Marketing within the SCUBA industry hasn't changed since the origin of the sport - we're here to change that.

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Marketing

Run your SCUBA business like the Sea Shepherds

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 [...]

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What do Apple, Amazon and Google have in common?

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 [...]

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Building value through continuing education

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 [...]

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How you can perform better than the big names in SCUBA at Social Media Marketing in 3 easy steps

If you’re an independent SCUBA instructor, dive resort operator or dive center owner, you’ve probably said (or at least thought) that you can’t market as effectively as the big names (PADI, NAUI, Aqualung, SCUBAPro, etc) simply due to your size and marketing budget. “Size matters not.” – Yoda The beauty of online marketing in the [...]

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Attracting the next generation of divers

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 [...]

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Do SCUBA Gear Manufacturers Need to Connect with the End User?

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 [...]

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Suunto Beta: Radical Redesign or Minor Facelift?

Suunto is heavily promoting their new beta site they expect to launch in early 2010. The tactic of launching a “beta” site available to anyone is typically done for two purposes: Build hype by allowing visitors to see the hot new thing that’s “coming soon” Builds the ability to say “sorry, it’s still in beta” [...]

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Google’s been busy (and I’m psychic)

Wednesday night I was boring my wife with my incoherent ramblings that Google was going to either destroy or take over Yelp. Thursday morning, it looks like Google is trying to buy Yelp. Why This is Important In case you’ve missed it, Google seems to like the concept of local search. This is perfect for [...]

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