If you own a dive business and you’re still not using the power of online marketing to promote you company then don’t be surprised if soon enough you’ll be closing down your doors faster than you’ve opened it.
Online Marketing is a crucial aspect of business success.
Need to establish your brand and your credibility? Then do online marketing.
Need customers? Then do online marketing.
Want to stay ahead of the competition? Then do online marketing.
If you don’t know where to start, here are some simple but effective online marketing ideas you can do to promote your dive business through different digital platforms.
Website and Blogging
If you are among these businesses who don’t own a website then you should fix that quick!
Having a website is the best marketing online marketing tool you can have because it will contain everything about your dive business. It makes you look more professional and legit. And it is a platform that belong to you.
Remember that your social media followers belong to Mark Zuckerberg. If tomorrow Facebook or Instagram decides to shut down, what will happen to your online marketing strategy?
Building websites nowadays is easy and affordable so there’s really no excuse for you to not have website for your dive business.
Websites can also be monetized so any investment you put in can return to you tenfolds. Some have used this to sell their own products. And others have used this to create direct bookings in lieu of using online booking portals.
A business website makes it convenient for many of your customers to conduct business with you. And that can create a good impression on them.
Here are some of the thing you can do to market your business using your website.
1. Think longterm and buy a domain name you will use forever.
2. Hire a professional web designer to help you set up your website.
3. Make sure that your website has basic but complete information about your company.
4. Publish your rates and prices on your website. Don’t make it hard for customers to find out how much it will be to do business with you.
5. Use your website to start a mailing list.
6. Write Search Engine Optimized (SEO) articles or blogs relevant to your customers. Show that you are an expert in your field and a trustworthy company to do business with. Content is KING!
7. Make it easy for customers to book with you via your website. You can ask a web developer to include a booking system on your website. Or create a page with details on how they can book with you.
8. Make an e-commerce website to sell your products.
9. Ask your customers to leave you a review and publish these testimonials on your website.
10. Use your website as a calling card and share it everywhere and any chance you get. Make sure though that it’s updated with the latest information about your dive business.
Social Media
Social Media Marketing is one of the most popular way dive businesses promote their products and services. In fact, some businesses will even have a Facebook Page first before having their own website. While not having a website is not a great long term business strategy, being active on social media is.
There are so many social media platforms now like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn and the most recent, TikTok.
While you might want to be on all platforms, it is best to choose the social media platform where your audience and ideal customers hang out. Each platform has a different approach when it comes to digital marketing.
What might work on Facebook might not work on Instagram, so once you decide which platform you want to aggressively market your business in, find time to learn or hire someone who can do it properly.
Here are some tips and ideas to help you promote your business using social media:
1. Create social media accounts for your dive business. Avoid using personal accounts and mixing personal posts that is irrelevant to your business.
2. Complete your social media profiles with details about your dive business and link bank to your website where they can find more information about you.
3. Post consistently and frequently. There are many free scheduling tools online to ensure you are sharing something to your audience.
4. Create a social media marketing plan with goals to hit each month.
5. Social Media is about being social (duh!). So find ways to engage with your audience. Posting photos and videos is not enough. Make it interesting. Always tell a story.
6. Promote in your place of business that you have a social media account. Then ask your existing customers to follow and tag you in their posts. Photos and videos from actual customers make good content.
7. Consider building a Facebook Fan Page and / or a Facebook Group. Each has it’s own use or purpose depending on what you would like to accomplish.
8. Join Facebook Groups related to your niche. Respond to threads and answer questions. If the group permits reposting content, share your posts from your own Facebook Page. Your active participation will be noticed and appreciated.
9. Use the Facebook Live Feature. Your followers get notified and can draw interest in the day to day happenings on your place of business.
10. Create Facebook events and invite your followers to come and join.
11. Ask your customers to “check-in” on Facebook when they come to visit you. It notify’s their friends where they go and a great way to promote your business through their networks.
12. Create your own business hashtag (ex. #PhilippineDives) on Instagram and ask your followers to use it. Repost content from the said hashtag.
13. Use Instagram Live and IG Stories to engage with your followers and give them updates with what is happening in your business. Encourage them to send you DM’s and questions about your business.
14. Set up Instagram Shopping to showcase your products.
15. Do contests and giveaways to get more followers and build your email list.
16. Respond to direct messages in a timely manner. Many customers get turned off when businesses takes days to reply to an inquiry.
17. Create a YouTube channel and update frequently with topics relevant to your audience.
18. Repurpose and cross-post content. Don’t be scared to post the same photos and videos in different platforms. Each social media will have different audiences and response.
19. Follow each social media platform’s best practices. If you plan to do social media on your own, there are many tutorials online. Make sure that you read the latest information as social media algorithms are constantly evolving.
