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Cline Group | William Cline Current News
NEW! LEVEL Up Dive Industry Podcast Releases: Episode 1: April 2024
PRO TIPS – 10 Reasons Why Print Advertising is Not Dead (published 10/23 DiveNewswire)
William Cline named “Dive Industry Research Editor” for Dive Newswire – the diving industry only international PR news website. Thank you Scott D. Jones for the honor. Dive Newswire is the scuba diving industry’s only PR News website, with tens of thousands of impressions each week with their weekly newsletter. William is proud to be in such great company with fellow-editors and friends Alex Brylske, Dan Orr, Bryan Horn and Steve Weaver!
PRO TIPS – Five Tips to Increase Your DEMA Show Conversions and Sales (published 9/23 DiveNewswire)
Cline’s Quarterly Dive Industry Survey is in and a total of 103 dive businesses responded to the survey and indicated the following results here.
Cline’s Quarterly Dive Industry Survey is in and a total of 108 dive businesses responded to the survey and indicated the following results here.
Cline’s Quarterly Dive Industry Survey is in and a total of 153 dive businesses responded to the survey and indicated the following results here.
Cline’s Quarterly Dive Industry Survey is in and a total of 127 dive businesses responded to the survey and indicated the following results here.
Cline’s Quarterly Dive Industry Survey is in and a total of 110 dive businesses responded to the survey and indicated the following results here.
Cline’s Quarterly Dive Industry Survey is in and a total of 94 dive businesses responded to the survey and indicated the following results here.
Cline’s Quarterly Dive Industry Survey is in and a total of 156 dive businesses responded to the survey and indicated the following results here.
Cline’s Quarterly Dive Industry Survey is in and a total of 167 dive businesses responded to the survey and indicated the following results here.
Cline’s Quarterly Dive Industry Survey is in and a total of 151 dive businesses responded to the survey and indicated the following results here.
06.01.21: William Cline Interviewed By Tec Clark for his “The League of Extraordinary Divers” Podcast.
Cline’s Quarterly Dive Industry Survey is in and a total of 228 dive businesses responded to the survey and indicated the following results here.
Cline’s Quarterly Dive Industry Survey is in and a total of 156 dive businesses responded to the survey and indicated the following results here.
09.28.20: Cline’s 2020 State of The Dive Industry Sentiment Study Released
We as an industry are massively changing and it started well before this current global pandemic. We are seeing shifts in training, dive vacation habits and gear purchasing patterns that all point to seismic shifts in our dive consumer base. This survey is looking for the industry’s assessment of where we are going by sector, and what we can do to change some of the trends emerging.
A total of 323 dive business responded to this survey from over 47 countries, generating 1,228 open ended responses.
08.18.20: Cline Group Special Summer Global Dive Business Survey Released
This is a special summer edition of the Cline’s Global Dive Industry Survey – focused on collecting certification numbers.
07.28.20: Cline’s 1st & 2nd Quarter 2020 Quarterly Dive Industry Survey is in and a total of 128 dive businesses responded to this global survey and indicated the following results:
05.20.20: Special COVID #2 Global Business Survey Conducted May 2020.
05.01.20 & 05.12.20: William Cline interviewed as part of industry con series by dive consultant Ronny Roskosch – Do you have a recovery marketing plan?:
Related article appearing in DiveNewswire.com 5/12/20:
Do you have a recovery marketing plan?
There appears to be a glimmer of hope as we see the world slowly beginning the process of life restarting post-COVID. This last weekend, many states and countries began to relax quarantines and, fingers crossed, we will not see spikes in cases but instead, see the slow decline of this terrible virus.
The after effects will be slow-going for much of the dive industry, as islands and businesses plan and prepare for reopening while relying on airlines around the world to resume service to many locations.
Last week, Delta Airlines announced they are resuming service to the USVI and the West Indies island-nation of Anguilla announced they were fully ‘open for business’ as they had no confirmed cases as of a few days ago. Glimmers of hope are emerging.
