Here’s the tricky part about marketing your fishing industry business …

You are an expert in your field. You’ve got years of experience under your belt and you can probably catch fish like no one’s business, but it’s very likely that your prospective customers aren’t experts and are looking for some friendly advice and (just maybe) what you’re selling. Fishing can be a slippery way to make a living, even if you aren’t actually hauling our finny friends out of the drink yourself.

I’m mostly a flyfisherman myself, and it’s always kind of bugged me that I had to learn so much of my passion on my own. I had a shelf full of books and a boatload of gear from my father, but his untimely passing when I was teenager left me to figure a lot out on my own. Don’t get me wrong, some anglers helped me along the way, but it was mostly trial and error there for the first couple of years.

When I did turn to the experts, though, it was like they were talking another language — hackle pliers, shooting baskets, No. 6 hooks. It was all Greek to me, even though I owned most of what they were talking about and was getting pretty good at catching trout almost every time I went out. Apparently, there was a lot more of my father in me than he realized.

My story may not be typical, but the experiences of many of your customers/clients are very similar. They may want what you have to offer, but they may not have the expertise to know exactly what you are talking about when you speak to them from the pinnacle of your experience. Some fishing-industry marketing can make you start to sound more like a tax accountant than someone who loves fishing with a passion.

Here’s just one example, “The Hexagenia Limbata hatches in mid-June to mid-July.” Yes, you and I both know that the marketer is talking about the trout feeding frenzy that occurs when the Giant Michigan Mayfly starts hatching out of the waters in early summer. And the article itself is pretty useful content, but this kind of content marketing is really only going to appeal to the experienced angler.

I’m not saying to dumb it down, either. Content marketing that just floats on the surface like cottonwood-tree fluff isn’t going to catch too many prospects, either, and is just as likely to turn off your expert-level customers. If you start reading web copy or blog postings that sound like they were written by some guy in the Philippines who has never even touched a fishing rod, then they probably are.

So, what’s the solution?

I recommend a three-tiered, content-marketing approach. Chances are — unless you are in a super, high-end niche business that only caters to pros and aficionados — you have at least three tiers of prospective clients — beginner, intermediate, and expert.

If you own a salmon-fishing lodge and guide service on some wild river, for example, you may already be attracting die-hard salmon anglers with big bucks who jet around from one awesome fishing experience to the next. But, you may also end up with a guy like me who might save up for years for a once-or-twice-in-a-lifetime experience like the one you offer. He may be a pretty capable angler, but may have never touched a two-handed spey rod before. But there is also the couple who is vacationing in your area and just looking for a new experience that they can share together.

If you are not marketing to all three tiers of your prospective customer base, then you may be missing the boat. Content marketing is about just getting your name out there and providing free, useful information to help populate the Internet where discussions about your passion are already taking place. Make sure you aren’t just talking to your peers in the custom rod-building business or the Newfoundland salmon guiding business. Make sure that you are telling great stories and providing useful and interesting information to your beginners, your intermediates, and your experts.

Provide content for the full spectrum of your client base — some may need to know the relative merits of the top-five brands of hackle pliers, but some may just want to know how to tie their first clinch knot.

Fish On,

Rich Bachus