The Discover Boating team, powered by the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas and the National Marine Manufacturers Association, is looking ahead to continued industry momentum this year. Our challenge: to overcome limited growth potential among current customer demographics and grow our industry by improving outreach to more diverse social, cultural, ethnic and gender demographics. Our solution: the Discover Boating strategy that we put in motion back in 2020.
Part of this strategy included a new approach to our marketing, ensuring we connect more directly with a much broader group of potential boaters. The “See You Out Here” campaign, designed to do just that, delivered promising progress in its first year: a 145% increase in visitors ages 18 to 44 (an age range known to include more diversity) to DiscoverBoating.com, and 31% more women compared with prepandemic levels.
Discover Boating accomplished this through targeted, efficient, deep marketing and public-relations tactics, as well as through the launch of the 2022 Discover Boating Miami International Boat Show, resulting in record annual reach with more than 1.2 billion impressions (the number of times the campaign was served to consumers).
With a renewed focus on attracting the next generation, Discover Boating welcomed these potential boaters (as well as current boaters) to DiscoverBoating.com to explore how to get on the water and navigate their boating experiences. This work resulted in a 53% increase in site traffic from prepandemic periods. The encouraging jump in younger audiences engaging with Discover Boating also means our work in the coming years must focus on maintaining our reach while nurturing these prospective boaters. That’s why a priority within our rolling three-year strategic plan is focused on ongoing digital transformation.
Many brands throw around the words “digital transformation” but don’t define what it specifically means for their business. For Discover Boating, it means connecting our consumers with all things boating, anywhere, 365/24/7, through direct access to dealers, boat brands, boat clubs, rentals, boat shows, fellow boaters and more. Our brand (manufacturer) referrals have been a cornerstone of our efforts over the years as we hand off prospective boaters for brands to nurture. Yet our future customers want more. They want to know which dealers are near them, which boats they sell, and whether they have great customer service — and these consumers want to get this information from a trusted resource like Discover Boating.
This knowledge is what informed the creation of a new Dealer Finder that Discover Boating recently launched. In initial testing, without even having marketing behind it yet, Dealer Finder has seen more than 4,000 page views and visitors staying for an average of six minutes — three times industry averages.
Prospective boaters also want to see the latest boat models in one place to enhance their boat-show experience. It’s this knowledge that informed the creation of Boat Finder, which launched as a beta in 2022 and hit NMMA boat shows last month as an enhanced version 2.0.
The coming year will see the new Dealer Finder, Boat Finder and existing Brand Finder begin to work together and be amplified through the 11 Discover Boating boat and sports shows from Miami to New York, Chicago, Atlanta and other major markets across the United States. Awareness marketing campaigns will provide a connected, omni-channel consumer experience.
This robust, omni-channel strategy aligns with boat dealers and brands through a partnership between the NMMA and MRAA to deliver a more cohesive, amplified, consumer voice for recreational boating. It was an opportunity to expand and energize Discover Boating after years of industry frustration over a promising yet persistently underfunded effort.
As a result, the average $6 million to $9 million annual funding from assessments on marine engines is now combined with an additional estimated $17 million investment from the NMMA for this year, thanks to an extensive portfolio of major market shows that immerse consumers in boating and lend themselves toward new marketing campaigns, public relations, social media and partnerships.
And that’s not all: Marketing from exhibitors, partners and programs such as Informa Markets’ investment in the Discover Boating Miami International Boat Show will create another estimated $6 million to leverage the Discover Boating branding, taking our collective investment to an estimated $31 million. What’s more, this investment will take Discover Boating from being in-market approximately seven months of the year to being year-round. This expansion puts Discover Boating on par with efforts from the RV sector, golf industry and other recreation activities seeking to help more Americans get outdoors.
On the critical retention front, the MRAA has been building robust dealer education and research to help the industry improve the customer experience at retail — a known driver of boater satisfaction and retention.
A month into the New Year and new chapter for Discover Boating, cheers to the industry leaders on the NMMA board of directors and the now-dissolved Grow Boating board of directors who sought change and growth. As a result of their decision in 2020 to bring forth a new Discover Boating strategy, recreational boating has never had a better chance at creating transformational experiences for its customers, businesses and employees.
This article was originally published in the February 2023 issue.