So now is the time, if your company has not already begun, to create a recovery marketing plan to restart your dive marketing and promotions. Being that many companies, large and small, will have greatly reduced marketing dollars for the remainder of 2020, targeting expenditures with laser focus has never been more important.
Google, Bing and Facebook offer a staggering array of tools to help with this laser-focus. Recently an article was published by Pathmatics, an analytics consultancy, shows what percentage large companies dedicate to Facebook, vs Google Desktop, Video or Mobile. Great read – but the takeaway is United Airlines planned their spend pre-COVID at about 40% Facebook, 40% Google Display (Desktop mostly) with the remainder to video and mobile. These are some good guidelines as you look to restart your digital marketing to capture divers.
There are also an array of tools available to geo-target as well as device target. However, people are home more than ever which translates to an abundance of ‘desktop’ users out there – which lends well to video or beautiful underwater photos for use in ads. Furthermore, using ‘look alike’ audiences in Google for example, can help you reach divers that may not be familiar with your company or brand. Now is the time to develop standby marketing plans so you are ready to launch campaigns to target quarantine-weary divers most likely to respond to a value proposition or offer i.e. past customers.
Borrowing from Carnival Cruises and Sandals Resorts playbook, they have maintained regular weekly offer-driven emailers throughout this pandemic. In fact, Carnival recently surveyed their past guests and the number one motivation to get back on a ship? Discounts and offers. I was surprised, but we all know divers are very resilient, just like cruisers. They want the adventure, and are ready to get back in the waters as long as the motivation is high for a booking or purchase.
Fort Young Hotel & Dive Resort in Dominica (West Indies) is capitalizing on this type of proactive plan. Although Dominica is still experiencing quarantine, and airlift has not yet resumed, they just launched a ‘guaranteed dive vacation’ gift card promotion for a prepaid dive vacation that can be transferred or gifted to any diver with a three year expiration date. They know that there have been anniversary, birthday, graduation, and summer travel trips that have been postponed and have the foresight to encourage divers to get back in the water as soon as possible with flexibility as travel resumes.
The key is being creative with what little you will have to spend and if you do not have a digital recovery marketing plan, this is the week to start. Another awesome resource is a company called Shortstack.com. They offer a free plan to set up and test social media or website promotions, giveaways or contests. These tools are wonderful ways to engage your past or potential customers, and the cost to execute these programs are reasonably priced.
There are many resources out in the travel industry, and if you want some guidance within diving, reach out. I am more than happy to give some free advice or point you or your company in the right direction. I recently did an interview that spoke a bit about the concept of marketing during these times in the above interview.
I hope this has been helpful and best wishes for a speedy recovery, business-wise for us all.
From my desk at home,
WIlliam Cline
President
Cline Group Advertising
Scuba Industry Specialists since 1990.
04.13.20: Why we need to know… A COVID Dive Industry Business Survey Request
Eighteen years ago was 2002. Our travel world was in terrible shape as a result of the fallout from the 9/11 attacks. Those in the business back then probably remember how tourism boards, resorts, dive operators and retailers were hurting, but we needed to know how we all were doing. That was the first year of my Cline Global Quarterly Dive Business Survey.
All businesses rely on information to function and if we were to emerge from the semi-recession created back in 2002, we needed to know how everyone was doing and what the outlook would be for each successive quarter. The survey I created is almost identical to the same questions I initially wrote 18 years ago. Quarter after quarter, I have asked the industry at large the same basic set of questions:
How did you do last quarter?
How do you think you will do next quarter?
It’s time for the First Quarter 2020 business survey, and we all are hurting. Everyone in our industry has been terribly affected by this COVID killer. According to the survey outlook, the 4th quarter of 2019 was looking positive and most everyone looking forward to a solid 1st quarter of 2020. Sadly, we all know that is not going to be the case.
So what value will there be in asking everyone how they did and what are they expecting in the second quarter, when we actually do not even know if our industry will be open for business in the second quarter?
As a result, I have suspended the regular business survey and opting instead to ask COVID-related questions. The survey will ask your company’s response to this crisis, if/how you’re staying in touch with your customers, and if your local government is offering any business assistance programs.
