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Sailing in Competitive and Crowded Waters: How Your Nautical Brand Can Stand Out

There are 6,000 shipyards worldwide; 2,500 in Europe, with a staggering 350 in Italy alone!

To put it into perspective, that's 17.5 shipyards for every Italian region, including Valle d'Aosta. Trentino and Umbria, all of them without a direct contact to the sea.

This data comes from a study conducted by the Apuan Industrial Area Consortium. Given the vast number of small producers, it's likely that this estimate falls short.

It becomes evident that in the vast sea of nautical marketing, standing out is not just an art; it's a necessity.

What's the biggest challenge your nautical brand faces in distinguishing itself in such a competitive market?

In a world where every shipyard, accessory provider, or service supplier is trying to make waves and capture attention, how can your brand create a lasting impact?

Among the strategies you can employ are differentiation strategies, such as developing your unique narrative, offering unique customer experiences, or standing out with innovative design.

Have you already experimented with this strategy in your nautical marketing? What were the results?

Here are four examples of companies that have implemented winning strategies that have made a mark and continue to shape the market.

Axopar is a textbook case, going from non-existence to producing 1,200 boats per year in just 9 years.

They achieved this by positioning themselves as the shipyard that enables you to live your adventures, highlighting how their boats are tools for enjoying your leisure time doing things you love.

In their communication, they emphasize their identity as "The Adventure Company" more than the shipyard's name.

If you visit their website, it looks more like a travel agency's site than a boat builder's.

Pardo Yachts managed to differentiate itself in the world of walkarounds, where it wasn't the first but among the pioneers, thanks to its legacy in sailboats.

It promised its customers a boat built by a shipyard that had already convinced sailors, who are notoriously considered (not always rightly) better navigators capable of choosing boats.

Furthermore, it effectively communicated its widespread sales and service presence in the most attractive markets: Europe and the USA.

Once the first models were sold, social proof did the rest: "if everyone buys Pardo, then it must be good."

It's one of the unconscious mechanisms that drive us to buy things that are "trendy."

De Antonio Yachts, also a walkaround, was the first to work differently on design, concealing outboard engines under a sunbed.

The result: the aesthetics of an inboard with the internal space advantages of an inboard.

Absolute, with its various Navetta models, broke aesthetic conventions compared to classic flybridges.

The Piacenza-based shipyard offered a different onboard living experience: boats with immense volumes that sacrificed external appearance to provide interiors comparable to home environments.

Do you see any parallels between these successes and your company? How could you apply these lessons to your brand?

And most importantly: what emerging trends do you see in the nautical sector that could influence how brands distinguish themselves?

If you believe an external perspective with knowledge of the nautical market and customers could help your company stand out, discover how LLiquida can assist your nautical brand in navigating towards success. Contact us for a personalized consultation.

Subcontractors, the Boat and Everything

You know that story where you sell a lot of boats, but no boaters know you as a brand?

Which, when looked at from the other side, is: you build excellent boats, but strangely, you struggle to place them?

In other words, you sell the boats you make for others, but those bearing your name find it hard to find a market?

And make no mistake, they are as beautiful and well-made as the ones you build for others.

Even better, perhaps, because after years of production, you've seen how the shipyards you serve have modified their designs over time.

And finally, you don't have to be careful about all the external impositions, but you can let your creativity flow.

The thought came to me after a particular day at Boot in Düsseldorf where I saw the presentation of two new boats.

First, the Dracan 42, a motor catamaran from the Polish company Dracan Boats.

Then, the W43, a walkaround from Wiszniewski Yachts, another absolute debut.

The names may not mean anything to you, as they have just arrived, but to give you an idea of the magnitude of the shipyards behind them, know that we're talking about approximately 5000 boats produced each year!!!

Yes, 5000: meaning that these excellent Polish industrialists put more than half of the entire Italian boat fleet between 10 and 12 meters out to sea every year.

To be more precise, Dracan is the offshoot of Model ART, a third-party manufacturer with three production facilities and over 1000 employees

producing boats for Nimbus, Parker, Windy, Askeladden, and even De Antonio Yachts.

The W43, on the other hand, comes from an even larger shipyard: Ślepsk. With 1200 employees and production for XO Boats, Axopar, Yamarin, Bayliner, Sea Ray, and Quicksilver, they produce well over 3000 boats each year.

Wow... I thought, here are two more cases where a third-party manufacturer who knows how to do their job well of producing boats for others at a certain point "goes crazy" and starts wanting to produce their own boats.

So let's say that the product, at least from a technical and manufacturing point of view, is there.

