We’re not here to reinvent the wheel — or, I suppose in this case, the anchor? (Forgive us; we couldn’t help it.)
If anyone tells you they know exactly what you should do to make more money with your marina, they’re bluffing. What’s yours is yours; we’re just here to help.
To that end, we’ll cut to the chase: Here are four tips for increasing revenue with your marina.
1. Make Some Marketing Moves
Think about the brands you admire. Now, think about why you admire them.
Maybe they’re both classic and timeless, like Coca-Cola. Maybe they just make you feel reassured and comfortable, like Southwest Airlines. Better yet, maybe it’s a niche brand that’s not nearly as famous as those two, but no matter — it’s yours, and you love it.
Whether you’ve written it down or not, you have a brand, too. And even if you don’t have a sizable marketing budget, you’ve still left an impression on the folks and families who have used your marina. But that doesn’t mean your brand is set in stone; brands never really are.
Marketing isn’t just a great way to enhance your brand and the awareness thereof — it’s a terrific tool for maximizing your revenue.
Of course, this involves spending some money upfront. However, so do most of the tips on our list. The old adage is true: You have to spend money to make money.
When it comes to marketing, we recommend asking yourself, “what makes my brand distinctive?” In other words, what does your marina offer that you want people to know about? Once you’ve answered that question, it’s then time to identify the best avenues for conveying your message.
You may already have a clear idea of what works for your customers, but it never hurts to conduct a marketing audit. To do that, you can check in on how your emails and ads are performing, and you can also talk to your customers firsthand. Ask them how they heard about your marina, and consider offering them a discount of some kind for any referrals that result in new business for you.
There are probably millions of marketing strategies out there, but quite frankly, you don’t need to try anywhere close to all of them. Instead, hone in on the ones that have worked for you in the past, and mix those methods with some tried-and-true strategies like referral discounts, email campaigns, and targeted social ads.
You’ll have to spend a little, but the dividends will make your investment well worth it.
2. Add Products
You might have a general store you manage on-site or a place where your clientele can rent materials. If so, we recommend treating those materials the same way you’d approach your marketing:
Conduct a quick audit. More specifically, find out what’s selling, what’s not, and what your customers crave but can’t get at your marina. You can likely accomplish this by talking directly to them, but a brief survey could be helpful, too. (You could potentially tie this into a marketing effort by offering a one-time discounted rate for all those who complete the survey.)
You might discover a desire for some fishing or boating products that you never thought to add to your marina. Even better, you’ll gain a deeper understanding of your customers and what they like. If they’re mostly fishers, you’ll know to tailor future product additions to that crowd. If your clientele is mostly families, you can add products or experiences that suit their needs and interests (more on that in a little bit).
In our experience, knowing more about your customers is an essential step to increasing your revenue. After figuring out what products your customers will want to buy, you also need to make sure you have a way to accurately track inventory, track sales, and even see what customers buy what products. All of this can be done through a point-of-sale system. Management systems like Bonfire can also allow you to keep a card on file to charge customers seamlessly while also showing easy reporting combining not only boat slip reservation revenue but also store sales. The more you can learn about your customer’s purchase behavior, the better your marina store will be.
3. Partner Up
If you don’t have a general store on-site, you could consider teaming up with a local bait and tackle shop — or even multiple shops in your area. Even if you do manage your store, we recommend pursuing partnerships with the business owners in your area.
The possibilities are practically endless, but one option is to offer referral fees to the businesses who recommend your marina. Further, you could post signage and advertising in their store, or promote deals whereby customers who buy a certain product (or a certain amount of product) get a one-time discount at your marina. You could also take partnerships like this to a whole new level. Picture this: Your business is the official marina of your local bait and tackle shop, and the signage outside both locations communicates that partnership to everyone walking by.
Partnerships of any kind will enhance your brand awareness, increase word of mouth for your business, and, when done well, increase the profits you take home.
4. Get Creative
Each of these tips is exciting because they put you in the driver’s seat. Only you can decide what is truly best for your business; we’re just here to give you some tools that can help. But while we’re admittedly biased, we think this final piece of advice may be the most fun of all.
Once you earn an even greater understanding of who your customers are and what they want from their marina experience, you can enhance and refine that experience with, well, more experiences.
Consider adding events like “Family Days,” where families of three or more can rent kayaks for a discounted rate. Likewise, you may consider adding kids’ packages, where children of a certain age get discounted snacks when they join their families at your marina. Lastly, you could consider doing something special for holidays like the Fourth of July: a marina cookout, perhaps, or, if possible, some fireworks.
Of course, you’ll likely want to promote these creative additions through some of the marketing techniques outlined above. Plus, you’ll probably want a management platform that helps you track the progress and efficacy of each of these revenue-enhancing endeavors.
That’s the beauty of Bonfire.
Our platform helps you manage your marina, conduct thorough inventories of all your offerings, and gain an even greater understanding of your customers. Ultimately, our goal is the same as yours: increase your revenue and your success.
That’s why we offer tips like the four above, and it’s why we continuously fine-tune our platform to meet the evolving needs of your business.
If you want to know more about Bonfire's easy-to-use, all-in-one management, and reservation software, please reach out to us at howdy@letsbonfire.com. To learn even more about essential management tools like POS systems, read our blog on that very topic.
