I’ve had numerous inquiries lately about my advertising background, consulting services, and marketing principles. First of all, I do consult businesses on an hourly rate as well as formulate marketing plans and construct media buys on a percentage basis. I do accept additional work from time to time, but keep the number of clients I work with very limited.

Advertising/Marketing Principals

A lot of advertising agencies talk about the amount of research they do for a client, and research can be very important especially if you aren’t an outdoorsman or are new to the sport. I’ve been very surprised by the number of large and small outdoor-related companies that hire either a full time marketing manager or an advertising agency that has little to no hunting and fishing experience; no wonder they need to do research. Often times their marketing plans are quantified by the numbers only. I agree that the number of households, demographics, etc are very important but they are not the only thing to consider when it comes to outdoor advertising. Outdoor marketing is a different beast, and knowing outdoorsmen's perceptions, thought processes, past product successes/failures, the different types of hunters and game by region, are just a few things that also need to be considered and can lead to better market share and penetration. One of the main reasons I was successful in the fishing industry is because I had it in my veins, I lived and breathed fishing, boat designs, trailer designs, national advertising campaigns, etc; and that’s actually what I’ve been doing in the hunting industry. I base marketing plans off what other industry professionals tell me, what the networks are saying, what I hear from hunters at dozens of hunting camps/shows across the country, what the numbers say, and what my years of sales experience has taught me.

I started selling early in life; at first, door to door for school projects, then at age 14 I started selling newspaper subscriptions after school, and eventually moved on to selling athletic shoes at the mall after wrestling practice. By the age of 18, I became the youngest salesman in the Tulsa area for new and used cars. My point is that I have a lot of different sales experience and I've always been a top producer. I’ve done well because I’ve always studied my customers, studied my products, educated the consumer, and I always make sure the deal is win/win for both parties. By doing a good job for your clients through sales/marketing, takes hard work, determination, and drive. I've always been an extremely hard worker but I’ve learned through the years, that being the hardest worker doesn’t always make you the most profit. You need to have a good plan that is flexible to change and revision, as well as evolve and become stronger as it reacts to the market. I’ve always believed in keeping marketing plans fairly simple so that they might actually be fully implemented, if a marketing plan seems complicated then it probably hasn’t been thought out thoroughly enough.

I tell companies in order to be successful with any business you need four things:

1. The right PEOPLE
2. The right PRICE points
3. The right PRODUCTS
4. And the right amount of PRODUCTIVITY

One of the things you’ll notice in the outdoor industry is that most of the companies copy one another. They copy products as well as concepts. The outdoor industry as a whole needs more original ideas and companies need to look outside the box more often. Businesses are unique so their marketing plans should be as well. If you’re advertising is too conventional, then how can you expect to outperform the competition?

All in all, it’s about a return on your marketing dollar; you spend money to make money, you want and need to stay competitive. I believe in not only staying competitive but thriving as well, taking market share from the competition, creating new avenues, and seeking new markets.

Thank you for your time.  If you would like to consult with Jason about your outdoor product or idea, give him a call at 501.525.9240 or send him an email at Jason@Pwrhousetv.com.

Jason Housley’s Advertising/Manufacturing Background

Most people don’t know Jason’s background so here is some of his recent history. Jason grew up in the boat business. His grandfather raced and sold boats and in 1966 developed the first all-welded production aluminum fishing boat. After Jason graduated from Oklahoma State University in the early 90’s, he went to work for Aluma-Weld Boat Company. After 25 years of primarily building jon boats the company was averaging around 2.5 million dollars in annual sales. He started out as a sales rep. and drove 100,000 miles a year calling on dealers, opening new accounts and working trade shows. Over the first four years, he became the sales manager and developed dozens of new models from the ground up, some of which became the largest, fastest, and most innovative aluminum fishing boats on the market. Jason canceled over half of our existing dealer network and rebuilt it with stronger relationships, better service, and greater expectations.

Over a nine year period he went from Sales Rep., to Sales Manager, to Production Manager, to Marketing Manager, to eventually Senior Vice-President. He created a totally new dealer/rep. program, negotiated annual contracts with the Steel Workers Union (piece rate program), started OSHA and EPA programs, sold and constructed commercially-rated boats to the government, computerized the production facility as production manager, negotiated contracts with all the suppliers, sold and shipped boats overseas to the Netherlands/Japan as well as Canada and Mexico, developed all of the marketing programs and bought all of the advertising. Jason did all of the marketing/advertising, oversaw all sales, and production schedules every day.

Jason also planned and hosted an annual boat show where he brought in over 150 dealers and their families, provided professional entertainment, explained dealer programs and financing, and wrote up half of the business for the year. He also bought space at the Bass Masters Classic and eventually had two of his pro-staffers finish in the top fifteen or better. Over this same period of time, he negotiated multi-million dollar contracts with Brunswick and Yamaha Motors.
When they changed the name of the company to Xpress Boats, Jason created new logos, brochures, and commercials. He conducted meeting with the Japanese to explain his marketing plans, and showed them how the company sustained a yearly growth rate of over 16%.

During this time the company had numerous buyout offers, and when the company did finally decide to sell in 2001, Xpress had become the fourth largest aluminum boat manufacturer in the United States, one of the most registered boats in the southern part of the country, the second largest buyer of Yamaha outboards in America, and had constructed a new plant over four football fields long with over two hundred employees. We ran two to three shifts a day, six days a week. This was all accomplished through vision, listening, marketing, and by constructing a team of young individuals with character, trained to have the same passion for the product as Jason did.

When the company sold, Jason decided to pursue his true obsession; hunting.  Jason has hunted his entire life and comes from a long line of hunters. He learned at Xpress Boats how to develop marketing plans, create brand awareness, as well as drive customers to the product. Jason knew if he could do this for Xpress, he could do it for other companies as well. Television was how he had reached the masses before and it is how he would do it again. So, in 2001 Jason started Powerhouse Promotions with the desire to create entertaining outdoor programs, buy broad ranges of airtime, reach millions of households and eventually try to develop his own products.  His first program was The Hunter’s Journal, which has become one of the longest running and most popular hunting programs in America. The second program, Final Approach TV, was the first 52 week all waterfowl program in America, and has since become a 26 week program made up of America's elite team of waterfowlers, renamed Waterfowler TV. Powerhouse now produces six nationally aired programs with three more in the works, DVDs that are sold in every major box store and commercials that air on every outdoor network. Jason negotiates airtime and produces programs that air on Versus, Outdoor Channel, Fox, MAN, Pursuit Channel, Sportsman’s Channel, Wild TV, Charter, Comcast, etc.