State Agencies Focus on Customer Engagement at RBFF State Marketing Workshop
More email collection, up-front purchase process instructions, thank you and renewal emails, and mobile-friendly options. These are some of the customer engagement ideas shared at this year's RBFF State Marketing Workshop held in Dallas, TX earlier this month.
With a record-breaking 47 states in attendance, the Workshop kicked off with a presentation focused on customer engagement by keynote speaker Howard Hyden, author of Add Value or Stay Home: Turn your business "Outside-In." "It's important to learn what your customers want, instead of focusing on what you want them to do,"he shared. During his presentation, he challenged attendees to think about the purchase process and how they can improve it for their customers in 2013.
In round table groups, participants shared ideas related to Hyden's "Outside-In" challenge, discussing ways to streamline the purchase process, give a better experience from first step to the last, and how to bring customers back each year. Echoing this customer-focused sentiment, RBFF staff members and industry experts presented on customer engagement tools and retention strategies,and provided tips to attendees for website optimization, social media and email. Additionally, three state agencies shared case studies to help other states with multi-year licenses, email and recruitment incentives.
Resources from the Workshop - including the keynote presentation, RBFF staff presentations, and state agency case studies - are available online in the RBFF Marketing resource section.
Additionally, RBFF President and CEO Peterson shared new data which shows its state partners are seeing higher than average fishing participation rates. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's (USFWS)2011 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation indicates a nationwide 11 percent increase in fishing participation from 2006 to 2011. According to Southwick Associates,when you look at the 35 states who participated in RBFF's State Marketing Program during that time period, the data shows a 10.2 percent increase in fishing participation. The other 15 non-participating states saw a five percent decrease in fishing participation during that same time period.
"Engaging with the states to win back lapsed anglers and boaters,and keep them coming back for years to come is critical to our mission and to the health of the industry overall," said Peterson."This year's Workshop focused on the importance of the customer,and ways we can work together to make their experience with state agencies as positive and seamless as possible."
"I'm thankful for the opportunity to attend the Workshop," said Delaware Division of Fish and Wildlife License Program Coordinator Candace Dunning. "RBFF did a wonderful job! I learned a lot and plan to work on implementing some of the great ideas."
RBFF thanks the following companies for sponsoring its 2012 State Marketing Workshop: American Sportfishing Association, Brunner, Colle+McVoy, Discover Boating, EurekaFacts, LLC, Field & Stream, Info-Link, J.F. Griffin Publishing, Outdoor Channel, Outdoor Life, SourceLink and Southwick Associates.
For more information about RBFF's State Marketing Program, emailState Initiatives Director Stephanie Hussey at shussey@rbff.org.
RBFF shares six important tips for improving your emailmarketing program
Email is one of the most the most usedand most valuable pieces of real estate on the Internet. With morethan 3.1 billion email accounts registered globally, contributingto 145 billion emails sent daily, email has become a standard modeof communications for individuals of all ages and disciplines.What's more, 77% of Americans prefer to get their marketingmessages through email.
Email helps build relationships, provides direct measurement andcan spark a direct purchase. In fact, a recent report from ExactTarget stated that 66% of online Americans say they have made apurchase as a result of an email from a brand they received. Inorder to get the most out of an email program, we recommend thefollowing tips:
- Personalize the experience
- When people opt-in to your email, ask for their preferences,when do they want to hear from you? What information intereststhem?
- Consider surveying them once a year to find out what type of information they'd like to receive, and use the questions they submit to help shape your stories.
- Personalize the information. Can you send email about fly fishing specifically to those that purchased trout stamps?
- When designing an email, take advantage of prime realestate
- The most important information should always be above the"fold." The fold, for email, is the area of the email you can seein the preview screen.
- Try to include a small branding element (logo), an eye-catchingimage or headline, and a quick table of contents on what is belowthe fold.
- It's best to create an email that is between 550 - 700 pixels wide, a fairly standard size. Length can vary depending how much content you wish to provide.
- Make sure your email is mobile-friendly. If your email has the capability, create a separate mobile-friendly version. If not, make sure to build your email in a way that will render well on mobile.
- Create short, digestible sections of content
- Organize your email in small sections instead of one long paragraph. Bullets are great to use for clear and concise information.
- Provide a short enticing description, then a link to the full story.
- Use words as links instead of words like "Click Here."
- Images are great in emails; they help break up copy and can tell a fast story without words. Make sure that your images are linkable to pages of your website as well.
For more email tips, view the full presentation on the Take Me Fishing Marketing Resources page.
This article was derived from the Email Marketing presentation shared at the RBFF State Marketing Workshop by RBFF Communications Manager Elizabeth Bender. For questions, emailebender@rbff.org.
Take Me Fishing ad campaign bringing newcomers to sport
An exciting year for the boating and fishing industry, 2012 marked a milestone as fishing participation was reported up by 11 percent according to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and boating participation was reported up 10 percent according to the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA). Though many factors contribute to this increase, two recent studies published by RBFF may shed some light on the influences.
The first study, which evaluates the Take Me Fishing integrated marketing ad campaign, found that the 2012 ad campaign, which invites individuals to get out and enjoy Mother Nature's Waterpark, has been maintaining strong brand awareness with current anglers, while also, drawing newcomers to the sport. The ad campaign, which was re-designed in 2012, was developed to specifically target not only avid anglers, but also broaderaudiences such as families and individuals who enjoy the outdoors, but maynot have tried fishing and boating yet (referred in this article as family outdoors).
Thead campaign study revealed the campaign scored a 76.6 out of 100 for its ability to influence readers' decisions to go fishing, an increase from last year. More than one-third (37 percent) of the avid angler and boater responders recalled the phrase "Take Me Fishing," a strong response compared to industry average. More impressively, 31 percent of the family outdoor group also recalled"Take Me Fishing," up 13 percent over last year.
"We are thrilled to know our marketing is inspiring new participants get out on the water," said RBFF President and CEO Frank Peterson. "We as a Foundation certainly can't take full credit for the increase in overall fishing participation, but we feel confident our efforts are contributing in a big way."
The TakeMeFishing.org website effectiveness survey, conducted in November, echoed the influence Take Me Fishing is having on bringing new individuals into the fishing and boating world. The study showed that 79 percent of the visitors to TakeMeFishing.org are within the family outdoors group.
"The majority of newcomers to fishing and boating are women and children 12 and under as revealed in the 2012 Special Report on Boating and Fishing," adds Peterson. "A typically male-dominated sport, fishing has now become a great way for families to squeeze in quality time with each other whenever and wherever they can."
To view the two new studies, visit the program evaluation section of TakeMeFishing.org.