Here is the link to the survey: https://www.williamcline.com/limesurvey4/index.php/648211?lang=en
Please help me by completing this survey. I would love to have thousands of worldwide responses so I can parse the results by region. When we all get through this I will resume the regular quarterly business surveys. Hopefully this will all be over by summer or late-summer and we can all get back to our normal lives and business.
Thank you in advance and I will publish the results of this once I receive a valid total number of surveys to tabulate region by region. Please share this link with your vendors and other dive industry colleagues.
From my Home Office,
William Cline
Cline Group
04.02.20: Create your own “Dive” Stimulus Package (appeared in DiveNewswire.com)
As everyone here in the US has seen, it appears our government may have some relief for small businesses, unemployed and possibly even mortgage and student loan abatements or furloughs. All this is a good sign for our economy, and will help to create hope when we need it most.
But what about the dive industry? How will this package help, especially if you’re a dive resort in the Caribbean, that is not eligible for any help?
For US companies, we have some options, such as the SBA disaster loan program, possible rent abatements, credit card forbearance programs. However, if you’re located in the Caribbean and outside of the USVI, you may not have any local options.
It is those of you that are not in the US I am primarily addressing with this article.
Many owners may be experiencing panic and despair as the airlines stopped flying to your island. This has happened all across the Caribbean and Pacific. During this forced down time, some have reported employee training, if they can afford to keep payroll going, others are engaging the local community or as in the case with most, have shut down completely.
I wrote an article recently entitled “Don’t Quarantine Your Dive Marketing” which I specifically addressed keeping the ‘lights on’ with your marketing during this downtime. The gist of the article was the world is in shock, give your customers – divers – something positive to focus on for when the world starts revolving again.
However, many companies have very little to no budget for marketing with their companies shut down, so what can you do that has little cost and can still help when the world starts up again? Here are four simple things that cost little to nothing, depending your staff and workflow during this downtime:
- Email Campaigns: Now more than ever, people are home and in front of computers. A large section of the world is still employed and collecting a paycheck. A well written email campaign would be perfect to send to your past customers. They are the ‘low hanging fruit’ in that those divers are more likely to return to your business. At the least they know your operation, the island and diving, and if they had a great experience, are more likely to return. Send them an incentive to do just that! This crisis will not last more than a few more months and people will want to travel. Give them motivation to look at something late summer or fall. Make your package bookable with little or no up-front costs so your customers feel there is nothing to lose to book something now. It will not help your bank account today, but it will help ensure your plan to recover knowing you have business ‘on the books.’ Another thought is to tell your customers what’s happening while you’re closed if there is anything happening locally. Hubspot has an excellent set of tools and guides for free if your new to email marketing, or want to bush up on the basics: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/email-marketing-guide
- Organic Social Media Campaigns: Organically posting on your social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Instagram) is another excellent way to passively communicate to your customers and potential customers. Create content and posts that inspire, educate and motivate a diver to consider booking a dive vacation. Not all content needs to be sales, as social media works far better with content that excites, like a great dive video, recipe for a local dish, or interview with one of your divemasters. Hootsuite has an excellent guide for content creation, based on what has worked in 2019: https://blog.hootsuite.com/social-media-best-practices/
- PR: Keep your message alive during these stressful times. People – divers – want to escape this crazy world and thinking about that next dive vacation is the perfect medication for today’s troubled times. Do not be afraid to communicate your message. There are also a plethora of PR services in the general travel marketplace but the best in the dive industry is Scott Jones’ DiveNewsWire.com. His reach is the best in the world for the dive trade. Shops and dive travel agents need to be communicated with as well. Even though many are shut down, they also are looking at the changing landscape and planning for moving trips around as needed. Entrepreneur Magazine has some great advice from on PR during this COVID crisis: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/348186.
