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

[flots am]

The best businesses engage with their customers and focus on their needs. We must adapt to their behavior or they will pass us by. If the hyper-connected vacationer going to Costa Rica is constantly on their cell phone, what does that tell us?

It tells us that they are either too anxious to become fully involved in the moment and that the next activity should be fun and non-threatening in a cell-phone dead zone.

flots

 

[Doppler]

If the hyper-connected vacationer going to Costa Rica is constantly on their cell phone, what does that tell us?

It depends on the quality of their experience and how much their mobile company is charging for roaming fees.

And why not share with us some tactics (drill down from strategy) to stay relevant?

Send from a Samsung Galaxy 3 Note

 

[RJP]

If the hyper-connected vacationer going to Costa Rica is constantly on their cell phone, what does that tell us?

They also use toilet paper several times a day, which tells us just about as much as their cell phone use.

We're at the stage now where thinking the internet is "the only thing" is just as absurd as 10 years ago when people regarded the internet as "a separate thing."

 

[Julieofthesea]

It depends on the quality of their experience and how much their mobile company is charging for roaming fees.

And why not share with us some tactics (drill down from strategy) to stay relevant?

Send from a Samsung Galaxy 3 Note

I like that you asked about how to be relevant with the Samsung Galaxy Signature.

The consumer has A.D.D. - like we mentioned. Nobody has time to watch a commercial or look at an ad. We’ve learned to either fast forward or tune it out. Brands can be relevant by reacting to this trend. Instead of forcing interaction onto consumers, get in and be a part of what’s going on. Samsung Galaxy set a fine example of this at the Oscars on Sunday with the celebrity selfie.

If you want your business to be relevant then you need to listen to your customers. What are they doing? Why? When? Once you figure out their problems, then it’s your job to come up with solutions. Solve your customer’s problems. Give them what THEY want, not what YOU want to give them.

A dive business can benefit from making the customer feel understood. This is actually the secret of any good relationship.

Our customers don’t have any time. We want to make their scuba classes longer.
Our customers are online. We don’t like online scuba classes.
Our customers are hyper-connected to their cell phone. We tell them to shut off their phone.

Do you think our customers feel understood? Have we solved their problems?

Do you see the point of my rhetorical questions? (that means you don't really have to answer them)

I think becoming a scuba diver is ego driven. We become divers to enhance our identity. Now, with this beautiful thing called social media, a new diver can publish his entire entry-to-scuba-diving process. He’s publishing his scuba status to his friends and family, and guess what, he looks like a stud. A LDS could offer up a hashtag for students. Ask students to use this hashtag when posting about scuba training. If they ever have any questions that come up about diving, have them use the hashtag, and an instructor will answer.

Now, when they are incessantly posting, at least they are posting about you. This is one way to become part of the conversation. A side benefit is that you gain exposure to the students extended audience.

I hope everyone is putting their logo on photos of students and tagging them (this was in my blog post I was talking about earlier). A scuba student naturally wants to tell the world what they are doing. It’s the LDS’s job to make that easy... and brand it while your there.

I could go on and on. Is this helpful or boring? Let me know (but be nice).

Oh wait, I do go on and on my blog. Please click here and sign up.
Helping scuba businesses get big with better marketing is my goal. If you want to discuss, share or ask me more marketing questions, use #bigdivebiz . If any scuba agencies or manufactures have ideas to help scuba businesses grow please use #bigdivebiz .




(see what I did there?)

 

[cerich]

Do you see the point of my rhetorical questions? (that means you don't really have to answer them)

I think becoming a scuba diver is ego driven.
I could go on and on. Is this helpful or boring? Let me know (but be nice).

Did you REALLY just do that??? REALLY? I am ROFLMAO (that means ROLLING ON FLOOR LAUGHING MY ARSE OFF). I really am, Doppler is a well respected member of both the Scubaboard community and the dive industry in general, a published author, speaker, marketing expert (in and out of the dive field) and Instructor, yet a person who wants to drum up business for her marketing efforts and presents herself as an expert insults by patronizing and condescending towards a MUCH more established expert who is talking to you on HIS TRIBES turf. FAIL.

You "think" the scuba diver is ego driven? I don't and I've taught a few thousand of them (scuba divers). Now I do teach some disciplines (that means knowledge in concentration in one field) where I have certainly seen more participants ego driven, however most divers aren't them, most divers are regular folks. regardless, I get to "think", I would hire a "marketing" expert because they KNOW. What market study leads you to believe this?

Not helpful, nor boring, sad actually.

 

[Julieofthesea]

Did you REALLY just do that??? REALLY? I am ROFLMAO (that means ROLLING ON FLOOR LAUGHING MY ARSE OFF). I really am, Doppler is a well respected member of both the Scubaboard community and the dive industry in general, a published author, speaker, marketing expert (in and out of the dive field) and Instructor, yet a person who wants to drum up business for her marketing efforts and presents herself as an expert insults by patronizing and condescending towards a MUCH more established expert who is talking to you on HIS TRIBES turf. FAIL.

You "think" the scuba diver is ego driven? I don't and I've taught a few thousand of them (scuba divers). Now I do teach some disciplines (that means knowledge in concentration in one field) where I have certainly seen more participants ego driven, however most divers aren't them, most divers are regular folks. regardless, I get to "think", I would hire a "marketing" expert because they KNOW. What market study leads you to believe this?

Not helpful, nor boring, sad actually.

I mean no disrespect to Doppler. I tried to answer his question in a helpful way. I truly want to help and care deeply about my mission. I'm sorry if I seemed patronizing or condescending. If he's a marketing expert and was just asking the question to bait me, then I missed that. I didn't think this was a place to be set up and then beat up. Guess I was wrong. The rhetorical question answered with a toilet paper comment was what I was referring to. Apologies for not being clear with that.

