Candice Landau
Last Updated on April 24, 2024 by Candice Landau
If you teach scuba diving, work at a dive shop, run a dive shop, sell scuba diving equipment, or are in any way involved in the scuba diving industry, you’re probably wondering how you can keep business coming in with most people cloistered at home. Thanks to the Corona-virus, we all have to start thinking outside-the-box, while still remaining empathetic to our customers’ concerns.
Before I get into the list of possible things you can do to bring in more business, a word to the wise. Begin with empathy. Many people might not be in the “right” mental place to buy right now. Before you go full steam, take compassion and empathy to your communications. That said, let’s jump right in.
Here are a few ideas for marketing your scuba business:
Sell gift cards
These are some of the best micro-loans you can get from your customers. They come with a 0% interest rate and can help tide you over until times are a little more certain. Plus, they’re easy to mail, easy for people to buy online, and easy to pick up at a later date. Don’t lose out on a valuable opportunity. Find different ways to package them.
Be active on social media
So…your salespeople are kind of out of commission what with all these “stay-at-home” orders. But, guess what? Social media is your new salesperson. Get on it. Post, post, post. Look at the analytics too. What is driving results? Do more of it. What isn’t? Stop that! What has historically performed well? Get on it now. Make sure you’re tagging people on social as well. This will increase your reach.
Teach a class online
This doesn’t have to be a regular organization-specific class like PADI Open Water. If you’re an underwater photographer, what about offering a $50 crash course into photography? With all that free time people now have, they can use it to get outdoors and start practicing. This could also be a great way to upsell people on courses that may require in-person contact and open water dives.
Do way more email marketing
Some of the most successful scuba diving operations I see are communicating with their customers more frequently than people expect. They’re keeping them informed. They’re giving them specific things to buy. They’re reminding them that they’re there. You might be thinking, “what can I write about?” Well, everything. Anything. Share news. Share discounts and offers. Share gear reviews. Share links to videos. Share upcoming trip reports.
Encourage people to mail in gear that needs servicing
Who doesn’t have something that could do with a service? Whether it’s a regulator, tanks, a BCD, a drysuit, or something else, why not encourage your clients to mail it in? You could even offer curbside pick-up or delivery. Most gear needs annual servicing. If it doesn’t, what about creating a new service offering? Something like a “peace of mind” checkup for half the price?
Bone up on your “design skills”
Now you’ve got all that extra time, use some of it to improve your “eye for design.” Not only are there some great, free courses on Canva’s website (find them here), but Canva itself is a very simple tool designed to help people create more attractive graphic design assets. You can use it for free or sign up for the paid version which offers a few more options like transparent backgrounds, additional free graphics, etc.
Throw up an eCommerce page
If you’re not selling as much in-store gear, why not try to do some of it online? You might even just give it a try with “used gear.” eCommerce platforms like Squarespace, Wix, Bigcommerce, etc make it easy for even the least web-literate person to set up a site, and for that matter an online store. And, the monthly fee is nominal. Don’t forget, there are a bunch of easy, small-ticket items you could be selling too. Think jewelry, stickers, patches, clothing.
Use the extra time to create shareable content
The best way to get found online and stand out as a thought leader is to create content that people find useful or emotional in some way. This could be videos, it could be social media content, or it could be website content. Coursera has a great course on Viral Marketing and How to Craft Contagious Content by Wharton Professor and marketing expert Jonah Berger. Best of all? It’s free.
Design a t-shirt and sell it
Take it from me, people love buying gear that shows they’re aligned with something. I know because I do it. I have an Oregon Marine Reserves sweatshirt, I have a Sea Shepherd sweatshirt, I have a sweatshirt for a local animal sanctuary I support, and I have a ton of t-shirts with my dive shops name on them. Design a shirt, send it out to your mailing list and start taking orders!
Encourage local diving
If you can encourage local diving, do it. If your state has closed state parks, or anything else, be careful (Oregon is one of these). You don’t want to push people to dive sites they are not technically or legally allowed to dive. Even if there’s no one there watching, is it worth damaging relationships with the people who let you dive the site in the first place? Plus, some fines can be gnarly…
Offer free air fills for a period of time
This is a great way to get people in a physical shop. Make sure that when they’re in there are plenty of call-to-actions that could entice them to make a purchase. And of course, when you send out the marketing informing people about this great “free air fill” offer, make sure to tell them all about the social distancing protocols you have put in place.
