We’ve been on a roll. Sales have been very good. It’s sweet right now, but it could turn sour if the slowdown many economists predict actually develops. Even in the midst of all-time sales figures, dealers must act: Putting into motion a concerted digital marketing program is the smart move for all dealers.

Thankfully, there’s excellent help to get every dealer started. Specifically, it comes from last year’s Marine Retailers Association of the Americas’ record-breaking Dealer Week program. This year’s Dealer Week is slated for December 8-11 in Austin, Texas.

Expanding and leveraging digital marketing channels — with the goal of continuing to move the sales needle ahead — should be a prime focus. To get started, a collection of presentations from Dealer Week were made available through the industry’s Discover Boating campaign. They outline how to effectively market to the next wave of boaters by utilizing digital marketing channels — things like display ads, video, social media, email, search and websites. These presentations are free to dealers and merit study now.

A diverse line-up of digital marketing experts provides valuable lessons that can be applied to marketing efforts right away. Effective use of digital assets has been a priority for Discover Boating to ensure the industry is impacting potential customers in meaningful ways.

The speakers and topics include:

• Jack Ellis, of Info-Link: Today’s Boat Market, Tomorrow’s Boaters;

• Marcus Sheridan, author of They Ask, You Answer: How the Video Revolution is Changing the World of Business as We Know It.

• Tom Martin, author of The Invisible Sale: How to Win the Invisible Sale

• Brooke Skinner Ricketts, from Cars.com: Winning the 4 P’s of Digital Marketing

• Tannis McKenna, from Google: Digital Measurement in the Age of Assistance

• Brad Dixon, from Adaptly: Why Social for Boating?

• Steve Pizzolato, Avala Marketing Group: Perfecting the Prospect Journey: How to Help Consumers “Discover Boating.”

Having your dealership team pause and dig into these presentations now should boost their outreach to potential customers, even those with which your sales team may have had some recent interaction but couldn’t close.

Let’s face it: In many ways we’re now living in unpredictable times. So, one of our objectives should be to introduce new marketing practices and styles to keep products moving.

I encourage every dealer to consider sharing these with your team as part of your marketing efforts. Click here to begin.