Three days I spent touring yachts in Newport, Rhode Island. Yes, it’s a tough job, but somebody has to do it. I had the pleasure of experiencing both the exterior glamor and beauty of the vessels, but I also saw the hidden aspects of how they work, spoke to the crew that run the yachts, and I also heard stories about fun places the yachts traveled around the world. I can’t believe I never thought of this before. The yachting world and the marketing world are very similar. So much that I believe there are several components to each that I feel could make them very similar. 1. Chart Your Course If you’re the captain of a yacht, before you set out to sea for your voyage, you always chart your course right? Absolutely. Well, marketing is the same. Before you launch a campaign, you naturally write a strategy so that you can get where you want to go. Without charting a course or writing a strategy, both can end up dreadfully off-course. 2. Beauty, Elegance, Look & Feel – Sex-Appeal Yachts are absolutely beautiful. The elegance and dare I say, sex appeal can be jaw dropping to say the least. The combination of color, lines, design, architecture as well as all the amenities that are both inside and on deck, all of this together makes for a vessel that can turn heads around the world. As a marketer, our job is to turn heads and capture attention. Sometimes this happens because of design, look & feel, color, web architecture and other compelling components of our brand. Sometimes I think a marketer handcrafted a beautiful yacht. 3. You Need A Good Team On a yacht, one of the things always on the mind of the crew is that everyone, all the time must be impeccably detailed with everything they do. Every inch of the vessel is cleaned and polished because that’s just the way it is. Even engine rooms are so clean that you could probably eat off the floor. Wow. When I walked aboard Vivere, a 116’ Azimut, I was absolutely blow away by the crew’s professionalism as well as their attention to detail in maintaining the yacht. This showed with the yacht’s immaculate display. As a marketer, without a good team, you’re in big trouble. Marketing requires several skills that one people just cannot do by themselves. When you have a great team that you can count on, you will soon see that your marketing will quickly make great strides in the right direction. Then your brand, like the yacht will show flawlessly in front of customers. 4. Stand Out From The Competition Yachts are designed to stand out. They are purely for customers who want luxury and expect a unique customer experience that separates them from everyone else. Simply put, yachts make people say… whoa! Does your marketing do this, or is it just status quo? Hmm, if you ask a yacht captain, status quo doesn’t cut it. Your marketing shouldn’t allow status quo either. Marketers want to stand out from their competition so they will get the positive exposure they want and the increased sales that follow. Standing out from your competition and differentiating is required. 5. Need The Right Equipment When yachts have all the latest equipment, everyone is happy. Need I say more? When marketing departments have all the right tools, everyone is also happy. Without the right tools and equipment, both yachts and marketing are in for a rough ride and may not stay afloat. If you ever have the opportunity to come board a luxury yacht, go for it. You will soon discover the 5 reasons I listed above are real and directly relate to marketing. They are also directly applicable to keeping them afloat. Hmm, funny how an incredible niche industry like yachting is so similar to marketing which services every industry, every customer worldwide. I guess we all have a lot to learn J Yourbrandexposed.com is designed to look at digital with an eye into the future with a creative, innovative marketing angle. A digital-business perspective for today’s content marketers.
Source: Neptune Group Yachting