there are many reasons to enter social media as an individual, from catching up with old friends and colleagues to finding a new job, there are also plenty of reasons to enter social media as a business. Social media is a great marketing tool throughout several industries and for all different types of companies, helping to further develop the inbound marketing process for your business.

Customer service index, abbreviated as CSI, is a standard measure of customer satisfaction. It gives direct insight into the quality of customer service offered and consequently how happy or satisfied the customers are about it. As always, the success of any business set up will rely on customer satisfaction, among other things. A CSI survey is an extensive demographic representation that covers various sectors of an economy over a defined period of time. The survey rates customer experience on a scale of 1-10 on a series of definitive metrics covering areas such as efficiency, professionalism, complaint response, timeliness, quality of service and products, ease of doing business amongst others. This article is aimed at highlighting the various ways you can increase your customers’ satisfaction and hopefully bolster your customer ratings.

Now, this may seem like an obvious question or consideration when planning your own boat show or other event, but there are many factors to consider when promoting and advertising in advance. While it is clear that both your company and your event are included in the same overall goals, certain ideals of your website may be more generalized while the presentation of your show is more colorful and exciting. The two may eventually need to be separate yet linked at the core.

Lead generation refers to the marketing process that involves the arousal of customer interest in a particular product or service and subsequently capturing it with the specific targeted purpose of developing a sustainable sales pipeline. Lead generation now relies heavily on technology and as that evolves, so do mothods of generating leads. One recent trend includes social media use alongside professional business websites. This article is meant to explore the versatile world of lead generation, its present state, and what the future holds for it in the coming decade.

When presenting your business it’s easy to simply think, “We’ll set up at the largest conference,” or “Let’s make sure we are in the next boat show in town.” However, there are a number of different types of events that take place all over this country, and this world for that matter, where you can expand your presentation to consumers and amongst the industry as a whole.

Thanks to technology, the way we do business has changed tremendously, altering the customer support field along with it. Customers can now contact businesses by phone, email, social media and now, live chat. Offering a live chat feature on a website has resulted in exponential growth for those businesses over the last few years. Gaining in popularity, more people are using the platform to get in touch with businesses. The marine industry has also not been left behind in adopting this form of communication. We have it on our own site, and is here to stay.

While most of your customers are in love with their boat and their time on the water, there is always the priority of work and family that requires careful management of their email. Based on the idea that most of your email campaigns will be B2C (business to consumer) formatted, you will be talking comfortably to those clients during their down time.

Boating is a luxury which makes boat shows quite the big deal, and marketing it can be a costly endeavor. A recovering economy means that boat manufacturers are working extra hard to capture the attention of their customers and prospects. As long as there are lakes, oceans, and seas, boats will be here to stay. This article is aimed at highlighting several boat show promotional ideas.

We now know that there is much to gain with the creation of a blog and further development of your website. There are many key points to consider, however, before diving into the topics that are to be posted on your blog. No matter what there is always the issue of focus: focus on your industry, niche, target audience and much more.

Presently, social media is the new marketing front and is an increasingly growing trend. Social media marketing capitalizes on the human need to network with other people, build new friendships and exchange experiences. A well-orchestrated social media marketing strategy has the potential to raise your dealership to new heights. Of course you already know that, but does your boss? After all, they are the one calling the shots.

Is live chat software for boat dealers really important for your dealership? The answer is a resounding yes. Visitors invited to live chat are 6.3 times more likely to become customers compared to those who don’t offer the feature.

There have been tremendous advancements in technology and buyers now expect immediate attention throughout the buying process. Therefore, instant messaging is booming. Also, customers love having the option to be able to reach businesses in multiple ways. 

E-commerce sites are known to have a future increase in the revenues of any boat business. As a matter of fact, almost all craft merchants are known to allocate resources in ensuring their online presence yields profits to their business. It is important to pay attention to the technical aspects that ensure the site appeals to the client base and posting of relevant information. However, relying only on this will portray your boat site as weak in addressing the concerns of your prospects. You need to incorporate a “social feel” in the sales arena, and online reviews were meant for that.

