As SCUBA instructors, our job functions often include teacher, marriage counselor (for the couples in the class) and therapist (for people taking the class because they once almost drowned). An often overlooked skill set is that of a career counselor. In order to build our programs or dive centers, we need staff, therefore we need to teach as if every student wants to become a SCUBA instructor.

Push Every Student Through the SCUBA System

I’m not advocating that we create barely passable instructor generation machines, but we need to start thinking that every student that signs up for our Open Water SCUBA classes actually wants to become a SCUBA Instructor.

I didn’t know it when I signed up for my Open Water SCUBA course, but on my first pool dive, I knew I wanted to become an instructor. Luckily, I was in an environment that made that dream a reality.

The Ski Instructor Who Hates Their Job

Imagine going to a ski resort for your first time. You’re excited, otherwise you wouldn’t spend the $100+ for the lift ticket and gear rental. You decide to take a lesson so you are less likely to kill yourself. The instructor acts bored, complains about their pay and doesn’t really want to be there.

You probably won’t enjoy yourself very much and aren’t very likely to learn the skills you need.

Now imagine someone who is excited. A little too excited. It’s a beautiful day, they’re going to show you the best parts of the mountain and they invite you back when done. They don’t talk about the money, they simply love what they’re doing.

It would be next to impossible to keep the idea out of your head, “Wow, being a ski instructor would be incredible! Ski every day, meet lots of people, travel to all the best resorts!”

Plant the Open Water SCUBA Instructor Seed Early by Simply Loving Your Job

If you are having a great time while teaching and have a staff that obviously loves what they’re doing, you will see increases in your continuing education ratios all the way to the top of the SCUBA hierarchy.

This Works for SCUBA Resorts Too

A few years ago, I traveled to Cozumel and went diving with SCUBA Tony. Although my wife and I have an unofficial rule of not revisiting the same destination twice, we often discuss returning to Cozumel to dive with Tony because he loves diving. Not only does he love diving, but when talking about the island, we could tell he loves Cozumel. He made the trip enjoyable, his personality showed a passion for his business and it pays off in a steady stream of referral business.

Whenever I visit Hawaii (I have friends who live there, so this doesn’t count in my repeat-SCUBA-trips rule), I try to dive with Keller Laros and Jack’s Diving Locker because they enjoy what they’re doing and share that enjoyment with me.

On the other hand, we traveled to Fiji last year and have less interest in returning because the staff didn’t have the same level of enthusiasm and passion.

Start the SCUBA Career Path Early

The PADI teaching system requires promoting continuing education while teaching. Although it may not be appropriate to promote the Instructor Development Course during an Open Water SCUBA Diver course, why not start mentioning it in the Advanced Open Water SCUBA Diver course?

How quickly do you start identifying potential instructor candidates?

Photo via larryzou@

Last night, Google announced their Ocean Showcase, an extra layer for their free Google Earth product.

The Ocean Showcase features a National Geographic tour, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute’s US West Coast discoveries, Eco-Nova’s Shipwreck Central, dive sites from WannaDive and 3D models of wrecks in the Great Lakes from NOAA.

Integrate Google Into Your SCUBA Store

I envision a modern dive center incorporating a large projection screen with computer attached (you should have this for teaching anyway) with a wireless mouse and keyboard.

As your customers come in asking about diving in new and exotic locations, let them “drive” Google Earth on a tour of the locations they’re interested in.

This is unique, cool, modern and will get people talking about you. And might just make them want to come back to play some more.

Are you using interactive media in your dive center?

Photo via Google LatLong

I had a great opportunity fall into my lap a couple of days ago. A local, avid diver contacted me to let me know that he would be travelling to Ft. Myers, Florida this weekend for work, but would be free either Friday afternoon or Monday evening. He was interested in going into a dive center and discussing marketing. We will then put together a basic marketing plan, provide regular support and guidance and see what we can do in about 5 or 6 months.

So, if you are a dive center owner or employee in the Ft. Myers, Florida area, can be available Friday afternoon AND Monday evening (since we’re not sure exactly which will work out yet) and are interested in having your marketing efforts analyzed and some one-on-one guidance given, please fill out the form below.

The results of the interview will be posted on the site as well as the action plan. The action plan will be easy, even for the non-tech-savvy and I will provide support along the way. At the end of our little experiment, we will publish results. You must agree to these terms to be considered. The cut-off to sign up is Thursday evening. If no one signs up, our “reporter” will pick at random.

