The biggest marketing problem in oilfield right now isn't sales. It's hiring.
The Gulf Coast's oilfield and marine companies are losing the recruiting battle. Older deckhands and roustabouts are aging out, younger applicants don't know the industry exists, and out-of-state agencies pitch you LinkedIn lead gen for a problem that lives on Facebook in Lafourche Parish.
Recruiting is the real bottleneck
22-year-olds in Lafourche, Terrebonne, and St. Mary parishes don't follow you, don't know what you do, and don't know what the work pays. That's a marketing problem, not an HR problem.
Your fleet site is your credibility
Oil majors, public agencies, and prime contractors judge you by your site. If it looks like 2008, they wonder what else hasn't been updated.
Generic agencies don't know the work
An OSV is not a workboat. A roustabout is not a deckhand. Most marketing agencies can't tell you the difference, which is why their copy lands flat.
You've been burned before
An out-of-town shop cashed your retainer, posted some stock photos of pipelines, and disappeared. You're done with that.
The Louisiana Oilfield & Marine Operator's Marketing Playbook
Five chapters on selling to majors, recruiting hands in a brutal labor market, and the HSE story buyers actually trust.
Read the playbookFree to read. Updated for 2026.
Three pillars built for oilfield and marine companies.
We focus on three things and do them well - websites, social content, and video. Recruiting is woven through all three because that's the lead pain point for Gulf Coast operators.
Fleet & capability websites
Vessel pages with full specs. Service capability pages organized by what charterers and prime contractors actually look for. Career pages that show pay, schedule, and progression honestly. Mobile-first design because port managers and applicants check sites from the dock. Same approach behind Adriatic Marine, Crosby Tugs, Waterline Design, and Gulfstream Services.
Social content for buyers and applicants
LinkedIn content for the operations and procurement audience. Instagram and Facebook content for the recruiting audience - built around your boats, rigs, crews, and culture so 22-year-olds in Lafourche, Terrebonne, and St. Mary parishes know who you are before they apply.
Video - fleet, safety culture, recruiting
Fleet walkthroughs that put a prospect on the boat without leaving their desk. Safety culture reels that signal what kind of operator you are. Drone work on vessels in the Gulf. Recruiting B-roll shot on real boats and rigs that gets used for years.
Fabrication, rigging, and equipment work
Plenty of oilfield and marine operators also run a fabrication shop, a rigging division, or an equipment rental line, and that side of the business sells to procurement rather than to an operator. It needs product and capability pages, spec sheets, and an RFQ path instead of a services overview.
Eight oilfield, marine, and OSV builds. One agency.
Every site below was designed, written, and shipped by Make Waves. Click any thumbnail to see the live build.
The problem: A Dynamic Positioning OSV operator with serious capability but a website that didn't reflect the scale or sophistication of the fleet.
What we built: A fleet-led site with vessel-by-vessel spec pages, DP capability framing, and a clear path for charterers to inquire.
The problem: A 1936 family-owned Louisiana fuel distributor whose online presence didn't carry the weight of nearly a century in business.
What we built: A modern site that leads with the family story, services by customer type, and easy account contact for commercial buyers.
The problem: Forty years of marine towing experience, and a site that wasn't winning the credibility race against bigger national operators.
What we built: A capability-first build with fleet detail, service area maps, and recruiting baked in from the homepage down.
Web design, video, social media. Pick your wave.
Ripple gets you started.
Make Waves is the one most clients pick.
Tsunami goes all-in.
Ripple
Get on the grid, consistently.
- 8 posts / month (2× weekly)
- Client-provided photos
- Graphics + curated captions, 1 revision each
- 2 platforms (FB, LinkedIn, or IG)
- Quarterly analytics, hashtag strategy, heat map
Make Waves
Original content, captured monthly.
- 10 posts / month (8 photo + 2 reels)
- Monthly content capture (photo + video)
- Graphics + photo content
- 3 platforms · Reels only reposted to TikTok
- Quarterly analytics, hashtag strategy, heat map
Tsunami
Always-on engagement and crisis support.
- 16 posts / month (8 photo/graphic + 8 reels)
- Story reposts
- 2 monthly capture sessions
- 3 platforms · Reels only reposted to TikTok
- Quarterly strategy meeting
- Dedicated account manager + crisis coaching
Not included on any tier: account creation, account monitoring, paid ads, stories (Ripple/Make Waves), professional video capture (Ripple/Make Waves), crisis & community engagement (Ripple/Make Waves), strategy calls (Ripple).
Travel: flat per-mile rate beyond a 25-mile radius · 50-mile cap unless quoted separately.