Discover Boating, powered by the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) and the MRAA, continues to generate valuable content for new and seasoned boaters alike. Discover Boating, through monthly emails and social media efforts, drives consumers to DiscoverBoating.com, sharing with them boating lifestyle content.
(Discover Boating image)
Celebrating Earth Day and National Picnic Day In April, Discover Boating celebrated Earth Day. From practical tips for keeping our waterways clean to easy-to-follow suggestions to encourage boaters to enjoy their water time and protect the environment. Additionally, Discover Boating provided a comprehensive guide to planning the perfect boat picnic for National Picnic Day.
Boating for Mental Health Discover Boating highlighted boating’s mental health benefits for Mental Health Awareness Month. The article provided 10 reasons why boating is an excellent way to boost well-being. From reducing stress to connecting with loved ones to enjoying water’s calming effects, boating offers many rewards.
New Articles in April In April 2024, Discover Boating published new articles offering a range of tips and guides for boaters:
Sharing the Knowledge It’s your busy season, so share some of these articles with your customers to help enhance their boating experiences and promote a well-informed boating community. They articles make great social medias posts, e-newsletter content and work in other communication channels.
The Discover Boating Minneapolis Boat Show, in partnership with Progressive Insurance®, landed in the top 10. (Photo by NMMA)
The top 10 winners for Best Boat Show are ranked as follows:
St. Petersburg Power and Sailboat Show
Palm Beach International Boat Show
Detroit Boat Show
Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show
Discover Boating Chicago Boat Show, in partnership with Progressive Insurance®
Discover Boating Miami International Boat Show
Newport International Boat Show
Bay Bridge Boat Show
Discover Boating Atlanta Boat Show, in partnership with Progressive Insurance®
Discover Boating Minneapolis Boat Show, in partnership with Progressive Insurance®
10Best Readers’ Choice Awards highlight the best of the best in contests covering categories such as destinations, food and drink, hotels and things to do. Nominees in all categories are submitted by a panel of experts. The final set of nominees are selected by 10Best editors before being presented to the public.
Last week the recreational boating industry, including the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas (MRAA), visited Washington, D.C., for the annual American Boating Congress (ABC) hosted by the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA). MRAA staff, certified dealers and members of the MRAA board of directors met with lawmakers to discuss the contributions of the marine industry to the larger economy as well as issues of concern and how Congress can help.
Mike Sayre, MRAA Director of Government Relations, Chad Taylor, President Taylor’s South Shore Marina, Mike Davin, MRAA Vice President of Industry Relations, Jeff Strong, President Strong’s Marine, Matt Gruhn, MRAA President, Chad Tokowicz, MRAA Government Relations Manager, and Joe Lewis, General Manager Mount Dora Boating Center.
ABC, an integral event for the recreational boating industry, enables business owners and stakeholders to discuss issues impacting their businesses and the recreational boating industry directly with their elected officials. These conversations are key in developing relationships between members of Congress and event attendees, laying critical groundwork for the MRAA Government Relations Team.
This year, ABC featured a new schedule, with attendees coming in Wednesday for a day of programming and preparation ahead of a full day of meetings on Capitol Hill on Thursday, followed by a dinner and keynote speakers. While on the Hill, MRAA staff and members visited with various offices, including meeting with the staff of Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN), Sen. Todd Young (R-IN), Rep. Nick LaLota (R-NY-1), Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-OH-2) and many more.
These meetings put MRAA members and staff at the table with key members of Congress and their staff, presenting the opportunity to discuss key policy priorities like the LAKES Act as well as issues impacting the recreational boating industry like the proposed Right Whale Vessel Speed Rule and proposed tariffs on aluminum extrusions.
Chad Tokowicz, MRAA Government Relations Manager, Danny Porter, Research and Development Manager Thunderbird Industries, Grant Porter Executive Vice President Thunderbird Industries, Scott Porter President Thunderbird Industries.
