This year, we have been showcasing each winner of the National Boating Industry Safety Awards via an individualized blog that answers questions posed to each winner. This will allow our readers to get to know each of the winners and see some of their winning materials, too.

Our last Q&A blog comes to us from Cristin Plaice, Director of Business Development for Rapid Media. Rapid Media won the National Boating Industry Safety Award for Top Marine Media Outlet for the second year in a row, but for a completely new project. As a contractor for Water Sports Foundation, they worked to develop ways to reach and include new paddlers in boating safety information and education initiatives.

1. Congratulations on winning the National Boating Industry Safety Award! Can you please describe your winning entry for our audience?

We were contracted by the Water Sports Foundation's U.S. Coast Guard non-profit grant award entitled: “Strategic Search Engine Content Marketing Targeting America’s Highest-Risk, Most Difficult-To-Reach Paddlers.” The purpose of this work was to create a national campaign promoting safe boating behaviors with a specific focus on reaching new paddlers, who are the most at-risk group.

The campaign was based on a content marketing strategy to create and distribute content to reach this target audience with valuable safety messaging and information when they would be most interested and receptive. We know new paddlers aren’t Googling “why I should wear a life jacket” or “why I should file a float plan.” But they are searching for things like “cheap kayaks” or “best paddleboards for beginners” and “used canoes.”  

We created the content the new paddlers were looking for and wove the safety messaging in and around the articles with native advertising placements. As someone Googles something like “cheap kayaks under $500” they land on our article “Best Cheap Kayaks under $500” and as they read about which kayak to buy, they are reminded to always wear a lifejacket, take a paddling safety course, paddle sober, etc.

We created and published 60 of these search engine-optimized articles each with safety messaging woven into and around the content. Rapid Media’s marketing specialists used sophisticated search engine optimization techniques to ensure each piece of content attracts and retains traffic from a highly specific target audience by providing answers to their queries on Google, Yahoo, and other search engines.

It seems so simple. Yet it was the first time new paddlers have been targeted so efficiently and effectively. This project is currently delivering more than 5.6 million paddling safety impressions specifically targeting new paddlers – the most at-risk group.

2. What inspired you to promote boating safety?

When we learned a few years ago just how many people are lost while paddling and how many deaths may have been preventable, we felt we had to do something.

Just a decade or two ago, the only thing on the average skier or snowboarder’s head was a beanie. But things have changed and now almost everyone in North America wears a helmet. In 2002, only around 25% of skiers wore helmets. In 2021, 90% of riders were wearing them.

As a paddlesports media company, we have the unique opportunity to reach and influence a very large audience of paddlers, so we decided to take the opportunity seriously.

We have made a commitment to promoting safe paddling behaviors through the articles we write, the photos we feature, the ads we publish, and of course our continued campaigns with the Water Sports Foundation. With our efforts, we hope to encourage all paddlers to understand and prioritize safety.

3. What it was like creating your award-winning project or campaign? How much time did it take? How many people were involved?

Creating this campaign was a huge team effort. Researching, planning, writing, editing and publishing quality content in a niche like paddlesports is difficult to do well. Our entire editorial, marketing and production teams were involved in the content creation process. At the same time, we called in our development team to code the native safety messaging placements. Overall, I would guess we had over fifteen people working on this project over the course of a year.

4. What did you learn from working on this project or campaign?

Working on this campaign reinforced how well content marketing works. Although it takes an initial investment, its ROI and value over time is well worth the effort.

I think the most difficult challenge for this project was choosing which 60 topics to select. Every year, 23 million Americans participate in paddlesports. A large portion of those people are first-time participants. Narrowing their Google searches down to only 60 topics was difficult - there are hundreds more questions to answer.

5. What was your biggest takeaway from working on this project or campaign?

Our biggest takeaway from working on this campaign was that it worked really well and that we would like to continue building upon the first year’s success. We were able to deliver over 9 million impressions over the course of the campaign. And unlike news pieces that have a short shelf life, these articles are evergreen so (with some minimal maintenance) they will continue to rank well forever and can continue delivering safety messages for years to come.