Kiteboarding marketing

[kite252]

Hey Guys,

I’m doing a college marketing project and looking for opinions in a niche market.

What Kiteboarding brand do you think has the best marketing and why?

Does it influence your buying decision? If not, what does?

Thanks in advance.

[Starsky]

In the beginning Slingshot had the best marketing. If you have been kiting since o3 you might know what Im talking about. Played well in a young sport to be the bad asses. I never bought any of their gear back then, but own plenty of it now. They lost their edge way way back, but I still dig what they did. Later on Liquid force had the best team ever assembled in the sport. They could throw down to the last man. In boots or strapless all of em had killer style. Funny enough LF is one of the only old school brands I have never owned... scratch that, my first boots were LF, but that's it. They have an eye for colour combos but the gear itself does little for me. Now there are absolutely none that I am drawn to..... Nah, maybe BRM for their clean grass roots vibe. Its a fresh approach in this market. Have a couple of those that I bought used, but copied the bar instead of buying it.

[NorCalNomad]

You should try calling up some kiteboarding magazines and news outlets. They'll give you a much better picture than asking the mostly old fogies here (yeah I know there are a few cool ones of you here)

[topmick]

Board Riding Maui, now that's a niche market right there.

[lindseym]

I think some of the best marketing is done by North, overall. I'm no marketing expert but it seems like they are one of the tops in terms of professional production and brand management. Epic (Dimitry) has done a great job of brand promotion through video and social media. All this said, I've never bought a kite based on any of this. The source of my buying decision is simply testing a friend's kite or demo'ing one. Only then can you know. Kiteboarders are a funny breed. Most of us are highly selective because we can feel the subtly between kites. If its not "just right" then its not likely that we will spend the $ on buying the kite. Its a significant purchase so things need to be spot on. For me, performance has always been the buying decision tipping point, never marketing...marketing only cued the interest.

[Lokihel]

The best professional marketing is North Kiteboarding in my opinion. That's because their are part of the North Technology Group, and also because NKB's headquarters are in Germany.

For a more personal marketing style, I would say BRM or EPIC. For both these brands most of the work is done by a small team who do just about everything.

[kite252]

Thanks for the input everyone. I have reached out to a couple industry mags, good advise, thank you!

[FLandOBX]

"Marketing" is such a broad term. It can encompass so many different things. IMO, all of the following constitute "marketing":

Advertising online or in glossy kiteboarding magazines.
Assembling a roster of talented pro riders who use and "pimp" your products at international competitions.
Assembling a roster of (often less talented, but highly personable) "ambassadors" who use/"pimp" your products at local beach.
Actively participating in forums like this one with marketing and building customer relationships as goals.
Staging demo days so potential customers can try your products.
Providing top notch customer service and support, including being responsive and helpful when things go wrong.

Personally, I think the customer service/support side of "marketing" is most effective and important. Epic Kites (Dimitri) is one of the best at this. (I have no affiliation with Epic and don't own Epic gear.) Epic's being a smaller company allows Dimitri to deliver that personalized service that develops brand loyalty. Service and support are keys to effective "marketing", IMHO.

[palmbeacher]

Some best practices imo:

Cabrinha - for having the best brand ambassadors with big social media followings
Core kites - for co-creating a Game app to market their kites
Maui Cloud - super niche, but Greg puts out amazing videos of himself doing awesome tricks
Mystic Kiteboarding - for sponsoring movies such as Chapter One

Marketing has little impact on my buying decisions, I prefer to get my input from Kiteforum.com before buying something new.

[kite252]

Hi there again.

I want to try to get a grasp for worldwide or at least national marketing if possible.

One thing I'm noticing in just the last two comments is FLandOBX thinks Dimitri does a great job. I agree, he is very impressive. But he is also from the OBX so likely you see more from him than others do in different regions.

Also Palmbeacher, thank you for the more detailed breakdown. Good point that different brands do an equally good job in different ways. Which one of these do you think is more important? Sponsoring big projects, such as Chapter 1 or best brand ambassadors and social media presence? I also believe Mystic as great marketing, but they were not the sole sponsor of the movie. I believe Cabrinha, Naish and others where behind it as well...(I could be wrong)

Thanks again for the continued input!