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Something new we just added in August is our 100 days series. When a customer is new to one
of our four services; Dockage, In/Out Service, Boat Club or Winter Storage. They will begin to
receive some sort of “love” from us on Tuesdays. This series is timed to begin as the original
indoctrination series ends. It helps the customer with a “Tuesday Tip”. I had our guys from
our dock crew film 9 helpful tips. Topics like; how to tie a rope to a cleat, lock an anchor, put a
boot on a bimini top, pull up to our gas dock.

These may seem very basic, and
they are! But it’s great to get Sign up for 3mail
information that is basic and you list—save $3.00
may not know… I learned
something! It also helps to build a
connection to our marina via our
crew. In addition to videos, there
are 4 mail interactions. The first
thing they receive by mail is a map
of our lake that is produced by the
County. It’s free! And it’s really
nice. I bundle it with a ribbon and a
bumper sticker from the
GrowBoating site that says
“Welcome Aboard” – it’s perfect.

So I’ve talked about social marketing, email, and mail… when do we call?

We call in the winter to find out about renewal for contracts for dockage, In/Out, and boat club
and we call in the fall about winter storage renewals. We call in the winter after we send out
Comprehensive Service Reviews to see if we can provide estimates! We use the phone a lot.
Let’s look at the service reviews. The comprehensive service review was originally sent as just
something we did. Then about 20 years ago we started to “market” it as a Unique Selling
Proposition (USP). It’s something that differentiates us. It’s our way to generate service work
during the long winter months and keep our Service Staff employed. But now we get more
work than imagined. Part of it is because we send out two copies, we also email a PDF, and we
place a phone call. Again, using Gary Vee’s advice we market to the year our customer lives
in. Some people want a phone call, some want mail, some want email. Some want a form
online and submit themselves. We simply want service work. It takes more effort on our part,
but the payoff is real.

Finally, our in-person events bond our current customers as much as welcome new business.
The boat show is a terrific event to meet & greet our customers. We encourage attendance to
current customers and we want them to wear “our colors” meaning the sweatshirt they receive
as a welcome gift the prior season. They will seek us out and we take a photo in our booth. In
2016 we won “Marketing Partner of the Year” with the Minneapolis Boat show.

Another in-person event is an open house event at the condos “next door”. Many of our

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