Editorial – May 2024

Posted on May 4, 2024 by Gene Muchanski

Gene 2023-4Creating a Dive Industry World View
 by Gene Muchanski, Editor
The Dive Industry Professional

I learned a long time ago that We don’t see things as they are – We see them as we are.   You might say that’s a little philosophically deep for a Dive Industry Professional to be writing about, but when you think about it, that statement explains why we have so many problems with marketing communications in our industry.  A world view is the way we see the world.  The way individuals see the world is based on a combination of their heredity, environment, education, and experience.  Every individual on the planet may see things a little differently, based on their individual uniqueness.  Based on the things that we see, feel, read, learn, and experience (our inputs), our world view is forever changing.  When our world view adapts, grows, or changes, the things we communicate (our outputs) change accordingly.

Creating a unified world view of the recreational diving industry is something the Global Diving Community would benefit from greatly.  Creating a unified world view is not a complicated or difficult undertaking.  It just requires an initial commitment and a daily focus on defining the recreational diving industry as it is and explaining how it functions.  It is important to recognize that we are not trying to change a person’s world view or the way they process information, but we can educate the Global Diving Community about the Global Diving Business Network and let individuals experience the diving industry for themselves.  With additional education and experience, divers and the general public will have a clearer understanding of the true dive industry world view.  Whether you and your business are included in their world view of the diving industry is up to you.

Currently in the recreational diving industry, we receive our information from countless individual sources. There is no shortage of data about the diving industry and the programs, products, and services that are sold by the dive equipment manufacturers, training agencies, travel companies and lifestyle product producers.   We continually get input from magazines and their advertisers, in both print and digital formats, from social media, internet communications, websites, emails, catalogs, and in-person at trade and consumer dive shows.  I don’t know how many companies are bombarding their customers with their monthly newsletters and daily email advertisements, but if your email in-box is anything like mine, it’s way too many.  As a Trade Association, we are on the mailing lists of hundreds of diving businesses.  Somehow, we learned how to penetrate their limited circle of influence and get on their mailing list.  With that said, we get way too many emails from a few.  We get a few emails from many.  Surprisingly enough, we never get any correspondence from the vast majority of diving businesses.  Most of the correspondence we receive is not educational or informative in nature.  It is usually correspondence with a request to buy something.  The critical flaw with this type of correspondence is that the messages are sent out to everyone on their list, with no regard to the receiver’s demographic or their need for the item offered for sale.  It is the classical shotgun approach, shooting at the flock, with the hope of hitting a single bird.  From a professional marketing standpoint, these companies are sending out requests for someone to buy their products, not knowing if the target audience has a need, want, or desire for their product.

The Dive Industry Association is in the business of bringing buyers and sellers together.  We are students of the industry, and we know how products flow from creation to consumption, through the supply and demand channels of distribution.  We have identified the sellers of diving and diving related programs, products, and services and we work with them to acquire, retain, and sell to qualified buyers.  We use an integrated marketing approach of working with Dive Industry Professionals in the supply and demand chains.  On a consulting basis we have worked with demand side businesses to attract and sell to key buyers.  As a public service to the industry, we created a Trade Directory for buyers and sellers.  As a public service to the 1,100 + Retail Dive Centers in the United States we have created and actively maintain a website directory of all active retail dive stores that can be accessed for free by the consuming public.  Our Dive Store Directory is published on www.divelocal.org  To make it easier for divers to find an active dive store in their vicinity, we divided the United States into 9 Territories.  The territories are NE, NC, NW, MA, SE, FL, SC, SW, SP.  Each territory is broken down by state.  Our association lists each dive store by their name, city, state, and website address.  If a dive store has a website listed, it has been verified by us in the past year.  Check it out to see if I am correct.  If a dive store does not have a website address, it will be researched and verified or deleted within the next 12 months.  Every year we verify all the dive stores in our directory, at a rate of one state per week, and we report it in our Weekly News press release service.  Incidentally, the dive store press releases are usually the most read releases in the Weekly News.  The dive store directories on each page are pretty good, but they are not perfect.  Dive stores go out of business all the time and new ones enter the market without telling us.  That’s why we need manufacturers, sales reps, training agencies and their reps, and dive stores to pitch in and help us with our research.  Our competitors read our weekly dive store reports all the time.  You would think they could help us with our research!

The current listing of dive stores on DIVE LOCAL’s website has brought customers and more business to local dive stores, at no cost to them.  It has also helped Dive Industry Professionals in other stakeholder groups to identify, and hopefully do business with dive stores that have been verified by us to be currently in business.  When we are finished with the program on dive stores, we will be able to expand it to included other stakeholder groups in the supply and demand chains.  We already have plans to initiate similar programs for the other 3 Pillars of the Local Diving Communities – Dive Boats, Dive Clubs, and Dive Instructors.

As a Trade Association we are documenting a Recreational Diving Industry World View as we see it.  Our world view is based on the industry’s collective research, education, and experience.  It is not “the world, according to one person.”  It may have started out that way, but as more people get involved with our research, the world view of the recreational diving industry becomes clearer for everyone.    Our ultimate goal is to create a unified Global Diving Community and supply them with the programs, products, and services they require. To do that we need to know the companies that are in the business of creating and supplying these types of products.  As a Marketing and Trade Association that is on mission to bring buyers and sellers together, that is what we specialize in.  For a minimal annual membership fee, our supply side members can be referred or introduced to qualified buyers that we identify and maintain a business relationship with.   Our magazine, The Dive Industry Professional, features business articles about the diving industry every month.  Our DIVE LOCAL Series covers how we support local diving businesses like Dive Stores, Dive Boats, Dive Clubs, and Dive Instructors.  The focus of our local and regional advertising is to show local divers how they can learn to dive, buy their gear, go diving, and stay active in the recreational diving community.  And that’s only the demand side of our industry economic development plan.  Wait until the diving industry learns what we have planned for the supply side of the industry.

This is an exciting time to become part of the Global Diving Business Network.  For more information about global marketing opportunities, 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

# # #

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

FAM Trips For Travel Advisors

Posted on April 21, 2024 by Gene Muchanski

IMG_0589Dive Industry Network
SWAG Gift Bags for FAM Participants
By Gene Muchanski, Executive Director,
Dive Industry Association, Inc.

SWAG Gift Bags for Travel Advisors

A SWAG Gift Bag is a promotional item that is handed out to attendees at an event.  While they are considered a singular promotional item, swag gift bags are in fact a bag of multiple items that attendees genuinely appreciate.  The number of items in a swag gift bag depends on the number of sponsors that participate in the giveaway.  The promotional items included may differ depending on the type of event being conducted.  The items could be sample size products or full production sized.  They are given as a gift to attendees by event producers, to express appreciation for attending an event.

Swag Gift Bags are effective attention getters at shows and events because they start the program off on a positive note.  Think of it this way.  An attendee arrives an event, having spent considerable time, money, and manpower getting there.  They are greeted by the producers who present them with a gift, thanking them for attending.  If the swag gift bag contains items of value, it’s a double win for the attendee, producer, and sponsor.

