Boating Group Expands Mail Pilot Test

The Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation is slowly expanding its direct mail pilot tests trying to get boat owners whose registration have lapsed to re-register in their respective states.

The organization, a marketing agency for the states it works with, just signed on Ohio as a new participant in the registration program, says Stephanie Hussey, RBFF director of state initiatives. Later this month, it will send out about 25,000 mail packages in Ohio.

So far, Oregon is the only other state RBFF works with on boating registrations. The organization was set at deadline to sign three more states into the registration program, which it hopes to roll out nationally next year.

The mailings are going out during the spring boating season to lapsed registration names provided by the state licensing agencies.

“The pilot effort started in Oregon because overall boat registrations were down, says Hussey, noting that state licensing fees help support fish and wildlife conservation programs.

The Ohio and subsequent mail packages will resemble those sent out in Oregon but will be tailored to the new individual states.

Those mailings will consist of a black and white standard registration form, a double-sided four-color form with a boating promotional message and an additional four-color form featuring angling information, Hussey says.

The foundation also allows boat owners to renew their registrations by mail, online and in-person. Hussey noted RBFF has few statistics on which methods are used.

“We’ll probably get a better sense later this year,” says Hussey. “We’ll look closely at that.”

While it social and email aren’t part of the boat registration process yet, the foundation does use those media to communicate and market all of its programs and products.

Since 2009, RBFF has been using Facebook and Twitter to engage people with news and posts about its fishing license program.

The Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation first entered the direct mail arena in 2008 with its first mailing to nearly 2 million lapsed fishing license holders across the country http://directmag.com/directmail/0508-groups-first-mailing-promotions/index.html#

That ongoing program, in which 33 states participate, gets an average response rate of 15% .So far, it has led to the renewal of nearly 840,000 fishing licenses which cost an average of $15 each, she says.

Looking ahead, RBFF is planning to expand its boat registration program but Hussey notes doing so is more complex than its fishing license program because it takes coordination not only with the state agencies, but likely involves coordination with state motor vehicle departments.

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