Mike Morris, President DuraBrite Inc., Jay Blackburn Faria Gauges NMMA board member, Eric Kretsch, Legislative Coordinator Association of Marina Industries, Scott Croft, Vice President of Public Affairs Boat Owners Association of the United States, Jeff Strong, President Strong’s Marine. Patty Lawrence, Director of Education International Boatbuilders’ Exhibition, Tashia Roberson-Wing, Legislative Assistant Representative Landsman (D-OH-01), Chad Taylor, President Taylor’s South Shore Marina, John Relyea, CEO Brand Lab Gear.
After a long day of successful Hill meetings, attendees reconvened for a dinner and to hear from Keynote Speakers Mike Allen and Alex Thompson from Axios. In a fireside chat, moderated by NMMA Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Robyn Boerstling, Allen and Thompson prognosticated about the 2024 Presidential Election, provided input about the importance of policy at the state level, and gave insights about the unique political and legislative landscape we are in currently.
The final day of ABC, Friday, May 10, featured a panel that discussed efforts to bolster the workforce in the recreational marine industry. Again moderated by Boerstling, the panel featured MRAA’s Mike Davin, Vice President of Industry Relations, Randall Lyons, Executive Director for the Massachusetts Marine Trades Association and John Adey, Executive Director of the American Boat and Yacht Council. The panel discussed current efforts being undertaken by each organization while diving into the opportunities for collaboration among various entities.
Randall Lyons, Executive Director Massachusetts Marine Trades Association, Mike Davin, MRAA Vice President of Industry Relations, John Adey, President American Boat and Yacht Council and Rob Newsome, Senior Vice President of Operations National Marine Manufacturers Association.
In all, ABC 2024 was a success and the MRAA staff and members ensured dealer concerns were represented and made known. This is a challenging time of year for dealers to break away and engage in advocacy, which is why the MRAA Government Relations Team is consistently advocating on behalf of retailers to ensure the voice of the dealer is always included. As they say in D.C., if you are not at the table, you are on the menu, and MRAA works to keep you at the table.
If you have any questions about ABC or want to attend in 2025, please do not hesitate to reach out to Chad Tokowicz, MRAA Government Relations Manager, at chad@mraa.com or Mike Sayre, MRAA Director of Government Relations, at Sayre@mraa.com.
Join the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) and Marine Retailers Association of the Americas (MRAA) for an industry webinar to learn the why & how of the Discover Boating brand, created to attract new boaters and retain current boaters.
Learn more about who the campaign is reaching, how it’s engaging today’s evolving consumer and why the brand is building long-term market share for boating.
Join the Why & How of Discover Boating webinar at 12 p.m. ET on Thursday, May 23, 2024.
The webinar will outline:
Evolution of the Discover Boating strategy
Key elements of the brand’s spring/summer campaign
Examples of how the campaign is working to engage boaters of today and tomorrow
Speakers include: Ellen Bradley, Chief Brand Officer and Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications, NMMA; Mike Davin, Vice President of Industry Relations, MRAA; and Kevin Williams, Vice President of Marketing, NMMA.
Webinar: Why & How of Discover Boating DATE: Thursday, May 23, 2024 TIME: 12 p.m. ET
MINNEAPOLIS, May 7, 2024 — The Marine Retailers Association of the Americas (MRAA) announces the addition of Battery Tender, ECOXGEAR, iNet, Newcoast, North River Boats and Speedydock Software as its newest Partner Members.
Marine manufacturers, suppliers and service providers, through Partner Membership, commit to aligning their brands with the programs and opportunities that MRAA offers in its efforts to fuel the success of the marine industry. Support from Partners allows the Association to expand its offerings and create a positive, long-term impact on MRAA members’ business.
Six New Partner Members:
Battery Tender (Deland, Fla.) designs, manufactures and distributes advanced battery technology that are always ready to go when you are.
ECOXGEAR (Poway, Calif.) specializes in 100% waterproof, dustproof and rugged audio solutions from soundbars for Golf Cars, UTVs, ATVs and the marine industry.
iNet (Cedar Park, Texas) offers a quick-and-easy way to apply online for a boat loan in 48 states.
Newcoast (Clearwater, Fla.) allows you to connect with the largest network of quality lenders and insurance providers in the marine and RV industries for the most competitive rates.
North River Boats (Rosenburg, Ore.) is one of the largest heavy-gauge aluminum boat manufacturers in the United States with a mission to relentlessly improve quality and customer service.
