Article

Despite circumstances surrounding COVID-19, Discover Boating is seeing strong performance and growth compared to the same period last year, providing early indicators around consumer interest. The campaign’s quick pivot to ensure a more empathetic and purpose-driven voice, its data-driven approach to content, and strategic site optimization are working hand-in-hand to connect with consumers in a meaningful way.

 

The Discover Boating team is tapping into real-time data on consumer interests and providing relevant, helpful content, resulting in record site traffic. A recent example is the article, Boating During COVID-19: Navigating Local Restrictions & Safe Social Distancing, which since its publish date on March 31, has secured its position as the top performing landing page on DiscoverBoating.com.

 

What’s more, the team has optimized the backend of the site, ensuring visitors have an experience that delivers what they expect and then some.

 

Combined, these efforts are showing encouraging results at a time when the campaign is navigating reduced funding due to the global economic downturn. The following are data from March 2020 compared to March 2019:

 

Of particular note, April is showing similar, if not more promise than March. Earlier this week, the site saw a nearly 300% spike in organic traffic following the release of new content.

 

Discover Boating’s social media strategy is following suit. This month, the team released new relevant, empathetic and strategic messaging to the campaign’s nearly 800,000 followers on Facebook and Instagram. On Facebook alone, this content has seen a 71 percent increase in engagements over the same period last year. Find the current top two performing posts below that the campaign is asking marine businesses to share on their own Facebook accounts.

 

As you navigate through this crisis, please don’t hesitate to reach out to NMMA’s marketing and digital team for guidance. You can reach us at [email protected].