Lead generation is the marketing process that involves the invocation of customer interest in a particular product or service and subsequently capturing it with the specific targeted purpose of developing a sustainable sales pipeline. Lead generation relies on technological advances in telecommunication and those alike. Recent trends include social media use alongside professional business websites.

The volume of information available on the internet allows for the customer to be “self-directed”. The customer does their own research and the power is theirs to make their own buying decisions. Because of this, even the seemingly best Lead Generation plans can prove to be ineffective.

One major issue with online shopping and browsing is that often times customer’s questions are not able to be answered immediately and or correctly. A quick and easy solution to this problem is to integrate a live chat feature into the website. Live Chat allows the customer to shop and browse at their own pace, while still being able to receive answers to their individual questions.

Most of us know that lead generation is one of the most valuable pieces to the growth of any new business, and even those long-existing companies as well. While dozens or even hundreds of lead generation issues exist as potential problems with marketing and sales, here are a few of the most common that can be found with today’s online marketing and promotional strategies:

• Lead generation services are presumed to be a guarantee
• The use of the cold call is still a potential quality lead collection
• Measurement of lead quantity over quality – Failure to properly analyze results
• Lack of focus on the target audience or lead – In all locations of the marketing piece
• Improper content, distribution or lack of direction to the landing page for collection of contact info

Automated Chat Service is exactly what it sounds like. It takes the representative out of the Live Chat experience and replaces it with an automated response program. Using an Automated Chat Service takes the human element out of the experience. These programs respond only to the capacity of the data that is imputed. Often times, a person will have a question that is beyond that data and therefore is not answered correctly, damaging the users experience on the site. The following was a conversation held with an Automated Chat Representative.

Blogs can be a very efficient form of communication from dealerships to new and existing customers. Blogs provide interactive insight and information on industry news - local or general, product information, and much more; all with the friendly, personable tone of your dealership.

When Live Chat is ran correctly and efficiently, it will INCREASE website lead conversions. This is simply because people want - and often expect - their questions to be answered immediately. Providing a Live Chat feature on your website enables your dealership to answer customer inquiries within seconds, ultimately making their experience on your website a positively memorable one.

There are a number of association events and seminars that are available to help with the presentation and sales of any company within the boating industry. While there is the ability to both develop an event of your own or invite your contacts and customers to attend an event where you will be present, there is much to benefit from outsourcing invitations to these many events around the nation.

There is much to consider when developing and improving your sales and marketing processes further into the 21^st century. We all know that there is much to be considered in the great effect the Internet has on society and all of our practices including shopping and communication, so there are many ways to both improve your marketing strategies and trim your marketing costs..

An important part of running any business venture is interaction with the clients. The best form of contact quite often is the personal one. Reaching out to the clientele on relevant subjects is as important as your marketing strategy. A key part of responding to leads involves having the necessary set up and accompanying strategies and framework. By clearly determining the dynamics of when and how the leads are transferred, you can focus on the appropriate response.

PPC advertising is a form of paid search marketing within sponsored listings of a partner site or a search engine where you pay each time your ad is clicked. It has been shown to drive increased traffic flow towards websites and has resulted in increased sales for businesses. Is PPC advertising worth the investment and all the hype it receives? The answer is yes, it is. Continue on to find out why PPC advertizing is worth it.

There are a number of advances that have been made in marketing since the overwhelming power that digital and internet technology have taken within our lives. More than just personal use, there is plenty of potential for the worthwhile gains of the internet and other digital technologies combined to help advance marketing within the boating industry throughout 2017.

Timing is key when it comes to social media posts. The idea is to gain as large of an audience as possible. Social media marketing has evolved into an integral business tool. Any business venture out there ought to have an online presence of some kind. Most businesses invest in websites and the savviest ones have social media accounts. This article aims to identify the best time to post on social media.