Speedydock Software (Auburn, Ala.) creates software applications that simplify dry stack marina operations and manage boat club reservation scheduling.
“Collaborating with these six unique companies reinforces our commitment to providing cutting-edge solutions and unparalleled support to the marine industry,” says Allison Gruhn, MRAA Vice President of Business Development.
Dealer members are encouraged to explore the list of companies that actively support the MRAA across four partnership levels. View the complete list.
About the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas At the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas, we believe that for the marine industry to thrive, the retail organizations that interact with the boaters in their community must thrive. With that in mind, MRAA works to create a strong and healthy boating industry by uniting those retailers, providing them with opportunities for improvement and growth, and representing them with a powerful voice. For more information, visit MRAA.com or contact us at 763-315-8043.
• A Q&A session with Kelsey Ketcham, Marketing Manager, Strong’s Marine about the intricacies of creating its educational “Women on the Water” events
Events usually start out as a concept. Many exist out of necessity or were made to fill a void and provide an opportunity for your dealership.
For instance, when your team isn’t engaging your new customers enough, you plan a customer-appreciation event with food, fun and boating. But events vary in size, scope and their reason for being. Harmonizing your event planning and creation with your mission, vision and values is essential for event success. This approach means you are committed, with purpose and integrity, to going beyond the sale.
Custom Events Cultivate Trust The listed core values for Strong’s Marine spell out the word S.T.R.O.N.G.S. and break down as follows: Super Service, Teamwork, Respect, Ownership, Nurture, Growth, and Seek Fun. The letter “N” embodies developing lifetime relationships with teammates, clients, suppliers and the community. It’s about relationship building, being neighborly around the water and giving back to co-workers, customers and other boat owners.
Strong’s Marine, a Certified and family-owned dealership with eight locations in New York, addressed a growing need a few years ago when it created its first Strong’s “Women on the Water” event for its staff. Three seasons later, this comfortable, educational event has grown into a rewarding and highly anticipated happening for team members, customers and other boaters.
I recently visited with Kelsey Ketcham, Marketing Manager at Strong’s Marine, to learn more about their Women on the Water events, which have been held every spring for the last three years. The events empower women clients and team members, help them feel comfortable on the water and support opportunities to advance education and experience.
MRAA: Why did Strong’s focus on this type of event?
Ketcham: “In 2022, Strong’s Marine hosted our very first Women’s Summit for our female team members to honor International Women’s Day and celebrate the women that make up 30 percent of our team. During the Summit, we discussed how to better support our women teammates in their roles and we overwhelmingly heard that our team needed more on-water time to gain knowledge and experience. We began ‘Women on the Water’ small-group lessons with one of our captains for our team members that spring. It was so successful and valuable that we extended the concept to our clients and community members.”
MRAA: How many women on staff and customers have gone through the courses?
Ketcham: “Nearly all the women on our team have participated in at least one session in the last three years. For our public events, we have around 30 customers annually who participate in one, a few, or all sessions.”
Strong’s Marine will host four Women on the Water classes in 2024. (Photo by Strong’s Marine)
MRAA: Who trains them during the event?
Ketcham: “We work with our team of captains who usually work on boat and yacht deliveries and private lessons. Each captain brings a fresh perspective to each featured topic and varies content and instruction. They help us create the curriculum based on topics we heard are most important to our clients.”
MRAA: Is the sole purpose education and safety, or also hard/soft selling to family decision-makers and non-clients?
Ketcham: “The primary purpose is for education and to get women dedicated time at the helm with a captain so they can ask any question they want and get it answered or try out a new skill. This is also an opportunity for those who are on the fence of boat ownership to get a taste of what it’s like to operate a boat and if it’s something they’d like to explore. We have had some Boat Club clients participate who ultimately went on to purchase a new boat the following season. We also host a lot of wives and daughters of primary ‘owners’ who need some instruction and opportunities at the helm.”
MRAA: Why did you feel it was necessary to include other boaters or non-clients?
Ketcham: “We wanted to open these events up to non-clients to promote safety on the water to our community members and invite them to our marinas and experience our dedication to boating safety.”
