Good Business

Sometimes it's the simple things that keep successful companies ahead of the competition.

Mar-Lan Industries is a 50+ year old Texas-based supplier of electrical products to the marine industry. 12 days ago Jim Desai, the company's CEO, posted a small but sincere offer for a free calendar in a group I run on LinkedIn for boaters to network with each other (FirstBoat Business Networking Group).

I was impressed that Mar-Lan - a B2B company - seemed to get social media. The offer was from the CEO himself, and he didn't "spam" the discussion group with a blunt message like "Click here to view our electrical accessories" - he was smart enough to know that people viewing the offer in his post could find out more about his company if they were so inclined.

I signed up that day to get a free calendar.

And within 7 business days, I had my new calendar (pictured here). Turns out it's a nice wall calendar with motivational slogans on each page below pictures of outdoor adventures - from kayaking to surfing to mountain climbing. Mar-Lan also sent a "happy holidays" note on company letterhead with the contact info for their key customer-facing employees. Oh, and of course the calendar has Mar-Lan's contact info including web address across the bottom of the calendar so that I'll look at it all year.

Now, I am admittedly not necessarily Mar-Lan's target audience. But if anyone ever asks, I'll speak of Mar-Lan with a warm fuzzy feeling because they gave me something for nothing. And heck, I might even blog about them...

BoatU.S. Contest Again

I'm pretty proud that BoatU.S. has decided to give away $200 worth of personalized apparel from our store, BoatNameGear, in their September contest.

BoatU.S. has a new contest each month - Members are entered to win a prize just for signing into the members-only website (My.BoatUS.com).

This marks the 2nd time within four months that BoatU.S. has called upon BoatNameGear to provide the prize (previous contest was June 2009.)

Perhaps they chose BoatNameGear again because we helped BoatU.S. drive new or existing members to their site? I don't know. Or perhaps they received feedback similar to what we heard from the winner of the June contest. Here's an excerpt:

Recieved my order yesterday and am very happy with the merchandise. I am extremely pleased with the mat.
You must be very pleased with the quality of your work, it is a very high quality.
Thank you so much.

John
A satisfied customer

So, if you want to try to win $200 worth of stuff with your boat name on it for free, sign up to be a BoatUS member by September 30th, or visit My.BoatUS.com.

By the way, we're currently offering a 10% discount to BoatU.S. members on all orders at BoatNameGear. This is exclusive to BoatU.S. members only through this link to BoatNameGear. (Fine print: Not valid on past or existing orders or in conjunction with other offers; may end at any time.)

Welcome to CA World WiFi

Glad to have CA World WiFi on board as a new advertiser at WiFiMarine.org.

It's really a great fit - CA World WiFi, based in Florida, provides WiFi equipment for all environments, and specializes in providing solutions that are tailored for harsh outdoor environments. They know what saltwater, wind and rain can do to sensitive electronics and build products accordingly.

With WiFiMarine.org's position in Google for keywords related to Wi-Fi and marinas, CA World couldn't have picked a better site to sponsor!

If you run a marina - or any outdoor establishment - and want a better solution to offer Internet to your patrons, please visit CA World WiFi or call them at 561-245-7823.