What Makes a Good Marketer in Boating? Time and a Team.

Too often, I see companies post job openings for a marketer with the classic requirement: a degree in marketing. It’s a glaring sign of how little they understand marketing. To be clear, a college marketing degree is essentially a history class—it teaches what worked in the past, not what works today.

Instead of hiring someone with real industry experience, they bring in a recent graduate with no practical knowledge of the market, no understanding of the customer, and no real ability to make an impact. Then they wonder why their marketing efforts fail.

But what if companies rethought their approach? Instead of just filling a role, what if they hired a marketer, gave them a budget, allowed them to experiment (and occasionally fail), and actually listened to their insights? Would that person be a fresh graduate with no industry experience? Probably not.

What Makes a Good Marketer?

Successful marketing in this industry isn’t just about having a warm body in a seat—it’s about empowering someone with the time, tools, and support to make meaningful progress.

Having met some of the best marketers in the boating industry—and knowing how many struggle to get started—I’ve thought a lot about what separates success from failure.

A great marketer isn’t just someone with creative ideas or technical expertise. They need a strong team and an organization willing to embrace unconventional approaches, take calculated risks, and, yes, spend money on educated guesses.

Too often, marketing discussions focus solely on tactics—Google Ads, SEO, social media—without addressing the bigger reality: marketing is about testing and learning. The ability to try things, fail, and adjust is essential. Yet, many marine businesses don’t provide that freedom.

The Challenges of Marine Marketing

1. Marketing Is Undervalued

When companies look to cut costs, marketing is often the first thing to go. It’s seen as non-essential, despite its direct impact on revenue. This short-sighted mindset makes long-term marketing strategies nearly impossible. Worse, it creates an environment of fear—where marketers constantly feel like they’re on the chopping block. As a result, they avoid risk, shy away from bold ideas, and play it safe. But safe marketing doesn’t drive growth.

2. Companies Are Afraid to Spend

Marketing requires investment. You can’t “will” success into existence—you have to test ideas, because most strategies aren’t obvious from the start. The modern world runs on data-driven experimentation, but many marine businesses hesitate to allocate the necessary budget. They want guaranteed results without the investment, which is like expecting to win a race without ever upgrading the engine.

3. Unrealistic Expectations for Growth

Many marine companies expect instant results, which is wildly unrealistic. Effective marketing takes time. Understanding the market, refining messaging, and building customer trust doesn’t happen overnight. But too often, marketers are given impossible expectations and little patience. The result? Companies keep cycling through marketers instead of investing in long-term strategies.

4. An Ever-Changing Audience

Customers today are bombarded with marketing messages from every direction—social feeds, YouTube, search ads, TV, podcasts. Other industries have massive budgets and sophisticated strategies, making competition even tougher. To keep up, boating marketers need time and space to stay updated on evolving trends, platforms, and consumer behaviors. Yet, many are stuck just keeping their heads above water, executing outdated tactics instead of adapting to the real world.

5. Lack of Industry Knowledge

Ironically, many marine trade associations—who struggle to market themselves—host webinars on how to do marketing. These sessions are often filled with outdated, generic, or outright incorrect advice.

I once spoke with a marketer asked to present on AI at a marine conference. He asked me what to say. My advice? Don’t just tell people to use AI. A one-hour presentation isn’t enough for most to grasp AI’s complexities. Without real understanding, they’ll misuse it, get poor results, and then dismiss AI as ineffective. That’s the problem—boating companies listen to the wrong people and follow bad advice instead of bringing in experienced marketers who understand the industry.

The Bottom Line

Marketing in the boating industry is exceptionally challenging—not because boating is unique, but because the industry’s leadership often refuses to treat marketing as the strategic driver it is.

A good marketer isn’t just someone who can run a Facebook ad or write a press release. They need time, a budget, and the freedom to experiment. More importantly, they need a company that actually believes in marketing and backs them up with a strong team.

If you want to stand out in the marine industry, you can’t take a timid approach to marketing. You have to invest in it, trust your marketers, and give them the space to do what works—not just what’s safe. Otherwise, you’re just another company playing defense while the competition sails ahead.