MRAA: How did you determine the cost? How have customers reacted to the pricing?
Ketcham: “We determined cost with a basic cost analysis of the use of our Boat Club fleet boats, fuel and captain’s compensation. We discounted for our clients ($50 per two-hour session) as a benefit of doing business with us; non-clients are $100 per two-hour session. Clients and non-clients alike have not had any adverse reactions to cost.”
MRAA: What have you heard from customers about the training?
Ketcham: “Customers love these courses! They are glad to get some facetime with a captain and time at the helm. We keep each session with the ratio of four clients to one boat and captain (4:1:1) so that the boat is not crowded and maximizes time for each participant to have their individual needs addressed. We often hear from clients that they would like intermediate or advanced sessions in the future and additional sessions. In 2024, we offered four classes across two locations after offering only three classes at one location in the past.”
Since debuting its Women on the Water events, Strong’s Marine has already expanded to hosting events at two of its locations. (Photo by Strong’s Marine)
MRAA: How have these classes helped improve customer service and care and build relationships through shared boating experiences?
Ketcham: “These classes have increased interaction with our customers between our marina and sales team. These educational courses are perfect opportunities for our sales team to reach out to clients, check in and invite them to our marinas to participate in this unique event. Our marina team interacts with each participant to complete registration and welcome them on the day of the event. It helps our clients meet more members of our entire team and get the full Strong’s ‘Super Service’ experience. It also connects our captains with our clients to book additional time through private lessons to learn on their own boat.”
MRAA: What challenges arise from hosting multiple events like this at different locations? And how do you overcome those issues?
Ketcham: “Weather is always a challenge, especially early in our boating season! We hold these events in April and May so that we can utilize our rental fleet boats for the sessions before our Boat Club season begins. Weather is obviously unpredictable but we saw an unprecedented number of rainy and windy weekends in 2023, so it was a puzzle trying to find a rain date that would work for our clients, our boats and our captains! Our team is very adaptable. When the weather isn’t looking good the morning before the event, we make a rain plan and confirm with our captains then work with each client to reschedule.”
MRAA: What changes have you made from the first event that have improved them?
Ketcham: “In our first year, we offered just the course as a broad, all-encompassing session. In our second year, we added unique topics for each date to really hone in on what our captains would focus their instruction on and also to allow clients to participate in which topic they felt they needed the most experience in. In our third year, we are now offering it at two of our marina locations to cater to more clients and more availability for each session. We also work more closely with our captains when creating the curriculum for each course to ensure they are clear on expectations and goals.”
What tips do you have for other dealers for hosting customer experience-elevating demos/training events like this?
Ketcham: “Start with the basics! Create one course with a broad offering to gauge interest, participation and any additional needs. Once the first event is held, reach out to participants to get their feedback on what worked, what didn’t and what they would like to see with the next event, then build from there. Make sure to include all team members who will need to be involved from the beginning as stakeholders. The more collaborative these kinds of events are, the better! Your marina teams that are at the front lines are experts on your clients and what they are looking for.”
For additional dealership event ideas and best practices, visit the MRAA Spotlight page: “Dealership Events That Deliver.”
Sales have slowed and are struggling to recover. Customers seem to be hiding from dealers. Banks appear scared of lending. Inventory is back to normal, or worse even higher. Almost everyone has a trade-in vessel where they owe a lot more than it is worth. As a dealer principal, sales manager, or other leader in your dealership with a positive mindset, it may be the right time to go on the offensive and try something new. Like a pop-up boat show!
In your search to find a new way to engage customers and to get your sales leads and deals back, you may be searching for the right event. Instead of waiting and wondering, create your own pop-up boat show and attract the customers who seem so hard to find.
This group of dealers found a state park that worked well for its boat-show needs.
Last fall, a group of three dealers teamed up to have a local boat show on short notice in a location not known for hosting boat shows. It worked fantastically.
That instinctive show turned out to be a hit in the community and a great selling event for the dealers. It gave them a chance to work closely with each other and to develop comradery and trust that will serve them well in developing similar opportunities.
If you’ve learned anything from this already challenging year, it’s that you need to make a difference and influence the success of your dealership. A self-created show may just make all the difference.