What do these shipyards need to achieve the success they deserve even when not working for others?

Simple: everything beyond the product.

Presumably, each of these successful companies has already optimized both the selection of people and the production processes.

But as for the third leg that holds up the stool, i.e., marketing, how are they doing?

In other words, how do they plan to turn their brand into a brand?

The product is just one aspect, you know.

Think about how much Red Bull earns, a sign that it sells a lot of cans of the product that gives you wings; in 2022, it closed its accounts with 9.68 billion euros. But how many have you heard say that they "like" Red Bull?

But everyone likes what Red Bull communicates, the world it takes you to, and the wings it gives you.

So even if you are an excellent producer, have you thought about how to sell your boats? In other words, have you thought about why someone should come to you instead of going to your client-competitor?

Four steps to help you become as attractive as possible to your end customers: boaters.

Identify your customer: Who are they? This is the first question to ask yourself. Have you ever wondered why groups maintain many separate brands or even invent new ones (think about what Jeanneau did with Prestige: it was the line of large boats, and they made it a brand of its own...).

Identify who you are: What characterizes you as a brand? To stick with beverages: Red Bull is the drink that gives you wings, Coca Cola is the one you drink in company, Fanta is for the first birthday parties. Who are you?

Decide what boat to present: What do you want boaters to find on each of your boats? What should never be missing in the experience you offer to those who buy one of your boats: how do you give them wings and what kind of wings are they? In other words: why was your product needed that others didn't provide?

Finally, decide how to make yourself known: print, social media, shows, private events, a network of dealers. If you don't have the means to cover all possibilities, why not focus on just a few so that people remember you?

Once you've answered these questions, you have a lot more clarity to start getting into the heads (and hearts) of your boater customers.

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Would you like to get more results from your business, but don't know how? Are you already busy running your company, and everything related to communication and marketing is extra?

Contact us to IMPROVE YOUR BUSINESS RESULTS!

If you believe that marketing and communication can be an asset to your company but haven't found a partner to help you leverage this asset, talk to US NOW.

Contact us here: https://lliquida.com/contact/

We will analyze your situation to understand together if and how we can help you.

Why is the Boat Selling System Different?

Why is the Boat Selling System Different? And Why is it the Best Solution to Help You Sell More Boats?

You've probably dealt with agencies and professionals who offered to handle your
communications. Maybe you even have the famous "cousin" who created your website or is
managing your social media pages.
Or perhaps, taking time away from your real job of building and selling boats, you've tried to
do it all yourself, only to achieve unsatisfactory results – in other words, not selling more
boats.
Yet, this is a historic moment when it seems that anyone who builds boats can't keep up with
the demand: "if it floats, it sells" is the talk among dealers and brokers on the docks.
Yet, you struggle to find clients or, once found, find it hard not to slash prices with discounts
that eat into your profit margin.
Do you know why?
Most likely, what's missing is a key figure and function in your company, translating the
strengths of your product into effective offers and communication aimed solely at selling.
We're talking about real marketing.
The Boat Selling System is the method developed by LLiquida to help you sell your boats
with effective offers and communication.
And do you know why it's different from all the others?
Firstly, because it specializes in the nautical world and speaks your language, addressing
your customer. It knows them and understands what appeals to them.
It knows how to capture their attention so they desire your boat, not your competitor's (who,
by the way, builds inferior boats and sells them at a higher price).
LLiquida is the only Italian agency specializing in marketing and communication for the
nautical industry, created by professionals who have been in this sector since the late 1990s.
We know the technical tools, like every serious professional, but unlike others, we also know
the clients, the market, and the products. We offer you this knowledge to help you sell your
boats.
More than likes on Facebook, hearts on Instagram, and newspaper articles (which we can
still get you), we're interested in your sales.
That's why our work is aimed at finding more clients for you. Through all the tools that well-
done marketing provides.
Strategic tools that define why you are different from all the others: if you and your
competitors seem the same in the client's mind, the only thing that matters is who offers the

lowest price (and I don't think you want to be chosen just because you offer more discounts
than everyone else).
But also, and above all, operational tools, like offers (watch out: these are not discounts!)
and social media promotion campaigns that will force you to increase your sales agents
within a few months to keep up with all the requests for information and potential sales.
We have thus decided to offer this opportunity to someone like you, who wants real tools to
achieve tangible results, meaning more boats sold.
Call us now for a consultation worth 300 euros that will cost you nothing! We will analyze
your situation together and provide you with an immediate action plan to start seeing your
contacts and sales grow.
You can implement it yourself (with all our "good luck" for your results), have it followed by
the cousin or whoever you think can provide such support.
Or you can work with us and use our services to see your turnover grow month after month
at unprecedented rates.
Why do we do this and not even ask you for a euro? Simply because we believe that a
healthier nautical industry helps us all work better and also to introduce you to all our
services.
But hurry up: by choice, we only take care of the clients we can follow to the best of our
ability, so we only offer this opportunity to 5 companies a month.
Call 335330471 or send an email to info@lliquida.com.

