What happens when a 60 year-old company needs to “cross the chasm” from local boatbuilding institution to world-class boatbuilding leader?
They hire us to help them.
First things first.
Brooklin Boat Yard had a website, but it was outdated and lacked the personality and history that comes with a historic brand. Our aim was to create a real-time, robust site rich with storytelling and easy-to-access resources like an employee application and historical timeline. Watch our video to see all the highlights.
The new Brooklin Boat Yard website designed by Waxwing Business.
What We Provide
Marketing Strategy
Before we begin any marketing job, we create an overall marketing strategy customized for the client. In this case, it included Digital Media, Grass Roots, Client Relations, Website, and Sales/Merchandise strategies.
Social Media
Brooklin Boat Yard had a lot of followers already, but their content wasn’t strategic, and it wasn’t tied to other objectives like sales or customer satisfaction. We immediately set out to 1) corral all the content (60 years worth!), 2) establish a baseline for performance, and 3) tie posting to company goals.
Newsletter Campaigns
Establishing a constant and cohesive voice, as well as frequency, is essential to maintaining a good relationship with customers. We created a newsletter strategy for Brooklin Boat Yard that brings meaty content to clients regularly, and it increases retention.
Website
The existing website was big, but it did not align with Brooklin Boat Yard’s longstanding history and place within the wooden yacht market. We developed a website, complete with new SEO and analytics, to tell the story of an iconic Maine brand.
E-Commerce + Branded Merchandise
There are a lot of people in the world who follow and support Brooklin Boat Yard, but why aren’t they representing the brand in whatever way they can? We designed a high-quality merchandise line, then made it available via e-commerce. Now Brooklin Boat Yard can 1) sell branded merchandise online and 2) make money.
Customer Satisfaction
We can’t take credit for the building of a world-class yacht, but we can harness the stories of happy customers. We now capture testimonials and stories for use throughout newsletters, website, and social media.
Samples of Work
Branding is an absolutely essential ingredient to visibility. We create a Branding Guide for all of our Marketing Clients to help with cohesion and awareness. This is a sample print ad for Brooklin Boat Yard using consistent color codes, fonts, logos, and layout.
Part of our strategy was to include the individual stories of employees in order to increase new hire prospects. Above is a sample of our “Meet the Maker Series” where we interview a tenured employee and share their story.
Also pictured is a sample of our on-site photography and an Instagram post highlighting a design concept by the Brooklin Boat Yard design office.
Sample Instagram Stories
Merchandise & Photography
We designed and produced branded merchandise to meet the quality that BBY is known for. Rather than post merch photos with white backgrounds or “lay flats", we wanted to feature the BBY crew and our followers. All of the folks you see wearing merch on the BBY website are a part of BBY, representing the brand they love.
One of our favorite services to provide our clients is high quality, authentic photos that help maximize storytelling.