Swag Gift Bags gets their name from the word sway, and not from the words to an acronym you might be thinking of.    By presenting attendees with a gift upon arrival, producers are trying to sway us, or persuade us to think of them favorably.  In the travel industry, swag gift bags are used extensively, because the producers of travel events are doing their best to get our business.  And it works.

As a Marketing Professional, I have seen the effective use of swag bags when dealing with buyers and sellers in a variety of industries.  Especially in the travel and hospitality industries.  I learned very early in my career that the sellers of programs, products, and services, are always looking for customers who need, want, can afford, and are willing to purchase what they sell.  I also realized that the person with the checkbook always has a competitive edge in a buyer–seller relationship.  I’ve made it my mission to bring buyers and sellers in the diving industry together for mutual benefit, by using innovative marketing ideas like swag gift bags and personal matchmaking referrals.

Swag Bag Use on FAM Trips:  Providing FAM trip attendees with a bag of useful product samples accomplishes a number of objectives for the event planner, the recipient, and the sponsor.

  • Trip Planners establish goodwill with attendees, resorts, and dive operations
  • Product samples may be useful on the trip
  • Vendors/Sponsors may receive new customers/dealers
  • Travel/Equipment Buyers may discover new products or vendors
  • Product samples may be tax deductible donations or a promotional expense

Who Receives Swag Bag:  Swag Gift Bags are given to qualified retail buyers on a FAM trip as a means to introduce them to new products.  On trips where dive stores are permitted to bring two attendees, each one should receive a bag of their own.  Trip Planners may get a little creative when couples are involved, if samples are different in color, size, or purpose.  It may also make a difference if the guests are divers or non-divers. The key is to be creative but remain inclusive.  I also found it appropriate to give a special swag gift bag to the Resort Manager and the Manager of the Diving Operation.  Preferably the ones who are in charge of product purchasing.

Popular Swag Bag Items:  Popular swag items on dive trips include reusable water bottles, environmentally safe sunscreen, insect repellent, lip balm, sunglasses, ball caps, rash guards and beach towels.  Specialty diving accessories make great gift items also, depending on their size, cost, and usage.

Typical Swag gift Bag Sponsors:  Any company with a vested interest in diving and dive travel can and should participate in swag gift bag promotions.  We’ve seen sponsorships from tourism boards, dive resorts, dive travel wholesalers, dive equipment manufacturers, non-profit organizations, and lifestyle product companies.

Benefits of Swag Gift Bag Promotion:   Right before the pandemic and shortly after, Roatan Charter and the Dive Industry Association worked together on two FAM Trips to Belize and the Turks & Caicos Islands.  We came up with the idea of presenting our participants with a swag gift bag at the beginning of each trip.  We did it for a number of reasons.  Primarily, dive travelers need certain items while on a dive trip in the Caribbean.  Essential items like sunscreen, insect repellent, sunglasses, ball caps, towels, and water bottles, are important items to bring for your safety and enjoyment.  We explained to our sponsors that we would be traveling with up to 35 qualified retail buyers for a weeklong trip to the Caribbean.  In addition, we would be spending quality time with the buyers from the Dive Resort and Dive Operation.  When you consider how expensive it is to hire sales representatives to cover the Caribbean, having a captive audience with us for a week seemed like a winning proposition to a number of sponsors.  Creating a SWAG Gift Bag for our FAM Trip participants was an enjoyable challenge for us, and our efforts were well received by our participants, as well as by the resort and dive operation managers.  All the sample products we distributed were used on location and contributed to an enjoyable event.  It may have even led to a few new dealers for the sponsors and a few new vendors for the dive store retailers.

More Than Just Travel Buyers:  When you think about what we are doing by conducting FAM trips, you see that we are in fact, bringing buyers and sellers together.  Normally you would think that a FAM trip is about introducing 35 travel buyers to 2 travel sellers:  the dive travel wholesaler and the dive resort.  But it is not just about travel buyers and sellers.  On a typical FAM Trip, we will be spending a week with as many as 35 qualified retail buyers of diving equipment, training, travel, and lifestyle products.  When you add the buyers from the resort’s gift shop and the dive operation, you have a five-day event in which to build relationships with almost 40 buyers.

Swag1 cropBelize FAM Trip:  Right before the pandemic, we had the opportunity to work with Roatan Charter on a FAM Trip to Belize.  Roatan Charter and Belize Dive Haven had scheduled a FAM Trip 2 weeks prior to their Grand Opening.  Our goal was to select up to 30 participants from our databases of high-volume group travel buyers for this inaugural FAM Trip.  While Debbie Helms from Roatan Charter was finalizing the details for the trip, we were putting out a request to the diving industry for FAM Trip sample products for our SWAG Gift Bags.  The response was better than we had anticipated. The following Vendors donated 30 sample products each.  Thank you all for your generous participation.

We ended up with 28 FAM participants.   We presented 28 SWAG Gift Bags at our arrival dinner at the resort, to qualified buyers from 14 Dive Stores, 1 Dive Travel Wholesaler, 1 Industry Media, and the Resort Owner and Dive Operations Manager.  All of the products we distributed got excellent usage on the trip.  The water bottles were refilled multiple times per day, and we carried them everywhere.

SWAG-C1Turks & Caicos Islands FAM Trip:  We had such a good experience with the gift bags in Belize, that we ran the program again on South Caicos Island, in the Turks & Caicos Islands.  We would like to thank DAN for the water bottles and Gold DAN Pins.  They went with us everywhere.  Thanks to Stream2Sea for the 3 Sample Pack of Sunscreen, Hand Sanitizer, and Mask Defog.  The perfect post-pandemic products.  Thank you to Lita’s All Natural for the Insect Repellent and Insect Bite Itch Relief.  You never know how much you need them until you need them.

  • DAN – Divers Alert Network – Reuseable Water Bottle DAN & DAN Pin
  • Lita’s All Natural – Insect Repellant & Insect Bite Itch Relief
  • Stream2Sea – 3 Piece Sampler Pack- Sunscreen, Essentials Hand Sanitizer, & Mask Defog

What We Learned:  The first thing I realized was that Debbie Helms from Roatan Charter is a Rock Star.   I always knew it, but these two trips showed us all why Roatan Charter is the best Dive Travel Wholesale Company in the Industry.  Debbie and her Staff are always open to new ideas, and they go out of their way to enhance their clients’ dive travel experience.  Our experience with the SWAG Gift Bags enabled us to form a closer bond with our Retail FAM Trip Participants and it led to a partnership with a number of dive equipment suppliers and manufacturers.  FAM Trip visits can double as an opportunity to present and demonstrate diving equipment and related products to qualified retail buyers who are participating in the FAM Trip, as well as to the equipment buyers at the dive resort, dive operation, and resort gift shop.

