Marketing Advice By Business Type
Marketing a Ship Management Business
The value and earning capacity of a ship management business largely depends on the quality of its marketing efforts. But great marketing takes a lot more than hanging a shingle and hoping for the best.
As a business owner, it's imperative to understand that your financial metrics are inextricably linked to your marketing capacity.
In general, good business owners make good marketers. However, the most visible brands are always on the lookout for the marketing tactics competitive ship management businesses have used to achieve success.
Newsletters
A good newsletter can set your company apart from your competitors and scale up your industry presence. Unlike flyers and other advertising mediums, newsletters have an informational focus. In fact, the best newsletters encourage customers to take the next step without ever asking for a sale. It's not unusual for ship management businesses to distribute newsletters through online channels (e.g. in email campaigns and as PDFs on the company website).
Cost Tracking
Cost is an issue in marketing a ship management business. You can't afford to waste money on inferior marketing resources. Since every dollar counts, it pays to buy mailing lists from trusted vendors. Companies that rely on accurate mailing lists reduce time spent chasing down stale leads.
But mailing lists aren't the only way you can reduce costs. Most accounting software solutions have features that allow you to track costs in multiple expense categories and receive alerts when expenses suddenly swing outside of normal parameters.
Hiring A Marketing Firm
Think you can handle your own marketing? There is a reason why many ship management business operations turn to marketing firms for guidance. Professional marketers are usually on the bleeding edge of the industry and boast better returns for the investment than internal marketing units. Does a marketing firm cost money? Sure, but not as much as you may think. When it's time to look for a marketing firm to represent your ship management business, experience should trump other considerations. Marketing firms that lack industry experience are sometimes unfamiliar with competitive marketing channels and may not understand the value propositions that dominate industry messaging.
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