- Your Website: Use this downtime to fine tune, update content, make your web presence more exciting and relevant. Most companies have websites that need attention and it’s usually on the ‘low priority’ side of the marketing mix. Now is the time, if you can afford it, to get that content updated. People are surfing more than ever in the history of the internet as people are trapped at home around the world. Use this opportunity to make your website engaging and relevant. Here is a great, timely and travel focused blog on improving the travel buying experience on your website: https://vwo.com/blog/increase-travel-website-bookings/
Staying positive during this time can be very hard, but we will pull out of this and the airlines will start flying again. Keeping your message alive with divers is more important than ever, and don’t be afraid to communicate.
Stay strong and positive friends.
From my desk at home,
William Cline
03.20.20: Don’t Quarantine Your “Dive” Marketing (published in Scuba Diving Magazine and DiveNewswire.com)
I borrowed the title of this article from someone I follow that is a SEO expert, Bruce Clay, and his words of wisdom apply to our dive industry now more than ever. We are all facing massive business income reductions, no matter if you are a dive instructor, retailer, resort, magazine or manufacturer, we are all equally affected by this current crisis. The most typical reaction I have seen is to conserve all cash, cut expenses and ‘hunker down’ to wait out this hurricane-like event.
I would like to propose another approach, one that still fits into the ‘conserve and cut’ model, yet allows your marketing to remain active, therefore support those vendors and ultimately, helping with the recovery process with your business for when this crisis ends. Most vendors are in the same boat as your company. If you’re a retailer, customers can’t visit your shop, depending on where you live. If you’re a resort or tropical dive operator, you are at the mercy of your local governments, and when they shut down flights, business comes to a halt. But your expenses do not. I mostly deal with the latter, and all of my resort, liveaboard or tourism clients are struggling, but the key will be in the recovery.
We all foresee at least two to three months of minimal travel, but when this virus is under control, and that will happen, we will have a large pent up demand for diving. I like to tell my clients, ‘adventure is in a diver’s DNA,’ they seek the unique experience, hard-to-get-to dive spots, and pay for the experience far above average consumers or tourists. This marks my 30th year of marketing dive services and products for our industry’s companies and governments. We have seen stock market crashes in the late 90’s and 2008, and the closest thing to this crisis was 9/11, in terms of travel stoppage.
However, Forrester Research, one of the largest media research company’s suggests “The first thing brands have to do is not think about today, but about how they want their brand to be perceived when the world starts to return to normal.” I am not suggesting we pretend like things are normal in any fashion, as we have to acknowledge the current conditions, but there is nothing to say we should not focus on encouraging consumers to plan late summer, fall and winter travel, classes or purchases.
My recommendations are to contact your media vendors and ask if they would be willing to delay billing, or even finance your 2020 expenditures into 2021. They are in the same position as you and chances are they are still going to send that email blast, and still going to print that issue. Plus with everyone at home in front of computers and on their phones, digital websites will see more traffic then over the next 60 days. Working with your media partners to ‘keep the lights on’ marketing-wise, could turn out to be the smartest move to not only help your company or brand recover quickly, but helps out those vendors as well. As I said, and I think most people will agree, future income is better than no income.
Peter Shankman, a digital maven says “Everything is Shut Down. Except you. You’re Still Very Much Alive” in other words we have to move on with our lives and protect our brands. This too shall pass… But from many examples over the history of our country, those brands that keep their message relevant and in front of your consumers, recover far more quickly than those that go dark. Coca Cola kept marketing during the great depression in the 1930s, and at the time Pepsi was a rival, among other soda brands. Coke pulled so far ahead of Pepsi it took until the mid 90s to catch up to Coke’s marketshare (a great read since your home: Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind: Al Ries, Jack Trout).