A Paradigm Shift in FAM Trips:  From a marketing perspective, I am always thinking about ways to increase the frequency, reach, and effectiveness of our marketing messages, increase market penetration and market share, maximize the flow of goods and services through our channels of distribution, and continually acquire, retain, and service my current customer base.  I sincerely believe that an integrated marketing strategy, like the one we are currently using, can make significant inroads in the Caribbean dive market.  I am looking forward to expanding our marketing influence in the Caribbean and beyond.

For more information on raising the professional bar in the Global Diving Business Network, contact Gene Muchanski, Executive Director, Dive Industry Association, Inc., 2294 Botanica Circle, West Melbourne, FL.  Phone 321-914-3778. Email: gene@diveindustry.net  web: www.diveindustry.net

# # #

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Editorial – April 2024

Posted on April 8, 2024 by Gene Muchanski

Gene 2023-4Success Is When A Plan Comes Together
 by Gene Muchanski, Editor
The Dive Industry Professional

Before I begin, I would like to wish the Dive Industry Association a Happy 23rd Year Anniversary.  It’s been a great journey so far, and I am honored to have had the privilege to work alongside so many outstanding Dive Industry Professionals in so many different shareholder groups and industries.  Thank you.  I am looking forward to continuing to serve the Global Diving Community and the Global Diving Business Network for many more years to come, in whatever capacity I am blessed to work in.

In our February 2024 Edition of The Dive Industry Professional, I wrote an article for our Dive Industry Network Series, entitled Create Your Own Circle of Influence.  That article prompted more responses and conversations from my fellow diving peers and colleagues in the diving industry than I have experienced in a very long time.  The article seemed to hit a hot button with Dive Industry Professionals who agreed that creating a strong circle of influence is one of the keys, if not the most important key, to unlocking your success potential in the diving industry.  I couldn’t agree more.

Network coverOne of my esteemed colleagues in the industry suggested that I should expand the topic into a full-length book.  He must have been reading my mind.  That is exactly what we have been planning to do for some time now.  If you have been reading our Newsletter, which is now a Magazine, for the past 23 years, you’ll know that most of our articles are actually chapters or sections of a bigger issue. Creating Your Own Circle of Influence is part of an expanded version of the original twelve chapters first published in the series, The Dive Industry Network.  The series focused on how Dive Industry Professionals could learn, participate, lead, and mentor important principles in the diving industry.  Maybe we will call the next series of articles, Section II.  In addition to creating a circle of influence, we’ll be showing Dive Industry Professionals how to work with Dive Travel Wholesalers, qualify for FAM Trips, and learn how to set up group travel dive trips, among other things.  There are so many things a Dive Professional can do to launch their career and give them a competitive edge; we could write a book about it.  Dah!

I am currently working on another major series of articles that will most definitely end up as a text for developing a blueprint for growth and success in the recreational diving industry.  Perhaps you have already read the first twelve chapters in our monthly series, DIVE LOCAL – A Community Effort.  Section I focused on Building a Local Diving Community.  We showed the industry what the DIVE LOCAL concept was all about and the importance of local diving.  We explained the major components of the program and the levels of participation industry members could partake in.  We laid out geographically the foundation of the Global Diving Community and broke it down into Local Diving Communities.  We even discussed the problems, potential solutions, and actionable items industry members could take to grow the recreational diving industry.  And finally, we introduced the Regional Summit Conferences that could oversee the program.

Section II covered The Four Pillars of a Local Diving Community:  Dive Stores, Dive Boat Operators, Dive Clubs, and Dive Instructors.  We went into detail to describe what these local ambassadors do to build, maintain, and grow our industry.   Section III will cover our four-part message to the general public to create and retain more divers for the Global Diving Community.  Our four steps will explain how prospective divers can Learn to Dive, Buy Their Gear, Go Diving, and Stay Active.  It may seem like you’ve been reading a long list of unrelated articles, but I assure you that it is a well thought out, intricate, and integrated business plan that builds the stage, introduces the trade, and implements programs, products, and services for the buying public.

Two years ago, I worked on a nine-part Starting your Own Business series for the diving industry.  We covered everything we could think of, from start-up to exit strategy, to give a clear picture of the challenges and opportunities entrepreneurs typically face when starting, growing, and succeeding in their own business.   My research was based on over 40 years of experience working with small businesses in countless industries, to start, develop, grow, succeed, and eventually exit their own small business.  Working as a Small Business Development Specialist for Small Business Development Centers, Colleges and Universities, the SBA (Small Business Administration), and educational organizations in the diving industry, I got to observe and work with hundreds of small businesses owners to achieve their dream of starting their own business.  For every entrepreneur that was undertaking their quest for the first time, it must have been very intimidating, trying something new and venturing into unknown territory.   Like riding a bicycle for the first time, it’s scarry.  As a Small Business Consultant for many years, I had seen this scenario play out hundreds of times, from start to finish. It wasn’t my first rodeo.  I appreciate the power of a good plan and how it can increase the chances of succeeding.

DSC_0001Seeing a start-up go through the process of business planning from start to finish is a rewarding experience.  It is like witnessing a product go through the transformation from conception to consumption.  It’s exciting.  From my own experience, the most dramatic example of seeing a vision come to life through a successful planning process happened when we had a swimming pool built.  Having never built a pool before, we hired a professional pool builder to do the job.  Based on his many years of experience in the pool building trade, he helped us design the pool we needed, wanted, and could afford.  The builder returned to us a few days later and presented us with a drawing of our pool, explained how and when it was going to be built, and told us what it would cost.  From the day we broke ground until the day we added water to our pool, I photographed and videotaped the entire process and shared the progress with our diving friends and colleagues on social media.  I have to admit, there were days when I wondered if we were ever going to get the pool we wanted, on time, and on budget.  You might say that I had my doubts at times.  But through the entire process, the pool builder reassured us that according to his plan, everything was going like clockwork.  You have to understand that the builder could see the finished product in his mind’s eye, from the very first day he broke ground.  It wasn’t his first rodeo!  The pool was indeed finished on time, on budget, and functioned just like the builder said it would.

Our vision for the recreational diving industry is to bring buyers and sellers together in an integrated marketing approach that meets the needs of both buyers and sellers.  Our articles and promotional content will be focused on how business partners in the supply and demand chains relate to each other for their mutual benefit.  We are looking to praise symbiotic relationships in the Global Diving Business Network where both sides of a promotion are equally compensated.  Not where one group is charged so that another group can benefit.  I want to work in an industry where there are two, three, or four links in a supply or demand chain that can participate in a united promotional campaign for the benefit of their entire channel of distribution.   We have the data to support our concept.  We understand and can relate to the various components of our system and pieces to our industry puzzle.   Now is the time to work within our circle of influence while we work to increase its size and influence.

