Let’s talk about advertising. Starting a business without advertising would be difficult if not improbable. As I started my charter business, I found that my advertising approach changed considerably for the first two to three years. Call it fine tuning might be more appropriate.
I guess I started with a website and a print advertisement in a magazine. First let’s look at the website. At first it was basic. I had a page with a picture of me on my boat, a description of my boat and its features, and a brief section about me and my “qualifications”. Then there was the rate page including not only the rates, but also the deposit requirement and methods of payment. By the way, be sure to have/require a deposit policy. Not many, but some will cancel without good reason or occasionally just not show up. This can be very frustrating and costly. Soon I added a weather page. Potential customers like to be able to view an up to date weather picture. Since I built and still build rods, I had a custom rod page. Eventually, this morphed into its own website and of course it was linked to my charter site. Let me interject at this point that unless you are a lot more tech savvy than me, you need to have a good webmaster and one that you trust. They are more knowledgeable and up to date on what is popular on websites. As time went on I added a photo page which many customers and prospects enjoyed viewing. I added a fishing report page and it may have been the biggest hit on the website. I almost always included a customer picture with a nice fish and a narrative about what was going on from inshore out to the Gulf Stream. I guess the best advice I could share is to have as many relevant pages as you like but not have things too cramped or busy.
Another way I was able to generate business was through seminars. I immediately “hooked up” with a tackle company that went to the winter boat and fishing shows. Through that connection I began doing seminars at the boat shows and other outlets such as fishing clubs to where I averaged close to 20 or so seminars a year. This started in 1996 and this year will be my twenty-third year doing seminars. This is a great way to meet and greet many, many potential customers and friends.
Through the seminars I started obtaining a list of email customers to whom I could send monthly fishing reports. This was a lot of work, but it was also very important in establishing my brand. A lot of people know the Rod-Man. Some may not know my name, but they have heard of the Rod-Man.
Print advertisement is in a lot of ways much easier. It is equally important. Print advertising allows you to in a concise way tell people what you do, catch their interest and link them to your website. I only used one magazine and my ad was not huge at only 1/8th page. Yet, it was effective and I ran it for over 15 years. As changes evidently occurred in my business, slight changes in my ad were made to keep things fresh and current.
This is the fourth segment of several articles aimed at starting and maintaining a charter business for those interested in pursuing an inshore, near shore or offshore captain’s license. Check back often for the latest segment in the series.
Co-Author Capt. Rick Bennett, Ret.
www.rod-man.com
