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

[The Chairman]

Everything is EGO driven.

You say this only because it's true. Years ago I was asked by a company about their dive computers. They wanted to know if I thought Tech divers would buy it. My response was maybe not, but they aren't your target audience: tech diver wannabes are you target market. They agreed and sold lots of their dive computers. People will throw a lot of money into an endeavor without spending any effort to actually achieve it. There's nothing wrong with that. It's good for the economy and it helps keep the costs down for the few that will invest time and effort to achieve the goals.

Scuba needs to learn how to appeal to people's egos while at the same time being easily achievable.

 

[RJP]

Oh btw, I do understand the point of the coke/pepsi example and there is truth in it. However, we can’t lose sight of consumers like me, a lifetime junk-food connoisseur. You can put a half dozen unlabeled colas in front of me and I will identify them all by taste. Nobody can fool me by putting a pepsi label on a coke (I can also do this with a lot of whiskeys but I probably shouldn’t brag about that). Selling cola to me will be a different effort than selling a cola to someone who is new to soda pop.

The study was not about whether you can identify the taste of one versus another. The study demonstrates that knowing which one you're drinking makes you feel different - not from a "taste" standpoint, but from a "self esteem" standpoint.

Another famous mentor once said "THE PRODUCT is simply 'what's in the box' but THE BRAND tells you how you will FEEL when you use it."

---------- Post added March 14th, 2014 at 11:04 AM ----------

You say this only because it's true.

Please don't repeat your slanderous comment to my ad agency colleagues...

:d

 

[Wookie]

Please don't repeat your slanderous comment to my ad agency colleagues...

Ummmm. Those comments were in writing.

 

[RJP]

Ummmm. Those comments were in writing.

Pheww! Once they are on an internet forum everyone will assume they are false!

 

[mdb]

Pheww! Once they are on an internet forum everyone will assume they are false!

RJP:

You are a pro. You are dealing here with a bunch of amateurs, myself included. Please keep posting.

Your information is interesting and informative.

 

[RJP]

Ummmm. Those comments were in writing.

Libel, slander, whatever...

:d

 

[Wookie]

Libel, slander, whatever...

Bingo.

It's interesting that this went to a discussion of ego. Something Pete posted this morning struck me between the eyes.

You say this only because it's true. Years ago I was asked by a company about their dive computers. They wanted to know if I thought Tech divers would buy it. My response was maybe not, but they aren't your target audience: tech diver wannabes are you target market. They agreed and sold lots of their dive computers. People will throw a lot of money into an endeavor without spending any effort to actually achieve it. There's nothing wrong with that. It's good for the economy and it helps keep the costs down for the few that will invest time and effort to achieve the goals.

Scuba needs to learn how to appeal to people's egos while at the same time being easily achievable.

I don't allow recreational doubles divers on a regular sport trip. Could I? Sure, they are a pain in the ass, but I could. I strenuously discourage sidemount divers, because I find it innapropriate on a liveaboard. Could I welcome them? Sure. A number of folks have written me to tell me what an ass I am, and someone's gear choice is their choice yadaa yada yada. Many of these fine PMers never paid to dive in their lives aside from quarry fees, but that's not the point. The point is that my ego has driven away some of the folks I would otherwise reach out to as customers. Even for someone who could give a damn about sidemount, my discussion (which I would keep private if I could only turn back the week) might turn them off. Why? Because they don't want my ego interfering with their ego on the boat. Sadly, big egos are a boat captain and instructor thing. Maybe they are prevalent in the diving industry. Maybe what's wrong with diving is that (in this kinder and gentler teens) customers don't want someone else to be in charge. In the "satisfy my wants, desires, and whims" of the current age, there is no place for a crusty old ass of a captain who thinks that's it's my liability, my rules, my boat.

Maybe that's what's wrong with the dive industry. There's a lot of evidence pointing that way. Just try to tell any of the members of the Board of DEMA how things should be..... The dive shop who thinks his customer is always right may very well do well.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Maybe that's what's wrong with the dive industry. There's a lot of evidence pointing that way. Just try to tell any of members of the Board of DEMA how things should be ..... The dive shop who thinks his customer is always right may very well do well.

I still don't understand what DEMA has to do with anything relating to scuba marketing. The only time I ever see or hear DEMA mentioned is on scubaboard. The way they're talked about here I'm beginning to think they are some sort of dive mafia that people have to pay some sort of protection money to to be able to do business.
I never hear them mentioned at my LDS, or at any dive site, or by anybody I dive with, or any other dive circle I'm associated with.

I don't get their function or why they even exist.
How does DEMA affect me as an every day diver just doing my thing?
How do they make their money, who pays them?

 

[flots am]

I don't get their function or why they even exist.
How does DEMA affect me as an every day diver just doing my thing?
How do they make their money, who pays them?

The dive shops pay a membership fee.

In exchange they get a window sticker.

Some get awards they can display in the store.

DEMA supposedly markets SCUBA to consumers, but if they do, they're completely ineffective.

As near as I can tell, they're like AAA in the age of the internet. People used to sign up for AAA to get maps and triptychs. Now they use Google and GPSs. Dive shops used to go to the DEMA show to see what's new in SCUBA. Now they can just hang out and wait for the info to show up in email, direct from the manufacturer/vendor.

AFAIK, DEMA is pretty much completely useless. If I were a dive shop, I'd save my money.

 

[drrich2]

I don't allow recreational doubles divers on a regular sport trip. Could I? Sure, they are a pain in the ass, but I could. I strenuously discourage sidemount divers, because I find it innapropriate on a liveaboard. Could I welcome them? Sure.

If they are a pain, dealing with doubles & side-mount divers could interfere with your operation in a way that would impair your service to the much larger, singles-diving portion of your customer base, for whatever reason. If that's true, then perhaps you've identified a target demographic (a subset of single tank recreational divers) to customize your product experience to, and that makes your product exclusive to that demographic.

Not automatically bad business. And if I understand correctly you do allow large tanks, so it's not like you're trying to keep dive times short by only allowing AL80's or some such, and you allow pony's as a backup for emergencies.

Reminds me of a contentious thread at the other end of the spectrum awhile back; someone dared to propose on this forum that Shearwater divert a few brain cells to providing...wait for it...air integration in their dive computers, thus broadening their appeal to a large demographic of the diving public (those divers who like A.I. computers). Some current users thought that was a bad idea.

Richard.