Is Cream or Chocolate Ice Cream Better?

Can you explain why a Rolex is more expensive than an Omega or why the cheapest
Mercedes is priced higher than the most expensive Dacia?
Perhaps you're a watch or car enthusiast and know exactly why the price list of one brand
differs from another. But do you know why people are willing to pay more for a product that
performs the same functions as its competitors?

Yet, how often have you lost a deal because a potential customer tells you that they can get
a bigger discount at XYZ shipyard? Or even watched someone walk away without asking for
a discount, simply stating that your boats are too expensive, without giving you the chance to
explain why they cost what they do and the benefits they would get from buying one of your
boats over the competitors'.

The answer to "why are people willing to pay more for a product that does the same things
as the competition" is simple: it's because different values are attributed to products (and
brands) that are perceived as different.
Everything about a brand's communication is designed to say: I am different from all the
others, so if you want me, this is my value!
Even if I don't know the real reason why something should cost more than another, I assume
it's right.

Therefore, for certain people, it's more important to be seen with a Rolex on their wrist while
driving a Mercedes, even though they know they could get the exact time and reach their
destination for much less.
Can you clearly state how you are different from your competitors, or do you just claim to be
better than others? And better based on what?
For some, the best product is the one that costs less for the same functions, for others, it's
the one that offers more prestige.

But even without going that high: is chocolate or cream ice cream better? Yet, some people
prefer one and some the other, simply because they are different.
Can you clearly explain to a potential customer why the boats from your neighboring booth
at the Genoa or Cannes boat show are not even comparable to yours and consequently why
they are rightly priced?

Do you know how to ensure that they already know all this when they arrive on your website,
your Facebook page, or in front of your models displayed at a fair?
We at LLiquida are the only Italian company specializing in marketing and communication for
the nautical sector, made up of professionals who have been working in the industry since
the late 1990s.

With the Boat Selling System, we can give you the system developed to increase your sales
and grow your turnover, focusing on making your shipyard and your brand unique and
inimitable.
To give you the tools so that it's clear to everyone that what they find with you, they won't
find anywhere else.

On the occasion of this nautical season starting with the autumn boat shows, we have
decided to offer this opportunity to those who want real tools to achieve results and sell
boats.

Call us now for a free consultation (worth 300 euros).

We will analyze your situation together and immediately provide you with an action plan to
start seeing your contacts and sales grow.
You can implement it yourself (with all our best wishes for your success), with whomever you
think can provide the best support.
Or you can work with us and use our services to see your turnover grow month after month
at rates never seen before.

But hurry: by choice, we only take care of clients we can follow to the best of our ability, so
we only offer this opportunity to 5 shipyards a month.

Call 335330471 or send an email to info@lliquida.com.

Do you really want to miss such an opportunity? You risk nothing and get professional consulting. What are you waiting for?

The Story of Tuccoli – Case Study

Here's how a shipyard with over 70 years of history increased its potential customers by
100% in just one month.

In Livorno, they had tried everything to improve the situation, but nothing seemed to work.
Sales numbers remained low. Yet the shipyard had all the right credentials: excellent boats,
well-designed, and well-built; tradition dating back to the early 1950s; determined and
enthusiastic management, skilled and willing workers, and an active and dynamic sales
department. It seemed a paradox, in a time when big brands were selling more boats than they could
build, to the point where customers were content to wait two years just to secure one, this
shipyard struggled to complete production.
But that wasn't enough. The so-called dealers were not helping to achieve the goal: they
didn't buy models to resell, and they asked for endless discounts to buy the boats only when
they had already sold them.

The only result the shipyard achieved was to slash its margins to the bone without even the
chance to take care of the customer directly, thus leaving the customer as the property of the
dealer, not the builder.

The situation was really heavy and seemed hopeless, but then one day one of the shipyard's
sales people introduced the owner to LLiquida, the first and only marketing and
communication agency specific for the nautical sector, consisting of professionals who have
been in the industry for over 25 years.