So, if you’re interested, sign up here:

We're sorry, this opportunity has passed.

Regardless of your stance on their politics and mission, the Sea Shepherds are running their operation with the one thing many dive centers I’ve visited lack: passion.

If you are a SCUBA instructor or dive shop owner who is holding on to your “business” just because you love to dive please stop.

If you are in the SCUBA business because you love diving instead of love teaching others to dive or love taking others diving in exotic destinations you are a hobbyist and you are probably more of a hindrance to the SCUBA industry than a help.

Sea Shepherds have Passion

Again, you may love or hate them, but you can’t argue that they are passionate about what they do. They risk life and limb in harsh conditions against a huge industry for whales.

Do you have that same passion for the business of SCUBA?

Return on Passion (ROP)

I consider myself an environmentalist. Three or four years ago, had I asked my Greenpeace and Sierra Club member friends if they knew who the Sea Shepherds were, I would have received a blank stare.

Now, they are a household term. They’re about to begin  their third season on Animal Planet. They even have an entire South Park episode “dedicated” to them.

What has been their Return on Passion? An almost $2 million dollar vessel in the form of the Ady Gil. $5 million from Bob Barker (with plans for more).

Lack of Passion Hurts Us All

If you are in the business of SCUBA because you like to dive, you are doing your SCUBA professional compatriots a disservice because you are not the best SCUBA instructor, boat operator, divemaster or SCUBA store owner possible. Your customers will not enjoy themselves as much and the entire industry suffers.

Have Passion

You are a gateway to the most beautiful places on this planet. You have the potential to open the eyes, hearts and minds of hundreds, if not thousands of people every year. You live in or travel to some of the most breathtaking locations.

Be passionate about the business of SCUBA, it’s the best business in the world.

Photo via guano

In my effort to return to the starting point of Internet Marketing for your SCUBA business, a gift fell into my lap in the form of a prime example of why we need to include Internet marketing in our business plan.

Over in the DiversOne Forum, there is a discussion regarding Oceanic getting into the retail business. I’ve been watching this thread since it first popped up and was amazed to see the frustration turn from Oceanic to LeisurePro. LP has been called a religious organization and has been blamed with people losing their jobs.

What Apple, Amazon and Google have in common

They innovate. They keep up. They lead. Despite what some people will say, they are always trying to impress the consumer.

Are you doing the same in your SCUBA classes, in your SCUBA store or at your dive resort?

I don’t claim to be the best-traveled individual out there, but in all of my travels, I stop by SCUBA businesses. It makes me feel like I’ve taken a step back into the 1970s. This isn’t a good thing.

In the US, “Nearly two-thirds of adults claim they go online every day, the majority for more than one hour” according to eMarketer. These numbers will only continue to rise.

We need to move our SCUBA business online as much as we can. Obviously, people still need to come to us to complete SCUBA certifications, fill air and have equipment serviced, but why don’t we spend our marketing budget (or for some, create a marketing budget) for use online? It’s cost effective, reaches a very wide audience and is fast.

Should we add LeisurePro to the ranks of Apple, Amazon and Google?

They don’t reach as many people, so I don’t think they can be considered on the same level, but they are one of the big game-changers in the SCUBA industry. Instead of looking at them and hating them, try to learn from them, see what you could be doing too.

On a more personal note, I’m an Aqualung guy and LeisurePro does not out-price my local Aqualung dive centers, so maybe you should be placing blame with the manufacturers, not LeisurePro.

In case you need a little more persuasion, take a look at this great presentation I’ve kept bookmarked for a few months:

Are you ready?

It’s no wonder PADI places such an emphasis on continuing education ratios for their Course Director Training Course: it is one of your best returns on investment while making your divers exceptionally strong.

Loss Leaders

In my experience, I saw myself and other new Open Water SCUBA Instructors come out of their Instructor Examination to immediately jump into private open water SCUBA classes. At most dive centers I’ve spoken with, private classes cost more and in turn pay the instructor more than group classes.

The problem I’ve run into and heard from many others is that sometimes the private class is complete in three days. Other times it takes three months. When it takes three days, your return on (time) investment is incredible. When it takes three months, you’ve taken a decent loss (or worked for pennies per hour).

High Margin SCUBA Classes

On the opposite side are continuing education classes such as Advanced, Rescue and Specialties. If properly scheduled, you can combine a specialty with a core class trip and pocket a decent profit quickly and easily.

