RBFF’s Boat Registration Marketing Program brings 50,000 boaters back to water

The Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation (RBFF) announced its 2016 Boat Registration Marketing Program brought over 50,000 lapsed boaters back to the water. The program, now in its fifth year, generated a high response rate and lift.

“A stable and engaged base of boaters is essential to the future of our industry,” says RBFF President and CEO Frank Peterson. “Fishing is the number one activity done from a boat, so the successes of this program have a lasting impact on our industry and leads to valuable conservation dollars for programs throughout the United States.”

The 2016 program delivered direct marketing pieces to nearly 460,000 households in 18 states with lapsed boat registrations, resulting in:

  • 51,376 registrations;
  • 97 percent average response rate;
  • 57 percent lift;
  • $1.92 million in gross revenue, going directly to participating state agencies; and
  • Over $152,000 estimated in Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Trust Fund dollars contributed via this program.

As in years past, the direct marketing pieces encouraged owners of lapsed boats to re-register their vessels and included valuable resources, such as when and where to fish in their state.

To date, RBFF’s Boat Registration Marketing Program has reeled in a total of $8.02 million in revenue by bringing over 221,343 lapsed boaters back to the sport. The program is 100 percent funded by RBFF and requires only minimal staff time from state agencies to participate. A very positive sign, the 10.97 percent response rate of this year’s program is significantly greater than the national average 3.7 percent, according to the Direct Marketing Association’s 2015 Response Rate Report.

On top of its State Marketing Programs, RBFF refers consumers to state agency fishing license and boat registration webpages via website and social media referrals. In its last fiscal year, TakeMeFishing.org directed nearly 1 million individuals to state boat registration and fishing license pages, and to DiscoverBoating.com for additional boating resources. So far this fiscal year, referrals to boat registration pages are up nearly 25 percent.

Learn about the Boat Registration Marketing Program and how you can implement the program in your own state in the RBFF Resource Center.

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