Industry
Marketing for marine and boating businesses
I spent most of my career marketing marine electronics — at Navico (Simrad, B&G, Lowrance), at Vesper Marine through its acquisition, and at Garmin. I now do fractional marketing leadership for marine and boating businesses in New Zealand and Australia.
Proof
The relevant experience.
- Navico — Simrad, B&G and Lowrance product marketing
- BEP Marine — electrical systems for boat builders and OEMs
- Vesper Marine — through the acquisition by Garmin
- Garmin — marine division, post-acquisition
Where the experience comes from
Marine electronics is a demanding place to learn marketing. The products are technical, the buyers know more than you do, the price points are high, and almost nothing sells directly — it goes through dealers, installers and boat builders who have their own commercial interests.
I worked at Navico across Simrad, B&G and Lowrance, then at BEP Marine on electrical systems sold to boat builders and OEMs, then at Vesper Marine through its acquisition by Garmin, and then at Garmin itself. That’s product marketing, launch marketing, channel marketing and brand work, in the same industry, over a decade.
How marine buyers actually behave
- The dealer is a second customer. A campaign that excites a boat owner but gives the dealer nothing to sell with fails. Both need to be served, usually by the same asset.
- The cycle is seasonal and long. Research happens out of season. Buying happens in season. Marketing that only fires at the point of sale arrives too late.
- Trade press and shows carry disproportionate weight. A product write-up in the right title still moves more than most paid social budgets in this sector.
- Technical credibility is binary. Get a specification wrong in a headline and you’ve lost the audience you were trying to reach.
What a marine engagement looks like
The same fractional model as everything else: I take the marketing function, set the direction, and either do the work or manage whoever does. In marine that usually starts with untangling the dealer and end-customer messaging, then fixing the product launch process, then building the reporting that shows which channel is actually producing enquiries.
Common questions
Frequently asked questions.
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Three things. The dealer network sits between you and the end customer, so your marketing has to work for both at once. The consideration cycle is long — someone researching a chartplotter in winter buys in spring. And the trade press and boat shows still matter more than almost any other sector I've worked in, which means your calendar is set by events, not campaigns.
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Yes. The buyer psychology carries across — a boat builder, an electronics brand and a marine service business are all selling something considered, technical and expensive, usually through or alongside a dealer. The channels differ; the fundamentals don't.
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No. Marine is where the deepest experience sits, which is why it has its own page, but most of my current work is B2B technology and services. The marine background matters because it's where I learned to market technical products to sceptical buyers.
Next step
Tell me what you're working on.
Half an hour on a call. I'll tell you what I'd look at first, whether or not you hire me.