Marketing Insight

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

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

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

The smartest strategies for helping social media videos go viral.

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

With Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and the new year just over the horizon, forward-thinking marketers should set their sights on what Santa has in store for us in 2019.

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

Something clearly was in the water a decade ago when the e-commerce marketer Groupon offered a marketing platform linking small business directly to consumers.

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

When it comes to marketing, the ancient Greek adage “Know thyself” which was inscribed on the front of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi for all seekers of insight to see, may be less important than “Know thy customer.”

Here’s a secret I’ve never revealed in public until now. I gave up reading books for pleasure at least 20 years ago.

Within hours of landing in Cancun, Mexico, for a quick vacation before the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, I received four emails: one from United Airlines wanting to know what I thought about my flight, one from Expedia asking me to rate my airport pickup, one from the hotel wanting to know how well check-in had gone and one from my financial adviser inviting me to a Christmas party.

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.

Socrates long ago observed that one should “know thyself” above all else. For marine marketers the corollary of this sage advice is that you must fully understand your customers if you expect to prosper in a world undergoing such dramatic digital and demographic shifts.

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.