This is an exciting time to become part of the Global Diving Business Network.  For more information about global marketing opportunities, 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

# # #

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Editorial – March 2024

Posted on March 4, 2024 by Gene Muchanski

Gene 2023-4An Industry in Search of Meaning
 by Gene Muchanski, Editor
The Dive Industry Professional

Is the recreational diving industry rebuilding itself after the recent global pandemic or is it still on the slippery slope of decline?  Your answer and the eventual outcome of the industry will depend on what you believe and not necessarily on what you do.    For the past two years at least, I’ve been working with a group of Dive Industry Planners and Industry Historians to define our past and present situation, in order to develop a blueprint for the future growth and success of our industry.   A number of us have been discussing how to build a pathway that could be followed, to reverse the decline of the industry and change its trajectory to a path of growth and success.  There is a lot to learn by doing a deep dive into our industry’s history.  Many of us can personally look back and see things that we did very successfully, and also things that failed beyond measure.  Either way, I think we all learned from both our past successes and failures.  But in our deep dive, I wasn’t looking for things that worked in the past that could be resurrected and used again.  I wasn’t looking for a magic bullet that could solve our modern-day industry problems.  I was looking for something deeper, and I think I found it.

A habit I got into a long time ago was to have a few new books on my current reading list, to keep my mind active and fresh with new ideas.  Without going into specific details about the first three books I’m reading, they deal with how we all are looking for meaning in our life to justify our existence, and how having a defined purpose to our life brings joy, fulfillment, and a reason to get out of bed in the morning. They also talk about how the numerous decisions we make during each and every day that have a compound effect on the quality and purposefulness of our lives.  When you look at the psychology of how we make decisions and where our decision making process is rooted in, we begin to realize that for the most part, we are living a life, and a professional career, based on incomplete data, from limitless, fragmented sources, and circumstances that are as unique to us and they are to the billions of people living now and in the past.  It was in reading The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel, that made me realize the complexities of circumstances that lead up to an eventual outcome or event.  The challenge we all have is to look at our history and try to make some common ground connection with the future.  Can our knowledge and understanding of history help us to repeat our past successes and eliminate our former mistakes in the future?  I don’t know if Historians are reliable Prophets.  But it’s worth a try.

The other set of three books that are on my current reading list came from Adobe and Microsoft.  When you see how much Windows 11 has changed from Microsoft’s previous operating systems and you see the intricate details in the current versions of Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Dreamweaver, you realize that regardless of what existed in the past, this is the way into the new future.

When we look at the psychology of human behaviors and the historical events of our industry’s beginning, growth period, and present-day situation, we find many things that we liked about our history that can be incorporated into our 21st century lifestyle.  We also know that technology has changed dramatically but the good news is that technology is much better than it was before.  To move forward, as never before, our industry leaders have to find our industry’s reason for being.  What is our purpose?

The Dive Industry Association has been serving the Global Diving Industry for 23 years now.  Our purpose has always been to Build a Better Industry for the good of the Global Diving Community.  Our Mission is to bring buyers and sellers together by building a strong and unified Global Diving Business Network that paves the way for increased sales of diving equipment, training, travel, and lifestyle products for our member businesses and dive industry professionals.  Our mandate for existence is to build programs, products, and services that are not currently available in the Global Diving Business Network.  Since our inception, the Dive Industry Association has created and still maintains a Business Blog, Weekly News Press Release Service, a monthly trade magazine The Dive Industry Professional, an annual Trade Directory that is updated monthly, and numerous websites that promote our members and the Global Diving Community.

In our continual Search for Meaning, our Industry Purpose is to serve our Members and the Industry they work in.  We don’t create marketing vehicles and sales opportunities to sell products, training, travel, or advertising.  We create them so that our Members can.  That is our Mission.  That is our Purpose.

Do new dive businesses have meaning?  Do they have a legitimate purpose for their start-up?  If it’s just to make money or sell advertising, I don’t think that is a good enough reason in the 21st Century Diving Industry.  Granted, the industry has changed in the past 80 years, and will continue to change and evolve in the future.  What worked years ago may or may not work in the present or the future diving industry.   Whatever the typical 21st century diving business looks like will be reflective of the customers they serve.  The diving industry as we know it today has branched off into a number of specialties.  Under the “big tent” of diving, we have recreational diving, commercial, scientific, military, public safety, medial, and maybe soon, aerospace diving?  Even in the recreational diving industry we have sport, technical, rebreather, freediving, spearfishing, and mermaiding, to name just a few.  Not only is the type of diving unique to the specialty, but so are the businesses that serve their needs.

To grow the recreational diving industry in the future, we have a unified message to the Global Diving Community.  That message is to: Learn to Dive, Buy your Gear, Go Diving, and Stay Active.  To better serve the needs of the diving community, we need to organize our industry to make it easy for people to get involved and stay involved in diving as a recreation.  We do that by creating Local Diving Communities that are serviced by Local Dive Stores, Dive Boats, Dive Clubs, and Dive Instructors.  And finally, we actively integrate members of the Global Diving Business Network who sell Diving Equipment, Dive Training, Dive Travel, and Lifestyle Products in Local Diving Communities across the globe.

That all gives our Industry meaning and each diving business a purpose.  I believe this plan cuts down on industry fragmentation and a considerable amount of channel friction.  The idea of dive businesses operating with a purpose and continually looking for meaning in a united industry is not just wishful thinking.  It is a concept that has been changing the diving industry for 22 years and is currently in process.  Is this the year you decide to join our Global Diving Business Network?

This is an exciting time to become part of the Global Diving Business Network.  For more information about global marketing opportunities, 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

# # #

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Editorial – February 2024

Posted on February 2, 2024 by Gene Muchanski

Gene 2023-4It’s Time for Spring Cleaning
 by Gene Muchanski, Editor
The Dive Industry Professional

I know that we are not even halfway through winter yet, but the spring season starts in March, and it will be here before you know it.  No surprise.  It happens at the same time every year, and yet, are we ever ready for it?  Just look at your last two months.  We finished up at DEMA, celebrated Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years, and then exhibited at the Surf Expo in January.  At the same time, we were conducting our post show follow-ups from one show, conducting our pre-show campaign for another show, and trying to close out our books for the year.  If there are things you didn’t get done, don’t feel bad, you are not alone.  Today is a new day.  We all start off with a clean slate every morning.

It’s in our nature for Industry Planners to be 3-6 months ahead of schedule so our people will be ready to do what they do when the time comes.  I hope you can appreciate how complicated the process can get if you don’t have a slew of people working for you, and your job is to plan, execute, and follow-up on many of your company programs and campaigns.  If that is true in your case, there are a few things you can do to be more efficient, effective, and productive in your duties.

Understanding your local seasonal curve will help you keep track of busy times and down times.  Spending a little time planning your annual business activities before the season begins may prepare you better for opportunities that normally present themselves during your peak sales times.  For me, that’s why spring cleaning is so important to accomplish before spring arrives.  We don’t do our spring cleaning in the spring, we do it during our winter down-time to prepare for the spring. In that way, when Spring arrives, we will be ready for it.  I like to look at spring cleaning as the process of closing out the old year and beginning fresh with the new.   It’s time to tie up all your loose ends in the office, on the sales floor, and in the warehouse.  Spring cleaning is an all-hands event.  Your company can’t move into the new year while dealing with last year’s issues.  When you close out your files for last year, any unfished business goes to the top of list for new year issues.  This may seem like double-speak but when you go through the process of closing your files for the year, you may discover items you didn’t deal with last year or you put off for whatever reason.  I look at these files as The Lost Files of a Way-too Busy Company.  Spring cleaning recaptures those hidden files and puts them back on the front burner.

