West Marine’s wholesale and business-to-business division, known as West Marine Pro, caters primarily to boatyards, boat maintenance professionals, and other suppliers. They also have various military and emergency responder contracts.
During my tenure at West Marine, I created and updated the promotional banners on the West Marine Pro homepage. I created separate promotional banners for the desktop and mobile experience, to provide a tailored experience for each platform.
We didn’t have much to work with as far as what could go in the homepage banners. The content slot accepted images, alt text, and links; HTML or CSS customization wasn’t possible. As a result, I focused on building each banner’s promotional messaging and call-to-action button into the image itself. I set up Photoshop templates to ensure consistency over time, and adjusted the template as needed.
I chose font sizes on the larger side and often used semi-bold to heavy font weights to improve readability. Many of the West Marine Pro customers are older, so the marketing material was tailored to their needs.
I also maintained a large library of vendor logos, and made sure that they were always color-correct. For marketing copy, I stuck with West Marine Blue, black, or white for the best contrast against the background.