Quality SCUBA Divers

Many people I ran into at DEMA were complaining that the new, more relaxed (I prefer to think of them as modern) are pumping out poor quality SCUBA divers. Many instructors I’ve talked to believe that divers aren’t “safe” until they’ve been through the Rescue level.

So why aren’t you selling new students on the Rescue Diver course?

Most dive centers sell people on one class at a time, starting with Open Water. Why not sell them on a package that takes them through the courses you think are necessary to make them safe divers? If you look at them on a per-class basis, your profit margins is low on some and high on others, but if you look at it as a complete package, your margins are far more attractive.

Tell your new SCUBA divers right off the bat they need to go beyond Open Water and see what happens.

Are you selling complete training packages or just single classes?

Photo via Nemo’s Great Uncle

Our industry is old and getting older. That’s not a good thing.

According to DEMA’s Annual Activity Report (PDF link, stats on p. 37), the average age of SCUBA divers in the US is 45 years old. Several people at the DEMA show explained that age actually goes up every year, showing that our industry is aging.

Older Divers are Better Divers

I’ve seen this all over the various SCUBA forums and it bothers me. The argument is this:

• Older divers have more money to spend on classes/equipment/travel
• Older divers are beyond the “I’m invincible” phase, so they are safer divers
• I’m old too and I like talking about yesteryear with other old people

How about these points?

• Older divers have 45 years worth of hobbies and activities fighting for their limited time
• Older divers are fully entrenched in the rat race of working 50+ hour weeks and saving their money for a hopeful retirement
• Older divers have probably taken most of the classes they plan to and bought the gear they need
• Older divers have more yes’ on their medical forms, making the concept of Dive Today impractical

Younger Divers are Our Future

Like them or not, younger divers are the future of this industry (duh). They are the reason this industry is shrinking: activities like kite boarding, snowboarding, bungee jumping and simply travelling are beating us to them.

I am a skier, snowboarder and mountain biker and can personally verify that getting started with any of these sports is on par with SCUBA. Yet I keep hearing the argument, usually from SCUBA industry professionals, that we can’t compete with those sports on price. You are wrong. That is an excuse. SCUBA diving is BETTER than any of those other sports, so cost is not an issue.

Get With the Program

Here’s a few ideas I’ve used to successfully attract younger divers:

• Affiliate with the local snow sports and bike store. If younger, adventurous people are going there, get them to come to you also. Even if you’re paying out 15% of your class fee, work them into continuing education, equipment and travel to recoup those costs.
• Go to your local athletic club (I’ve had better luck at private clubs as opposed to 24 Hour Fitness or Bally’s) and offer a Bubblemaker/Seal Team (or equivalent) daycare. Parents work out and drop their kids off to play with SCUBA for an hour or two. Get your new/eager instructors to conduct these for free as a way to build up their classes. If a kid wants to learn to dive, at least one of their parents will too.
• Talk to homeschooled kids (and their parents). Find out if there is a state-subsidized home school organization. I helped to run a program with one of these organizations and it was incredible. Our class price went up by almost $100, but the cost to the student after the subsidy was less than $50! It was a great deal all around.
• Start a college program! I’ll leave it at that for now, since this is a big topic.

Do these four things and you will need a staff of at least 8 instructors, all who will be making decent money from teaching SCUBA diving.

What are you doing to attract younger divers?

This article is part of our DEMA Expo 2009 round-up.

At what point on the SCUBA food chain do people need to start connecting? As a SCUBA instructor, dive center or SCUBA certification agency, we encourage divers to find buddies to go diving with, but do we need even more connection, and if so, where?

The Suunto Example

Yesterday, I was discussing the beta version of Suunto’s new web site. I was a bit surprised to see that Suunto is on Twitter and Facebook, which leads me to believe they understand internet marketing at least a little bit. Comments have been going back and forth, but mostly pointing out that this new “beta” site is not the most impressive update.

As a large brand, I would expect them to have at least someone on staff who monitors chatter about them online. If they did, the comments would be an excellent opportunity to share their vision and perhaps get some free user testing. Companies like Comcast, JetBlue and Zillow all monitor the usage of their brand online, why can’t companies like NAUI, Aqualung and Suunto?

Certification Agency Brand Monitoring

SDI/TDI has a sub-forum on SCUBA Board that they monitor closely. Several PADI employees subscribe to my RSS to email newsletter and have commented on Facebook to my posts. But if someone says on Twitter “interested in learning how to dive”, why don’t any of the certification agencies jump on that?

