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Marketing a Barge and Tugboat Brokerage
It's becoming more and more difficult for barge and tugboat brokerages to rise above the clamor of the marketplace. Innovative marketing strategies may be your best bet for out-promoting -- and outperforming -- the competition.
In a barge and tugboat brokerage, a great business model doesn't guarantee solid revenues.
By leveraging today's best marketing techniques, any barge and tugboat brokerage can achieve greater marketing dominance through strategic marketing and robust value messaging
Company Website
If you haven't done so already, the first step in marketing your barge and tugboat brokerage is to create a high-quality business website. Although many businesses have a website, a poorly designed and unnavigable website is worse than having no web presence at all. Your site is a representation of your business; it needs to convey the same professional appearance and functionality as you expect from any other sales and marketing asset. Conversion paths are also important. With the proper design, your site can walk new visitors through a series of decisions that culminate with either an online sale, a phone order, a personal visit or a request for more information.
Generating Buzz
Never underestimate the value of good buzz with consumers. You've heard it said before: Word of mouth is the best form of promotion for products and brands. In a barge and tugboat brokerage, meaningful brand conversations have the ability to transform the impact of your marketing efforts. Businesses that target brand discussions need to be active partners in dialogue. Social networking and other online strategies can play a foundational role when they are performed in tandem with face-to-face interactions and industry networking.
Managing Negative Publicity
Negative publicity is never easy to deal with, especially for barge and tugboat brokerages. The worst way to handle negative buzz is to put off developing a response until reporters are pounding on your door, demanding a comment from a company spokesperson. PR savvy barge and tugboat brokerages work with consultants to develop a crisis response plan that can be executed on a moment's notice. Mailing list providers can also provide quick access to accurate mailing lists, an important consideration if your crisis response plan contains a direct mail component.
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