This isn’t simple. It will take effort to find a good location. You must talk with other dealers who are a good fit to join forces. And you must develop an agreed-upon plan.
It’s helpful to start with some questions about holding a possible “pop-up” boat show.
Are there marinas, boat yards, entire lakes, or other non-dealership related boating destinations within a reasonable distance from you that are not adjacent to or within plus or minus 20 minutes of a dealership?
Is there an outlet mall, park, business with a large parking lot, or even an antique boat museum near those locations or at those locations you found in question one?
Are there other dealers that have complimentary inventory and/or manufacturers that you would like to work with to have a small boat show?
When is the best time of year to have a show based on your needs, weather and when other shows occur?
The three dealers mentioned above found a state park, near a state-owned marina and a privately owned marina that had no dealerships. In addition, that state park rented them a huge, mowed field that was visible from the main road. As the boat-show puzzle pieces came together, the trio decided they had found a pop-up show location.
The team that put on the event was very pleasantly surprised by the turn out and the sales that took place at their pop-up boats show. In fact, it rained two of the three days they had the show open. Yet, they were amazed to see customers drive in, put up their umbrella(s) and walk across the field to look at and buy boats.
Taking the show to the customers is one solution to finding buyers in this challenging market. Creativity, flexibility and cooperation between separate dealerships that consider themselves peers and friends can lead to a successful event even in difficult times.
Holding a successful customer event benefits your business by generating sales leads, creating avenues for soft selling, building community, elevating trust in your brand and boosting customer experience. Boating events on the water are equally important because you get to share the boating lifestyle, share safety and operational tips with owners and create deeper connections with your clients and their friends and family.
Mount Dora Boating Center & Marina, an MRAA Gold Member and Certified Dealer, has an events page on its site to let boating enthusiasts know about its annual events.
Some marine retailers have hosted hundreds of events and have gotten pretty good at it. They have learned what not to do and also know the tactics to give the best chance at success. But what if your team isn’t as experienced at hosting events? Whether it’s a “barbecue & boats parking lot party” or an “overnight island retreat with new boaters,” what tactics give you the best chance at success?
Here are seven boating event planning basics, borrowed from MRAA case studies and tips from industry experts, to help your team connect with your customers on different levels and go beyond the product transaction.
Focus on Fun & Think Small — You can’t eat a pizza in one bite! It’s better to eat one slice at a time. When it comes to your events, make them manageable, especially if this is your team’s first event. You want to create a fun, memorable event for your customers, so make it about the boating lifestyle and not necessarily hard selling. Not only will this help them envision their life and fun times on the boat, but it can also enhance their overall experience. On-the-water events with demos and other water-related activities can help them understand the boating community and how recreational boating can add enjoyment to their lives.
Assign Event Manager(s) — Event planning presents various challenges. It’s crucial to assign a project manager or event administrator to ensure your team completes the necessary steps to keep your event on schedule and update every participant (team and customers). Consider adding a basic event process map to ensure your team doesn’t overlook any steps.
Start With Existing Customers — Your No. 1 objective is to engage customers. Start with your existing clients because they already know your team, the brand and how you treat customers. Allow them to bring along family and friends. You can even survey your customers or do a social poll, encouraging feedback to help you improve the event and meet expectations. They will feel more connected and willing to share it with others. These boating community events should be intimate before going big until you’ve developed a winning formula and process. Ideally, by enhancing these relationships, you can create a stronger bond, increase trust and encourage word-of-mouth promotion.
Email & Digital Marketing — Emailing a strategic list of customers will help build awareness. You will also need to communicate, in advance, your time, date and location to help them set time aside to attend. This save-the-date email should be concise but informative and welcoming. Personalized emails to current customers and strong leads, using data from your CRM, can help sway them and encourage them to join you. Posting to your website’s events page, social channels and creating organic ads can generate more awareness for your events.