Now that you have a clean desk and a functioning office it’s time to move onto the sales floor.  Move everything out, room by room, and clean it from head to toe.  There is no better way to start the year off right than to dust, vacuum, and scrub your sales area.  It’s time to find all those little things that were lost and see what you still have.  With the sales floor clean, this is the best time to conduct your annual inventory.  You may want to categorize your inventory as sellable, donatable, or trash.  A good friend of mine that used to work for Sherwood once gave me some good advice about my inventory.  He said that if your merchandise is this year’s model, make sure it is clean, presentable, and displayed well.  If it’s 6 months old, put it on sale at a discount.  If it’s more than 12 months old, trade it in for a pocketknife but get rid of it.  So how many dive stores still have Go Sport or Fathom Wetsuits on their sales floor?  One Dealer I knew (not me) discovered that all the regulator boxes he had on display in his store were empty!  Maybe he should have done spring cleaning more often?

With a clean sales floor filled with this year’s inventory and displayed in an attractive manner, we are ready to tackle our warehouse or back storage space.  This may take a little time, but I guarantee the results will be worth the effort.  Over time, warehouses in the diving industry eventually become storage spaces, which in time become trash bins, which become rat traps and fire hazards.  Make it your new year’s resolution to tackle this area and make it a clean, functioning, working area again.  My advice is to clean and organize the things you need, want, and use, and either sell, donate, or pitch the things you don’t.  If anything is old, worn-out, or damaged, and not reflective of your current business image, get rid of it.

If you follow the three steps we just laid out, you should have a clean, presentable, and functioning environment.  But guess what?  That’s only half the battle.  In the business environment of the 21st Century, our workspace has to be more than clean, presentable, and functionable.  It has to be professional, efficient, effective, and capable of handling an accelerated workload, in a timely manner.  The only way we can hope to accomplish that is to use modern business tools and technologies to get our work done and achieve our planned outcomes.  It goes without saying that Dive Industry Business Professionals need to be using current, state of the art tools to do their work.  An annual thorough spring cleaning and review will ensure that your business hardware and software are current and operating at peak efficiency.  Make sure your computer software is the latest vision (or close to it).  If you haven’t done it already, schedule a service call with the people who maintain and upgrade your computers.   We have a standing contract with Staples for our company computers.  We rotate our desktops and laptops every six months to reduce the chance of system failure catastrophes.

If your company uses special software such as Microsoft 365, Adobe Suite, or QuickBooks, for on-going projects, you may want to consider leasing these programs to ensure you are always using the latest software version.  You should reevaluate your need and usage of professional marketing programs like WordPress, Constant Contact, Flipsnack, and Square to make sure you are using them to your full advantage.  I realize that Dive Industry Business Professionals may do many of these things on a continual basis throughout the year, but it is still a good idea to schedule a review of the programs you use or subscribe to, on an annual basis.  In this way, nothing “falls through the cracks” from over-use or under-use.

Since we are now on a roll with a clean and functioning dive business using peak performing hardware and software, let’s do a deep dive on your Scuba Instructional Staff, their uniforms, and the dive equipment they use.  On second thought, let’s not go there now.  Maybe The Dive Industry Professional can address that topic at a later date.  What do you think?

This is an exciting time to become part of the Global Diving Business Network.  For more information about strategic marketing, 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

# # #

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | Leave a comment

Editorial – January 2024

Posted on January 16, 2024 by Gene Muchanski

Gene 2023-4The Power of Strategic Thinking
 by Gene Muchanski, Editor
The Dive Industry Professional

The new year has begun, and Dive Industry Professionals are going about their business of making a living in their chosen profession.  Personally, I had to hit the ground running right at the beginning of the year because we were exhibiting at the January Surf Expo which started on January 10th.   Talk about starting the year off with a bang!  As a Dive Industry Planner with a good idea of where I would like to take my organization this year, I felt comfortable with our choice to exhibit once again at Surf Expo.  I knew I wanted to do it again after a few years of not exhibiting at Surf, and this time I was sure that I didn’t want to do it alone.  A lot has changed since the pandemic.  The diving industry has undergone major changes and so has the recreational watersports industry.  The Shows & Events Industry had completely broken down and is now in the process of rebuilding itself.  The art and science of bringing buyers and sellers together is so tied into the travel industry, exhibitor venue industry, and the hospitality industry that it is a miracle face-to-face marketing has survived the last five years.  Strategic thinking and detailed strategic planning have never been more important to your business and the world economy than it is today.

Michael Gerber wrote a book years ago called the E-Myth.  He said that every business had to have someone who worked in the business and someone who worked on the business.  He could not have been more insightful or correct.  We have a natural tendency to do what we have always done before when we work in the business, however when we are responsible for working on the business, we tend to think of new and better ways to get more from our efforts.  That is why strategic thinking and strategic planning are so important.  I always get better results from my efforts when I have a strategic plan for outcomes I want to achieve, and I follow the plan methodically.  There is clarity in problem solving when you analytically think a problem through, to see all the aspects of the challenges and possible solutions before you engage in fixing them.

I don’t know if it is a sign of the times or if it is our recreational diving industry that is in flux.  At Surf Expo I spoke with a number of Dive Industry Professionals who were overly concerned with current, ongoing problems in the diving industry.  I had conversations about supply chain issues, channel of distribution conflicts, market competitiveness, lack of marketing support for Retail Dive Centers, and market creation challenges for new and existing programs, products, and services.  More than once we talked about the challenge of market creation and what needed to happen first in order to make that possible.  It’s kind of like asking which came first, the chicken or the egg.

There are many aspects of the diving industry that are in need of strategic thinking, planning, and execution.  That is what Dive Industry Association has been specializing in for twenty-three years now.  Our mission is to bring buyers and sellers together and our end goal is to get the biggest bang for the buck for our members, clients, and sponsors.  One major segment where strategic planning is absolutely necessary is in building the foundation of your business to begin with.  Many dive businesses today are built on a sandy bottom.  Maybe they skipped creating a business plan.  Maybe they entered the market too quickly or with little forethought and preparation.  Just maybe they underestimated the market or their understanding of it.  A house built on a faulty foundation is difficult to repair.

Creating a market, capturing market share, and maintaining your dominance takes systematic strategic planning.   Unless you have unlimited time, money, and manpower (and who does?), strategic thinking is the best way to achieve your planned outcomes in a step-by-step, logical manner.

I like to think of marketing as a tool that achieves planned outcomes, based on a plan that weighs the pros and cons of a strategy, and succeeds on paper first, prior to the plan’s execution.  It is much better and more cost effective to fail on paper than it is to fail in the market.   So, to me, marketing is all about planning and execution.  Wanting to be right more than wrong in the market, I prefer to strategically plan my moves to achieve planned corporate outcomes.

