The demand for a directory for this industry seems to be huge ...a list of contact names and addresses of suppliers and subcontractors, in three permutations: alphabetical order, classified order (by product or service), and by brand (manufacturer's) name stocked.
The trade and the chandleries want to know contact details of the wholesalers, of the OEMs and of the importers of finished products.
The boatyards want to know the same, but additionally want sub-contract suppliers who can supply them with the subcontract services to make their lives easier.
The marinas want to provide this kind of information to the boatowner, yacht clubs, yachtsmen and sailors who frequent them.
The wholesalers, OEMS and importers want to know the contact details and facilities of the marinas...
and so it goes on. Buying or selling, you need CONTACT NAMES.
Imagine therefore the opportunities for advertising. Then double or even triple this when you put your directory in its entirety (fully searchable) onto the web. The world wide web has now given publishers like us an opportunity, which we have seized. In much of the media, advertising sales are depressed... marketing executives are accountable, and wish to measure results to justify their own existence. You cannot do this easily with tv, radio or print media, spending with all of whom, is a bit like contributing to a bullet for a gun. A printed directory has always had advantages... a paid circulation ensuring no wastage, a long shelf life, a requirement for regular use already established before purchase, etc. However, it is electronic advertising that is the future... have the right package and you can monitor all traffic to your website. Which are the referring websites sending traffic to your website?
In 2004 http://www.boatpartsdatabase.com was established to make the content of the printed directory available free of charge on the web, no membership, no subscription. Like all media, advertising revenue would continue to be the key to a profitable business model. The sales story was strong... advert in the book, repeated on the web and hotlinked direct to the advertiser's own website. There are also no geographical restrictions on the web, much better for a global industry in an era where the world is looking increasingly small. The medium also has equal appeal to trade and private individual alike.
We are perhaps still in a period where the average advertiser's perception spots far more readily the visual impact of a thickly bound well-illustrated book, than the potential of a regularly updated web directory. He can also see that the user (trade or private individual) would keep it at the "point of need", on a workshop bench or onboard in a drawer. But times are changing fast. Onboard web browsing is already a reality.
As editors, we have adapted the directory's content to reflect the kind of search phrases that are used by millions of people worldwide daily in the
major search engines, google and yahoo, ensuring that we are on the first two pages of hundreds of relevant google searches.
We want now to sell you the advertising opportunity of all time...
you are a chandlery with 8 locations
you sell mail order, you have a shopping basket facility on your website
you are exclusive distributors and agents for a number of brands
you are dealers and stockists of all the major brands
you can have a full page advert under "chandlers" or "chandlers online", list every one of your locations under every relevant brand name and every relevant category and each item will be HOTLINKED to your own web address and all of that repeated in print in the book, ALL for a package fee for the year.
you will therefore, for example, have 8 hotlinks, one for each location, under
Echopilot marine electronics...gebo hatches...eberspächer heaters...plastimo cookers...fish finders...gps equipment...hatches...heaters...refrigerators...ropes...sextants. ..solar panels...winches...windlasses...outboards... Sika adhesives and resins...teak deck maintenance products...deck caulking...Sta-Lok Terminals...
You are a specialised metal finishing company looking to supplement your regular aerospace industry client base... you can for your package fee hotlink every process you offer... anodising...cadmium plating...chemical processing...electroplating...hard chromium plating...nickel plating...passivation...phosphating
You are a wholesaler... you will naturally have a wide range of products...
BCS bow thrusters...Blakes Paints...Expandite sealants...Flojet pumps...Hi-Grip hose clips...Instatrim trim tabs...Nobels stern thrusters...SAFi Valves... Saninautico toilets and bidets...Victron battery chargers...deck covering...fillers...fenders...fire extinguishers...hinges...hydraulic steering...instruments...plumbing fittings...refrigerators...
You repair supply and fit marine electronics... all the brands...
autopilots... charting systems...chartplotters... communications equipment...compasses...sonar.... depth sounders...Apelco...BandG...C-Map...Eagle fishfinders...Garmin GPS... Icom...MLR...NASA... Navico...Raymarine...Siemens VDO...Silva...Simrad...Stowe...Yeoman
You are a boatyard...you offer gelcoat refurbishment...grp repair...osmosis treatment...engine maintenance and overhaul...painting services...refitting...refurbishment...repair...stainless steel fabrications...woodwork and joinery
Why not think of the bigger picture. Give your company the global presence it deserves.
About the author:
John Routledge is Managing Director of information publishers, AERO INDEX LTD.Formerly Business Development Manager at Sells Publications Ltd., he has developed his own company, founded in 1993, to take the time-honoured concept of the business directory into the "information age". The company is now publishing comprehensive directories on the world wide web.
Written by: J Routledge