From my desk (at home) today,
William Cline
972-267-6700
02.09.20: Why is Dive Research is Important? (appeared in DiveNewswire.com)
Why participate in dive surveys? Great question, why take the time to tell someone else about your business? These are typical questions most dive businesses ask themselves when they get a survey from myself, or DEMA for example. Most industries are data driven. That means there are reporting systems that show sales for almost any product as many industries have data reported by automated POS systems that compile sales volume, channels, price, and dozens of other aspects of a product’s sale. The grocery industry is very sophisticated. For example, an Egg producer can determine how eggs are sold and my whom, and who exactly buys eggs in almost every local marketplace in the world – and at what price. To prove my point, just Google search “egg sales statistics usa” and you will find a summary how many hens there are in the USA and how many eggs each hen produces each year! We in diving do not have this level of reporting because we do not have any automated data collection or required reporting. I created the Cline Global Dive Survey over 19 years ago because of this basic deficiency in our industry. DEMA and myself, in separate efforts, are trying to close the data gap in the dive industry and the ONLY way is via surveys. So thanks for helping, but when you complete a survey, you are really helping your company by enabling the collection of numbers that allow you to compare your performance to others in your region or stakeholder group. Data drives so much of what happens with our customers, but without data collection in the form of surveys, we as an industry remain at a disadvantage. Just food for thought next time you see a survey link from myself or DEMA, or really any reputable company in our industry.
Thoughts from behind my desk…
William Cline, producer of the Cline Group Global Dive Survey Report
09.2019: William Cline featured in a segment on THE DIVE LOCKER podcast by Tec Clark: The new dive Industry podcast will feature an interview with Cline Group’s President, William Cline where he discusses the CLINE RESEARCH REPORT, the industry’s only quarterly global dive study of dive businesses. Trends, and overviews are discussed, as well as the second quarter results and forecasts for the third quarter of 2019. Subscribe now to Tec Clark’s The Dive Locker Podcast on iTunes, Google Play Music or Stitcher.
01.20.19: NEW! Cline Research and DEMA Release Study on New Dive Industry Professionals
By DEMA Association.
A new research study published by DEMA and conducted by William Cline of the Cline Research Group is being made available to all members of the diving industry. The goal of the study was to learn more about getting new (and often younger) professionals involved with the Diving Industry, DEMA Show and the DEMA Association.
In a study that combined a written survey with a face-to-face focus group, DEMA asked new diving professionals to express their opinions about the future of the Industry and the value of DEMA Show and the DEMA Association. Forty new professionals responded to the written survey, and nine new professionals attended a face-to-face group study during DEMA Show 2018.
Important findings from the focus group study include:
- New professionals believe that the industry will grow in the future as younger customers are exposed to the experiences inherent in recreational diving.
- Networking, connections, updating, innovation, social opportunities, knowledge, and face-to-face interaction are important to new professionals in their DEMA Show and Industry experiences.
- Motivations for attending DEMA Show included networking, seeing new products and innovations in diving, and obtaining professional education.
- Data is critical to new professionals. They describe themselves as “data hungry.”
- New professionals, and especially younger new professionals, want an advanced education – Marketing 202 instead of Marketing 101.
- Critically, participants in the focus group felt that DEMA and DEMA Show could provide the resources to bridge the current generational gap – specifically by providing educational opportunities and social interaction between the generations.
- New professionals see the experiences of current industry members as an asset to everyone and want to learn from these experienced professionals. They also see themselves as a resource for new technologies and ideas.
- Topics in the study also include ways to communicate with new and younger professionals and the new professionals’ desire for mentorships that help bridge innovation and experience.
Download a copy of this new study here.
02.2019: 2018 Cline’s Global Dive Business Survey is Out! This year marks the 17th year this quarterly global dive industry survey has been conducted. Thousands of businesses have responded over the years to the industry’s only global free business survey. Starting this year, some new data points will be collected and reported. First, each of the major categories for dive retailer income will be reported in a year-to-date format, giving a review of the year for that income category. For instance, as a whole, all dive businesses that reported showed their 2018 gross income rose by 4.6% compared to 2017. New certifications for dive retailers, reported a 3.3% increase in 2018 vs 2017.
The second new data point asked is the number of new certifications. Each quarter this will be tracked by category of business and reported. Retailers, instructors, resorts and liveaboards posted 3,561 new certifications in the 4th quarter of 2018. Based on the average retailer reporting 50.4 certifications per store in the 4th quarter, and applying that to all retailers (1,400 USA est. USA base) then approx 70,560 new certifications were issued by USA dive retailers last quarter.