Dive Center Online Marketing

As a test, months ago I sent out a tweet expressing my interest in learning to dive in Austin, TX. I have a friend who thinks that Austin is far cooler and tech savvy than where I’m located, but my test proved her wrong. Not one person offered a suggestion and no dive centers contacted me directly. That should have been an easy victory by simply setting a search alert for “Austin SCUBA” and checking it once a day (or more frequently if staffing allows).

Whose job is it?

Some may think SCUBA certification agencies and SCUBA equipment manufacturers have larger budgets, so they should be reaching out. Others think that training and equipment sales are a local business, so it should be the local SCUBA diving centers and SCUBA instructors. Or perhaps there’s some gray area in the middle where everyone should be doing it (bingo!)

What do you think?

Photo via ~Prescott

I had a surprisingly large number of people contact me after yesterdays article regarding digital underwater photography. The most common issue was that people didn’t understand the emphasis on photography in the pool. “Pools are boring” and “I don’t have my own pool that I can make exciting” were two recurring themes.

Make Pool Photography Fun

There are two great benefits to shooting photos while on SCUBA in the pool:

1. You can allow your entry level students to do it, which just sold your Underwater Photographer specialty course.
2. It allows your students to familiarize themselves with their camera equipment in a comfortable environment.

Allow me to share a great technique that some of you may be using, but it sounds like many other aren’t. I saw my first variation of this idea with Kevin McDonnell when he used a roll of green plastic garden fence rolled in a spiral with fake fish attached. It was cheesy, but it worked well.

I saw the modern version of this idea at DEMA. The upgraded idea is to take pond forms or kids rock climbing walls that can be painted to more closely resemble your local dive conditions and decorated with fish and other fake marine life. Here are a few “reefs” I found that I like:

Add some fish like these:

Or some coral like this:

And suddenly you have a portable reef for your digital underwater photography classes.

Some of the reef bases I shared are definitely large, but should be able to fit into any truck bed. This should allow any instructor, regardless of pool ownership, to have their own reef for digital underwater photography classes.

Just like most aspects of SCUBA, you can spend a small fortune on this project. I recommend starting small since you can always add on.

Do you have an artificial reef? Let me know and I’ll feature it here!

In case you weren’t aware, I love internet marketing. It’s inexpensive, relatively easy and allows you to reach a almost limitless amount SCUBA diving customers. Like knowing to take off your snorkel on a manta night dive, you must be aware of your surroundings to be most effective with your SCUBA marketing.

I was recently helping two different consulting customers of mine to help strategize their marketing for Black Friday, Cyber Monday and continuing into the holiday season.

One customer is a team of independent SCUBA instructors. Their clientele are mostly employees of high-tech companies. Since they don’t have SCUBA gear to sell, only SCUBA instruction, their goals are geared towards driving class sign ups. Since their clientele is a tech-savvy group, we determined an email marketing campaign targeting Cyber Monday would be a beneficial technique. We scheduled a series of emails starting several weeks ago through today showing off class package discounts.

Results so far: We’re barely half way through Cyber Monday in their time zone and they already have all of their scheduled classed through March booked with lengthy waiting lists.

My other customer is a dive center. Their clientele is not as tech savvy due to limited high-speed internet in their community. Their goal is to both drive class sign ups as well as retail sales. We determined that a Black Friday promotion would be a great opportunity. Since their clientele doesn’t have the best access to online media, we determined a direct mail and street signage campaign would be best. Again, mailers started going out several weeks ago. They did limited hours of operation on Friday. Almost every piece of gear was discounted slightly, but they included pool training with everything. This will hopefully increase their instruction business while building value instead of deeply discounting.

Friday’s results: it was the best Black Friday this SCUBA diving center had ever had. To be fair, they had never done a Black Friday promotion in the past, but it still shows that a little marketing goes a long way.

The Lesson

You need to understand your customer. Although internet marketing is faster, easier to track and more cost-effective, sometimes traditional tools such as direct mail can find your customer more effectively.

Did you run any Black Friday or Cyber Monday promotions? Did they help?

While attending the DEMA Expo in Orlando, I sat in on a seminar regarding web design 101. I’ve been doing web design since before someone thought of adding a 101 to it, so I didn’t honestly expect too much out of it.

