Marine Businesses Still Prime for Using "Inbound (i.e. Content) Marketing"

DONE RIGHT, CONTENT-MARKETING REMAINS A HIGHLY EFFECTIVE TOOL FOR BRAND-BUILDING AND CREATING A COMMUNITY OF LOYAL CUSTOMERS

SPONSORED CONTENT from Port Royal Marketing

Yes, I am a writer, editor, and marketer. But I also bring something uncommon to a discussion of this sort, namely, a couple of decades hard-won experience in boatyard operations and marine small-business management. So, you know that, whatever else, I am laser-focused on identifying approaches and solutions that are lean and, most importantly, effective.

Today in 2025, the term “inbound marketing” has pretty much faded from the common vocabulary of marketers. However, while the terminology may have evolved, the reality is that inbound (i.e., content) marketing remains a particularly useful tool for building a small-business brand and a community of staunchly loyal customers. Indeed, if executed skillfully, this form of marketing is still almost perfectly suited for recreational marine businesses — marinas, boatyards, mobile repair and refit contractors, chandlers, and the like.

What is Inbound Marketing?

Inbound marketing is frequently conflated with content-marketing, even by some digital marketing pros. The two are, however, quite different from one another. To be sure, both approaches focus on the delivery of content (information) to customers and prospective customers. But content marketing —sometimes referred to as “outbound” — involves pushing that information out to customers and prospects in much the same way as traditional advertising does, albeit via a different medium.

In contrast, inbound marketing works to “pull” or draw readers into extended engagement with your firm by consistently presenting content whose value to the target audience stands independently of any specific product or service.

For this reason, inbound marketing on social media and in the form of directly delivered digital newsletters and emails stands as an effective way to foster the longer-term development and nurturing of brand recognition and loyalty. Inbound marketing is a subtle, non-deceptive method for encouraging customers to come to see your firm as a known and trusted authority, whenever they are thinking of buying goods or services — meaning solutions to their needs and problems.

Effective inbound marketing proceeds by:

• Drawing customers and prospect into an authentic, trust-based relationship with your firm and the products and/or the services you offer — in contrast to pushing traditional advertising and sales collateral at them.

• Building a community of prospects and customers which has a durable interest in what you do, who you are, and how their lives and activities can be made better by what you offer.

• Focusing on brand recognition and loyalty, as opposed to settling for raw visibility and notoriety.

A keystone in the bridge to these objectives is the development of Community which, in turn, depends on creating engagement with the targets of your marketing efforts. Developing community begins with providing genuine take-away value in the content your marketing vehicle(s) of choice delivers. That means rising above the canned “fun facts” kind of filler you too often see in a firm’s monthly newsletter.

Let’s be clear about this: Nobody gives a hoot about how to clean engine grease off your off your hands with peanut butter. Well, almost nobody anyway. But if you can explain to your marine customers and potential customers how to pick the correctly-sized engines for their new boat or how to attain maximum longevity from those engines or how to select a boat that will run softly and dry in a chop — in clear, understandable, and authoritatively correct terms — that will start them thinking of you as reliable and credible when the time comes to buy. Moreover, if you provide them on a regular basis with information and advice that improves their boating-related experience, without always trying to sell them something in the process, the payback in terms of brand recognition and loyalty is frequently surprising.

Get started the right way

So, how do you get started if you haven’t already? And how do you retrench if you’ve already gotten a weak start? Pick your tools … carefully.

Some commonly-employed vehicles for inbound marketing are:

1. a digital newsletter (usually distributed monthly);

2. a blog (either standalone or as part of a website);

3. durable content published on one or more social media channels.

None of these are prohibitively expensive, even if outsourced. But if you treat them in a casual manner or assign the work to someone not well qualified, you might just as well save your time and money. Here are some other tips:

Create newsletters that get opened and read

If you’re sending out a periodic newsletter, the single most important hurdle to overcome is to assure the recipient opens the letter. One of the best ways to accomplish that is to include in every newsletter a meaningful discount coupon or sale notice for some item or items that your customers commonly buy on a regular basis.

You don’t need to list or advertise that discount special in the newsletter’s subject line or heading — indeed, it’s probably preferable not to do so — but if your customers know there is inevitably a potentially useful coupon inside, they will readily open the newsletter, if for no other reasons than to see what the latest offer is. And then BAM! — you’ve created an opportunity to catch their attention with a well-crafted heading and an image leading into the value content you’re providing.

Create an engaging blog

If you have a blog or other published content, a key factor is to gain the attention of your customers by injecting a hint of controversy in the topic chosen. This draws questions and comments, thereby creating active engagement — which is the lifeblood of brand-building.

Naturally, a lot depends on who you are, and what your business is. And despite what some may try to tell you, there is no single, one-size-fits-all solution for inbound marketing.

Just keep in mind that engagement comes from conversation. Therefore, anyone ― whether in-house or outsourced ― must know enough about the goods and/or services you market and sell to be authoritative in dealing with and answering questions. And they must be sufficiently knowledgeable and experienced to credibly carry on the kind of conversation that is so essential to building engagement.

Spread your message/brand on Social Media … but with authenticity

Forget what some marketing whiz kids will tell you; you can’t fake it. I can tell you for sure that, in the boating market, you can’t fake it because in boating and yachting, your customers and potential customers are relatively well educated, have read books and articles about their pastime and its associated hardware, spent days and days at boat shows, and perhaps even taken courses in relevant subjects — not to mention likely spent years actively discussing issues on the docks with their compatriots.

So, you will either have to participate yourself (if you are your company’s only expert in the field), or you will have to assign one or more employees, who are themselves sufficiently expert and articulate to carry on the conversation. And you may have to contract outsourced help in packaging and managing that in-house participation.

Whatever you elect to do, never underestimate the opportunity that inbound marketing presents for building credibility, brand recognition, and customer loyalty. However, always keep in mind that the power to convert engagement to sales, is double-edged. Without proper preparation, the opportunity for brand-building engagement can, in a flash, become the occasion to make a fool of yourself and your firm — if you allow unqualified people to represent you in the conversation.

― Phil Friedman

Copyright © 2024 by Phil Friedman ― All Rights Reserved.

---