What’s the similarity between anglers and the companies that market their products and services to them?
They both need the right tools, planning, and strategies to accomplish their goals.
Anglers plan their fishing adventures by checking the weather and locating the perfect spot to cast their line. They use their favorite fishing rod and the right bait and tackle for the fish they’re trying to reel in. They show patience throughout the process and are ready to start reeling the moment they get a bite.
It’s the same when it comes to digital marketing for fishing companies. You need to plan your strategy for the highest chance of success. You must understand your corner of the market and the fishing industry in general to know what practices to implement. More specifically, you need to know who you’re marketing to and what the best tools are for reaching them. And sometimes, you need to trust the process and show patience while being ready to move the moment you get a “bite.”
So, if you’re looking for online angler engagement strategies or want to know how to start your fishing industry marketing campaign, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve compiled a list of five of the best ways you can start marketing your fishing industry business right now.
Let’s cast off!
1. Utilizing Social Media to Showcase Fishing Adventures
Is your fishing industry business on social media? Recent research has shown that there are 4.89 billion social media users worldwide, and that number is projected to increase to 5.85 billion users by 2027. Talk about having a lot of fish in the sea!
But why should you add to that vast number by starting an account for your fishing business? Here are a few examples.
Organic Social Media Is Free
It’s true — organic social media won’t demand a single cent from you, unless you’re wanting to get into paid advertising (but that’s another topic altogether).
All you’ll need to do is invest some of your time into doing social media the right way to attract more leads, grow your following, and solidify your branding. Post pictures and videos of your latest fishing adventures (using your products, of course). Your followers will love seeing that, because who doesn’t love seeing other people’s awesome fishing adventures and latest catches in their feeds?
There Are Plenty of Best Practices to Follow
Another reason you should feel confident using social media is that there are tried-and-true best practices to follow. This means you can boil it down to a process — and if you’re a person who loves processes, then you can let out your sigh of relief. Once you get a hang of the process, then growing your presence on social media will happen before your eyes. Just be willing to stay flexible, in case you need to adjust your process at any time to get better results.
Here are some best practices to help you get started doing social media for anglers the right way:
- Post consistently: Consistency is key if you want to please the social media algorithms. Making posts on a regular basis shows the algorithm that your account is active and worth putting in front of people as they scroll through their feeds. But it also shows users who find you on social media that they can expect to hear from you periodically, and that will encourage them to follow you to see more content.
- Use high-quality content: Speaking of content, you need to make sure your content is of the highest quality possible. This means getting professional photos and videos to showcase your products and services. Social media may be free, but paying for professional content will reap a huge return on your investment when people see how good your products look and can tell that your offerings are high-quality.
- Get into Facebook groups: Facebook groups are a great place to forge deeper, more relevant connections with your target audience. For instance, if your company sells fishing experiences and you’re looking to advertise fishing trip promotions, then a great place to do that would be in a Facebook group dedicated to fishing experiences. Find a relevant group and join it, and start posting and interacting with people there!
- Stay professional and on brand: Always keep it classy when you use social media. Double check all posts for typos, and make sure you’re using terminology that’s in line with how you speak across all your platforms, including your website.
Today’s Buyers Crave Connections
For today’s buyers, connection is of the utmost importance. People don’t want to buy from companies who have different values than them or who seem to not care about anything but their money. Social media provides a great opportunity to show that you truly care about fishing, and more importantly, the people behind the rods.
There are countless social media users who are passionate about fishing and want to interact with brands who feel the same. Having your fishing business on social media ensures that you can interact with your target audience and forge more intimate connections with them. This will make them feel like they know you, and when it comes time for them to make a purchase and go on their own fishing adventure, your company might be the first they think about.
2. Content Creation: Blogs, Vlogs, and Fishing Tutorials
Content, content, content — there’s no doubt that we live in a day of content consumption. People are constantly on their phones, listening to some form of audio, or spending time on the computer or television. And these are all perfectly acceptable activities in moderation, but people should of course be getting outside to do some fishing once in a while! And that’s exactly what your target audience will be hoping to do the very next chance they get, so you need to be producing content that motivates and inspires them to do just that.
There are three content mediums that are perfect for helping businesses in the fishing industry like yours reach a wider audience and establish themselves and industry authorities. Here’s a brief synopsis of each:
- Blogs: Blogs are written pieces of content that are usually at least 1,000 words, but they can be much longer than that. Blogs are topical in nature and serve to provide unique insight, education, and entertainment on a certain topic. They’re a great resource to use in the fishing industry for relaying information and providing deep dives into various fishing-related topics. And side note — you happen to be reading a blog right now!
