YACHT CHARTER
Marketing the Dream
An "investment" in the yachting lifestyle
In the marine industry and especially for the owners of charter yachts, there is a plethora of good “marketing services” and magazines, producers of web sites, brochures, videos, yacht shows, social media and a wide range of “experts” of all types that promise much but sometimes disappoint.
Even most yacht brokers and yacht charter brokers now include “marketing services” as part of their management services.
With all this marketing, shouldn’t there be more net profit to the yacht owners? Not necessarily!
As in all industries, performance varies by providers. But almost all of the yacht broker, yacht management, yacht marketing companies are more than competent given their constraints. Therein lies the answer.
First, let's face it, many yacht owners do not want to make a profit. They are satisfied with just a little extra cash to help recoup some of their yachting lifestyle expense.
Accordingly they charter their yacht sparingly. Allowing others to briefly experience the yachting lifestyle, they are content with casual marketing efforts that promote the dream of the yachting lifestyle.
These yaht owners don't attempt to take any business tax breaks that are only available to legitimate yachting businesses with a true profit motive. Most yacht owners are only in it for the fun and the lifestyle. Owning a yacht may be an "investment in a lifestyle" and one with substantial rewards, but nevertheless not the type of "investment" the IRS will subsidize with tax deductions.
Second, most yacht owners really don't want to charter their yachts any more than minimally necessary.
For the most part, yacht charter is seen by most in the industry and owners as only a means to help defray some of the costs of living the yachting lifestyle. Candidly, few yacht owners relish strangers
on their yachts any more than necessary and all the accompanying wear and tear.
This system of the largest yacht brokers managing and marketing yachts where the owners only want to
defray some costs with some minimal numbers of charters works for some. However, problems can arise when the owner desires more charters - or more income - to defray more of the yacht expenses, or when the yacht owner is claiming tax deductions for a yachting business with a profit motive.
It's impossible to beat the market - when you ARE the market.
The large firms are victims of their own success. They essentially set the market price for comparable yachts in each location. In essence, each yacht is to a great extent a commodity and thus subject to commodity pricing. Sure a yacht can change locations, make some upgrades, add new toys, but by limiting the marketing efforts exclusively to the large yacht management firms, there is not a lot a yacht owner can do to substantially increase the demand for a comparable product in the same location ("commodity" product) other than to compete by price.
With just a few clicks, every yacht charter can almost instantly be compared to all the other comparable yacht offerings. And the large firms can't really help, since they are the market. The same "advice" and "marketing efforts" they make for one client; they make for all- as they pretty much set the price for what can be charged in each location for similar assets.
For yacht owners that may desire a little more than what the larger firms can provide, we created
Corpen Communications to provide that competitive advantage.
Successful and effective marine marketing that actually produces a consistent net profit, demands so much more than just pretty pictures and descriptive copy on a yacht broker’s web site, a brochure, magazine advertising, a video, or an occasional tweet, email, or other social exchange.
If you are a yacht owner with a yacht in charter and your existing marine marketing efforts consistently fail to produce substantial profitability, perhaps it’s time for a new direction - a course correction. A new tack may be required in order to achieve your financial objectives and get you to where you want to go – and may need to go before the IRS inquires of your true yachting motives.
Corpen signals a new direction for yacht owners and marine professionals that expect their marketing efforts to actually enhance their bottom line net profitability. Following Corpen’s new direction can also signal to the IRS a yacht owner with a legitimate profit motive willing to make a change in search of greater profitability and not just a yacht owner with a hobby, content with annul losses as just part of the expense of enjoying the yachting lifestyle.
