Marina Dock Age, September/October 2002

Is Marketing Your Marina a Good Investment?
by Dennis P. Kissman

Through the years I have written articles on topics such as profitability, customer service, and a marina’s value. But rarely have you heard me talk about marketing your marina. We often overlook what we get in return from a good marketing effort because it is often difficult to tangibly identify the results that we get in return for our marketing dollar. In reality, more often than not the difference between a marginal but profitable business and a highly profitable one is the marketing effort that goes into promoting the business.  

Marketing a marina does not have to be difficult or expensive, but it must be well thought out and well executed. The first thing you need to understand is that when you market your marina you are aggressively going out to sell your goods and services. How that comes across to your intended audience is the difference between a successful marketing plan and a failed plan. No matter how good you think your plan is, if your intended audience does not see it the same way you do, then you have wasted your time and money.  

I like to break marketing down into four broad categories: paid advertising, promotions, public relations, and “word of mouth.” A good marketing plan will include a combination of all four categories. If I was asked to rank them as far as importance to the success of marketing my marina, I would have to say that “word of mouth” advertising is by far the most important single category. It is also the least expensive to implement.  

“Word of mouth” advertising is something that you do not have full control over. However, there are things that you can do to assure that the “word of mouth” regarding your marina is positive. If you provide excellent customer service and charge a fair price for the services offered in a clean and friendly environment, I assure you that it will be positive and you will receive positive financial results. Just remember, as powerful as positive “word of mouth” advertising can be for your marina, it is just as powerful if it is negative.

Following “word of mouth” advertising in importance and cost-efficiency is public relations, or “PR.” There are two aspects of PR, obviously: publicity and relations. Publicity is making your news known through the media, while relations consists of cultivating of those media relationships. I have found PR to be very effective in getting the message out, but there are limitations. For example, there is no guarantee that everything you submit to the media for publication will be published; and if it does get published, there is no guarantee when or exactly how it will be phrased.  

A commonly used PR tool is the press release. In order to have a press release acknowledged in the media it must be well written, informative, and newsworthy. You want the recipient of your press release to acknowledge that you are a credible source for the information that is written in it. A well written press release will be informative and complete, but not so complete that the recipient has no more questions. Continue »