Guest Blog

Recently, Crocker’s Marine announced that after 40 years, they have closed their doors. The real question now becomes, who will service their existing customers?

It's really important to understand that the Traditional Marketing Methods are not what Social Media Marketing is all about.

Over the last year and a half or so, we have seen more and more dealers shifting their focus from selling “the fun” to selling “the deal” because of huge inventories of aged units in these tough economic conditions.

As an industry we have but a few reasons anyone would be enticed to buy our products.

The closing of Boaters’ World has left millions of dollars on the table for independent dealers who could use the additional sales, profit and cash flow to weather the current storm and prosper going forward.

It used to be that when anyone went out and bought a boat, regardless of its size, it was a purchase that brought a feeling of significance to the buyer.

Last spring, during a round of 20 Group meetings, I heard many of the dealers complaining about business, the economy, interest rates, new curtailments, the media and on and on. Then, I asked the dealers to switch their train of thought to tell me what was good about the boat business.

By Peter Granata, President, Granata Design and the Marine Design Resource Alliance — As a kid on summer vacation, there was nothing like the two weeks in which the family would trek into the far north of Wisconsin in search of the best fishing. My grandfather was the proud owner of a Johnson Sea Horse outboard engine, and although he ...

As the years move on, it becomes more and more apparent how big of a part the Internet is going to play in the success of small businesses.

Certainly new boat sales have suffered over the past several years, and the current economic recession is inflating the problem. However, there are other, more troubling, undercurrents in the boating industry that will dramatically influence the future prosperity of this industry.