We are trying to help

The only reason the NMTA exists is to serve our members. All of us know that times are as challenging as most of us have ever seen in our lifetime. We also know that many of the challenges are outside our control.

Which leaves us asking ourselves, what can we be doing to help our members right now?

After putting a lot of time and effort into that question, we presented a number of different options to the Grow Boating Committee, the Boat Show Committee as well as the Board of Trustees. I am happy to say that last month we got the green light for four different initiatives:

1. Parking Lot Sale - Patterned after the sale we did last August at Qwest Field, we are going to organize a selling opportunity May 1-3 at Totem Lake Mall in Kirkland. We will call it the “Seattle Boat Show Spring Sale.” We will have room for 200 new and or used boats as well as display areas for accessories. If you have not already signed-up, please contact Brad Vickers in our office 206-634-0911. The Board of Trustees voted unanimously to use funds from the association’s reserves to underwrite the $75,000 it will cost to produce the event. (Note – the association has reserves set aside for a “rainy day” and the Board understands that today’s recession clearly meets that requirement.)
   
   
2. Website – For the past 10 years, www.SeattleBoatShow.com has been one of the tools we use to promote our annual Seattle Boat Show. In the month before the show, we get in excess of 90,000 unique visitors. The rest of the year, the site averages 2,500 visitors a month. We recently entered into an agreement with one of our members, Boats.com to transform the site into an “off-season” virtual boat show. Dealers and manufacturers will be able to post new and used boats on the website to sell just like they do on www.Boats.com. This will give all our dealers another opportunity to adjust product and change their listings and pricing whenever they want. We are also adding a section that will allow visitors to search for services provided by all our other members. Look for details from John Thorburn, our Director of Marketing and Communications in the coming weeks about how everyone can participate. There will be no charge to members for listing boats or services on the updated Seattle Boat Show website.
   
   
3. Promotion – In order to build traffic to the website, the Grow Boating Committee approved an exciting and highly-visible promotion that will kick-off next month. Through a partnership with our local NBC affiliate (KING TV) we will be giving 12 lucky families an opportunity to use a runabout for a week during the summer on Lake Washington. The only way to enter the contest is to visit www.SeattleBoatShow.com which just happens to be the same website where we will be listing boats and services available from our members. We also got permission from the National Marine Manufacturers Association to put the very best content for “new boaters” from the www.DiscoverBoating.com website on our site. Details of this promotion are being finalized as I write this, but if all goes according to plan, Evening Magazine, which airs on KING and two other sister stations, will sponsor the promotion. The boat will be wrapped in the show’s colors and the host will be included in the promotional spots.
   
   
4. Boater Education – The final piece of the puzzle slipped into place with the Washington State Parks and Recreation Department. Parks and Recreation, which is responsible for encouraging boaters to get their Boater Education Card, agreed to be our partner and make a financial contribution to our advertising campaign. You see, we are making it a requirement that each family who wins the use of the boat for a week must have an adult who has their Boater Education Card. We will be weaving a boater education message throughout our website and the promotion.
   

All in all, between the Grow Boating Fund and dipping into reserves, the Board of Trustees has authorized staff to invest close to $200,000 of your money in our version of a stimulus package. Here’s hoping that this will help move the needle for all of you and for our industry… not just in the next three months, but in the years to come.

With warm regards,

Michael Campbell
President