Four Basic Buttons

The single best recommendation that came out of the seminar was the use of compelling call-to-action tools on your SCUBA site. A call-to-action is what gets the consumer to convert from a site visitor to an actual customer. Also, each call to action can be linked to the others to increase your site “stickiness” (how long someone stays on your site and looks around). I will list the buttons based on which SCUBA diver they should target since your verbiage may vary.

1. The wannabe SCUBA diver. Verbiage like “Dive today”, “Explore the Underwater World” or “Classes starting weekly” are all good ideas. This call-to-action is designed to draw in the person who is not certified, but is interested in the possibility. These are your new SCUBA divers. Show them how easy/fast/extreme/safe it is to get into diving.
2. The vacation diver. “Upcoming trips” or “Exotic dive locations” are examples of possible verbiage. These are the people you will be marketing your SCUBA diving trips to. Pictures, calendars and testimonials work well on this page. We need to realize that some divers don’t want to be local divers and create a section just for them.
3. The local diver. Pick a specialty (or a few) that apply to your local area and use that as your call to action. A calendar of local events, including classes, SCUBA club meetings, equipment sales and local excursions benefit this group. Local divers tend to buy more gear because they use it more frequently. Most importantly, they are your local word of mouth marketing.
4. The future professional SCUBA diving. “Go Pro” or “Earn a living underwater” are examples of a call-to-action for the future Divemaster or SCUBA instructor. The potential profit for a dive center by enticing someone to go all the way into professional levels is enormous, from both gear sales and education, but also the future divers they bring back to your shop as students.

If you can also tie these four areas together effectively, you may be able to move your SCUBA divers from one category to another more easily. The vacation diver may be interested in a local dive (if they can find that information easily) and then they could become a local diver as well. You get the idea.

How ‘Bout a SCUBA Diving Blog?

Your web site should have a blog. They’re great for search engine optimization, but more importantly they give your visitors a reason to keep coming back because you are CONSTANTLY updating information. Give your entire staff access (feel free to moderate if you want) and let them share a pointer from a pool dive last night, the highlights of a local trip last weekend or pictures from your latest exotic SCUBA trip.

Advice to Make a Web Designer Cringe

For those of you who may have attended, there were two things that struck me as a bit off the mark. And yes, I may be being nit-picky on one of these two.

1. You can design your site yourself. I’m a fan of Henry Ford’s philosophy of paying his employees well enough to buy his cars. If you attempt to design your web site all on your own instead of paying a professional web designer, it will probably cost you more money, not be as effective for SEO and take more time to maintain PLUS now that web designer has less money to potentially spend in your SCUBA store.
2. Design your site in Powerpoint?! Not actually code it, just do the mock-up or wire-frame. I’m sorry, but no self-respecting web designer would design their site in Powerpoint. Microsoft Paint would be a better option, but real designers use tools like Photoshop or the new Mockingbird site.

Overall, I think there are some fairly good points, especially with the call-to-action buttons.

What have you done on your SCUBA site that is working well?

Over the years, I have helped many small business owners establish their brand. Branding isn’t just about logo creation, it is creating awareness of a brand. The best part is branding can be done very inexpensively At the DEMA Show in Orlando, PADI and DEMA both represented excellent examples of effective branding.

Blatant SCUBA Branding

PADI was the Goodyear Blimp of branding at DEMA. Take a look at the picture I stitched together showing off their booth:

The PADI booth at the DEMA SCUBA show

Here’s what PADI was doing right at DEMA:

• They were the largest booth. Sure, some may complain that a large booth just equals deep pockets, but they went vertical also. You could see the PADI booth pretty much anywhere on the expo floor.
• They appeared to have more employees there than any other booth. If you even paused to look at their booth, someone would greet you or at least let you know they had seen you and that they would be with you in a moment. I’ve been into empty dive centers where I have waited five minutes before being greeted.
• You could easily identify a PADI staff person by their matching red polo shirts. You knew where to get help. You knew who worked there. Even if they were out of the booth walking around or eating lunch, I saw them happily answering questions from people because people could tell they were part of PADI.
• In case you hadn’t noticed, the diver in the PADI logo is wearing red too…
• Their booth was very open, allowing quite a few people to meet with (and buy from) their PADI representatives.

To recap: people saw PADI everywhere. If someone had never heard of PADI before that, they would be able to tell you that PADI is red and blue and is “the way the world learns to dive.”

Subtle SCUBA Branding

Without giving too much away from my interview with Tom Ingram, the branding DEMA has done is something all members of the professional SCUBA diving community should stop and take note of.

