Marketing: Are we ok, or do we need help?

[mjrob]

It made me very sad to read mrjob's post. We have been TRYING to talk our LDS into doing some of the things that require mostly time and little money (recognizing that money can be quite tight) and we have never gotten any buy-in at all.

It's my experience, with the dive shops we have in the Seattle area, that most of them are like spiderwebs. A sullen spider sits in the middle of a small, dark web and gets more and more morose because he doesn't catch anything.

Please, please get your local shops to read this stuff. You're right, there is a wealth of "spiderweb" shops out there. Those spiders are going to sit in the middle of that web until one of two things happens: 1) they start working to recruit new customers, or, b. the web collapses.

---------- Post added January 16th, 2014 at 03:12 PM ----------

And thinking about being "in the Caribbean (or Australia or Florida or wherever) today".

Indeed. And we just sent a group of 30 to Coz this morning. Why did I fail to jump on that plane?

 

[SeaHorse81]

It's my experience, with the dive shops we have in the Seattle area, that most of them are like spiderwebs. A sullen spider sits in the middle of a small, dark web and gets more and more morose because he doesn't catch anything.

This is too often the face of diving to the general community. I also believe too many shops manage to convey the message, "Hey, I really want you to spend money on my stuff," rather than, "Hey, I've got great products, services and opportunities (that you'll really want to spend your money on)." The hard sell is very off-putting, yet that's the approach I most often see.

 

[Lost down under]

I can tell you this: pretty much nobody walks in a dive shop with the intention of not buying anything. Often times, the more they talk, the more they buy. Not always, but the odds are in your favor.

I'd agree with you, I've sent a fair few $$$ my LDS way because we developed a relationship as 'friends', beyond an air card (because it worked out cheaper for me) my LDS has never pushed a sale on to me and even recommended getting certain items online because they can't compete and don't want to do me over.

Another point I'd like to make is that as a whole we all need to promote local diving but to do that we need a change in attitude and in the way we deliver our training. Instead of getting excited about the things we can 'see' underwater in distant lands we need to get excited about blowing bubbles treating diving as the highly skilled sport it used to be. Why is low vis seen as a bad thing? we should promote and be excited for the challenge. 90% of the diving I do is because I bloody love being underwater I don't really care what I see I just think blowing bubbles is cool, my best mate dived in tropical waters once and my local once he no longer dives because 'it wont get any better than where he trained". Due to the dumbed down nature of certain agencies in dubious stores the challenge aspect has been lost.

I realise I'm not really offering any solutions here and in truth I'm preaching to the choir, I think there's plenty that the industry as a whole can do but we have enough catchphrases and gimmicks being pumped out by the training agencies and suppliers we don't need another layer.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Hey, it's not about being fair, it's about marketing! Seriously, that's a pretty entertaining fo-paw, if you ask me.

You are, however, correct in your summation of member benefits. I challenged them to have someone call and sell me a renewal. Two weeks later, no word.

---------- Post added January 14th, 2014 at 12:45 PM ----------

There sure is a lot of information in this thread, some of it really good. Honestly, I try not to get bogged down in the theorems and formulae of marketing because there’s just too much to do. But I get out of bed in the morning thinking about marketing. I also treat this as a business. Businesses make money, hobbies cost money. There are a lot of hobbyists in the scuba industry. By the way, I’m comfortable with that term.

Does marketing cost? Absolutely. Does it pay? Done right, yes, it does. Do businesses need a source of capital for startup and to get a solid marketing plan in place? Yep, they do. But it doesn’t have to be $275,000. It can be and it can grow to that, but you gotta start somewhere. I’m hoping to share some of what we do with everyone with the goal of helping us all bring new divers into the industry and retaining existing ones. The numbers prove that there are many, many people who want to experience scuba diving, so I have no doubt the market exists. We can prove that.

RJP noted: Seeing as households earning >$100,000 comprise roughly 15% of the US population, what we see is that 2.1% of 15% of US households are an attractive target for "the scuba industry." That's 0.31% of US households... less than one-third of one-percent.

Numbers provided to us as survey results from both of the largest certifying agencies in the world are slightly more succinct and strikingly similar. Of the people they’ve surveyed, about 30% say they’d like to try scuba diving. Less than one percent of them ever do. We see that as 29 points of opportunity. Look at it this way: if we got that number (people experiencing scuba—if we must through “Discover” or “Try” scuba) up to, say, five percent and we were to capture 20% of them and make them divers, our business would more than double (I was a journalism/pr major, not math, but that’s pretty close). Would that be good for everyone?

To explain my aversion to the single pool session try-it “courses” (not to mention the dreaded and often scary “resort” courses), scuba is a “bucket list” item for many people. If they get in a pool, don scuba gear, breathe under water for 20 minutes and then get back out of the pool, many of them have “done it.” I’d rather convince them to take an open water course, really experience diving and go from there.

But here's how some things work for us:

Before I leave for work, I put on a shirt embroidered with our company logo. I wear them all the time and people ask me about our stores when they see them. I drive to work in my truck with the oval “Ford” emblem painted as a dive flag. People comment on that.I've been known to hand people caps with our logo on them.