LLiquida introduced him to the Boat Selling System, the method designed to increase sales
and, therefore, the turnover of shipyards.
Despite being discouraged and skeptical, he decided that trying this other route would
certainly not worsen the situation. What did he have to lose?
To his amazement, but not ours, the difference was like night and day. It was almost as if the

Boat Selling System had been tailor-made for that shipyard.
The Tuscan company went from not receiving even one email for information requests to
having to manage over 700 names with phone numbers in just one month. And all thanks to
the application of the Boat Selling System method.
We like to work with dynamic companies willing to take risks to achieve results.
For this reason, we decided to offer a limited number of companies eager to boost their
sales and consequently their profits, the opportunity to receive a free one-hour consultation
worth 300 euros, in which we outline the steps to implement the Boat Selling System.

Call or write to us now to get your consultation.
We will analyze your situation together and provide you with an immediate action plan to
start seeing your contacts and sales grow. You can implement it yourself (with all our best
wishes for your success), have it followed by whomever you think can provide such support.

Or you can work with us and take advantage of our services to see your turnover grow
month after month at rates never seen before.
Why do we do this? Because we believe that those who have the right credentials and want
to grow should have all the tools to do so in order to stand out in the sea of competition.

But hurry: by choice, we only take care of clients we can follow to the best of our ability, so
we only offer this opportunity to 5 shipyards a month.

Call 335330471 or send an email to info@lliquida.com.
Are you sure it's worth missing such an opportunity?

Why a Press Office is NOT for You!

WARNING: We're not saying that press offices are useless – far from it, as we also offer this
service.

But if you're reading this email, it's because your goal is to sell more
boats/inflatables/dinghies.

And if you're not a multinational company, which needs to take great care of its corporate
communication, relying on a press office BEFORE you've taken care of your marketing will
not increase your sales. It will certainly make you spend more.

It might give you prestige compared to the competition because you're featured in a local
newspaper as the sponsor of fishing event X, or because you present a "new" model at the
Genoa Boat Show that's 2 feet longer than last year's, but if your competitor ends up selling
more boats than you, what good is your newspaper article? :)

In a world that is extremely self-referential and full of fake news, people are increasingly
distrustful of companies' institutional communication. Therefore, rather than spending money
to produce a press release that will be copied and pasted by online industry magazines,
perhaps you should focus on defining IRRESISTIBLE OFFERS for your potential customers.
Notoriety is certainly important, but you know what matters even more? CREDIBILITY.
And to be credible in what you communicate, your boats/inflatables/dinghies must indeed
fulfill the promise you make to your customers.

Which promise?

Well, the one that unmistakably differentiates you from your competitors.
The one that defines who you are and, most importantly, what your boats represent in the
market.

A message that is repeated relentlessly in all your communication until it firmly embeds itself
in your potential customer's mind so that at some point, if they want a boat/inflatable/dinghy,
they will inevitably think of you.

Can you instantly say what your promise to the market is?

And do your salespeople know the positioning of your company and each of your products to
sell effectively?

If you need to think about it for a moment, maybe we can do it together…
LLiquida is the first and only marketing and communication agency for the nautical sector in
Italy, created and composed of professionals who have been operating in the sector since
the last century!!!

We decided to create such an agency because no one in Italy has provided this type of
service so far, while there are dozens of companies offering you press offices or to manage your social media pages, without having the slightest knowledge of the market you are
targeting.
How do you think you can increase your commercial success by doing the same things you
have done so far?

We might have an idea of how to achieve the results you desire (by doing things differently
from what has brought you here so far).

If you want to talk about it, call 335330471 or send an email to info@lliquida.com.

What Happens If You Do Nothing

«Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results».

A quote often attributed to Albert Einstein, and sometimes to Benjamin Franklin or Mark
Twain.

In reality, it comes from a 1981 document of Narcotics Anonymous. Regardless of its source,
we can only agree with its content.

You would like yachtsmen to seek you out to buy your boats, as you deserve, given the
passion and attention with which you build them.

You would like to have a waiting list for your products like many of your competitors, most of
whom produce boats of lower quality than yours.

Imagine being able to say, "I'm sorry, but we don't apply discounts," and hearing in
response, "No problem, I'll order your boat anyway!" Yet…

You struggle to find customers for your boats. The situation in the company is increasingly
tense.

There's nervousness in the management, often if there are partners, they blame each other,
and instead of trying to solve the situation, they end up looking for someone to blame.

Also, the workers and staff perceive this condition of discomfort and work half-heartedly.

But that's not enough, when a customer appears, you try to limit disbelief and contain
excessive enthusiasm and prepare as best you can to give your boats a chance.

