This document summarizes the strategies used by a scuba diving center in Atlanta to achieve record business in 2015, despite economic challenges. The diving center focused on targeted social media advertising, personalized email communications, and enhancing customer education and engagement through group activities and technical training programs. These efforts helped increase new customer acquisition and engagement while reducing customer costs. The success indicates businesses can take steps to boost performance regardless of broader economic conditions.

1. SEE II
Not q Slqve to the Economy
As ,,n" r- -ihe weather; there isn't much a dive center
=' :=^ do about the economy.This Atlanta
'=: ,. ^'ade adjustments and changes to mal<e
-: i :ne most promising in 25 years of business.
:. '.. - lnfield
i': sell understood that industries depender.rt on discretion-
.rlr spending. such as scuba diving, are particularly affected
br the health of the economy. When we see signs of econclm-
'i erpansion and recovery, members of the industry naturally
-pect an upturn in their businesses.
General economic indicators. horvever, do not adequately ex-
plain our dive center's remarkable business in 2015
- our best
ear ever in its 25-year history. And this increase in business is
not reiated to any single month or event: moreover. it occurred in
spite of increased competition fiom nerv dive stores in our mar-
ket. And lve did not drive business through discounting. eren
though it seems that rve rvere challenged by a lalse and unfhir
reputation fbr being more expensive than online retailers.
So r.vhat made the difference'/ Recently. our owners and man-
a-eers reflected on our results so far this year to determine rvhat
rvorked. We implemented some ner,v practices, and enhanced
existing practices, as I rvill explain.
We realize that. in scuba. business success starts r.vith getting
people "through the door."
While r,ve've advertised in the past, this year our strategy has
changed signilicantly. This year, lve have concentrated signifi-
cant time and resources on targeted social media advertising,
particularly high-quality Facebook ads. This tactic has corre-
lated positively ivith our increase in nerv customers and our de-
e relse irt the eost of custornel uequisitiorr.
For several years. we've also distributed an electronic
nervsletter, rvhich some of our existing customers appear to
enjoy and read faithfully: hor.vever, we came to beiieve this
platform doesn't appeal to everyone, so we expanded our
email communications to include messages that target spe-
cilic customer groups.
They address the interest of the recipients, based on their level
of training and activity. and promote courses and equipment.
tbr erample. that r,vould be relevant to them norv. This level of
personalization has increased the open rate of our promotional
emails
- a real achievement, particularly given the increasing
sopl.ristication of rvebmail ljlters.
Ve also believe that a signilicant component of our success
in 1015 has been dr-re to enhanced execution of some practices
that have made us a leader in our Atlanta market fbr many years.
To this encl. ue must sriv that u,e are blessed rvith tull-tirne staff
ancl instructors u.ho understancl these plactices. To facilitate
their expertise,
we educate our
staff, which we
know in turn
will educate our
customers, and
ultimately lead
to confident pur-
Kim Infield is operations manager for
SeaVentures lnc. in Atlanta.
chasing decisions and therefore customer loyalty.
The relationship between instructor and customer/student
extends to our emphasis on classroom-based learning, as we've
seen that students who do so are more engaged, better trained,
and are more likely to buy their own equipment than someone
who does e-learning.
Our aim to foster customer loyalty is paramount to our suc-
cess. One of the wonderful things about scuba is that even the
avid scuba diver is unlikely to run out of things to learn. If cor-
rectly promoted, the hobby can serve as a limitless source of
education, personal achievement and social interaction.
To leverage the social opportunities of scuba diving, we have
placed particular emphasis on group activities such as "pretrip par-
ties" that we hold several weeks before any scuba diving trip, and
serve as effective icebreakers between customers and trip leaders.
In terms of training, while it certainly helps to have enthusi-
astic and motivated students, our strong sales and certification
numbers in continuing-education is a credit to our exceptional
instructional staff members, who always push students in the
right direction.
Along these lines, given our dive center has always been high-
ly training orientated, il 2015 we launched a technical diving
program with an emphasis on closed-circuit rebreather training.
By raising the highest bar of our training, we know that we are
motivating divers at all levels of experience to continue their
education; and, specifically, to do it with our facility.
I hope that the experience of our shop in 2015 provides some
evidence that while we are all subject to the peaks and troughs
of the economic cycle, there are steps that can be taken to both
keep our best customers engaged and to effectively market to-
ward potential new divers.
We believe that when people make the decision to "take the
plunge into our sport," they'll come to our dive center
- and
stay with us for a lifetime. DCT
70 A Good Monoger is Alwoys Leorning