Yesterday morning, I walked in one of our stores at 7:45 and there were four lap swimmers in the pool, all of them divers who own gear purchased here and have traveled with us multiple times. They get in early before the “Mommy and Me” infant swim lessons start. Some days it’s Aqua Zumba as well, which is really loud but it brings people in. Pools are expensive to maintain and their surfaces always need to be disturbed. Flat water creates zero cash flow. I think about that. You don’t have a pool? This is all going to be much more difficult for you. It can be done, it’s just harder.

As I walked in the door (after parking in the far reaches of the gravel lot, not the concrete lot—that’s for customers), Ali, our travel coordinator (who also does retail sales—we all do) was behind the counter emailing information to customers. I asked her what we were going to do that day and she enthusiastically replied, “We’re sellin’ stuff!” She thinks about that. Everybody does. It’s an attitude we cultivate and reward. Part of marketing is attitude—it’s the first part.

Does all marketing/advertising cost money? No. Some of it just takes time—which is, of course, money; it’s just not cash. My experience is that pretty much everyone has some time they can utilize for marketing, even if they think they can’t afford to spend cash.

What sorts of things can you do with time? Some things we do are community outreach. We do swim safety and scuba presentations for schools, churches, civic organizations, clubs—pretty much anyone who’ll have us. And most of those folks are always looking for people to do presentations. We also participate in community events like parades and festivals (not free but pretty cheap). Health fairs, both corporate and community are other opportunities. You can also volunteer your expertise at the “consultant” level for news programs, soft-news or local happenings programs, etc. And be sure to write and send press releases about events, trips, milestones (Joe Scuba is now an Instructor Certifier for XXX agency, Jim Scuba just made his 2000^th scuba dive, Jill Scuba just returned from a dive trip to Cuba, Scooba Booba presented a shark awareness program to Mrs. Brown’s third grade remedial reading class, Scooba Looba is training students in Oxford University’s marine biology to dive in preparation for their Save the World project) because, again, your local newspaper or television station may need some “fill” that day. Or they may be truly interested. Get involved in the community. We’ve hosted Top Doc’s events honoring outstanding physicians, business-to-business breakfast club meetings, water rescue team appreciation nights and a national sales meeting for one of our equipment vendors.

With time and some cash, you can promote events. We just had Alex Antonieu from Fins Attached in one of our stores to do a presentation on shark finning and the marine environment. 67 people and one television station showed up. We made the 10 o’clock news. It really didn’t cost a lot to do that and he’ll be in our second store in a few weeks to do the same thing. One of our local dive clubs is hosting their monthly meeting in one of our stores next week, using our conference room and then hopping in the pool, just for fun. We’ll provide some refreshments and, chances are, sell some things to them. What diver can go in a dive store and not find something they want or need?

Encourage your vendors to show up for a customer appreciation day. They can present new (or old) products, meet your customers—who are really their customers—and, with luck, provide a raffle or giveaway item that will help boost attendance. We throw a big annual party with a band, face painters and balloon benders, food vendor(s), an “open house,” and multiple vendors with display tables/booths and all-day seminars, including upcoming travel destinations. Again, publicity and a crowd can generate publicity for you. Don’t be afraid to ask for sponsorship dollars from your vendors to participate. They may not give you any, but you never know unless you ask.

We do pay for a lot of advertising. We do billboards (both electronic and static), radio ads, television ads, lots of internet and social media work, lots of high quality printed brochures in the stores. One of our commercials runs on the big HD screen at the Century Link Arena in Omaha at Creighton University basketball games, University of Nebraska hockey games, concerts, the Olympic Swim Trials, volleyball games, etc. We are training morning drive radio personalities to dive and sending them on our trips, currently one to Cozumel. We get more mileage out of their banter and excitement on the air than our paid radio ads. And, by the way, radio ads do work for us…very well. We do morning drive time for swim lessons for parents driving their kids to school, scuba on sports talk and both on a wrap-up show after NU Cornhusker Football games—believe it or not, there are a LOT of Husker fans in Nebraska. Media buys are not cheap and need to be carefully considered for content and run times, but they do work. We do very little print media any more other than some local publications and magazines directed to young mothers. Those are pretty affordable but most print ads these days don’t seem to generate much attention or sales. Our company vehicles are all logoed and kept clean. Our store signs are the tallest allowed by local ordinances and are colorful and well-designed. Everything we can put a logo on has one. Branding, baby.

We also have a world-class zoo with an amazing aquarium. You won’t be surprised to know that, in return for some foundation donations, free air fills for their volunteer diver program and co-marketing for events, we have our name on an interactive coral reef play station for kids.

We do pre and post-trip parties with refreshments, power-point presentations, shirt and ticket distribution (we do shirts as a part of the package for every trip and print a few extras. You might see them on locals in Coz, the Bay Islands, the Philippines, Australia, Cuba…you get the picture). And speaking of pictures, all post-trip parties have photo contests where you can win…drum roll, please…shirts with our logos on them!