Their actual DEMA booth presence was fairly subdued, but the incredible work they have done in the world of SCUBA branding is through the Be A Diver campaign. When we think of companies like Nike, Apple, NBC and Ford, we all have thoughts come to our mind of what those brands describe. DEMA is working to do the same thing with the Be A Diver campaign.

The Be A Diver program is designed simply to create awareness and determine joint marketing projects to encourage non-divers to become SCUBA divers.

There is a logo. There is a non-certification-agency-specific web site. There is generic information regarding classes, both locally and on vacation. There are TV and radio advertisements available for local dive centers to use and get matching marketing dollars to run.

It is a program I think all members of the professional SCUBA diving community need to stand behind because it is designed to create customers for us.

SCUBA Center Lessons

Here is a list of some basic recommendations for you to build your brand:

• Own your domain name and have all staff email run through it. When your instructors are emailing with their students, they shouldn’t be using an unprofessional, non-branded @aol.com type of email address.
• Have a logo professionally designed. I have referred to LogoWorks (owned by HP) with many satisfied customers. Packages start as low as $299 with their Silver package (I recommend the Gold personally), which should be affordable for most people. They design logos that will be compatible with any use you could imagine, so you shouldn’t need to go back to them ever again.
• A logo is especially important if you are in a saturated market and are still using your state rendered into a dive flag. If you’re the only (or biggest) game in town, however, that logo can be one of the most effective because people recognize the dive flag logo.
• Put your logo on everything (and grab your business name everywhere). Just like how I am “SCUBAMarketing” on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and a variety of other sites, you should own your presence everywhere you can. Regardless of what type of marketing communications you decide to use, your brand is consistent.

What are you doing to help establish your brand in your local SCUBA market?

With the announcement that NASA has found water in the form of ice on the Moon, I am patiently awaiting someone to write the first Moon Diver Distinctive Specialty Course.

There are enough random specialty courses out there, why couldn’t a course that combines Dry Suit (to simulate a space suit), Night (even though I know the moon gets light too, it’s space after all) and Ice Diving (since the water is still in ice form) make for a great Moon Diver course?

You’ve Lost It

Many of you are probably thinking, “Nick, you’ve lost it”. Yes, maybe a little. But there is a lesson we can learn from this.

For those of you who might not have the most exciting diving conditions (read: not tropical), pick the best aspect of diving in your local area and promote it!

Take Keller Laros for example. He is the Vice President and Co-Founder of Manta Pacific Research Foundation. He is crew at Jack’s Diving Locker in Kona, Hawaii. I’ve gone diving with him before, he’s a very entertaining guy.

Kona has some great diving already, but Keller took this to an extreme by authoring a Manta Ray Specialty Certification. Sure, anyone can go on a manta dive, but in Keller’s class you learn all about the manta’s.  Even as an instructor, I took this class several years ago and Keller’s knowledge and passion make this class worth whatever he asks for it.

Do I Need a Specialty?

You don’t need to go through all of the effort of writing and submitting a specialty course to your training agency, but it does add a nice little air of credibility to it that might help you get more students. Even without the specialty card though, proper enthusiasm and marketing can help introduce local divers to an aspect of your local dive area they may have never considered.

If you’ve written your own specialty, tell us about it below!

Sorry gang, for now you’re going to have to just watch the videos. I’ll provide transcriptions/bullet points when I’m back on a full keyboard.

DEMA Expo Day 3 Introduction

Click here to view the embedded video.

DEMA Expo Day 3 Summary

Click here to view the embedded video.

Let me apologize in advance: I’m beat. I walked the floor at least five or six times today, did several interviews and attended a few seminars. So for today, I’m going to share several of the videos I recorded using Qik on my iPhone. 3G (both AT&T and Sprint) seem to be rather slow in the Orlando area compared to back home, so the videos are a little choppy, but audio seems to be fine. One other thing to note: I need to practice aiming my iPhone at myself so you don’t just see my giant forehead

Pre-Show Entertainment by SCUBA Radio & The SCUBA Cowboy

I showed up a little early to the show, so had the pleasure of watching the SCUBA Cowboy perform with a few SCUBA Radio mermaids. It could have been worse.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Drop Zone: Dive In – Attracting Younger Divers

As someone with quite a few years of generational marketing research behind me, this seminar intrigued me. Francey at Full Spectrum Marketing presented a new joint venture project called Drop Zone: Dive In which is designed to help dive centers reach Generation X & Y. I think it’s an interesting idea and I look forward to seeing the movie. To be a member, which gets you access to a members-only blog to share best practices (amongst other things), it only costs $150/year, which includes a screen print setup for branded shirts. I don’t want shirts though, perhaps they’ll come out with a pricing model that reflects people such as myself that want to network and have access to the marketing materials, but don’t want shirts.