The Cline Quarterly Dive Industry Survey is free to everyone, and participation is not manadatory to receive the quarterly results.
View the latest survy results here: https://www.williamcline.com/mail/sendstudio/admin/index.php?Page=Newsletters&Action=View&id=208
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12.2018: Cline Group Conducts The First Young Professionals Focal Group at the DEMA show in Las Vegas, NV: William Cline and Tom Ingram moderated the industry’s first “millennial” focus group with Young Professionals, those lass than 30 years of age and relatively new to the diving industry. Prior to the focus group, 40 candidates responded to a basic survey asking for opinions on barriers to younger divers entering the sport and then becoming professionals. Of the 40 responses, 24 were within the target ‘under 30’ age bracket. The focus group was utilized to further explore the questions asked within the exploratory pre-survey. A total of nine candidates participated in the focus group and were geographically spread out across the USA. William Cline created an interpretive report of the two surveys for DEMA. This study will be released in the near future to the industry at large.
9.2018: Cline Group Hired to Launch New Fort Young Dive Operation in Dominica: Known as the Caribbean’s ‘Nature Island,’ Dominica has long been a treasured dive destination and Fort Young, with its prime location in the country’s capital city of Roseau along the shores of the Caribbean Sea, has played host to dive travelers from around the world for more than a decade. Now, with the launch of Fort Young Dive, under the consultation of Cline Group, Fort Young Hotel is poised to become the go-to dive destination in the Caribbean. “Fort Young has long been a place for divers to stay, and with the launch of Fort Young Dive we wanted to partner with a diving-specific marketing representative within North America and William’s unique talents and experience are a perfect fit for our resort,” said Marvlyn James, Fort Young Hotel’s general manager. “We look forward to working with him to introduce divers to the tremendous beauty of our island, both on land and underwater.
7.2018: Cline Group Completes First Scuba Diving Economic Impact Study for Hawaii Dive Association! The Hawaiian Islands Recreational Scuba Association (HIRSA) is happy to announce the release of their first scuba diving economic study for the State of Hawaii. The report, created and complied by William Cline of Cline Group, was a groundbreaking study for the state. Using combined sources of operator surveys and Hawaii Tourism Authority tourism figures, this study found in 2017 there were 356,148 divers that participated in scuba activities in Hawaii’s waters. The total estimated economic impact of these scuba divers is a staggering $519,887,657.47 per year, including an estimated 1,079,460 in room nights specifically generated as a result of scuba diving activities.
5.2018: Explorer Ventures Sets Sail with William Cline/Cline Group for Marketing and Research Assistance! The leading edge in dive liveaboard destinations has selected William Cline to assist with their marketing efforts. Explorer Ventures, long known for providing value, variety and quality dive liveaboard experiences, has tapped William Cline of Cline Group for a broad variety of marketing, research and analytical services. William Cline elaborates on the new relationship “I am excited to work with Clay and his talented team to help bring new levels marketing and branding assistance to his already very successful company.” Explorer Ventures Liveaboard Dive Cruises offers destinations in the Caribbean, Galapagos, Indonesia and Maldives. William Cline / Cline Group has been offering dive consulting services in the industry for almost 30 years and provides quarterly intelligence on the Global Dive Industry via his free research newsletter, The Cline Survey Report.
1.2018: The Chinese New Year holiday is Feb 7th to 22nd, the longest holiday in this year and also called Spring Festival. This is the most important holiday in China, especially for manufacturers, as most of workers have to leave their hometowns to work in factories sometimes very far away from their homes. As a result many manufacturers and business take a long break and shut down during this period. Days of the actually shutdown may vary, some companies may take up to a month off. Check with your supplier if your planning any orders right before or during this period.
8.2017: The Hawaiian Islands Scuba Association says “ALOHA” to William Cline/Cline Group for Marketing and Research Assistance! William Cline has been retained by the Association of Hawaiian dive operators to assist with conducting a detailed economic impact study of Hawaii’s Scuba Industry for the State’s tourism picture.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: KAILUA-KONA, HAWAII, USA: The Hawaiian Islands Recreational Scuba Association says “ALOHA” to William Cline/Cline Group for Marketing and Research Assistance.