So, like I said, we believe in marketing. And there are lots of other things we do. I’ll be happy to share them with you because I firmly believe that more divers create more opportunity for all of us. Come visit, steal all the ideas, brochures, etc. that you want. And share your ideas with us. We’re constantly looking for new approaches. Like I said, I get up in the morning thinking about marketing.

We’ve done pretty well doing what we do in this realm and we’d be happy to have you come see how it’s working. We’ll be thrilled to meet you. I’ll give you everything we do and you can put your logo on it.

Now we can talk about the wonderful world of vendor relations…

---------- Post added January 15th, 2014 at 12:58 PM ----------

Seriously? I killed this thread?

Everything in this thread is EXACTLY what I was talking about.
I wish there were more shops like you
So, radio works eh?
I knew it.
Great post!

E

 

[RJP]

So, radio works eh?
I knew it.

Radio is a medium. It doesnt "work" in and of itself. Ads are run via a medium. Ads either "work" or "don't work." The channel is just the pipe.

 

[mjrob]

Radio is a medium. It doesnt "work" in and of itself. Ads are run via a medium. Ads either "work" or "don't work." The channel is just the pipe.

Yes, but my point here is that radio is a pretty good "pipe" to start with...so long as you have something to sell. I'm not going to say that simply running radio ads will triple your business; it won't. If your shop looks worn, you and your people look (are) worn and you don't have a great attitude, bringing people in won't help. In fact, it might hurt.

However, if you and your store look, feel and act sharp, people will be curious and interested. And you can get into radio relatively affordably. Can you invest $1000 a month in an effort to improve your sales? Depending on your market, that might get you some pretty decent spots. It can't hurt to listen to an account exec's pitch. And if you want us to take a look at their proposal for you, we'll gladly do so.

Here's a little trick you may already know: take pictures of your store--inside and out. Then look at them on your computer (not that little screen on your phone). You'll likely see some things that can be cleaned, straightened, re-merchandised or thrown away. You see the same things every day, so you're used to it. Having a static shot of various views of your operation will let you see things more clearly.

Effective marketing is a process.

 

[The Chairman]

The thing I find refreshing about MJ's approach is that it's self actuating. He's not relying on anyone else to market DiVentures for him but the peeps who work for him. I read it on LinkedIn all the time... "Wouldn't be great if we got a celebrity to speak for us" or "Can DEMA do this for us?" Dive businesses, from the lowly LDS to manufacturers are looking for some white knight to make things right for them. Make no doubt about it: your white knight is you and your organization.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Yes, but my point here is that radio is a pretty good "pipe" to start with...so long as you have something to sell. I'm not going to say that simply running radio ads will triple your business; it won't. If your shop looks worn, you and your people look (are) worn and you don't have a great attitude, bringing people in won't help. In fact, it might hurt.

However, if you and your store look, feel and act sharp, people will be curious and interested. And you can get into radio relatively affordably. Can you invest $1000 a month in an effort to improve your sales? Depending on your market, that might get you some pretty decent spots. It can't hurt to listen to an account exec's pitch. And if you want us to take a look at their proposal for you, we'll gladly do so.

Here's a little trick you may already know: take pictures of your store--inside and out. Then look at them on your computer (not that little screen on your phone). You'll likely see some things that can be cleaned, straightened, re-merchandised or thrown away. You see the same things every day, so you're used to it. Having a static shot of various views of your operation will let you see things more clearly.

Effective marketing is a process.

I know first hand from when I did some radio ads that it really helps (and they told me this) to have a reason for the customer to come in. Just a blanket ad like "We are a great dive shop, come in and check us out sometime" is nice but doesn't necessarily give a person reason to make a point to go into your store. If your ad has advertised specials or advertises a special event along with "we are a great store" then people who might have wanted to try scuba will have an incentive to get in there.
In my case I traded labor for airbrushing and lettering several radio station vehicles so I didn't have any out of pocket money to shell out instead it was time, but time is money. The nice thing about this particular media group was that they owned 4 stations, a rock station, country, am talk radio, and an oldies station, so I decided to run ads on the three that I felt covered my target group the best.
I must say it worked pretty good.

 

[The Chairman]

Eric,

That's true for any ad in any medium. We are often given generic looking ads here on ScubaBoard and then people complain when they don't do what they want them to. We can only provide you with the audience. It's up to YOU to get them to click on the ad. Ads that blend in, have no call to action or that are simply lame just won't be effective on ScubaBoard or anywhere else. We've had some clients who have had the same ad up for years. When we suggest that new ads would increase their effectiveness, we are greeted with a "yeah, sure... I'll get right on it" but then they never do. Whatever the medium, you've got to give people a reason to overcome their inertia and follow through.

 

[mjrob]

And don't forget that's part of what you're paying for. If the account exec can't help you (a lot) with creativity, calls to action and quality copywriting, you need to find someone who can. Help get them excited and they'll be better at conveying that in their spots. And listen to them. There are too many people--in all businesses--who know more than anyone else. These folks do this professionally and, chances are, they'll come up with some good ideas. If you've not done media buys before and want some help, pm me and I'll give it a shot.