A company blog in the boating industry is a great way of solidifying your online presence to generate and increase traffic to your website and to position your brand as a leader in the industry. A blog adds to the personality of your company website by adding a slightly informal side to it that many can casually relate with.

These are 4 blogging best practices.

With the existence of various forms of marketing tools, newsletters have not appealed to many marketers as a central avenue to generate leads and increase sales. However, after a complete comprehension of the primary function of newsletters, we can rule that it is an essential marketing tool that every business needs to embrace. Like other forms of marketing, newsletters’ impact on many businesses is quantifiable.   The companies which use this medium also pay keen attention to the technological advances made in content marketing. Adopting Email-Newsletters (E-newsletter) for them has proved to be the cheapest means of relaying significant information to prospects about their products and services. Additionally, E-newsletters, if well-crafted with relevant evidence to clients, can transform leads to sales. Newsletter's past glory was generated from the printed ones. But as a business, the behavior of your target audience regarding leads and open rates will enable you to select either print or e-newsletters, or a combination would serve the best interest of marketing. With a newsletter, gauging the result is simple. For instance,

Together with other marketing strategies such as running advertisements, search engine optimization for your website, and many other campaigns, email marketing campaigns can drive your sales up. Even as you embark on such a campaign, you should have your target audience clearly mapped out and also know your specific call-to-action.

Believe it or not, organic traffic is still the most valuable internet traffic to any website. Search engines are also still rated as the friendliest and most trustworthy in finding information. Armed with this knowledge, you’ve a website to support your cause or business and you are ready to get down to business. With approximately 90% market share in most parts of the world, getting listed on Google is the most effective way of directing unpaid targeted traffic to your website.

How well you rank in search engines is dependent not only on your brand, but also on the keyword strategies you employ on your website. Having your brand name as a keyword is not the most effective means of ensuring that you rank well in search engines. The keywords you choose and the strategies you employ will determine how well you sell your brand even to individuals who haven’t yet heard of you.

For many, social media communication is a valuable method to spreading your voice and message out into the world, both personal and professional. The acquisition of a like is very impressive, especially as they accumulate more and more over time. When using social media pages and advertisements for the promotion of your business those likes can be turned into quality leads that will eventually convert to customers. There is a broad range of communication that can be made, relationships with potential leads, conversion to customers, and the promotion of your business as well. The right steps just need to be taken.

Social media has caused a major disruption in the communication sector.  No longer do we have to wait to communicate with family, friends, business partners, potential investors and anyone else. With the introduction of groups on social media, communication with like-minded individuals has been further simplified. The benefits from the introduction of such groups are many. From a business standpoint, these groups are a great way to put yourself in front of large numbers of viewers who have chosen to be a part of a given topic or niche. For example: The water sports community is very likely to be interested in what your dealership has to post about, especially if there are deals and discounts involved.   

Online marketing experts share contrasting views on whether SEO can improve sales. However, judging from their perspectives, there is a common understanding. That is, a better SEO strategy will boost your sales and subsequently, the revenue for your business. An SEO strategy goes beyond the traditional ranking of websites by search engines through indexing. It combines keyword research, content creation, content marketing, off-site, and onsite optimization.

The most important aspect in any business is the retention and acquisition of new customers. The smooth perpetuation of any business activity in any industry is dependent on a customer base, naturally; the boating industry is no exception. This article is aimed at highlighting some tips on how your dealership can identify and attract potential customers.

What is the purpose of having a blog? Should you go through the trouble of setting up a blog on your website? What information do I want to share? These are some of the questions that may come up as a company embarks on the journey of blogging.

While there was the historical local telephone book and the yellow pages where businesses and their telephone numbers were listed, today we have globally moved into the online world. While there is the overall presentation of the business website link, home page and phone number, there are a number of listing sites that provide customer reviews. Luckily, there are a number of free websites where your business information can be listed for free while also receiving a number of customer reviews that help present your business name out into the world.

