The Power of Video for Marina Marketing: Why Every Manager Should be Integrating Short-form Video in 2023

In 2014’s Birdman, a frustrated Michael Keaton is accidentally locked out of a theater while changing and stumbles through New York City in his underwear. Bystanders gawk and phone cameras come out. He blows up – goes viral. Emma Stone’s character tells him he got 350,000 views in an hour. She says, “Believe it or not, this is power.”

Your marina probably isn’t going to pull in 350,000 views in an hour. You might not see your docks trend on Twitter. But it’s true, your media has power. According to Oberlo, Youtube is the second-most used search engine behind Google and users camp on it for an average of 47.5 minutes per day. When used correctly, this immersive engagement can transform a marina from a passive background service to a customer destination.

The power of video translates to sales. That’s the baseline. We’ll explore why it’s effective and how you can amplify search traffic, page conversions, and product purchases through the simplicity of a cell phone video.

Video is integral to demonstrating your marina’s unique experience.

We are visual creatures supported by factoids like, “55% of human communication is nonverbal”. Our attention spans and physiological wiring provoke us to appreciate media formats that are immediate, vibrant, and tease out dopamine. In the marina marketing context, working in a geography that projects a constant aura of leisure, we have the opportunity with video to make people feel good.

• The element of attention

Video engages people in ways that other forms of media simply cannot. It awakens visual and auditory sensors, immerses us in a setting, and evokes a visceral experience.

• Higher user engagement and reach

A client receives an email and an Instagram video from your marina in the same day. While emails can be wonderfully effective, the piece of content more likely to get shares, comments, and follows, is the video. An attention-grabbing video can slingshot off into the abyss and ricochet from Reddit to Twitter to Instagram to Facebook. Increased engagement works for you as a form of brand exposure, brand awareness, and customer loyalty.

• Information retention and emotional connection

Videos convey tone, atmosphere, and a lifelike representation of the experience. There’s an archaic element of storytelling engrained in visual media – we connect with these immersive messages in a way that registers in memory and we want to pass it on. This sensory experience is enhanced by music and narratives that resonate. What campfire stories were to cavemen, visual media is to today’s audience – it is the leading medium by which narratives are translated and shared.

• Improved conversion rates

When people don’t understand something, they don’t connect with it. Short film content provides an outlet to showcase product demos, testimonials, and explainer videos. A marina manager can demonstrate a service, answer questions, and address customer concerns through a direct channel. Visual perception can break or boost customer confidence, and more importantly – encourage the viewer to take action.

The evidence backs the assertions: The data behind video marketing efficacy

Look at the back of a baseball or football card – oh, they had 30 homers. That’s an all-star. 20 touchdowns? That player’s all-pro. Well, here are the back-of-the-card stats for video in marina marketing:

○ The element of attention:

A Forrester study showed web pages with videos are 53 times more likely to rank in search results versus those without, and pages with video have a 40% higher click-through rate.

Hubspot quoted statistics from Vidyard that stated they’ve seen a 144% increase in clickthrough rates by utilizing targeted personalized emails.

○ Higher use engagement and reach:

A comprehensive study by Wyzowl (528 participants) showed that 91% of businesses in 2023 now use video marketing (as opposed to 61% in 2016). 91% of those surveyed said that video increased their web traffic, and 87% of those surveyed said video helped increase sales.

According to Sprout Social, 4.89 billion worldwide social media users spend an average of 151 minutes per day on social media, watching and sharing your videos across a vast array of networks.

○ Information retention and emotional connection:

A 2023 Insivia marketing report claimed that 78% of potential buyers said that a video influenced them into purchasing a product. The same study posited that a viewer will retain 95% of video information in memory but just 10% when they read the same information via text.

○ Improved conversion and sales rates:

An oft-quoted Eyeview Digital study used an example where they created a video landing page for a company called TutorVista. The metric to gauge whether a video or non-video landing page was better was whether the viewer clicked “subscribe”. The result of the study? The video landing page had an 86% increase in conversions.

Wyzowl’s 2023 “Video Marketing Statistics” claimed that 89% of customers surveyed were convinced to buy a product or service after watching a video.

How does video for marina marketing translate practically?

It could be daunting to browse a hashtag like #boatlife on Instagram and see creators that publish sleek, perfectly curated content that attracts thousands of interactions. That’s great, but it’s not your benchmark for success.

Every marina’s strength is the unique experience they have to offer a guest. Your waterfront, your docks, your family who greets the customers as friends – it is a DNA strand unique to one marina. It doesn’t matter if the content doesn’t look like a Quentin Tarantino shot – what matters is that you capitalize on your experience.

Here are a few practical entryways to use video marketing:

• Showcase your marina’s experience

A Wistia deep-dive on video engagement found that videos longer than 60 seconds experience a precipitous dropoff. Keep it short-form and audiences will typically watch at least 50% of your video for up to five minutes. So, you don’t have to recreate Titanic in your backyard.

Film the sunset, boats coming in, fishermen with their catch, people dining and laughing in your restaurant, or your state-of-the-art facilities. Your goal is to consistently evoke a sense of adventure within loyal clients and potential boating enthusiasts.

• Engage viewers in the boating lifestyle

Connections are forged in community, and it’s an immensely powerful tool to engage in the boating community with consistency and enthusiasm. Loyalty increases, your network expands, and brand awareness converts into slip bookings. This looks like taking dynamic videos of fishing events, regattas, holiday weekend festivities, watersport activities, or interviews with longtime boaters. You will provide entertainment, but also value as a growing trusted resource for boating and marina knowledge.

• Safety tips and how-to guides

A novice boater may have no clue about something you do every day. Want to teach boaters how to tie a good knot? Film yourself for three minutes, post it on Youtube, and see what happens. Someone will connect with it, someone will share, and your visibility will grow. Practical videos can include how-tos for boater activities, maintenance advice, and tips for best practices on the water.

• Customer testimonials

A pair of six-year-old boys have just caught their first crab from your dock. They’re ecstatic, and their mom posts them at your shop eating ice cream. Another parent looking for a fun activity sees it on your Instagram and immediately books a rental.

Video reviews and testimonials are powerful visual proof that legitimize what you offer. Ask a loyal longtime customer to provide a short, quality story – it will instill confidence in your business, trust in your services, and encourage potential customers to give you a call when they want to get on the water.

Video for marina marketing is only growing stronger.

One might imagine that in 2023, video has saturated humanity and people are desensitized to digital media.

Nope.

Video continues to grow, buoyed by the fact that video marketing has grown by 30% in the last seven years. It has gone from a commodity to an essential – it is a vital piece of projecting your business as a dynamic destination.

Every marina has a unique story. Tell them yours.

Article by Hammer and Nail Marketing

WHAT IS HAMMER & NAIL?

Hammer and Nail Marketing is a boutique marketing firm that helps small to mid-sized marinas get noticed by boaters. If you’d like to focus on operating your marina without the additional responsibility of marketing, get in touch with us.

We’re boaters ourselves from a background of operating a family-run marina. From a group of experts who know the water, let Hammer and Nail Marketing help you be the waterfront your local boaters see every time they cast off.