b'LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENTAhoy.us Is Live!AT THE HELMIs Your Operation on this Free Marketing Platform?COLLEEN STEPHENS // PRESIDENTS everal months ago, some PVA members reached out to the BoardIn addition, a catchy and memorable name for the campaign was essential and staffasking for a new way to reach the traveling public to ridefor it to be successful and recognizable. Hence, Ahoy, New Adventures upon their vessels. They made the request due to the devastatingwas born. The website, Ahoy.us, brings you to an attractive website that is eff ect the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the passenger vessel industry,easy to use and displays beautiful images of a variety of passenger vessels on which for many of us, my operation included, were completely shutdown.several types of waterways. The PVA Board of Directors and the PVA staffheard the cries for helpIf youre already working with online travel reservation sites such as Expedia andcommissionedacommitteeofand TripAdvisor, youll know how this savvybusinessandmarketingoperatorsworks.The diff erence here is that this tocomeupwithaplantoestablishaThe PVA Board of Directorsis solely for the passenger vessel industry mechanism to drive customers to vesselandexclusivelyforPVAmembers.I operators. This newly formed committee,and the PVA staffheardencourage you to acquaint yourself with the PVA Digital Marketing Committee,the cries for help andthis new member benefi t that is intended workeddiligentlytoidentifytheneedsto bring travelers to your website. Youll ofvesseloperatorswhileconsideringcommissioned a committeesee that visitors to the site have options currentmarketdemands,forums,andto choose: location and adventure. The preferences. The overarching goal was toof savvy business andlatter breaks down the diverse types of create a digital marketing program thatmarketing operators towaterborne experiences that the public promotesthesafetyandfunassociatedcan enjoy aboard PVA member vessels.with the passenger vessel industry on acome up with a plan toOncetheyclickanexperiencethat national level. establish a mechanism tointereststhem,theyllcanbedirected to YOUR website. Your reservation and A consumer-facing platform for passengerdrive customers to vesselticketingsystemwillmakethesaleas vesseloperatorsisntanovelidea.Theusual. notion of some type of national programoperators. haslongbeendiscussedanddiscardedThe rollout of this program will occur over many years for numerous reasons. But, this time was diff erent. Thisin phases, with the website launching fi rst. In addition, theres a member time a clear plan was soon developed as the need for such a program wastoolkit and social media channels that will follow. evident for meeting the needs of all types and sizes of vessel operators all over the U.S. MEMBER TOOLKITThe member toolkit will be your one-stop shop for participating in The PVA Digital Marketing Committee met virtually several times tothe Ahoy, New Adventures campaign. In it, youll fi nd an overview of make critical decisions before a call for proposals was released for bid. Thecampaign goals, hashtags and social media handles, downloadable links Committee was delighted with the response received from professionalto the campaign logo and style guide, premade social media graphics marketingcompaniesthatansweredourcallforproposals.Theand social media copy, an editorial calendar with social media ideas and presentations from prospective contractors were highly creative and it wasa template press release ready to be customized and sent out to your difficult to choose just one. The winning company, Thompson & Co., is alocal media outlets (more ideas on how to utilize the press release are national public relations/marketing fi rm specializing in brand messaging,included in the toolkit). media relations, social media strategy, event coordination, crisis planning and more for a wide range of industries and nonprofi t clients, which nowSOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS includes the Passenger Vessel Association. Follow along when our Ahoy, New Adventures social media channels launch later this summer. We encourage you to like, follow and share Early on, the PVA Digital Marketing Committee recognized that to work,posts from these accounts. Content will focus on inspiring travel on this campaign must be readily accessible via a variety of means that theAmericas waterways, and will highlight our members and partners.traveling public relies on when making travel plans in advance and on the Facebook: @Ahoy, New Adventures road. A website and an active social media presence were pivotal and T&C Instagram: @ahoy_adventure has delivered.Continued on page 43GET ONBOARD WITH Ahoy.us!https://www.cognitoforms.com/LastFrontierMedia1/PVAMemberUpdateLETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT 4 FOGHORN'