
How to get planning permission
Peregrine Mears, Director, Peregrine Mears Architects
Development and Diversification for Inland Marinas
Our last two instalments in this series looked at how to diversify and expand your marina business, along with how to create a business plan. In this issue we look at obtaining planning permission for your proposals.

Starting the Process
Peregrine Mears, Director, Peregrine Mears Architects
Development and Diversification for Inland Marinas
Last time we looked at a broad range of options and ideas to diversify and expand your inland marina business. But where do you start?

Development and Diversification
Peregrine Mears, Director, Peregrine Mears Architects
Development and Diversification for Inland Marinas - What Can you Do?
By far the hardest challenge in creating a successful inland marina-based leisure enterprise is building the marina basin itself. So whether you have done that yourself or purchased an existing marina, the hardest part has been done!

Marketing
Peter Johns, Publisher of Waterways World
Promotion Principles
In my previous column I discussed the fourth P of marketing, Promotion, which is the one that most people think is marketing. The term promotion covers any form of communication that is designed to inform the target audience of the merits of your product or service, and to persuade them to buy from you. The principle is: (a) to make people aware of you and your products or services (brand marketing), and (b) to attract and persuade them to buy from you in preference to your competitors (driving a purchasing decision).

Marketing
Peter Johns, Publisher of Waterways World
Going Promo
The fourth P of marketing – Promotion – is the one that most people think is Marketing. The term promotion covers any form of communication that is designed to inform the target audience of the merits of your product or service, and to persuade them to buy it from you. The principle is to make people: (a) aware of you and your products or services; and (b) attract and persuade them to buy from you in preference to your competitors.

Marketing
Peter Johns, Publisher of Waterways World
Importance of Place
Place in marketing traditionally looks at the distribution channels you use to get your Product to the final consumer. Do you sell direct to the consumer? Or to a retailer who sells to the consumer? Or perhaps to a wholesaler who sells to a retailer who sells to the consumer?

Marketing
Peter Johns, Publisher of Waterways World
Price Matters
In my last column, I introduced the four Ps of marketing – Product, Price, Place and Promotion – and argued that the single most important P is Product. Knowing what your product is, where it is positioned and that there is a market for it is crucial.

Marketing
Peter Johns, Publisher of Waterways World
Q: What is marketing? A: It’s all about the carrots
For many people marketing equates to advertising. But it is much more complicated than that. My first exposure to the concept of marketing was my university course on agricultural marketing. In the very first class the lecturer posed the question “What is the first marketing decision a carrot farmer makes?”. We were pretty flummoxed. His answer was “To grow carrots”.