Marketing Lessons From Fishing

If you’ve ever fished the Outer Banks, you know it’s part skill, part luck, and mostly patience. The ocean is big. You know, there are fish in it. When you first put a rod in the sand, you think to yourself, “This is really random.“

What are the odds that a fish is going to come along and bite the bait that you have sitting in 10 feet of water? The old adage is “there are plenty of fish in the sea.” However, this gives you no assurance that you will catch one of those fish.

Come to think of it, that’s a lot like marketing… especially if you don’t know what tools to use, you don’t know where the fish are, and you don’t know what bait to use.

Successful fishing should be like successful marketing. The first step is to gather information. You start by reading the surf. Where’s the cut in the sandbar? Where are the birds working? Just like in marketing, you’ve got to study the environment before you throw anything out there. If you don’t know what the fish are doing—or what your customer is thinking—you’re just casting into the wind.

Then there’s the bait. What are you offering these various fish? Shrimp, squid, sand fleas, or a bloody chunk of mullet? Point is, you don’t pierce a hook through whatever’s lying around and hope for the best. Same goes for messaging. You tailor your offer to the species—and season—you’re targeting. Want to market your product to families planning summer vacations? That’s a very different cast than baiting retirees to buy your product, who are moving to the beach permanently.

And let’s not forget the waiting. You stake your rod in a sand spike, crack a cold drink, and watch the line. It might sit quiet for hours, then suddenly double over with a fat red drum on the hook. That’s marketing. You build the campaign, watch the metrics, tweak the message, and then one day, boom, a strike. It’s about getting bites (leads turn into a customer). Reel them in!

Whether it’s surf fishing in Hatteras or launching a marketing campaign from Main Street, it’s all about knowing your target, using the right bait, and having the patience to let it work.

Oh—and don’t forget the sunscreen. That goes for both marketers and fishermen. Trust me on that one.

And in case you didn’t know it, I’m taking a long Memorial Day weekend… fishing. Hope you have a safe and happy holiday.