Host “online dives”
Consider filming a member of your staff talking through diving a specific site. This could be any number of things. What about taking a video of them speaking directly to the camera, perhaps while drawing the site out on a whiteboard? Or you could ask someone to narrate an underwater video of a specific site. Or, if you like making presentations, why not create a slideshow review of a site with plenty of pictures and information on how to dive the site.
Set up Facebook events
You could start selling tickets for “guided tours” of specific dive sites, for presentations by well-known community members, or for any number of things right now. Just because you can’t meet up, doesn’t mean you can’t start taking orders for the future. Facebook Events published to your own page are a great idea because they’re visible, shareable, and help keep people in the loop.
Host a webinar or live chat
Use the time you are socially distancing to answer questions “live.” A webinar is a great way to virtually tune into your audience. Pick a topic, present on it and offer valuable information. Then open it up to questions. There are lots of free and affordable webinar hosting options.
Install HelloBar on your website
Not only does HelloBar give you a super-easy way to update customers on your response to COVID-19, but it offers a whole host of other features, including the ability to display pop-ups, exit-intent forms, and so much more. You could also feature specific offers using the HelloBar, and keep track of how many people “converted” (clicked through, handed over an email address, etc.).
Start a subscription service
Guess why subscription services are so common these days? Regular cash flow. In times like these, that means something. There are a ton of things you could turn into subscriptions: air fills, gear rental, pool dives, consultations, gear services, etc. I know dive shops that are already doing this with scuba gear and weekly or monthly drop-in pool sessions. A great idea!
Add Online Chat to your website
Make it as easy as possible for customers to get in touch. Plus, now you’re sitting at home, or sitting in the shop mostly idle, it’s not going to bother you.
Sell eLearning courses
There is no better time than the present to sell eLearning courses. People are at home. They have more time. They have more energy. Sell the idea of getting all the book-work done now and saving time later to focus on the pool. You could even conduct some of the classroom sessions online using Google Hangouts or another service.
Start an ambassador program
You know that you already have those customers who sell gear simply by virtue of having a romantic lifestyle. What about that cave diver who frequents your dive shop and is all over the interwebs? What about that Antarctic explorer? What about that coldwater wreck diver? Consider creating a program and offering people an elite “ambassador” or “influencer” status.
Solicit scuba gear reviews from staff
Gear reviews sell gear. No surprise there. If you can get your staff to recommend that gear, even better. There’s a reason key man deals exist after all, right? People want to buy from the people they trust. Your staff usually fall within this realm (at least I hope).
Paid social media marketing
The great thing about paid social media marketing is that it’s pretty affordable, you get to pick a target audience that you may have wanted access to for a long time (yes, you can get pretty darn specific),
Maximize your social media footprint
Not all of your customers spent most of their day on Facebook. I, for example, spend a good portion of mine on LinkedIn. And, let me tell you: 90% of scuba operations are not on LinkedIn. I’m not saying you have to jump on every social media platform out there (that’s actually a bad idea), but think of at least owning and occasionally posting on some of the big ones. Platforms like Twitter are a good idea if you’re planning on heading to DEMA, running webinars (use them to prompt people to tweet in their questions), or attending other events where on-the-go communication is a big win.
Learn about SEO and revamp those web pages!
SEO stands for search engine optimization. The premise behind optimizing the pages on your website is that if you do it well, you’ll be more likely to rank higher on the Google search result pages. In it’s simplest form, SEO means figuring out the words or phrases your customers are typing in to find specific information. Best practice means ensuring you have a separate page for each search query. Don’t cram all the words on one page, that won’t work. There’s also a more technical aspect to SEO. If you don’t have a responsive, mobile-friendly site, chances are you’re not going to be getting all the kudos you could be. Honestly, SEO is not as complicated as it sounds. You can learn more about doing it right on Moz.com or on ahrefs.com. Those are two of my favorite resources.
Get in on that guerilla marketing
Guerilla marketing is a favorite concept. T-shirts that say something like, “Ask me about scuba diving,” sidewalk art that prompts me to download an app, stickers plastered strategically around town. This street-smart form of marketing is pretty affordable, very newsworthy and a breath of fresh air as far as I’m concerned. Why not try it?
I’ll add to this list in the coming days, but in the meantime, if I’ve missed anything please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below. How else can you market scuba services during COVID-19?
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