During the first week of each month, Boating Industry publishes an e-newsletter that ranks the Top 10 most read stories from the previous month. Over the past year, nearly all the stories that have garnered the greatest attention have had to do with bankruptcies, layoffs, union disputes, etc. To put it more simply: bad news. Read more >>
I recently bought a new book, “The Mom & Pop Store: How the Unsung Heroes of the American Economy Are Surviving and Thriving.” Because I have two other books I have to finish before I start this one, I’ve contented myself for now with only reading the introduction, which has sent me down memory lane. Read more >>
This past Saturday was my five-year-old’s birthday party. Nine boys and their parents had pledged to join my husband, son and I for a two-hour romp at a warehouse full of inflatable slides, rock climbing walls and even a basketball court. Read more >>
If you take a look at this blog’s archives, you’ll notice that they go back to March 2009. Specifically, our first post — in which Matt wrote about “Going Girly” — was published on March 27, 2009. Read more >>
Tags: blog, social networking
By Gary Druckenmiller, Jr., co-founder, TheOpenSea.com – In marine marketing, retaining loyal customers has always been a hard thing to do. And in the age of media fragmentation — as hundreds of technologies and thousands of Web sites compete for audience attention — the traditional siege-mentality approach to marketing is giving way to a new paradigm known as “engagement.” This approach uses technology as the centerpiece to establishing and maintaining continual connections and conversations with key customers. Read more >>
A few weeks ago, a former boating industry executive contacted me, asking about the state of marine business in the U.S. He is a friend who left the United States a few years ago to take a position within a different division of his company based in another country. Since his e-mail, I’ve been thinking about how to answer him. Read more >>
Last week, I received a press release from BoatU.S. with the following subject line, “The Shocking Truth: More Recreational Boaters Having Battery Problems.” And I saw an opportunity. Or at least one I’d jump on if I was a boat dealer, marina operator or boating supplies store manager. Read more >>
Tags: Marine Dealers, Marketing
I was going about my normal boating news searches this morning when I stumbled across an article written by a stock analyst who had recently visited a handful of stores along Chicago’s Michigan Avenue. Like many of us, he has kids, and after being gone for a week on business, he was headed to the Disney store to pick up some “missed you while I was gone” presents before traveling home. Read more >>
Sunday night, I watched an episode of Undercover Boss, the new “reality TV show” that takes a company’s leader and puts them “undercover” on the front lines with the employees. The show featured Joe DePinto, the president and CEO of 7-Eleven, Inc., who spent a week disguised as “Danny,” a guy starring in a documentary on entry-level jobs. During this period, he spent time at several 7-Eleven stores and a factory, working alongside employees while investigating the challenges they faced and successes they accomplished. Read more >>
By Peter Granata, president, Granata Design and the Marine Design Resource Alliance — Ever notice how some leaders look at things individually rather than as a whole? They look at the numbers of the business but not the business overall. They focus on the problem, not what is causing the problem. They look at the way things have always been done in their industry but not the way other industries are accomplishing their goals. It’s called “not seeing the forest through the trees.” Read more >>
