Mary,

IF I owned the cat manufacturers, I'd focus on marketing in its broadest terms - starting with some research into target markets to establish if the potential demand really exists. Generating the demand is another approach - and well covered by previous contributors.

My take on it is that we do not own the manufacturers, so a more pertinent questions would be 'What can we sailors do to promote our sport?'

In the UK, cat sailing is usually a club-based activity, so I suggest the promotion starts there. We (Dee Sailing Club) are planning to do just that in our area (Wirral), in the following ways:

Open Days - walk up and ride. We organise one each year, with sailors lending gear and helms taking punters out for a spin. We often recruit crews in this manner, which is the start to getting them into the sport as helms.
Publicity in the local press - of Open Races and Open Days, or anything that can justify a photo of a cat flying a hull appearing in the paper. The local press is especially important because the readership live near the coast.
Advertise the Open Days in local Schools and Sailing Schools, as well as youth organisations such as the Scouts, Sea Cadets, and so on.
We'd like to attract windsurfers, since they are typically out of the same mould as cat sailors, and relatively cash-rich and have the time to enjoy themselves. One approach we'd like to try is to sail right next to their marine lake, under spinni power with a hull in the air - the only problem is shallow water on the sea-side of the retaining wall!

We should focus on what we can do at a local level - the makers will scale up when the demand comes! Either that or put the prices up!

Cheers
Simon