Thinking of the word “re-marketing” it is easy to assume that there are many simple methods available to market your products and services repeatedly. However, there is no one basic definition of re-marketing, especially in consideration of the main focus of online business and eCommerce today. There are several different promotions and communication methods that can be made with existing leads or customers who would read your advertisements and marketing details regularly with interest. There are email campaigns that can be sent on a steady schedule to existing customers, as well as online display with enticing ad words that will help with both the conversion of leads to customers and attraction of new, high-quality leads.

As a boat dealer, calling leads and customers is a very important part of gaining and retaining business. To ensure, when speaking with a lead, that your prospect will want to proceed with the purchasing process there are a number of words and phrases to use that will help you gain their trust and ultimately, give them reason to continue further. A major factor when speaking with leads is to always remember the diverse nature of each and every client. If you know little about their age, culture, interest or personality of the prospect, it’s wise to maintain a general tone and use calling etiquette norms; greetings, audibility, etc. When calling a lead, bear in mind that the candidate hasn’t made a purchase yet, and reaching out to them is simply the next step forward.

The success of any dealership depends on two factors, the level of customer satisfaction and the degree of effort put into marketing. Social media marketing is a relatively recent trend that seems to be catching on pretty fast. Social media marketing capitalizes on the human desire to network and connect with other people, build new friendships, and exchange experiences. This article is aimed at exploring the dynamics of social media marketing and how to maximize your entire team’s involvement in it.

There are various methods, practices and procedures to best use Meta Tags in the development of any website and its included pages and posts.

There is much to be considered in the process of lead generation for any business, whether it is B2C (Business to Customer) or B2B (Business to Business). Leads do not always come easily and any marketing or sales department can shy away from this process due to the many myths that have come over the years about lead generation. Several such myths can be battled by implementing simple procedures and a little effort.

When creating your own website or others’, there is nothing better than knowing that upon any search, your desired audience will see your address at the top of the results list.

Taking great boat photographs is essential for any boat dealership. Here’s why: Pictures are the closest thing to the actual boat a customer can see without going to a dealership, and since most buyers shop online before entering a shop it is absolutely necessary to accurately portray your inventory. Additionally, photos can tell a story and give life to your brand; an exciting dealership takes exciting and action packed photos, a laid-back dealership takes photos that are laid back and relaxing to look at, and so on. Subsequently though, boring, cheap, and lifeless photos can reflect poorly on a dealership.

It costs a company more to acquire a new customer than it does to keep one. Customer retention is vital in nourishing a healthy business. Therefore, merchants benefit from customer loyalty programs to encourage customers to carry on shopping at or using the services of businesses connected with each program. A customer loyalty program is a customer-brand relationship. Whereby, the company offers high-class products, promotions, or pricing; in return, the customer agrees to be loyal to the business through repeat purchases or brand engagement.

Craigslist is respected marketing platform that should be included in your online marketing efforts. For those who aren’t aware of the power of this vastly visited site, consider that 60 million Americans use Craigslist each month (source), and that the site ranks in the top 50 of most visited sites worldwide.

Inbound marketing is a huge part of any sales process. Customers are now able to access massive amounts of information just by a simple google search. This has made the importance of website optimization for higher lead conversion is extremely important. 

A common discussion within dealerships is whether or not Live Chat is a good idea or a bad idea. There are reasons why Live Chat may not be a ideal for your dealership, but with proper management and a steady process, the benefits of Live Chat can greatly outweigh any drawbacks.

Making time to contact your previous customers is one of the most important and effective tasks a dealership can do to maximize lead effectiveness. The goal is to make sure you not only make contact with the customer, but to not bombard them with numerous attempts. A consistent and non-intrusive timeline will set you up for success.

It’s common for online retailers to assume that by listing hundreds or even thousands of products on their e-commerce website, search engine traffic will just start rolling in. This is not the case as there are many more tactics to deploy that are proven to increase site traffic, enhance your visitors’ experience on your site, and make the buying process as simple and straight-forwards as possible for your customers - all of which will, in turn, increase leads and sales.