- Vlogs: Vlogs take the idea behind blogs and put them in video format. This medium is ideal for reaching visual learners or people who prefer watching videos over reading. It’s also ideal if the topic you’re discussing requires “showing” rather than “telling.” Consider the topic at hand and ask whether it would benefit from a video format instead of a written format.
- Fishing tutorials: Tutorials are in high demand in the fishing industry, both for beginners and veterans alike. Beginners seek tutorials to help them get into the hobby and lifestyle of fishing, while veterans still want tutorials for the latest gear or techniques they’re interested in. By creating quality fishing tutorials in both video and textual formats, you can meet this demand and raise awareness for your fishing brand.
Implementing these formats will give you a better chance of gaining new leads and becoming the industry authority that anglers look toward for quality educational content!
3. Influencer Collaborations in the Fishing Community
Like the name suggests, influencers have some sway over the behaviors and views of their audience. This is the same across communities, including the fishing community. If a fishing influencer reviews a product and has positive things to say about it, this can lead to a boost in sales and brand interest. Conversely, if an influencer says something negative about a product or service, this can result in negative press and noticeable decrease in brand interest.
Don’t let this turn you off toward influencer marketing, though. The fact is that influencers are a powerful tool to use to your advantage. As long as you’re honest about your products and partner with the right influencers, you can move forward in confidence.
If you’re not sure how to get started with influencers, there are two options you can consider right now. The first is to spend time on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and other platforms to find active fishing influencers. You can reach out to them about your interest to collaborate in exchange for free or discounted products and see where it goes.
Another viable way to get the power of influencers on your side is through a platform called Social Cat. This platform exists for the sole purpose of connecting brands with influencers to help their product reach more audiences. Social Cat will take some getting used to, but it involves properly vetting interested influencers and seeking relevant influencers on your own to make connections. From there, you can pay them or offer a gift for them to push your products or services on their channel.
4. SEO Strategies for Fishing Gear and Tackle Shops
Today’s companies need Search Engine Optimization (SEO) if they want to scale and reach their growth goals. SEO is the process of making it easier or more likely for people to find your brand online when they search for relevant keywords on Google. Google wants their search engine to provide the most relevant results as possible for their users, because that’s in their company’s best interest. It’s in your company’s best interest to make sure your business is one of the results it puts in front of your target audience.
Here’s an example to put SEO for fishing businesses into perspective. Say your company is in California and specializes in a unique tackle specifically for fishing white sea bass. Someone goes to Google and searches “best white sea bass tackle in California.” You’d want your business to show up high on the search engine results pages (SERPs) for that query, otherwise, the user may find another company before they find yours.
The reason for this is simple. People simply don’t look very far beyond the first few results Google provides and hardly ever click to the second or third page of results. Therefore, it’s critical that your fishing industry business is ranking as highly as possible to increase your exposure and generate more leads.
Here are some ways you can start getting into SEO for fishing businesses if this is entirely new to you:
- Optimize your website: Optimized websites have fast loading times, no broken links, and work great on mobile devices and desktop computers alike. Google rewards optimized websites with higher placement on SERPs, so it’s an important first step to implement.
- Start blogging: Blogging about specific topics that are relevant to your business is a great way to start ranking higher on Google. But remember, you want to rank higher for keywords you actually have a chance to rank higher in. To use the last example, a blog called “Best Techniques for Fishing California White Sea Bass” will have a much better chance of ranking than “Best Fish Tackle in the World.” Get specific, and start ranking!
- Get strong internal and external links: Strong linking practices are another factor that Google looks for. Make sure you’re internally linking on your website, which means you’re including links on one page of your website to another (as long as it’s relevant). External links also raise your authority in Google’s eyes, which occur when another website links to your website. You can gain more external links by offering to guest blog on other sites, or simply creating highly educational and authoritative blogs that other websites link to.
5. Utilizing User-Generated Content: Customer Catches and Stories
Last but not least, use user-generated content to show that people are loving your brand and using your products in their own adventures! Encourage people on social media or your email subscriber list to tag you in any posts they make that include your product or service. This will increase your exposure on social media and cause other people to think that maybe they, too, should be using your product or service. It’s also a great opportunity to tell the stories of your customers, which is a powerful way to increase engagement.
And as an added bonus, you can repost these pictures and videos (tagging the original user who posted it, of course) to boost your social media pages and show that you’re directly involved with the fishing community. This can be perfect for launching a fishing industry promotion or simply motivating other people to post their content, too. People love getting tagged by their favorite brands!
Start Your Own Digital Marketing Adventure for Your Fishing Brand With The Coutts Agency!
Now that you know the techniques to catch more leads, it’s time to put them to work. Are you interested in partnering with a marketing agency that knows the fishing industry inside and out and is passionate about helping companies like yours achieve success? Then contact us today — we’re ready to start the adventure of digital marketing for the fishing industry!
