What Is The Diving Industry?
 by Gene Muchanski, Editor
The Dive Industry Professional

As we move into the new year, The Dive Industry Professional will be doubling down on being the industry voice of the business of diving issues in the Global Diving Community.  Many of the articles we produce this year will be based on how we view the diving industry world view.  We will be asking and answering foundational questions that may or may not have been discussed before or clarified in the past, pertaining to diving as a recreation, a sport, or a profession.  By focusing on “Business of Diving” issues, research and published articles, The Dive Industry Professional will continue to be the Industry voice for the Global Diving Business Network. As Dive Industry Professionals working in the trade, when we speak about the “Diving Industry” we are actually referring to diving and diving related businesses within the Global Diving Business Network.  Individuals who work in this global network are referred to as Dive Industry Professionals.

When we discuss matters that pertain to the diving Industry, we are talking about diving, the business of diving, and the people that work in those businesses.  Most of the primary research that is taking place in our industry today is being performed by a handful of marketing researchers who are spending the necessary time, money, and manpower to define the industry as it exists today, and to build a foundational template that can be used for the industry’s expansion, growth, maintenance, and success.  There are very few Professional Dive Industry Planners in our Industry at this time.  Mainly because industry planning is not a revenue generating career path.  Most of the self-appointed Dive Industry Planners that I know have other vested interests in the Global Diving Community, the Global Diving Business Network, or the Diving Industry.  Over the past 70 years, the industry has become what it is today, mainly by trial and error.  There has been no Master Plan for its creation, growth, maintenance, and success.  I am aware that a select few companies have their own agendas for their companies and not necessarily for the benefit of the entire industry.   If they do have an industry-wide plan, they certainly are not sharing it with anyone.

When we talk about diving, do we just mean SCUBA diving, or does it include different types of underwater exploration?  Is diving a means to an end or is it an end unto itself?  Is it a recreation, hobby, sport, or profession?    Is scuba diving a skill, duty, job, career, or profession?  Can you find employment as a scuba diver, or do you have to get “a real job” to be able to afford it?  How much does it pay and are there opportunities for advancement?   Is scuba diving an industry or is it a specialty niche market? If you work in a scuba diving business, does that make you a Dive Industry Professional?  What qualifies a person to be a Dive Industry Professional?  In the scuba diving market, who are the buyers and who are the sellers?  Who are Trade Professionals and who are consumers?  Who runs the diving industry?

If you are looking for answers to any of these questions, you’ve come to the right place.  No, this is not a Pandora’s Box or a Trojan Horse trick, although it may seem like that to some.  It may in fact be a clear pathway to a growing and harmonious industry.  If our industry is going to attract the best and the brightest people to fill our employment vacancies, we need to spell out the opportunities, benefits, and compensation potential for choosing the diving industry as a career path.

What Diving Is: As we said in this month’s editorial, diving is an underwater activity.  It is performed with or without diving equipment.  It includes snorkeling, free diving, scuba diving (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus), and surface supplied diving.  It also includes diving-related underwater activities like mermaid diving.  All types of diving can be used as an end in itself to just to go underwater and explore, but most of the time it is used as a means to do something underwater.  It has taken the recreational diving community 70 years to figure out that diving is merely a means to an end.  That’s why you can’t have a career in diving.  You can have a career as a diver or a career in the diving industry, but you first have to specialize in an end use activity or profession first.

How Diving Is Organized: Diving can be different things to different people.  In fact, many specialty groups and niche markets have been created based on the different applications and uses of diving equipment, training, travel, and lifestyle products.  Diving starts out as an activity or an experience, then proceeds to a recreation, hobby, or lifestyle.  For many, it can turn into a job, collateral duty, profession, or career.  Dive Industry Planners have come to an agreement that the term “Divers” can be classified into two distinct categories: Recreational Divers and Trade Professionals.