I apologize for the darkness of the videos, I was in the front row, but almost all of the lights were off in the room.

Click here to view the embedded video.

One point she made that I loved had to do with the concept that Generation Y doesn’t just “respect their elders”. This has been a long-time complaint I have learned, but Francey explained it beautifully. If you (a Boomer) constantly ask ME for help with your TV/VCR/Tivo/computer/ETC, we have become peers and you have lost your authority. Now, for someone who likes to exert their authority on others, that can be problematic. For those that believe in the esprit de corps style of leadership, peers are a good thing.

Jason Heller from DivePhotoGuide.com talks Social Network Marketing

Jason Heller from DivePhotoGuide.com is the DEMA resident expert at online marketing and gave a talk on using Social Networking for a local SCUBA diving business.

Click here to view the embedded video.

As I’ve discovered when teaching classes of my own, there are a few potential problems with teaching large groups of people about online marketing:

1. You’re speaking above the participant. If this is the case, odds are the participant feels extremely overwhelmed, calls it a fad and does nothing. Worst case, they believe the importance and pay someone through the nose for less-than-stellar service.
2. Your participant understands 75% of what you’re talking about. They may be able to go home and use the techniques mentioned (if they were able to write them down fast enough). Worst case, they are able to speak intelligently to an outside vendor and know when their money is being wasted.
3. Your participant understands 100% of what you’re talking about. My guess is there is a very small handful of these people attending DEMA Expo this year (judging by the lack of blogs, Facebook Pages and Twitter accounts being updated), so this is the best strategy for the presenter. Maybe some day this industry will be “with it” enough to offer an Advanced Social Networking class, but I think that’s a ways out.

Jason did a great job presenting and introduced himself to me on the floor a while later and is a genuinely nice guy.

Let me know how I can better report DEMA Expo 2009 for you in the comments below!

Dracula could make one hell of a dive store owner. Vampires are immortal, mysterious and quickly bend people to their ways. Since you can’t smell garlic underwater, the only real danger to Dracula would be a wooden spear through the heart. Without becoming one of the undead, let me highlight some of the vampire secrets to running a successful SCUBA store or program.

Suck Your Students In

In most vampire stories, the victim is almost always approached in a crowded environment (usually a party), then is pulled off on their own to be initiated.

Use this same approach! When attending group events (or even hosting your own), drop the hint about the extravagant, mysterious, unknown world that you are part of. They will want to know more, and that’s when you can get them in for a discover SCUBA-type event.

Bonus tip: if you carry a cell phone with a larger screen (such as an iPhone), have your best underwater shots handy to keep them distracted while you bite them.

Come Out At Night

Your job of SCUBA marketing doesn’t run 8-5, so come out when vampires do for some of your more effective marketing opportunities. Attend community events, host a dive club meeting and work on your online marketing. Utilize your normal business hours to provide industry-leading service to your customers and the hours of darkness to lure them back in.

Bonus tip: blog posts, Twitter updates and email marketing campaigns can be setup at night, but scheduled to run during the day when your daywalker customers may be more likely to see them.

Live Forever

Every good vampire knows they need a pupil or companion to help keep them going into infinity. Weed through your students and teach your best staff member how to help you. Nourish them with your blood: a successful dive shop, creative marketing or a well-established program. If you need a break or have a life emergency, your world doesn’t fall apart.

Bonus tip: vampires prefer to hunt in packs, so your well trained, passionate staff can help suck more students in.

Final Tip

You do live a mysterious, seductive life in the SCUBA industry since many people have not explored the underwater world as much as you. Be passionate about what you do, share that passion with others and they will be captivated for a lifetime.

Remember, you can’t smell garlic underwater!

This article is inspired by Halloween and is meant to be entertaining as well as provide some SCUBA marketing concepts.

Does the idea of a horde of Divemasters becoming Open Water SCUBA Instructors frighten you more than a gory zombie flick? Do new SCUBA divers saying they want to “go pro” creep you out more than Pee Wee Herman?