20. Consider outsourcing work to graphic artist, editors and social media managers especially if this is not your competency.
Want to level up you Instagram game? Here are 10 Tips to Grow Your Instagram Account.
According to digital marketing experts, email is still one of the best ways to reach customers. Email marketing, if done correctly, can be a good way to generate business for you.
An email is a direct contact to your ideal customer. If a person gives you their email, it already shows interest in your business.
You must also remember that your ideal client might not be on social media where you are promoting. But chances are if they use the internet, they will have an email address.
So many dive businesses overlook this great opportunity to get in the inbox of their already captured audience. If you own a dive shop or business, have you ever considered emailing these clients to invite them to book with you?
Email has been proven to be one of the more effective ways to convert a client into a paying one.
If you have excellent services and products to begin with then they would not mind hearing from you every once in a while. And should they click the unsubscribe button, then it’s not a good match and they might not be your ideal customer anyway.
1. Once you have a domain name, start using an email handle with your domain. Stop using your Gmail or Yahoo website for official business matters.
2. Come up with an email signature that contains your other contact information (Name, Position, Contact Numbers, Website, Social Handles, etc)
3. Be consistent with your branding even in emails.
4. Reach out to previous clients via email and offer a special discount or promo to encourage them to come back and do business with you.
5. Build a mailing list and send your customers newsletters and updates of what’s new with your business.
6. Offer incentives to encourage customers to sign up to your mailing list.
7. Choose the right email marketing platform for you to send email campaigns consistently to your captured audience. (MailChimp, Active Campaign, Convert Kit, etc)
8. Do not SPAM or buy mailing lists. Only send emails to customers who have agreed to be part of your mailing list.
9. Send welcome emails to new sign ups to your list. Let them know what emails to expect from you.
10. Consistently send them newsletters or email that has value. Don’t just sell, but rather, how you can help them.
Strategic Partnerships
Creating online collaborations can open doors for you in ways you’ve never imagined. Building relationships with other dive businesses and players in the industry can result in profitable returns of time and investment.
When you create strategic partnerships with other dive businesses or brands, your are able to drive engagement, capture new customers, boost sales and build a positive brand association.
Here are some ideas on what you can do online with other dive businesses so you can help promote each other.
1. Collaborate with online micro-influencers who has a similar audience as yours. Remember that it’s not the number of followers they have but influence they have over their followers.
2. Consider using third-party platforms where you can be found by potential customers. For instance, using Booking.com or Agoda.com if you are a dive resort and using Liveaboard.com if you are offer dive liveaboards. While there might be fees involved, the web traffic they might be getting might be worth the placement. Adjust your pricing so the fees are factored into your costs.
3. Claim your business listing in different online directories.
4. Contact your local tourism board and find out how you can help promote each other.
5. Offer to do a guest post or contribute an article on a dive-related website. Normally, websites that allow guest posting encourages you to write about your area of expertise and promote your business at the same time.
6. Find a brand ambassador who can talk about your products or services on their different online platforms.
7. Sponsor someone’s contest or giveaway.
8. Start an online campaign that is non-profit in nature. Collaborating with other brands and encourage individuals to help with causes like ocean conservation or fighting against single-use plastic. Giving back to the community is always a good thing.
9. Be a guest in a podcasts where you can talk about your business and your area of expertise.
10. Host or organize webinars with other dive businesses to talk about topics your are passionate about.
Overwhelmed with and not sure where to start? Here are 6 Tips on How to Boost Your Online Presence on a Budget!
As you can see there are so many things you can do right now to level up your online marketing efforts for your dive business. Remember that these are just tips and ideas to get you started and inspired to take action. Take advice that makes sense for your business.
While these things might not have immediate results, remember that doing digital marketing is an business strategy that needs to be done consistently.
Businesses are not built over night. Work hard and work smart. And you will reap the benefits tomorrow of what you sow today.
What online marketing idea mentioned above do you plan to implement for your dive business today? Leave a comment below!
1 Comment
Hi,
Good ideas and suggestions there. I only have little to contribute, but regarding guest posts my experience is that often when people approach me to have a post on one of our websites (in marine conservation or other environmental agendas), it’s of quite poor quality. It basically stands out like a sore thumb, and it’s clear that it’s written for SEO purposes and seem misplaced. Because of this I generally reject guest posts, which is a shame – as they in principle could be really beneficial for everyone.
Bottomline, if you are going to try guest posting, try and offer a very specific pitch for the article, that keys EXACTLY into the website you are writing it for. Maybe you’ve even written it already, and can ask if they’d care to include it. Make it as easy as possible to say yes.
Thanks for the good advice otherwise