Building markets and market share takes strategic thinking.  But so does maintaining your market.  The biggest misunderstanding that I have seen recently in the diving industry is the lack of understanding and confusion between wholesale and consumer accounts.  We see it in trade and consumers shows, digital and print magazine advertising, and in the navigation of established industry channels of distribution.  All three of these issues were the main focus of the industry conversations I participated in while at the Surf Expo.

Trade and Consumer Shows for the diving industry can be the most cost effective and productive form of marketing.  Nothing works as effectively as a good face-to-face marketing campaign.  Strategic thinking makes us realize the difference between a trade show, a consumer show, and a professional development conference.  One deals with the wholesale buying and selling trade.  One deals with individual consumer education, entertainment, and end-user sales.  One deals with the educational professional development of a select group of industry professionals.  Before you consider attending, exhibiting, or sponsoring a show or event, think about who the buyers and sellers are in the mix.  Are you the recipient of the events campaign or its customer?

We have excellent options in the recreational diving industry in terms of trade and consumer shows.  We have the DEMA Show, Surf Expo, various consumer shows, travel shows, boating shows, apparel shows, and outdoor and adventure shows.  Our organization studies many shows and events and tracks their exhibitors, attendees, speakers, sponsors, and advertisers.  Based on over 40 years of experience in shows & events we feel well qualified to advise our members and clients on the pros and cons of each show or event we follow.  The single criterium for a dive business to consider is how a particular show or event supports your company goals and objectives.

Print and digital magazines and newsletter are not much different in concept than shows & events.  We have to apply strategic thinking and planning when considering whether to read, subscribe, or advertise in a particular publication.  In the diving industry we have a great number of excellent media to read, study, and learn from.  Dive media can target the diving consumer, the dive industry educational professionals, or the dive industry trade professional.  I want to exclude owners and trade professionals outside of the diving industry in this article, because I know many of them are in the legal, accounting, real estate, and investment circles of business.  They have their own media that they follow.

The media sources we deal with in the diving industry are mostly consumer oriented.  We enjoy articles on diving, training, equipment, and travel.  We marvel at the photos of fish and marine animals and are captivated by the articles of exotic dive destinations.  I love reading about our modern-day explorers and industry ICONs, exceeding the envelope of innovation, training, travel, and exploration.  Diving media helps keep divers active in our recreation.  That’s a good thing.

To me, diving media is all about quality content.  If it is worth reading, it is worth subscribing to.  I don’t care as much about the advertisements, unless the advertisers are part of the content.  Then it makes sense.  From a business perspective I look at the subscription numbers and the overall distribution, but more importantly is the number of subscribers that are actually reading the content.  Then I look to see how the content matches the advertisements.  Is it good content and symbiotic advertising?  Or is it fluff content to disguise the real purpose of the magazine?  To sell advertising.

The most important aspect of a magazine to me is if the content is a reflection of the subscriber.  Consumer publications in the diving industry focus on the introduction and use of current dive equipment, training, travel, and lifestyle products.  Trade publications on the other handle should be discussing the business of diving issues about the movement of programs, products, and services, through the supply chain, originating in conception and ending in consumption.  One key factor to consider is the number of subscribers necessary to make a diving publication successful.  A consumer magazine with a readership of 200,000 is adequate in our industry.  A trade publication, however, may have a larger economic impact with a readership of 8,000.    Our logic here is that consumers purchase products for themselves if they are in the market for your product at all.  With a readership of 200,000, that’s your customer limit.  Trade Professionals buy large quantities of products wholesale, to resell to their customers.  The average dive business may have 5,000 customers, which means with a readership of 8,000 we may reach 40 million consumers.  Of course, that includes reaching overlapping customers which is a great advantage too.  The one catch is that the number of trade subscribers doesn’t do us a hill of beans if we can’t get them to READ our trade publication.  To complicate things a bit more, advertisements in a trade publication have to have a strong Call to Action to produce results.  Hence the need for strategic thinking, planning, and execution in our marketing department.

The navigation of established industry channels of distribution is my third, but not last reason for employing strategic thinking and strategic planning in our marketing strategy.  I recently took on the responsibility of representing a limited number of products in the Caribbean.  I had the opportunity to speak with sales agents that were new to the territory and a few that have been doing this for years.  It seems that the sales agents who understood their products, their customers, and their market were the most successful in their career.  Strategic thinking will give you insights into the difference between the trade market and the consumer market.  It is important to understand the different functions of the Resort, the Gift Shop, and the Dive Operation.   When you are looking to increase your market share in a new territory do you know which channels of distribution your prospective clients follow?  Do you know why they buy what they currently buy?  Do you know where they buy and when?  The big question is, “Why do you think they need to buy your product?”  The answer may be right in front of you if you take the time to strategically think it out.  Welcome to our Network’s Mission.

This is an exciting time to become part of the Global Diving Business Network.  For more information about strategic marketing, 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

# # #

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Sail, Dive & Dine with Buddy Dive

Posted on December 12, 2023 by Gene Muchanski

DivingNEW – Sail, Dive & Dine with Buddy Dive Resort Bonaire and Epic Tours!

Buddy Dive Resort and Epic Tours join forces to offer visitors the ultimate Bonaire experience. The Sail, Dive & Dine tour combines Buddy Dive’s guided dives with all-inclusive service from Epic Tours on board a catamaran.


The Sail, Dive & Dine Tour includes:

Catamaran     Dive  Dinner     Sunset

  • 8 Hours of all-inclusive service on board a 44ft sailing catamaran
  • Two guided dives (or guided snorkeling)
  • Open bar including ice cold drinks (sodas, beers, wines, prosecco)
  • Lunch
  • 4-Course dinner
  • Fresh water shower on deck

turtleDuring the 8-hour Sail, Dive & Dine tour – from 11 am – 7 pm – Guests will make two guided dives in the Marine Park of Bonaire and Klein Bonaire. After the first dive, lunch and drinks are served (remember, no alcoholic drinks before dives). We will smoothly sail toward the next dive spot while guests gear up for the second guided dive. After the second dive, the boat will moor on a beautiful, sheltered spot for ice-cold drinks and downtime on board the catamaran while the crew prepares dinner.  The day will end with a 4-course dinner and drinks during one of Bonaire’s famous sunsets. This is the perfect tour for divers, but there are also spots available for the non-divers! During the dives, they can enjoy guided snorkeling.