Automated chat services have been used for years by businesses of all kinds. They have been deployed as a means of reaching out to massive client bases in what is supposed to be a cost-effective manner. Most of us, however, have been on the receiving end of an automated service of one sort or another and can each attest to its shortcomings.

Still on the fence about blogging as a boat dealer? This article will give you a bit of inspiration as to why it may be time to get started. Blogging acts as an incredibly effective marketing tool to your business that will propel it to greater altitudes. Regardless of whether you run a small or a multi-million dollar boat business, blogging is an integral tool for any online marketing strategy.

Responding to leads is a day to day responsibility in a dealership’s life. The goal is to convert those leads into sales. Whether the lead is coming from a walk-in, phone call, or an internet lead, the way you respond to that lead is essential.

There are many forms of marketing that a Marine Dealer can utilize. Of all the marketing tools, there is not one that compares to the hands on experience that a Boat Show can provide. Holding a boat show allows the dealership to delight customers by offering discounted or free tickets, showcasing the newest models, creating a medium for potential sales, enticing add-ons, and building long lasting relationships with potential or current customers.

It is often said that the first conversation with a potential customer should have absolutely nothing to do with the product. Rather, this conversation should be a time for you to get an adequate understanding of who that client is, what his/her needs are, how they prefer to be contacted, how long they’ve been in the market, etc. Not having that information before the show can make for a clunky experience when the customer arrives.

A client’s relationship is likened to a fertilized chicken egg. As the owner, you have two options: break it and make a delicious omelet or incubate it to give rise to a chick. The latter option, you will need dedication (time) and means to do so. In the end, your efforts will not be futile; you might sell the hen at a good price or get more eggs. This simple analogy emphasizes the need to foster your consumers’ trust in your business rather than break it after a sale.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is among the widely used branches of digital marketing. If combined with other marketing tools such as app development, video production, email marketing, web design, social media, and content marketing, companies tend to attract traffic to their website and increase their revenue from the sales.

Hello reader! For this page, we chose 10 top actionable SEO techniques that hold their rank because of their effectiveness, and their overall ease of implementation. Kick your website into gear by following these strategies and watch your traffic begin to grow naturally.

There is a fine line between overdoing and doing enough, and treading that line can be difficult. There are many types of contacts so there isn’t a one-size-fits-all process anymore. A sales person can call, email, send direct mail and, in today’s fast paced era, some customers may even prefer a text conversation.

 A good meal is characterized by a combination of factors. However, there is always a factor that stand out the most, making it more satiable and delicious. Website development also demands an essential feature to improve the quality of interactions between the company and the products and services. Developers should bear in mind that the best consumer experience improvement strategy starts with the correct software tools in place.

There is no doubt that social media platforms have amplified the freedom of interactions. From the primary need to offer personalized communication, it is the best technique for marketing purposes. The appealing aspects of social media marketing are that it is both inexpensive and one can get a greater viewership than other marketing channels like TV, Radio or Newspaper. In fact, if you are keen at every news segment, every advertisement follows a brief note where the marine dealers get to entice their prospective consumers to extend their conversation on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Its influence is enormous, and the rewards are worthwhile.

Boat dealer marketing still remains an expensive endeavor. It is necessary to ensure the ideas implemented to generate sales leads in the boating industry are the best. Competition between boat dealerships is very high, and only the best can maneuver through and make great returns.

When the right strategies are implemented, it becomes easier to get the best boat leads. The idea here is to ensure that the link between you and potential buyers is strong enough.

 One of the most challenging obstacles faced by online marketers lies in maintaining a path to purchase that leads directly to a specific brand. This is especially true if the path to purchase has the potential to steer the customer into the path of a competitor's product. This is an all-too-common scenario that many online marketers face.

We live in an era where internet marketing is one of the most effective and affordable ways to reach target audiences. When it comes to marketing for boat dealers, one thing that requires great attention is your dealer website.

Learning the top 5 methods to increase customer retention can be one of the smartest moves you make for your dealership. Customer retention is one of the pillars of any long-standing business and any successful dealership owner will tell you, repeat customers are the lifeblood of your organization.