Diving as a Recreation: Snorkeling, Freediving, and Scuba Diving are great in a recreational setting.  It’s a social activity that can be done in lakes, rivers, quarries, and the oceans all across the planet.  When coupled with other activities like underwater photography, marine and oceanographic research, cave diving, wreck diving, environmental studies, spearfishing, mermaid diving, and dive travel, it can turn into a life-long hobby.  All certified divers and diving-related participants make up a large portion of what we call the Global Diving Community.

Diving as a Trade Profession: Divers who use their diving skills to earn money are considered Dive Industry Trade Professionals.  We made this category all-inclusive because we treat all divers who are engaged in business as Trade Professionals.  Once a person starts making money from their hobby, they have to declare their income to the federal government (in the United States).  If they work for a business that specializes in diving and they own their own business that involves the sale of diving programs, products, or services, we can classify them as Dive Industry Professionals who are working in the Global Diving Business Network.

The Global Diving Business Network is a term we coined to categorize businesses that produce or sell diving and diving related programs, products, and services.  The businesses in the Network come from many different industries, listed in the United States NAICS (North American Industry Classification System) Codes Manual.  We study the businesses within these industries that produce diving equipment, diving services, dive training, dive travel, and diving lifestyle products and sell them in our niche market.  The Global Diving Business Network is the center of what we call the Diving Industry.

The Diving Industry: Businesses in the Global Diving Business Network produce the programs, products, and services that are sold to divers in the Global Diving Community.  It is our mission as a Trade Association to know who the buyers and sellers of diving equipment, training, travel, and lifestyle products are, so that we could facilitate trade between them.  Hence, the definition and purpose of a Trade Association.

The Bridge Connecting Buyers and Sellers: Identifying buyers and sellers of specific programs, products, and services is paramount to being financially successful in the marketplace, but there is so much more to it than that.  The marketing profession was created for two main purposes to facilitate commerce between buyers and sellers.  To bring buyers and sellers together, you must first build a marketplace.  A marketplace is where buyers and sellers come together to transact business.  There are many examples of marketplaces, especially in the 21^st century.  A marketplace could be a brick-and-mortar store, a mall, a field, a trade show, a mail order catalog, or an online website.  A marketplace is wherever products can be bought and sold.

Once a marketplace has been established, it is marketing’s responsibility to inform potential customers about the products being sold and how to go about acquiring them.  If you think of Marketing as a bridge that connects buyers and sellers, you can visualize numerous marketing vehicles crossing that bridge to carry messages about the products that producers build to the intended buyers that purchase them.  All of the foundational effort that goes into building a marketplace and servicing a market is what makes up the Diving Industry.  This is the critical role that Marketing Professionals play in the industry.  The ongoing buying and selling process of diving and diving related products is more than a four-day event.  It is a year-round activity, 365 days a year, 24 hours a day.  It is global in nature and utilizes multiple seasonal curves.  It is an ongoing annual process orchestrated from a playbook that Professional Dive Industry Planners have created for their clients.  Do you see the importance of researching, analyzing, and creating a master plan for the creation, growth, and management of a unified diving industry now?  That bridge we built to connect buyers and sellers cannot only be open four days a year.  It has to be functional and operational at optimal performance all year round.

An Industry Master Marketing Plan: The Dive Industry Foundation has a Vision and a Master Marketing Plan for the Diving Industry.  If you follow our blogs and business articles on DIVE LOCAL you will see what we have been putting together for the past eight years.  The Dive Industry Association is the industry marketing consulting company that uses this master plan to bring buyers and sellers together, all year round.  They work with their members to increase exposure, establish brand recognition, and increase sales to more potential buyers. They help them increase their market penetration by using modern marketing tools and techniques, which is a prerequisite to increasing market share.  Every legitimate diving industry business should be an active member of the Global Diving Business Network.

For more information about the Global Diving Business Network, contact Gene Muchanski, Executive Director of the Dive Industry Association, 2294 Botanica Circle, West Melbourne, FL 32904.  Phone: 321-914-3778.  Email: gene@diveindustry.net  Web: www.diveindustry.net

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