It is no secret that new divers are the lifeblood of our industry and creating more new divers is one of the critical tasks of a dive center owner and manager. Of course, word of mouth, by asking current customers…
DCB StaffApril 13, 2014
It is once again that time of year, when bells are ringing, colorful lights are twinkling and malls are flooded with masses of shoppers. The decorations showed up weeks ago in your favorite department stores. Now the holiday season truly…
Donna AskewNovember 20, 2013
I like to shop. It's kind of an academic thing. Some people do museums, others do art galleries, but I do the local Plaza de Overdraft shopping center. After on-again, off-again gigs in the retail world, the whole store vibe…
Greg LasloFebruary 18, 2013
Small retailers like dive stores have a much more difficult time standing out from the crowd as the holiday shopping season approaches. With corporate retail giants pulling out all stops with advertising to create top-of-mind awareness, the attention of the…
Patricia LuebkeNovember 7, 2012
When I began teaching (a while ago), this was definitely a sport dominated by men. I lived just outside Minneapolis, and the local newspaper ran a half-page article on me, the woman in town making a career of teaching scuba…
Donna AskewApril 26, 2009
Attracting returning customers is more efficient than marketing for first-time customers, and they're actually better for your small business than, say, price-sensitive discount shoppers who don't know you from Jacques Cousteau. And just as importantly, getting your old customers to…
Greg LasloMarch 18, 2009
"I know I waste half the money I spend on advertising," department store pioneer John Wanamaker said. "The problem is, I don't know which half." The same goes true for your dive travel marketing and promotion program. You might do…
Donna AskewMarch 1, 2009
One of the 21st century's new professions is the so-called trend-spotter. They're sort of an amalgam of futurist and marketing guru. Using a variety of research methods, statistical analysis and interviews of everyone from historians to sociologists to economists, they…
Alex BrylskeFebruary 17, 2009
Customer recruitment is one of, if not the, most important task of any dive center for the simple reason that you can't keep the doors open without new customers. The problem is that small businesses like yours have very limited…
Alex BrylskeFebruary 14, 2009