Planning & Flexibility — Event planning includes influences you can and cannot control. Be flexible, calm and patient with your team handling the logistics and customers. However, pre-event communication helps to manage your customer’s expectations regarding poor weather or a rescheduled event. Plan A is your perfect event without weather issues. Plan B shares a contingency plan, complete with full details of the cancellation or rescheduling. Plan B is so diverse. You can insert many alternatives within your planning, like holding your event on a Saturday and reserving Sunday as the rain day. You can choose a weekend date, but then also designate a rain date for the following weekend. Some dealers rent a tent and hold their events rain or shine or even plan to use the showroom as part of their back-up plan for rain. To avoid windy weather for certain on-the-water events, change the location on the body of water to a more protected location.
Social Sharing — To build brand awareness, start sharing your event before it occurs, while it’s happening, and once it’s completed. Use the same unique hashtag for each event to encourage staff and customers to share their personal experiences. Urging social sharing can build relationships and community and improve the event’s reach.
Learn & Grow — You can learn from failure, so don’t give up. Learn from disappointing events. It’s vital to record everything from every event you hold. That’s why follow-up after the event is critical to your success. Request customer and staff feedback to fine-tune your events and improve them annually. You also do this to learn what to stop doing and what to do more of. Certain events should remain small and intimate, while others can be discontinued or be played up and grown into multi-day events or large-scale adventures. Remember, though, it’s not about your comfort more than it is to create an event that produces a great customer experience. Tracking attendance, leads and conversions will help you understand ROI.
These boating event planning basics will help your dealership host a successful event, but, more importantly, boost customer experience and share the boating lifestyle. Your team can create and manage events to enhance relationships and build your sales leads. You expand your audience and connect with your local boating community by sharing the boating lifestyle and “boat ownership” experiences with customers and prospects. Events are valuable tools to move customers from a position of hesitancy to one of decisiveness.
[AIMIE, MRAA’s AI for Marine Industry Education and content delivery system, was a resource in this content production. Learn more.]
• Discover Boating and Progressive Insurance® Debut New Episode in Safe Boating Video Series
Discover Boating, powered by NMMA and MRAA, in collaboration with Progressive Insurance, launched its second safety video in the “Top Safe Boating Tips” series this week. The video titled, Fuel Up With Confidence: Top Tips for Responsible Refueling, covers essential practices, such as employing the sniff method to detect fuel leaks or spills, ensuring there are no open flames or smoking, disembarking passengers during refueling, selecting the appropriate fuel for your vessel, and more.
The five-part series covers crucial safety topics that all boaters need to be aware of for a worry-free day on the water, including boating with pets, refueling, navigation lights usage, trailering and safe seating.
To further engage current boaters and the next generation, Discover Boating and Progressive strategically created these short-form videos (in addition to longer form versions) that can be shared on social channels, such as TikTok and Instagram — popular platforms Discover Boating’s target audiences use to consume digital content. Discover Boating will also be sharing the new videos via consumer email distributions and on its websites in the U.S. and Canada.
Industry stakeholders are encouraged to view and share these safety videos on your social media channels, consumer emails, brand website or play it on loop in showrooms, to provide valuable safe boating content for your customers.
The five-video series in 2024 focuses on the following topics:
Similar to the 2023 video series (viewable/shareable here), a new video will be released each month, March-July, on YouTube. Discover Boating will also share shorter cutdown versions to engage target audiences across social media platforms and promoted on the Discover Boating blog, DB TV section, and b2b.discoverboating.com.
About Discover Boating: Powered by the National Marine Manufacturers Association and the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas, Discover Boating connects boaters and future boaters with experiences, resources and community to enhance their boating journey and expand the industry in the U.S. and Canada. For nearly two decades, Discover Boating has led the North American recreational boating industry’s consumer outreach efforts, attracting millions of people to boating and helping them get on the water and become boaters. Industry stakeholders can follow along and share Discover Boating content from DiscoverBoating.com and @DiscoverBoating on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
About Progressive Insurance: Progressive Insurance® makes it easy to understand, buy and use car insurance, home insurance, and other protection needs. Progressive offers choices so consumers can reach us however it’s most convenient for them — online at progressive.com, by phone at 1-800-PROGRESSIVE, via the Progressive mobile app, or in-person with a local agent. Progressive provides insurance for personal and commercial autos and trucks, motorcycles, boats, recreational vehicles, and homes; it is the second largest personal auto insurer in the country, a leading seller of commercial auto, motorcycle, and boat insurance, and one of the top 15 homeowners insurance carriers. Founded in 1937, Progressive continues its long history of offering shopping tools and services that save customers time and money, like Name Your Price®, Snapshot®, and HomeQuote Explorer®. The Common Shares of The Progressive Corporation, the Mayfield Village, Ohio-based holding company, trade publicly at NYSE: PGR.
The Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation (RBFF), an MRAA Partner Member, has announced two new hires and a new award for its Find Your Best Self campaign.
Welcome JD Strong! RBFF today announced JD Strong as its new Sr. Director of Industry Engagement. With 20 years of executive leadership experience, Strong will spearhead a new RBFF Board-driven charge to support the fishing and boating industries in reducing churn – an increasing concern for participation overall.
JD Strong, RBFF Senior Director of Industry Engagement
“JD is a welcome addition to the RBFF team where his impressive accomplishments, progressive initiatives and deep passion for fishing and boating will help us better understand and improve fishing and boating churn,” said RBFF President & CEO Dave Chanda.
“I’m excited to join the team at RBFF and eager to tackle the challenges we’re facing around churn,” said Strong. “Increased participation supports critical aquatic conservation efforts and if we can stem the tide on lapsing anglers, we can ensure a healthy and thriving environment for fishing and boating.”
Prior to RBFF, Strong served as the Director of the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation (ODWC) where he made significant improvements to the agency’s licensing system, developed strategic partnerships with country music star Blake Shelton and NBA star Paul George and formed important partnerships with Oklahoma fishing license retailers, Bass Pro Shops/Cabela’s, Academy Sports and Outdoors, OKC Latina, and more.
Strong is the former Executive Director of the Oklahoma Water Resources Board (OWRB) and has held a number of leadership positions at both the state and national level with organizations including the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies (AFWA) and the Sport Fishing & Boating Partnership Council (SFBPC). He holds a bachelor’s degree in wildlife ecology from Oklahoma State University.
“RBFF’s Special Report on Fishing shows a large increase in the number of lost participants over the last several years,” added Chanda. “It’s a trend we can’t ignore, and we’re excited to have JD on board to help navigate this challenge.”
RBFF will soon release a research project that will help us better understand the psychology of churn. To view current resources related to fishing and boating retention, visit our YouTube channel Retention Playlist and our website for RBFF’s our Retention Toolkit.
Meet Kayla Hornbrook We are pleased to announce that Kayla Hornbrook recently joined the RBFF team as the Stakeholder Marketing Manager. Kayla Hornbrook has nine years of experience in strategic communications, marketing and design within the nonprofit sector. She has led strategic communications initiatives, brand management, sponsorships/fundraising, digital marketing campaigns, and direct service programs. Kayla will work closely with Joanne Martonik to support stakeholder marketing programs and events such as our First Catch Centers, State Marketing Workshop, industry events and more.
Outside of work Kayla enjoys video and board games, comedy and travel. Through her childhood and teenage years, she enjoyed fishing with her grandfather in the Southeast and Midwest, connecting her to the mission of RBFF.
Best in Show – Midwest Addy Awards As we move into the 2024 fishing and boating season, we’re proud to share our ‘Find Your Best Self on the Water’ campaign continues to reel in awards from its first year in-market. The campaign recently received a “Best in Show” designation at the Midwest Addy Awards.
About RBFF RBFF is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to increase recreational angling and boating participation, thereby protecting and restoring the nation’s aquatic natural resources. To help recruit, retain, and reactivate participants, RBFF developed the award-winning Take Me Fishing™ and Vamos A Pescar™ campaigns to build awareness of boating, fishing, and conservation and educate people about the benefits of participation.
The campaign websites feature how-to-videos and an interactive state-by-state map that allows visitors to find local boating and fishing spots, helping boaters and anglers of all ages and experience levels learn, plan, and equip for a successful day on the water.
RBFF also offers its industry stakeholders many tools, including a Fishing License & Boat Registration Plugin to connect their customers with the information they need in just one click, as well as an embeddable Places to Fish & Boat Map to help their customers discover places to fish and boat near them.
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