OP
And yet a film company they remained.
What does marketing do anyway?
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And yet a film company they remained.
very well written. I appreciate your willingness to contribute and I know you also need to drum up business and not give away to much info.
I've been thinking about a lot of the things posted and I'm still scratching my head about this.
How do I do the Morton Salt thing with air fills?
I've been thinking about a lot of the things posted and I'm still scratching my head about this.
How do I do the Morton Salt thing with air fills?
OP
after 7 comes 8:shocked2:
The rest is outstanding.
The rest is outstanding.
OP
Octopusprime
Contributor
First thing that I think is missed is pricing stratigy... Most when pricing for a service they ask how much time does it take me to preform the service.
So let's take open water certification for example. Most independents will say... It is 6 hr of pool and 8 hr open water, plus materials, entry... My time is worth x so here is my price. But they forget that over half of the time spent is finding people to fill seats. Morton salt says to maintain the number 1 salt mfg they need to do so much promotion and then price based on marketing plus mfg cost.
It is not about how sell the same product for more. It is how do you change previewed value. Morton salt has perceived value... They are consistant, perceived quality from brand awareness.
When your pricing your services you have to check competitors and their value. If a dive shop charges more maybe they can do a class any day of the week, value is flexibility. Maybe they have their own pool, multiple instructors, set class times, easy sign up, etc. I can not tell you how many instructors I tried to do a cert with and they want you to pay in advance but then you can not find a day to do dives that works for both of you.
if you were an instructor for a dive shop and all you had to do is show up and teach, no filling tanks, no taking payments, no finding students, how much is it worth? If you made $100 per head and allways had 6 students and open water weekend you did 3 classes of 6? Would $100 per student be good? Everything else is sales and marketing.
Any instructor that has to do open water for under $350 per student including entry, equipment, instruction can not show value and sell. If you can not show value and sell then you need to pay someone to do it for you which will increase you costs and price.
We offer a $35 credit to a past student for referral of new open water student. This is included in our costs to obtain a student. If we find on our own that $35 pays for events we do, travle expenses etc.
Short story ore you need to know ALL of your costs, plan time to promote yourself and learn what the value of you vs your competition. And hopefully your value is not that your the cheapest on the block. Do you really want a student that for every cert they call around and check price? Not me, I want a student that sees we can meet their need and sees our price is worth it.
So let's take open water certification for example. Most independents will say... It is 6 hr of pool and 8 hr open water, plus materials, entry... My time is worth x so here is my price. But they forget that over half of the time spent is finding people to fill seats. Morton salt says to maintain the number 1 salt mfg they need to do so much promotion and then price based on marketing plus mfg cost.
It is not about how sell the same product for more. It is how do you change previewed value. Morton salt has perceived value... They are consistant, perceived quality from brand awareness.
When your pricing your services you have to check competitors and their value. If a dive shop charges more maybe they can do a class any day of the week, value is flexibility. Maybe they have their own pool, multiple instructors, set class times, easy sign up, etc. I can not tell you how many instructors I tried to do a cert with and they want you to pay in advance but then you can not find a day to do dives that works for both of you.
if you were an instructor for a dive shop and all you had to do is show up and teach, no filling tanks, no taking payments, no finding students, how much is it worth? If you made $100 per head and allways had 6 students and open water weekend you did 3 classes of 6? Would $100 per student be good? Everything else is sales and marketing.
Any instructor that has to do open water for under $350 per student including entry, equipment, instruction can not show value and sell. If you can not show value and sell then you need to pay someone to do it for you which will increase you costs and price.
We offer a $35 credit to a past student for referral of new open water student. This is included in our costs to obtain a student. If we find on our own that $35 pays for events we do, travle expenses etc.
Short story ore you need to know ALL of your costs, plan time to promote yourself and learn what the value of you vs your competition. And hopefully your value is not that your the cheapest on the block. Do you really want a student that for every cert they call around and check price? Not me, I want a student that sees we can meet their need and sees our price is worth it.
tech_diver
Contributor
An excellent mini course on marketing...
So many marketing basics are just common sense. Find a need, become excellent at filling that need, find your customer, give that customer great value while generating a profit. I have dealt with hundreds of dive stores and I've found that each one is operating in an environment all it's own. The operator has to find what works on their specific planet. You can learn a lot by studying dive stores on other planets but if you're an inland store, your success will look very different than success in an island store. Focus on your local environment. If you are an internet retailer, the internet is your planet.
One thing I would caution about. No amount of marketing can convince me that a Chevy is a Lamborghini. It is important to determine what products are simply commodities and which are not. Generic toilet paper is not the same as brand name and I can tell the difference in randomized double blind wipe tests. I will pay a little more for a comfortable toilet experience while others might consider TP a commodity. No amount of packaging or sales pitch is going to affect the performance difference in TP to a connoisseur like me. Those products and services that are not commodities are the areas where you can outshine and outsell the competition. If you try to convince me that generic TP is the same as a 'luxury brand', I'll eventually find out it isn't true. Even if TP doesn't make a difference to you (you think it is a commodity), you need to know what's important to your customer.
It's been a long time since I posted something that had a toilet reference. My streak is over.
So many marketing basics are just common sense. Find a need, become excellent at filling that need, find your customer, give that customer great value while generating a profit. I have dealt with hundreds of dive stores and I've found that each one is operating in an environment all it's own. The operator has to find what works on their specific planet. You can learn a lot by studying dive stores on other planets but if you're an inland store, your success will look very different than success in an island store. Focus on your local environment. If you are an internet retailer, the internet is your planet.
One thing I would caution about. No amount of marketing can convince me that a Chevy is a Lamborghini. It is important to determine what products are simply commodities and which are not. Generic toilet paper is not the same as brand name and I can tell the difference in randomized double blind wipe tests. I will pay a little more for a comfortable toilet experience while others might consider TP a commodity. No amount of packaging or sales pitch is going to affect the performance difference in TP to a connoisseur like me. Those products and services that are not commodities are the areas where you can outshine and outsell the competition. If you try to convince me that generic TP is the same as a 'luxury brand', I'll eventually find out it isn't true. Even if TP doesn't make a difference to you (you think it is a commodity), you need to know what's important to your customer.
It's been a long time since I posted something that had a toilet reference. My streak is over.
Octopusprime
Contributor
totally true... But one thing to remember is the perceived value to the customer. One customer may want the small classes and flexible schedule of a part time Independant, others just want to know when the next class is with simple regular scheduling and pricing. It is about what is important to the customer.
for me if they are shopping on price there are plenty of instructors that will do it for less.
OP
Octopusprime
Contributor
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