Wanda Kenton Smith

Tangible tips on selling the invisible.

Safety isn’t just the realm of government and nonprofits. Our industry needs to engage now.

User-generated content delivers credibility and clicks, supercharging your traditional brand marketing.

After a booming sales year and with the pandemic continuing, we need to think differently. Here are six priorities.

Sales skyrocketed during the pandemic, but dealers now have a problem with the customer experience

Massive boater education needs to follow the unprecedented consumer demand of the Covid-19 pandemic

Soundings Trade Only

Takeaways from top marketers outside the marine industry who participated in The CMO Survey.

Takeaways from top marketers outside the industry

Soundings Trade Only

Boat show organizers go virtual while maintaining the engagement and fun of an in-person event.

Event planners are ready to embrace a new reality.

Even within the chaos, opportunity abounds.

Top takeaways and lessons learned in these times.

Eight Tips for surviving and thriving.

Riding the new wave of influencer marketing.

Wanda Kenton Smith’s strategic plan for marketing to the wealthy.

Industry News

Some exhibitors say attendance could have been higher.

MRAA

Conference targets corporate-level executives in marine industry.

10 artificial-intelligence strategies for your business.

Neptune Award winners show top marketing trends.

Our columnists track how businesses have evolved in the last 40 years.

1. Clingmans Dome Group Shot Hull of a Tour

Grand Finale Stops Here.

Hull of a Tour Riders Go Boating.

Boaterz n Bikerz of America Ride Triumphant.

The Georgia Dragon and Suches Loop are motorcycling meccas

Day one of The Dragon’s Roar unleashes plenty of power and fun.

Revving Up for this Year’s Epic Motorcycling and Boating Adventure

Boaterz n Bikerz of America will hold their fifth annual Hull of a Tour in May.

How C-suite executives can empower their teams for success.

How to create better synergies between marketers and the C-Suite.

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Wanda Kenton Smith outlines the six top trends for marine marketers in 2019.

Wanda Kenton Smith outlines the top takeaways from Grow Boating’s marketing summit at IBEX.

For 2018, two major studies among leading marketing groups ranked CX as the No. 1 area of marketing focus.

Public relations (PR) plays an increasingly critical role in making or sustaining a successful business.

A 2017 report by the Radicati Group estimated that there are 3.7 billion email accounts worldwide, with a stunning 269 billion emails sent per day.

Unlike traditional media that remained virtually unchanged for decades, today’s digital and social media evolve at the speed of light.

As we all welcome 2018 and head into a new year filled with new windows of opportunity, I’m challenging you to join me in considering the relevancy of your marketing activities.

I was pleasantly surprised to see a small but hardy crowd of 105 gathered for the inaugural Grow Boating Marketing Summit, held the day before IBEX in September.

Ten years ago, I had a vision. I dreamed of an association for marine marketers exclusively — an organization that would provide an important voice in our industry.

Thanks to all who joined me every day via this blog during the 2017 Boaterz n Bikerz of America Hull of a Tour: The Lobster Roll!

HYANNIS, Mass. — After six days of truly fabulous adventure our crew fondly kissed Maine and New Hampshire goodbye.

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — We were up and at ‘em bright and early on Wednesday in Bar Harbor, Maine, with a long day of riding ahead to Portsmouth.

Tour rider Andy Lindstrom of Evinrude BRP stares into dense fog at Machias Harbor.

BAR HARBOR, Maine — Tuesday dawned a misty gray, the color of the whale we had spotted in Lubec the day before.

Riders saw a strange and very large white apparition ahead that revealed itself to be a giant fog bank.

LUBEC, Maine — On Monday morning we packed up and rolled out of Caratunk, Maine, at 7:30 a.m. sharp, shrouded in a damp, light mist.

Tour riders stopped Sunday at the Height of Land observation station on top of Spruce Mountain in Rangeley, Maine.

Boaterz n Bikerz of America Hull of a Tour: The Lobster Roll is back.

Let me bring you up to speed about this blog and the journey ahead that will unfold daily from this spot in Trade Only Today.

I’m saying it again: I’m all in when it comes to professional development. The minute you stop learning is the minute you start down the path to obsolescence. Change cracks the whip at lightning speed.

All joking aside, depending on the topic, maybe you’ll turn to a trusted colleague, friend or family member.

Had I been content with traditional marketing practices, my career likely would have gone down the same path as the blurry Polaroid photograph, the typesetting machine or my trusty IBM Selectric III.