And as someone might have explained to you what to do, you start to shower them with
words, listing every single detail of your product.

And before they can say anything, to be sure of selling, you start with discounts, price
reductions, and various concessions.

Do you know the result?

If the customer buys, it's only because you've so heavily discounted that you've even
undercut the already slashed and ridiculous prices of the competition (and so your profit
margins are gone, never to return).

If, on the other hand, they don't buy (the more likely solution), it's because they will now use
your quote as a tool to get even more discounts elsewhere.
In both cases, you and your shipyard have achieved the worst profit ever.

The customer gets everything they want, obtaining what interests them and making you pay
for it almost exclusively;
you get no real satisfaction, just unpaid work;
you've just shown a potential customer that it takes little to make you offer a lower price,
whenever they want.

And so your business continues unchanged: few boats sold and earnings still reduced to
zero.

Do you want to stop being the laughing stock of the customer and at the mercy of their every
whim?

Would you like to be sure of being considered for the real value of your boats and conclude
every negotiation satisfactorily, without having to destroy your margins for a positive
outcome?

You can choose to continue giving discounts left and right… I won't stop you.
But you also have a different solution that will completely change the course of your
shipyard.

It's not a magic wand, the only one who performed miracles doesn't work with us, and we
haven't learned yet. Instead, we have knowledge of the sector and the tools to help your
company grow.

We at LLiquida have decided to offer enterprising shipyards wanting to change the pace of
their business growth a unique opportunity.

A free consultation lasting an hour and worth 300 euros, in which we see together the
activities to be carried out to start growing your customer list at a pace you thought was not
possible.

Then you will decide whether to take our advice and work on it internally or whether to let us
assist you.

But hurry: by choice, we only take care of clients we can follow to the best of our ability, so
we only offer this opportunity to 5 shipyards a month.

Are you sure you want to miss it?

Call 335330471 or send an email to info@lliquida.com

Generalist Web Agency Vs Boat Selling System

Do you know why the communication agencies you've tried so far haven't completely
convinced you?

Sure, you needed a website and they created it, they follow and post on social media 2-3
times a week, and throughout this, you've explained to them what you do and what your
products are.

Yet, you can't seem to figure out how much of this investment is returning to you in terms of
potential clients.

Not to mention that often the communications they publish are "off the mark," talking about
boats as if they were toothpaste, t-shirts, or dog food, and you can't make them understand
exactly how they are not meeting your needs.

They don't lack professional or technical skills, I'm almost sure of that, but I'm also sure that
they lack at least one of these two elements (often both):

being focused on nautical (I'm more than certain of this because in Italy LLiquida is the only
marketing and communication reality specific for Nautical),
providing a service of strategic marketing and then direct marketing.
This means that you've asked them to communicate your products and your company, but
since the generalist web agency does not offer this type of essential service for you, they
haven't been able to ask you the right questions before starting the communication.
Moreover, almost certainly you:
haven't told them what your positioning is, nor that of your competitors (because your
shipyard has a positioning, right?!),
haven't communicated to them in a specific and crystal-clear way your strengths and
weaknesses,
haven't provided them with offers, but only discounts,
haven't been able to tell them what your promise to the market is.

By the way, would you be able to answer or illustrate all the above points regarding your
company?

In this situation, it's normal that the communication they could come up with for you on the
website or social media is limited to saying "how beautiful and good you are at doing what
you do."
It's nice and entertaining, but at most it allows you to make your brand a little more known.

Certainly not to sell.

Moreover, if you've followed me so far and are still reading my emails, you have surely
internalized the fact that beauty is not an objective value.

Your products must not be communicated as better, but as different, telling your uniqueness
and justifying the fact that your price is higher than the competition and that you cannot and
do not want to discount, devaluing your product.

Only these considerations are not required of the classic web agency (nor the press office);
it's your marketing department that should come to feed all these strategic elements into the
communication.

This is also why with my collaborators, I created LLiquida and the Boat Selling System,
respectively the first marketing and communication agency specialized in the nautical world
and the method to help you sell your boats with offers and effective communication.

Do you want to find out more about what it involves and all the things you can take away
even in just one hour of conversation?

The offer of a free consultation (which we normally sell for 300 €) is still valid, in which we
see together the activities to be carried out to start growing your customer list at a pace you
thought was not possible.

Then you will decide whether to take our advice and work on it internally or whether to let us
assist you.

But hurry: by choice, we only take care of clients we can follow to the best of our ability, so
we only offer this opportunity to 5 shipyards a month.
Are you sure you want to miss it?

Call 335330471 or send an email to info@lliquida.com.