When is the Right Time to Ask for Help?
This is Part 1 of our Ultimate Guide to Getting Help with Your SCUBA Marketing.
As SCUBA diving professionals, we regularly tell people never to dive without adequate training. There are inherent risks, there are pieces of knowledge that can’t just be picked up by trying it and it’s generally a bad idea.
So why are many of us so reluctant to ask for help?
Marketing your SCUBA business has inherent risks, there are pieces of knowledge you can’t just pick up by trying and it can be very expensive if done poorly.
The more open you are to asking for help, the more quickly and painlessly you can reach your goals.
Before I became a SCUBA instructor, I had to ask what student to instructor ratios for Junior Open Water are.
Before I landed a career in marketing, I had to ask my professors about international negotiation techniques.
Before I learned how to setup WordPress Multisite and develop WordPress themes and plugins, I had to attend local WordCamps.
Had I never asked the pertinent questions, I would not have gained the knowledge that allows me to run wildly successful online marketing campaigns as well as train others to do the same.
Why People Don’t Ask for Help
Some people resist asking for help out of pride. Others don’t ask because they’re stubborn.
I think many people in the SCUBA industry simply don’t realize they need help.
It’s too easy to blame slow business on the economy or the overall shrinking of our industry.
Yet there are dive centers in less than ideal markets who are succeeding, even expanding.
If you honestly think you can do everything, you’re crazy. Run your dive shop. Teach your open water students. Keep your shelves filled with inventory and your tanks filled and your compressor running. I can’t maintain a compressor, so I’ll come to you for that.
Do what you’re good at and get help for the other things.
How to Know You Need Help
Here are some basic questions to ask yourself in order to identify if you need help with any aspect of your SCUBA marketing:
- Does my website look like it was designed in the 90s?
- Am I using the default Blogger theme for my business website?
- Have I not updated my website in the last 3 months?
- Do I not rank in the top 10 in Google searches for “SCUBA + my city”?
- Does my business email end in @yahoo.com, @hotmail.com or @aol.com? (or really anything other than my website URL?)
- Am I not on Twitter, at least a little bit?
- Do I not have a Facebook Page, not just a Profile?
- Is my email newsletter still not setup?
- Is my location still unclaimed on Foursquare, Yelp and Google Places? (yes, there are others, but those are the big three)
- Do I not get an email every time my business name or “SCUBA + my city” shows up on the internet?
If you answered YES to any of the above, you need help.
You can do all of these things on your own. Just like anyone can buy SCUBA gear from Craigslist and go diving.
Some of these things are super simple. Just like removing and replacing a mask, yet people still choke their first time.
After this series, our team will continue to tell you how to do these things and more, but for some things it’s worth your time to ask for help.
Next time we’ll be helping you to identify what areas of your SCUBA marketing are actually worth the time and potential expense to get help with.
