Steel Fabrication Strategic Media Placement
How Sniper Marketing Put a Boutique Steel Broker in Front of Major Defense Contractors
Study Summary
Problem: Increase sales for its new higher-tiered line of yacht tenders.
Need: Reshape the existing perception of inflatable boat producers.
Insight: This was a visibility challenge; people simply didn't know.
Solution: A series of print ads, leading up to the boat show.
Result: $350,000 order directly from one single ad.
Yacht Marketing Strategy & Campaign Execution
How a powerful imagery, clever messaging, and strategic placement attracted a motivated buyer to purchase on the spot.
Continental Steel had difficulty donnecting with purchasing agents
The Situation
Continental Steel had a strong reputation as a regional steel supplier. They needed greater visibility among national contractors responsible for larger commercial projects.
The challenge was not capability. It was reaching the right decision-makers.
Continental Steel had difficulty donnecting with purchasing agents
The Situation
Continental Steel had a strong reputation as a regional steel supplier. They needed greater visibility among national contractors responsible for larger commercial projects.
The challenge was not capability. It was reaching the right decision-makers.
We learned that yacht owners not only attend these shows for entertainment, but many also go with the intention of buying.
Giving them a reason to stop by the Novurania booth was all we needed to do.
We knew that the boat show was a few months out. So, we needed to be visible in advance.
Strategic Insight
Novurania is a brand known for decades. They were producing a great product and had a great reputation, but didn't understand how to shift into a higher-tier market.
The challenge was not having enough goodwill, it was about visibility.
The Situation
Novurania was known for inflatable yacht tenders, and wanted to sell higher priced boats.
We created a campaign based on a familiar saying. It's not only where you go but how you get there.
Create print ads that show how getting to exotic locations was possible to do in style. Not that this was new concept, but putting the two together in print was powerful.
The exotic locations were the hook. Putting the boat in hard to get locations was the sell.
The Idea
Create a hot print ad campaign for magazines that land on most yachts.
marketing strategy in motion
We created a program called Purchasing Appreciation Points.
For every $100 of steel purchased, the company would earn points. Not cash. Not discounts. Not rebates. Points. Those points could be redeemed through a professionally designed catalog, filled with tangible, personal rewards:
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Jackets and apparel
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Sporty, practical items
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Everyday products people actually wanted
Think Sharper Image, but purpose-built for this audience. The real leverage was subtle. On the final page of the catalog was a simple option:
If none of the items appealed to them, points could be redeemed for a Visa gift card.
How do you incentivise the purchaser directly,without crossing any legal lines?
The Idea
The Execution
Place a 3 ad series in Yachting International and in the boat show program. We used stock photos, and new photography to create the location look we wanted.
The Result
A woman approached our contact at the boat show in front of us with ad in hand. Her words, and I quote, "I love this ad, I want this boat."
She bought the boat at asking price for $350,000 right on the spot.
The Takeaway
This wasn’t a a complicated problem. It was expressing a very common idea in an uncommon way, getting it in front of the right people, at the right time.
How Sniper Marketing Put a Boutique Steel Broker in Front of Major Defense Contractors
Steel Fabrication Strategic Media Placement