Is live chat software for boat dealers really important for your dealership? The answer is a resounding yes. Visitors invited to live chat are 6.3 times more likely to become customers compared to those who don’t offer the feature.

 There’s just no way around it: successful search engine optimization for boat and yacht dealers starts with a clear understanding of who the audience is. This includes what the target market is looking for and where that market is finding answers. The first rule of successful boat dealer marketing is to do your research.

 All sales dealerships go through down times, and boat dealerships are no exception. But that doesn’t mean that your sales team should be sitting at their desks waiting for their phones to ring. This is a great time to get plenty of other things done. 

Many boat dealers often feel like fish out of water when it comes to social media management. Their specialties do not align with the art of marketing their service through social media.

Fortunately, most do acknowledge the importance of social media management in marine dealerships. All that is lacking is adequate resources and reliable information on how to pave their way into success through social media marketing.

One of the most efficient methods to market your dealership to new customers can be done by delighting your existing loyal customers. The goal is to turn your existing customers into brand evangelists. Having current customers spreading your brand and product through positive word-of-mouth interactions can go a long way for your dealership. The best method to achieve this goal is to follow a simple rule; under promise and over deliver. Go above and beyond your customer expectation.

 In the world of sales, regular communication is an essential part of the success of any company. It costs five times the amount to acquire a new customer, than to keep an existing customer. 

Successful business owners agree that staying in touch with customers is extremely important. However, finding a reason to call them without seeming bothersome can be challenging. The most important rule is NOT to call with a sales pitch every time. 

Hosting an event is not only a great way to engage with your clients but also one of the best ways to drive traffic to your store and generate leads. Let’s say you’ve decided to throw a Demo Day at your local lake or dealership for your customers so they can come down and test drive their favorite boat. What better way to find out what the newest models have in store for them than to see it first-hand. Everyone loves a hands-on experience, especially boaters! Your first thought should be “When should I start sending out invites, and how?” There is no easy answer here as there are many variables that come into play. An abundance of research has been done to find out when the best time to send event invites is. We’ll go over the most important factors so that you can make the highest impact on your event and drive quality leads to your show or dealership.

Hosting a boat show and wish to increase your attendance rate? Are you following up with your customers after the show?

One major challenge online shoppers face is that their questions are not always able to be answered immediately and/or correctly. A quick and easy solution is to integrate a live chat feature on the website. Live Chat allows the customer to shop and browse at their own pace, while still being able to receive answers to their individual questions. It helps potential customers as well as returning customers with any information they need. Simultaneously, Live Chat allows boat dealers to be more precise and specific towards the customer’s present and future needs.

HOW IT WORKS We take your entire customer base and input it into our dialing software. Then we create a call script which will be sent to you for approval and that will successfully achieve our three primary goals for the calling campaign - Driving traffic to your event, generating hot leads, and purify your customer list by capturing updated contact and boating information (call status's) so our agents can categorize the result of each call. When we call a customer we use your event as the reason for the call which immediately causes the customer to put down their guard and start conversing with us about their boating experience. After the customer has put their guard down then we set the hook and look for buying signs. 

How are you following up with your leads? Are you calling the new leads that come in immediately or even in the same day? It can be hard to get in contact with these leads due to a dealerships busy schedule. Let's say you do call the lead within the same day, how is your follow up process? Do you call them back the next day? Or maybe next week? This is the conundrum for most dealerships. 

How to increase customer retention and show your customers you truly care about them! Most dealerships forget to reach out to existing customers because they are focused on trying to gain new ones. Here are a few steps of attracting your existing customers and making them feel loyal to your dealership and to the brand so they will come back and do further business with you.

Marine Dealer Solutions is a team made up of marketing, business development, and management professionals from within the Marine industry, and most importantly dealer principals who have been in your shoes. With decades of experience we have developed a suite of services to help you more effectively engage your customers, communicate with them more efficiently, and most importantly help you identify them when they are ready to buy.