SCUBA Dive Center Owners Fear Con Ed More Than Frankenstein*

If there are more SCUBA diving professionals, there’s more competition, right? Competition is both scary and bad, so continuing education should not be encouraged! Forget that a larger staff means more word of mouth marketing, bigger classes and more SCUBA diving equipment and SCUBA vacations can be sold. Nevermind that you could be employing more people and sharing the underwater world with new SCUBA divers.

“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer.”

Fearing competition stifles innovation. Most dive centers I walk into look like a set out of Sea Hunt. Most dive center web sites look like they were designed by a fifth grader (back in 1995). Is this marketing to a modern SCUBA diver? I certainly hope not.

So give it a thought, what is it really that frightens you so much about promoting Continuing Education for your SCUBA divers?

*not an actual statistic

With airline baggage restrictions, are your SCUBA divers slowing their SCUBA equipment purchases in favor of just renting SCUBA gear at their destination? Are only your die-hard SCUBA divers buying more and more gear?

SCUBA Equipment IS Local

Your dive center is where your SCUBA diver comes to look and touch the gear they are interested in. Your SCUBA store is where they come when they have questions or need repairs. Your SCUBA shop is where your SCUBA diving students come for additional classes and to book their trips.

Maybe SCUBA Gear ISN’T Local

We need to differenciate between where our SCUBA divers live and where they’ll actually be SCUBA diving. Some people get certified purely for the ability to take that SCUBA certification with them on vacation, but never plan on diving at home. I live in the Pacific Northwest, so I see this frequently.

Aqualung’s Zima BCD is a great example of a SCUBA gear manufacturer understanding these differences. It rolls up. It weighs less than 4 and a half pounds. It’s weight integrated. Plenty of clips and storage. Best of all, MSRP is only $395, which makes it affordable even for the once- or twice-yearly vacation SCUBA diver. Heck, I want one for when I go on vacation.

Understand Your SCUBA Diver

I frequently run into one of the following situations:

1. I walk into a SCUBA shop and get no service for up to five minutes. I won’t buy gear there.
2. I walk into a SCUBA Shop and get bombarded by a pushy salesperson who puts down all of the gear I own and the items I was considering. I won’t buy gear there.

The bottom line is that we need to understand our SCUBA divers needs before we can offer insight into what might be best for them.

Are you seeing a decrease in sales due to airline baggage restrictions?

Do you run a SCUBA diving center, resort or large instructional program? Are you actively recruiting independent instructors? If not, you’re missing the boat.

The SCUBA industry frequently appears to have a closed door policy. Many dive centers I have visited appear to only work with SCUBA instructors that have “grown up” through their program. Other dive centers actually discourage their people from ever becoming SCUBA instructors so not to challenge their existing staff or SCUBA dive center.

Independent SCUBA Instructors Are Marketers

Sure, they may or may not have formal marketing training, but they are passionate about what they do. Passion builds excitement, which brings you customers. A student for an independent SCUBA instructor may make them a couple hundred dollars, but it makes you as a SCUBA store owner the potential for thousands more. Gear sales, continuing education and trips are all your benefits attached to every student your SCUBA instructors bring through the door.

Realistic Expectations

You can’t just let any independent SCUBA instructor off the street into your store, your home, to teach your potential customers without some pre-screening and no self-respecting independent SCUBA instructor would go to work with a SCUBA store without knowing some basics. The rest of the business world has job applications, requirements and interviews, you should utilize these tools in your SCUBA diving business.

A Multi-Tool for Your Toolbox

I am currently developing an independent SCUBA instructor recruiting workbook (as an ebook) that should be available within the next couple of weeks. It will include items like:

• Independent SCUBA instructor application form
  • Get some basic, yet necessary information from anyone wanting to teach for you.
• Independent SCUBA Instructor/SCUBA Diving Center Agreement of Understanding (benefits, pay, etc)
  • If you have your agreement in writing, it sets realistic expectations for your new independent contractor.
• Contract SCUBA Instructor/Sub-contractor Agreement of Understanding
  • Having a unified policy regarding pay, certification and any additional benefits down to Assistant Instructors and Divemasters builds unity amongst your entire staff.
• Promotion possibilities and procedures
  • Do you encourage people to get to higher rankings? How does an instructor qualify for any advancement?
• Assessment forms
  • Unfortunately, you can’t just take people at their word, you should assess their abilities. Let them know what your procedure entails.

This will be distributed as a PDF e-book and will have a variety of easy to use fields so you can customize your information for your specific situation.

Do you have a policy for bringing on instructors that you didn’t personally train?