For more information and pricing, please visit https://buddydive.com/sail-dive-dine/
International:  +599 717 5080                Toll-Free US/Canada:  1-866- GO-BUDDY

Buddy Dive ResortAbout Buddy Dive Resort
Buddy Dive Resort, Bonaire’s leading dive hotel is known for its personable staff, spacious accommodations and a dive operation that has something for every diver. Today, the full-service resort houses spacious studios, one, two- and three-bedroom apartments, a full-service dive center, activity desk, two swimming pools, two restaurants, pool bar, vehicle rentals, and the famous drive-thru air and Nitrox fill station. Built with active people in mind, Buddy Dive Resort knows exactly what is needed to make guests comfortable both during their busy day of diving and exploring and during relaxing at the resort. Over the last few years, Buddy Dive Resort was recognized as one of the World’s Best Dive Resorts & Operations in Scuba Diving magazine’s Reader’s Choice Awards: Top 100 Gold List.

For more information visit www.buddydive.com.

For PR inquiries or other PR related questions, please contact marketing@sapiasbv.nl

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Maximize Your Trade Show Experience

Posted on December 4, 2023 by Gene Muchanski

Gene 2023-4Maximize Your Trade Show Experience
 by Gene Muchanski, Editor
The Dive Industry Professional

There is more to trade show marketing than we realize.  Much more.  With over 40 years of experience attending and exhibiting at trade and consumer shows, I think of trade show marketing as the tip of an iceberg in our face-to-face marketing strategy.  On the surface, trade shows may seem like a short duration event that is very expensive and terribly time-consuming, but after you do a deep dive into this intriguing subject, you quickly see how integrated and interconnected trade shows can be to your overall sales and marketing strategy and success.

We could go into an incredible amount of detail about trade show marketing, and I promise we will in the months to come, but for now, let’s just talk about trade shows in the context that most of us are familiar with.  That is the diving industry’s annual trade show, the DEMA Show.  If you were one of the 490 exhibiting companies who were in New Orleans two weeks ago, along with the thousands of attendees, presenters, exhibitors, and sponsors, you may think that DEMA is over for the year.  Well, it’s not!  Not by a long shot.  As far as trade shows go, there is still a lot of DEMA Show work that needs to be done.  The moment we all returned to our offices from the DEMA Show, we officially entered into the post-show part of the trade show experience.  That’s the part of the process where we follow up with the people who expressed an interest in our company and its programs, products, and services.  We call all of them “Leads” and we could classify them further as contacts, leads, or hot leads.    They are usually the people that we saw, or spoke with, or got a business card from, and who may not have completed a buying decision to our satisfaction.  It’s up to us now to make contact with them again and complete the sales process.

Rhonda Abrams of The Planning Shop, wrote in her book, Trade Show In A Day; “According to industry sources, up to 80 percent of trade show leads aren’t followed up.”  Think of all the time money, and manpower that you spent on the DEMA Show process.  The average company spends $5,000 per person per booth, for booth space, airfare, hotel, and food.  And that is not counting employee wages and trade show supplies. Divide that by the 31 hours of the show and you quickly realize that you are spending over $161 per hour per person to educate attendees, acquire contacts, get sales leads, and sell products. And 80% of you are not going to follow up on the leads you get at the show?

Industries across the globe participate in trade shows for one major reason.  They work.  Convention Centers and Hotel Meeting Venues have expanded greatly in the past few decades.  The COVID pandemic set the Shows & Events Industry back a few years, but we are starting to see a recovery in meeting and convention venue bookings.  We thought that digital conventions would replace face-to-face events during the pandemic, but that just didn’t happen.  For a while there were concerns about face-to-face, digital, and hybrid models competing within the meetings and conventions industry for the leading venue type position, but the jury is still out on that one.  I believe that each industry must deal with their own trade show venue choices to see which one works best for them.

Last month’s DEMA Show in New Orleans was my 38th DEMA Show, so this wasn’t my first rodeo.  Since my first DEMA Show in 1982 (San Antonio, TX), I have only missed 3 DEMA Shows and 1 DEMA Show missed me (2020 New Orleans).  In all that time, I have exhibited in the Manufacturing, Training Agency, Dive Travel Wholesaler, Trade Association, and Non-Profit Organization stakeholder groups.  As an attendee I have registered as a Retail Dive Store Buyer and a Media Professional on assignment.

Each time I exhibited or attended a DEMA Show I had to plan and prepare myself for achieving outcomes that were in the best interest of my company at the time.  As a Trade Show Professional, you quickly figure out that different stakeholder groups have different reasons for being at a trade show and therefore, different agendas.  It helped me early on in my career to think of trade shows and event venues as a blank canvas awaiting my input.  I also understood that different show and event producers run their events based on their own agendas and not ours.  Over the years, industry planners have customized their trade show experience to meet the needs of their companies.  You should do the same for your company.

As an exhibitor, attendee, and media professional, I thought the DEMA Show in New Orleans was too big and too spread out.  That’s not necessarily a bad thing and it certainly is not a criticism.  DEMA Show has become, in my opinion, a trade show, a professional development conference, and a consumer show. It was designed as a Trade Show in 1977 to bring diving equipment manufacturers (sellers) and retail dive stores (buyers) together.   In 1982 when I first exhibited at DEMA Show in San Antonio, there were 182 exhibitors and about 2,400 dive stores in the United States.  The qualified retail buyers had plenty of time to meet with all their top vendors, attend the big DEMA Party, attend the Film Show, and still have private social time with their peers.  The dynamics of the exhibit hall has changed over the years, from order writing to open view-only displays of diving equipment, training, and travel.  The exhibit hall attracts qualified retail buyers, and Dive Industry Professionals who are interested in diving equipment, training programs, travel opportunities, and lifestyle products.  The big show party and the film shows are gone now, replaced with smaller social gatherings, and private dinners for elite buyers.  What hasn’t changed is that revenue from selling booth space is what pays for the venue.  Without an exhibit hall, there would be no show.

The concept of the show being a Professional Development Conference is understood by everyone in the industry but never really talked about much or even capitalized on.  In today’s industry, we are looking at about 1,000 dive stores.  Even if all 1,000 stores brought 2 people to the show, it would not compare to the 200,000 active Diving Educational Professionals in the industry.  The only problem is that is that without revenue from the exhibit hall, tickets to an annual professional development conference would cost well over $1,000.  So, we need the exhibitors to keep the cost of the ticket sales down.

I don’t see what is wrong with having an annual dive consumer show.  After all, we are all consumers of diving equipment, training programs, travel opportunities, and lifestyle products.  Regardless of whether you are a Dive Industry Trade Professional or a Dive Industry Educational Professional, we are all diving consumers.  Answer this for me.  If you walked up to a travel booth at the show and wanted to book a trip for you and your spouse, do you think the travel vender would tell you no?  Do you think they would send you over to a Dive Travel Wholesaler’s booth or write you up and take your deposit?

So, if you agree that the DEMA Show is a combination of Trade Show, Professional Development Conference, and Consumer Dive Show, shouldn’t it be a yearlong event?  We think so.  I propose that we integrate our annual trade show, annual professional development conference, and our regional consumer dive shows into a year-long event.  We could construct a number of pre-show and post-show campaigns, before and after a number of at-show, face-to-face events, and tie them all into an ongoing digital convention.  Seriously though, until we can incorporate all our buyers and sellers needs into one major annual event, we may be able to integrate our efforts into cooperating regional and national events, meetings, conferences, and conventions.  It is very do-able to strategically plan and achieve our desired outcomes on a Global Diving Community level.  We start by maximizing our trade show experience on a show-by-show basis over a period of time, at a local, regional, and national level.

