Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Orlando Fishing Guides Native Sons Fishing Marketing By Example
For those of you who've paid for a charter fishing guide, you already know they tend to focus on the size or quantity of fish per trip and neglect to put their customer's comfort and enjoyment first. Native Sons Fishing Guides takes a different approach and focuses on the overall experience and happiness of every single customer that steps foot on their boat. Known to us on the Space Coast as some of the best Orlando fishing guides (only 45 minutes east of Orlando) around.
These guys combine their professional fishing backgrounds and add a huge dose of hospitality and describe Florida's natural habitats while you're boating through them. Each guide's credentials include certification from State of Florida and US Coast Guard, memberships in five different professional organizations and seven professional fishing circuits.
Captain Rocky Van Hoose is one of three guides at Native Sons. Van Hoose spent his youth around Sarasota and the Sunshine State's West Coast and the past 15 years on the Space Coast. Captain Roland (Brad) Jones has fished both coasts for over 40 years, while Peter Deeks, the youngest of the crew at 23, was born and raised on Merritt Island, right on the Indian River. Deeks is also a graduate of the prestigious Rollins College in Winter Park and is a living example of doing what you love no matter what kind of degree you have.
I listened to Rocky tell the story of a childhood passion that became his career, rather than his retreat. My first question,
- Where did he vision for Native Sons start?
Captain Rocky: This has been a life-long passion and a dream. 50 years later, here I am, being a kids again and doing something I've long dreamed of doing. I've been a commercial guide for six years, Native Sons is five years old.
- When did you launch your site, and what role does the website serve in your marketing plan?
Captain Rocky: We launched the site five years ago, and it's already had two major revisions. It's like fishing and everything else we do, we're constantly striving for excellence. I think we have one of the best guide sites anywhere. It's full of information, including videos, reports, bios of guides, ,a what's new section, booking,rating section.FAQ,contact info. We're constantly adding content.
The website is crucial to communicating who we are and what we do. Rankings are important for clients and probably 50% of our business is repeat.
Not only is the ranking of the website important as a first contact point, but every other contact point is accentuated by the website, whether it's on the TV or word of mouth. The website is crucial to who we are and what we do. Ranking is crucial for our first-time clients, and 50% of our clients become repeat clients.
- You recently launched a TV ad campaign blitz on Sun Sports TV. What's your target market and how did you pitch Native Sons?
Captain Rocky: We love families.
We love husband and wife teams, fathers and sons or mothers and daughter combinations, because they're natural born teachers and we want to pass along this passion to the next generation. May has been a family emphasis month on the TV ads, and we had a lot of families this month. In June we may switch off to Fathers. Dads need to be heroes to their kids and we'd like to help them achieve that, not only through a guide trip, but every other trip out on the river, so they can have the overall experience.
- What are some of distinguishing aspects that set Native Sons your apart from the other fishing guides in Florida?
Captain Rocky: We understand that it's all about giving the clients great memory-making experiences, and that includes a lot more than quantities of big fish. It includes the peripheral things, the manatees the dolphins, the alligators, the rosette spoonbills, the pristine water, the horseshoe crabs and sea horses.
There are some guides who don't understand that aren't in this business a long time. It's not that they're not good fisherman, it's they're not good with people.
There's a lot that goes into a day's experience, so when that client comes off the water, this is the memory we want them to take back with them to Michigan or New Jersey. They've seen Disney World, Universal Studios and Sea World, but this is the one we want to rise to the top, because this is one that's experienced not in concrete or human imagination, as great as it is at those theme parks, it's experienced in God's creation and the magnificence of experiencing that is something that we're anxious to transfer to the people who are in our boat.
- What are some the advantages of fishing with an accredited guide as opposed to a rental boat with the family?
Captain Rocky: By the time you pay for the boat rental, the out of state fishing permits, and the rods and reels, that can get really expensive for someone who's only going to fish for one day then has no use for any of that equipment once he goes home. How's he going to gain any knowledge of the local waters? These are shallow waters out here and if you don't know where the sandbars or oyster beds are,you could get yourself into some serious trouble.
- Many intermediate fisherman, myself included, are locals who live right next to the water but never had the time or resources to learn the valuable points of the sport. Do you encounter a decent amount of local clients who are trying to advance their skill level?
Captain Rocky: I wish we got more local clients because we can make them more successful for future trips. You want those to be quality weekends for them. Guides are knowledgeable not only in fishing but also boating and other aspects of marine biology.
The in-town guy will go buy a boat and park it behind their house and it becomes an expensive lawn ornament and they never learn the river system and how to fish. If they would take a day and say, "OK, I'm going to go out with a guide today." In one day, they would learn 10 years of information and now, for the next 10 years, every trip they go out, they'll be more successful catching fish by having taking that one day with a knowledgeable,local guide and picking his brain
- What are some of your goals for building the Native Sons 'brand?
Captain Rocky: We're in the process of opening a new division- Native Sons Hunting and Outfitters, which offers Hog hunting year-round, Gator-hunting in the fall. For the future, Native Sons would like to continue adding guides along the east coast, up to Jacksonville, as well as the St. John's River.
By Matt O'Hern at 02:11 PM | Comments (4)
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