The growing importance of CRM

Boating Industry: 2011 is a new year. How is your marketing strategy for this year different than past years and why?

We have focused more of our energy on the Internet and Internet marketing. Social media and the Internet are changing the way we go to market, simply by the availability of information.

Boating Industry: What company’s marketing strategy has most influenced or inspired you (inside or outside the boating industry) and why?

The automotive industry is the one that I most watch. It was just about down and out less than three years ago and has remade itself in order to meet the demand of today’s consumers. The way that most auto dealerships now go to market has changed dramatically with the advent of the Relationship Management Center to handle all incoming leads. Today’s consumers are demanding quicker responses to emails and would like to get as much information as possible without ever attending a dealership. Getting the consumer into our showroom will become even more critical going forward, and having a department dedicated to the handling of this will be necessary.