What the #MiMCrowd has been up to so far this year

It has been a busy start to the year for Marketing in Maritime. 

We’ve launched the new MiMbership programme on the MiM Portal, welcomed more marketers into the #MiMCrowd, hosted our first live MiM-Masterclass, brought people together at Posidonia and Seawork, and kept the conversation going online. 

Not bad for H1. 

And while there has been a lot going on, the thread running through all of it has been simple: maritime marketers need more places to learn, connect, swap ideas and talk honestly about the work we’re all doing. 

Because marketing in this industry is brilliant. It is also complicated, commercial, technical, relationship-led and, at times, a little bit “can you just make this look nice by tomorrow?”. 

We see you. 

First stop: Posidonia 

Our first live MiM-Masterclass took place at Posidonia, and it was a big moment for us. 

The session sold out, became oversubscribed, and ended up with a waiting list. A lovely problem to have, even if we would have liked to squeeze everyone in. 

The topic was event mastery for maritime marketers. Very fitting, given that most of the room had either just come from a stand, were heading to a meeting, or had already done several laps of the exhibition floor. 

The session looked at how events can work harder for the business. Not just how many badges were scanned, or how full the diary looked, but how marketing can help set clear objectives, shape the pre-event plan, support sales conversations and prove what happened afterwards. 

Because events take up serious budget. They take time, energy and a lot of planning. If marketing is expected to show the value, marketing needs to be involved properly from the start. 

Rebecca Bridgen, host of the MiM-Matters podcast and founder of Innov8 Social, moderated the session and brought out brilliant insight from the panel. The conversation covered event objectives, planning, comms, the sales and marketing relationship, lead follow-up, AI, business card scanning tools and the all-important question of what actually happens after everyone gets back to their desk. 

A huge thank you to everyone who joined us, and to the brilliant people and organisations who supported the session, including Rebecca Bridgen, Innov8 Social, Eva Margrethe Hessen, TradeWinds, Sidsel Norvik, Nor-Shipping, Karen Martin, ShipMoney, Andy Ford, Wake Media, Nicole Lyons, Wärtsilä and Etc.Branding. 

Nico Röper summed it up very nicely after the session: 

“There is nothing else like the #MiMCrowd to bring marketing together, share expertise and knowledge. It is a great initiative and I enjoyed the session.” 

We will absolutely take that. 

Posidonia Happy Hours 

While we were in Athens, we also joined Seatrade Maritime for the Posidonia Happy Hours. 

These were relaxed post-event networking sessions designed to give people a chance to unwind, raise a glass and keep the conversations going after a busy day at the show. 

And yes, it was windy. Very windy. 

But the #MiMCrowd still showed up. 

That is one of the things we love most about this community. People come for the networking, of course, but they stay for the proper conversations. The ones about what is working, what is not, what teams are struggling with, what customers are asking for and what marketing needs to do next. 

Sometimes you need a panel session. Sometimes you need a coffee. Sometimes you need nibbles, drinks and a slightly windswept chat with someone who gets it. 

Seawork: taking MiM to Southampton 

Next up was Seawork, where we hosted our first #MiMCrowd event at the show. 

With support from McKenna Townsend and WaveCrest Talent, we brought marketers, sales teams and commercial peers together in a relaxed seaside setting after a busy day in Southampton. 

It was informal, but the conversations were anything but throwaway. 

Seawork gave us a chance to open Marketing in Maritime to more people across the wider maritime and marine industry. It was a reminder that the same challenges come up again and again, whether you are working in shipping, marine technology, services, ports, media, events or somewhere in between. 

• How do we get closer to customers? 
• How do we build stronger brands in niche markets? 
• How do we make sales and marketing work better together? 
• How do we create content that is actually useful, not just another post because the calendar says so? 

No one has every answer neatly packaged. That is why getting people together matters. 

Q2 MiM-Masterclass: brand vs performance 

We then brought the #MiMCrowd back online for our Q2 MiM-Masterclass: Brand vs performance. The metrics you need to be tracking. 

The panel featured Nick Chubb, Adel Raslan, Namrata Nadkarni and Sam Rasdall, and the discussion got going very quickly. 

The big question was whether brand vs performance is really a debate, or whether it is more of a reporting, budgeting and confidence issue. In other words, are we arguing about the wrong thing? 

The panel looked at the metrics that matter at leadership level, where attribution helps, where it starts to fall apart, and what brand building really looks like in niche B2B markets like maritime. 

There was plenty of healthy disagreement, which is exactly what we want from a MiM-Masterclass. Nobody needs another webinar where everyone politely nods at the same slide. 

The discussion kept coming back to the realities of this industry: small audiences, long sales cycles, careful buying decisions and a lot of trust involved. That makes marketing harder to measure in a clean, simple way. It also makes it more important. 

Short-term pipeline matters. Of course it does. But so does being known, remembered and trusted before a buyer is ready to speak to you. 

The panel also opened up a bigger conversation around LinkedIn and personal brand. How people build visibility, credibility and trust is changing, and we already know this needs its own follow-up session... So yes, we are planning more!

What we are seeing across the #MiMCrowd?

Across Posidonia, Seawork and our online masterclasses, one thing is very clear: there is a real appetite for better marketing in maritime. 

Better does not mean louder. It does not mean more content for the sake of it. 

It definitely does not mean “just use AI” as the answer to every problem. 

It means marketing that is closer to the business. Marketing that understands customers. Marketing that supports sales without disappearing behind it. Marketing that builds trust, proves value and helps maritime businesses grow with more confidence. 

That is what MiM is here for. 💙⚓

We are a community, yes. And we love getting everyone together in a room. But this is also about building capability across the industry. Practical sessions, useful resources, expert-led discussions, honest conversations and a network of people who understand the slightly chaotic, always-moving world of maritime marketing. 

The new MiM Programme is only just getting started, and there is plenty more to come. 

Next stop: SMM. 

The MiM-Lounge will be back, this time in Hamburg, with Lloyd’s Maritime Academy, Wake Media and Bray Leino. 

Come and find us, grab a coffee, meet the #MiMCrowd and take a proper breather between meetings. 

Looking for a way to properly unwind? Of course, we’ll be hosting one of our legendary MiM Meets. Music, food, drinks, and most importantly, you, our community.

We’ll see you there.