 

[SeaHorse81]

This is going to be off-topic but if I post it anywhere else, it won’t make any sense.

I’ve been watching this thread since it began and have contributed to it a couple of times myself. I have been puzzled all along at the negativity directed toward OP at times, because she has been unfailingly polite, informative and respectful even in the face of being baited, dismissed and demeaned. When I first noticed this happening, I went back to review her posts to see what I had missed that others have been responding so badly to. I couldn’t find anything that explained what I was seeing.

It can’t be because she’s promoting a business because lots of people on SB are doing that, and it’s probably one of the things that keeps SB afloat.

I don’t think it’s because she’s proposing anything outrageous since I can’t see anything she’s posted that strikes me that way.

It’s not because she’s being obnoxious because she hasn’t been at all. Some of the other people on the thread, however, have been practically hostile. She has never fired back.

Maybe I missed something, but her reply to Doppler didn’t strike me as negative in any way, and I like him a lot. If he’s a marketing expert, I didn’t know it, and it appears OP didn’t either. I can’t see the big deal in that.

I don’t know OP, but I haven’t seen her post anything that helps me understand the tone of so many of the posts here. I’m discouraged that someone with no apparent bad spirit can end up being treated this way. The idea of disagreeing without being disagreeable is a good one, and it’s been absent from this thread to a degree that really detracts from the discussion.

 

[Wookie]

This is going to be off-topic but if I post it anywhere else, it won’t make any sense.

I’ve been watching this thread since it began and have contributed to it a couple of times myself. I have been puzzled all along at the negativity directed toward OP at times, because she has been unfailingly polite, informative and respectful even in the face of being baited, dismissed and demeaned. When I first noticed this happening, I went back to review her posts to see what I had missed that others have been responding so badly to. I couldn’t find anything that explained what I was seeing.

It can’t be because she’s promoting a business because lots of people on SB are doing that, and it’s probably one of the things that keeps SB afloat.

I don’t think it’s because she’s proposing anything outrageous since I can’t see anything she’s posted that strikes me that way.

It’s not because she’s being obnoxious because she hasn’t been at all. Some of the other people on the thread, however, have been practically hostile. She has never fired back.

Maybe I missed something, but her reply to Doppler didn’t strike me as negative in any way, and I like him a lot. If he’s a marketing expert, I didn’t know it, and it appears OP didn’t either. I can’t see the big deal in that.

I don’t know OP, but I haven’t seen her post anything that helps me understand the tone of so many of the posts here. I’m discouraged that someone with no apparent bad spirit can end up being treated this way. The idea of disagreeing without being disagreeable is a good one, and it’s been absent from this thread to a degree that really detracts from the discussion.

Yes. I don't necessarily agree with her approach, but I see no cause for all of the negative waves.

 

[shoredivr]

This is going to be off-topic but if I post it anywhere else, it won’t make any sense.

I’ve been watching this thread since it began and have contributed to it a couple of times myself. I have been puzzled all along at the negativity directed toward OP at times, because she has been unfailingly polite, informative and respectful even in the face of being baited, dismissed and demeaned. When I first noticed this happening, I went back to review her posts to see what I had missed that others have been responding so badly to. I couldn’t find anything that explained what I was seeing.

It can’t be because she’s promoting a business because lots of people on SB are doing that, and it’s probably one of the things that keeps SB afloat.

I don’t think it’s because she’s proposing anything outrageous since I can’t see anything she’s posted that strikes me that way.

It’s not because she’s being obnoxious because she hasn’t been at all. Some of the other people on the thread, however, have been practically hostile. She has never fired back.

Maybe I missed something, but her reply to Doppler didn’t strike me as negative in any way, and I like him a lot. If he’s a marketing expert, I didn’t know it, and it appears OP didn’t either. I can’t see the big deal in that.

I don’t know OP, but I haven’t seen her post anything that helps me understand the tone of so many of the posts here. I’m discouraged that someone with no apparent bad spirit can end up being treated this way. The idea of disagreeing without being disagreeable is a good one, and it’s been absent from this thread to a degree that really detracts from the discussion.

Negative responses can happen when:
a) the OP is too close to the truth
b) they thought of something you didn't
c) they are not part of the established way of thinking
d) they are not part of an established group of alphas.

I've been enjoying the OP's concepts.

 

[drrich2]

Sometimes people respond to what they hear, not necessarily only what you say. And what they hear will be colored by inference - 'reading between the lines.' I imagine most of us are vulnerable to this to some degree.

Ironically, advertisers can sometimes use that very thing to convey messages to consumers without stating as facts things that would constitute false advertising if stated as facts. How many ads with a product shown with a beautiful woman seem to imply that if you buy this product, you'll get a woman like this? (Or man, if it's a perfume, etc...).

I think becoming a scuba diver is ego driven. We become divers to enhance our identity.

It would be easy to construe this as stating scuba dives are egotistical and trying to use scuba to show off, boast, etc... A person can derive enjoyment from 'personal enrichment/enhancement' by getting into something fun and exciting, and share it, without being a narcissist. I'm not saying I agree or disagree with the contention; just that it may've been misunderstood a bit.

It brings up an interesting point, though. Most of us enjoy diving, whether your thing is viewing reefs, wildlife or wrecks, 'adventure' diving great depths or caves, etc... But aside from what, do you also draw some small measure of self-esteem, or positive sense of identity, from 'being a diver?'

In other words, is it meaningful to you to 'be a diver,' apart from the fun you get during the dives themselves?

If so, that aspect may be a potential target for a marketing angle.

Richard.