To help Dive Industry Professionals maximize their trade show experience, we can share some of our education, experience, results, and opinions with you as it relates to our own experience on the trade show circuit.  Please understand that this is our opinion, based on our experience.  That’s why they call this an editorial.

Attending a trade or consumer show is not a one-time event.  It is a part of your annual sales and marketing strategy. Like a puzzle that has a pre-designed outcome, there are many individual yet interconnected components to a trade show strategy.  In my opinion, trade shows and events need to be studied, planned, executed, and reviewed.   To prepare yourself for a successful show or event, you should start off by reading Trade Show in a Day.   I also recommend you do some research on display manufacturers who publish white papers on the finer points of exhibiting at shows and events and who conduct local seminars and webinars about exhibiting.  Skyline Exhibits is an excellent source at www.skyline.com

The planning part of a trade show is very important.  The number one question to ask yourself is why are you exhibiting in the first place?  We suggest you establish a purpose for exhibiting first.  Are you exhibiting to educate, socialize, or sell?  Are you looking to acquire new customers or to meet with existing clients?  Maybe it’s even to connect with former customers that you are hoping to re-capture as current customers.  A major question to ask yourself is, “Are my customers going to be there?”  A major show promoter once told me that it was not his job to make sure his show attracted customers for me, but that it was my job to make sure my customers came to his show.  I totally disagree with that philosophy.  In my opinion, if you want companies (sellers) to exhibit at your show, you have to do your best to attract qualified buyers to attend.  The Surf Expo has 2 Buyer Relations Professionals on staff to persuade Qualified Retail Buyers to attend the expos.  Registration is free for Retail Buyers at the 2 Surf Expos.  That’s because a trade show is about selling products or taking orders from qualified buyers.

The execution part of a trade show that works best for us includes pre-show, at-show, and post-show components.  For a DEMA Show in November, we start our pre-show campaign on September 1 and run it up to the opening day of DEMA.  Our at-show phase is the 4 days of DEMA plus 2 days before and 2 days after.  It’s the entire time we spend at the show, because face-to-face time is the best part of a show or event.  Our post-show phase starts the day we leave DEMA and finishes when our follow-up on all of our leads is complete.  The review phase begins immediately after the show and everything we learned goes into the next year’s planning phase.

If your trade show strategy is well balanced using planning, execution, and review, you can maximize your shows & events experience.  Based on historical data, we know that 75% of exhibitors and attendees are the same people. If you know who exhibited or attended last year, you are 75% of your way there.  Only about 25% of exhibitors and attendees are new every year, roughly speaking.  Our advice is to have a strong pre-show campaign and close as many sales as you can.  If you are successful at that then you can shift your focus to a smaller number of uncommitted buyers and spend mor time socializing at the show than selling.  That’s what we call strategic selling and maximizing your time, money, and manpower efforts at shows & events.

This is an exciting time to become part of the Global Diving Business Network.  For more information about target marketing, 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

# # #

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Buddy Dive Resort Bonaire DEMA Show Specials

Posted on November 21, 2023 by Gene Muchanski

Buddy Readers choice 2021Dear DEMA Show Attendee:

We are looking back on a very successful DEMA Show. It has been a pleasure seeing you all again. To make DEMA Show 2023 even more successful, we would like to extend our DEMA Special by two weeks. It can now be booked until December 1, 2023. Please find the show special, and terms & conditions below.

Buddy Dive Resort

  • 8=7 special: the 8th person in the group gets accommodation, breakfast & diving for FREE.
  • 3 EXTRA 1-tank afternoon boat dives FREE when booking the Drive & Dive boat dive package.

Belmar Oceanfront Apartments

  • 8=7 special*: the 8th person in the group gets accommodation, part of the vehicle rental and diving for FREE.
  • Every 2nd diver dives FREE*when booking one of our dive packages.

Terms & Conditions:

  • *The diving discount does not apply to the valet diving part when booking the valet diving package at Belmar.
  • DEMA specials are valid for travel between April 6 and December 20, 2024, for both resorts.
  • The special can also be used for new bookings with travel dates until December 15, 2023.
  • DEMA specials and included benefits are only valid for group bookings. This means a minimum of 8 adults will need to travel.
  • DEMA specials and included benefits are only valid when booking a full Drive & Dive package.
  • To benefit from the DEMA special, the deposit needs to be received before December 1, 2023.
  • DEMA specials are not valid in combination with any other specials or promotions and are for new bookings only.

Reservations & Availability

For reservations & availability, please contact our central reservations team on:
Toll-free (USA/Canada)                                : 1-866-GO-BUDDY
International                                                    : +599 717 5080
Buddy Dive Resort Bonaire                         : reservations@buddydive.com
Belmar Oceanfront Apartments                : reservations@belmar-bonaire.com

Posted in Press Release | Leave a comment

Ultralight Camera Solutions Holiday Sale

Posted on November 21, 2023 by Gene Muchanski

ULCS NewFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Ultralight Camera Solutions Announces Annual Holiday Sale

Oxnard, CA, November 21, 2023 – Ultralight Camera Solutions (ULCS), a leading provider of high-quality underwater camera accessories, recently returned from the highly acclaimed DEMA trade show in New Orleans, Louisiana. The company is thrilled to announce their annual holiday sale.

Ultralight Camera Solutions is excited to express gratitude to its loyal customers by announcing their Annual Holiday Sale. From November 8th to November 28th, customers can enjoy a 10% discount on Ultralight manufactured products. This exclusive offer is an opportunity for photography enthusiasts to enhance their underwater shooting experience with top-of-the-line accessories at a special price.

It’s important to note that Stix buoyancy floats and Cardellini clamps are not included in the sale. However, the sale covers a wide range of Ultralight products designed to meet the diverse needs of underwater photographers.

“We’re delighted to have attended the DEMA trade show in New Orleans. The positive feedback and interest we received from industry professionals reaffirm our commitment to delivering high-quality camera accessories for underwater enthusiasts,” said Ken Kollwitz, owner of Ultralight Camera Solutions.

To take advantage of the Annual Holiday Sale, customers can visit their local ULCS dealer or order directly from the official website at ulcs.com. Happy Thanksgiving to all!

For press inquiries, please contact:
Ken Kollwitz
Owner
Ultralight Camera Solutions
ulcs@ulcs.com
(805) 469-7288

About Ultralight Camera Solutions:
Ultralight Camera Solutions (ULCS) is a leading provider of underwater camera accessories, offering a wide range of innovative products designed to enhance the underwater photography experience. With a commitment to quality and performance, ULCS continues to be a trusted choice for photographers seeking top-notch equipment for capturing stunning images beneath the surface. Visit ulcs.com for more information.

Posted in Press Release | Leave a comment