Our Vision for a Better Industry: Since April 2001, the Dive Industry Association has been “Building a Better Industry, One Member at a Time.” Our Vision today remains the same; Build a Better Industry. Nineteen years and 404 Members later, the association is considered the Premier Trade Association in the Diving Community because we do more for our Members to help them succeed. As a customer-centric, non-political, non-judgmental and all-inclusive association, DIA is doing the things necessary to advance its Members and grow the industry. But it’s more than just a set of goals and a slogan. Find out why Dive Industry Association is winning the hearts and minds (and Memberships) of dive industry professionals world-wide. As a Trade Association, our job is to promote our Members inside and outside of the diving industry. We exhibit at and support Regional Dive Shows across the country and still support the two Surf Expos and ten Travel & Adventure Shows. We have been proud to sponsor the Surf Expos and the Travel & Adventure Shows in the past, in an attempt to open up new markets and opportunities for our members. At a later time, we can discuss the successes and setbacks we experienced with these two non-diving shows.
Goals: The goals of the association have not changed since our beginning. They are to: 1) Unite the Industry in a common purpose and foster the spirit of cooperation. That common purpose is to grow the industry. 2) Sharpen the business skills of our Members. Only when our members are successful in their own business, will the industry grow. 3) Generate maximum exposure for our members. Marketing and Advertising is expensive and it takes an experienced and formally trained Marketing Professional who understands the various diving markets and industries that compete in them. An organization that markets on behalf of its members will be more effective than companies that only have their own limited budgets. 4) Increase business opportunities in the industry for our members and open up new markets for them. There are many business opportunities that dive companies can take advantage of. The purpose of a Trade Association is to help its members discover opportunities, not to capitalize on opportunities for itself.
Our Mission: Our Mission is to bring Buyers and Sellers together. The purpose of our Mission is to increase sales of diving equipment, training and travel products for our Members. Our message to our Members is: You become successful and grow your business by becoming more Professional, Productive, and Profitable. Our message to the general public is to: 1) Learn to Dive. 2) Buy Your Gear. 3) Go Diving. 4) Stay Active.
Why Are We Better Than Other Associations?: Dive Industry Association charges its Members an annual fee to belong to an Industry Network that brings them customers and opportunities. Our focus is to help our Members become more Professional, Productive and Profitable. We work to help you increase your sales. We are not an Association that charges you an annual membership fee for the privilege of buying products from us. We are your industry partner, not your product vendor. You are not our customer, you are our Member. As a Member you will get a number of promotions and personal referrals for business.
Board of Advisers: Dive Industry Association would like to have a more formal Board of Advisers, elected from each industry sector represented in its membership. Different industries have different customer bases, goals & objectives and agendas. To better understand their needs, DIA relies on each industry sector to elect an Adviser that will represent their needs to the Board of Directors. Advisers serve for one year. If you are interested in serving as an industry segment advisor, please let us know.
Voting: Each Member has one vote, regardless of the size of their company. One Member – One Vote. Members vote within their own industry sector. Manufacturers vote on manufacturing issues. Retailers vote on retailing issues. Voting is used to prioritize issues that are important to each sector, not to control the organization or to push one’s own agenda on the rest of the membership.
Our Web Sites: The Dive Industry Association has a number of websites and Blog Websites. We build our own websites in-house and maintain them ourselves. Websites are designed for the Trade Association, the Non-Profit Foundation and the General Public. It’s better to think in terms of company addresses instead of web sites, because websites can be linked, parked, integrated, hidden, etc. The URL address is the identifying address that takes you to the content (website / blog). 1) The Dive Industry Association uses the URL address of www.diveindustry.net The Association is an Industry Trade Network of Member Dive Companies. That is the Association you belong to. 2) The Dive Industry Foundation uses the URL address of www.diveindustry.org The Foundation is our non-profit, 501(c)3, tax exempt educational and charitable organization. The Foundation is the Association educational division, focusing on educational, promotion, industry intelligence, and Trade Shows and Events. Our current marketing campaign is called DIVE LOCAL and the URL address is www.divelocal.org Dive Local is our worldwide dive industry directory for the General Public, including the Dive Trade.
Our Directories: In an age where other Associations hide their Member Directories from the general public (because they are afraid their “competitors” will find out who their members are), we proudly advertise and promote our Members to the Trade and Consuming Public. All member businesses are hot link to their websites and blogs. On our Trade website we have a Member Trade Directory, a Travel Directory and a Facebook Directory. We also have Trade Directories on a number of our other web sites. We created a Trade Directory and Industry Publication that has its own web site. This directory is currently being updated and will soon be hosted on its own website again.
Our Databases: I believe that Dive Industry Association has one of the best and most current databases in the industry. We use Sales Force, Card Scan, Constant Contact and Excel for our Industry Databases. Dive Industry Professionals and Businesses are identified in target market classifications. Although our individual data is not shared, it is used by us to benefit our members.
Other Communication Vehicles: Dive Industry Association keeps in constant communication with our Members. We do that on a daily, weekly, monthly, and annual basis. Members opt-in to the amount of communication they want to receive from DIA Worldwide. Our Monthly Newsletters is The Dive Industry Professional. Over 5,000 Industry Professionals receive this publication every month, powered by one of our Business Partners, Constant Contact. Next is our DIA’s Weekly News. We publish Press Releases relevant to the diving industry, every Tuesday. We do that as a public service to our members and the community. Subscription is free and is by opt-in only. Members receive 24 FREE Press Releases during their 12 month membership period.
Social Media: DIA has always been on the cutting edge of bringing social media marketing to the diving industry. Our Facebook profile has 4,279 friends so we needed to create a page for each of the DIA Divisions. The Dive Industry Association has its own page at www.facebook.com/diveindustry We currently have 1,423 “Likes” and do not purchase advertising. Our monthly newsletter and weekly press releases are auto-linked to our Facebook Pages. Our non-profit Dive Industry Foundation has its own page at www.facebook.com/divefoundation and you can find the best of dive travel at Undersea Showcase’s page, www.facebook.com/underseashowcase We also have Facebook Pages for DIVE LOCAL, Caribbean Dive News and Bahama Dive News.
Support of Industry Dive Shows: DIA supports, currently promotes and exhibits at three Regional Dive Shows that we’ve established a relationship with. They include; Lone Star State Dive & Travel Show (Dallas), Our World-Underwater (Chicago), and Beneath the Sea (Secaucus, NJ). The Board is interested in establishing professional relationships with more Event Organizers and supporting and exhibiting at additional shows as our budget can afford.
Community Sponsored Events: DIA has sponsored Industry Events at Consumer Dive Shows like Breakfast Seminars at Our World-Underwater and Industry Luncheons at the Scuba & H2O Adventure Show in Tacoma. The “Lunch & Learn” seminars feature Key Note Speakers discussing topics of interest to the audience.
Summit Meetings: Dive Industry Association co-sponsored three Regional Summit Meetings in 2016. They were held in Dallas, TX at the Lone Star State Dive and Travel Show, in Chicago at Our World-Underwater Dive and Travel Show and at Beneath the Sea in Secaucus, NJ. Attendance was taken, notes were prepared and portions of the Summit Meetings were videotaped for future reference.
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Dive Industry Association, Inc. 