William Cline/Cline Group has been retained by the Association of Hawaiian dive operators to assist with a variety of marketing and consulting projects including conducting a detailed economic impact study of Hawaii’s Scuba Industry for the State’s tourism picture.
Lauren Smith, representative for the association explains the significance of the needed study: “We are very happy to have William Cline working with our association. His experience with many other tourism boards will be valuable as we propose new dive marketing budgets at the State and Federal levels to show and prove the massive economic impact that scuba diving has on the Hawaii’s annual tourism product.”
William outlines his plan to assist the association in establishing the economic impact of scuba diving in the State of Hawaii: “We are honored to be a part of this effort to help establish the tremendous value of scuba diving in Hawaii. Our experience with Broward Country/Ft. Lauderdale in Florida, as well as foreign governments such as The Bahamas, Bonaire, Grenada and Barbados will lend valuable expertise to helping Hawaii’s dive operators apply for funds they need to promote their amazing dive destination.”
The Hawaiian Islands Recreational Scuba Association is the official state of Hawaii dive association and represents members across all the islands to local, county, state and federal government. H.I.R.S.A.: www.HawaiianScuba.org.
Sign up today if your not already on my email list here.
What are the next generations for in 2020? Check out this new paper about generations and who we will be marketing to in the next 10 years!
New! Mini eBook Published Articles on the following topics:
Mini eBook 1: DEMA’s Certification Census vs. The USA Diver Population
A comparative detailed state by state analysis using DEMA’s quarterly new diver census report, then extrapolated and compared the US Census and dive store populations as supplied by Dive Training Magazine. The report shows calculated state by state percentages of dive stores, diver populations and penetration of diving within each state.
Mini eBook 2: Dive Industry vs. US Population
This article presents a comparison of USA Birthrates, USA Census population data and compares to calculated diver populations and details some amazing trends in past years, as well as future years growth of the USA diving industry.
Mini eBook 3: Facebook vs. The Dive Retailer
With the popularity of Facebook and other social media platforms, Pintrest, Twitter, etc, many marketers are wondering how influential are these mediums in decision making processes for travel. This article pulls data from a large travel survey and applies to the Diving Industry.
Mini eBook 4: Perception Vs. Reality: Today’s Diver
Perception of lack of lifestyle selling within the diving industry has harmed the industry. This eBook compares current perceptions and what they should be to sell diving to the masses.
Mini eBook 5: Facebook Divers?
Using Facebook’s ad creation tool, it’s possible to use Facebook to locate divers in specific regions of the USA and worldwide. This fascinating analysis of Facebook’s populations and users compared to known diver populations and US Census data. This is the first time Facebook has been used as a diver population calculation tool, as well as factors offered to use their tools to calculate diver counts in any Country, State, City and even Zip Code.
10.2012: Facebook Divers? William Cline’s Analysis of Facebook’s “Scuba Diving” Tag! T
Recently I was doing some work on a Facebook ad campaign for a client, and realized Facebook gives out some great data if you want to take the time to use their marketing tools.
According to Facebook Ad Set-up Tools, there are right now 167,820,980 people in the USA on FB (all ages). If you look at adults over the age of 20 years old, you get 143,055,780 adults in the USA on FB.
They break down as follows as compared to the 2010 USA Census Data:
All FB Users………167,820,980
USA Census Pop…308,745,538
% of FB:Census….54.4%
FB Adults (20+)….143,055,780
USA Census Pop (20+)292,632,799
% of FB:Census….48.9%
As shown, about half of all adults in the USA are on Facebook. Using this data by comparing FB users to the USA Census population, we see the following breakdowns for some sample major states where diving is popular:
% of all Adult FB Users…..FB Users………US Census Data….US Census Data…..% of FB Use
California……12.8%………17,524,120….11.9%……………..34,761,358………50.4%
Texas…………8.4%………11,538,100……7.8%………………22,694,507……..50.8%
Florida………..6.2%………..8,456,400……6.3%………………18,365,645……..46.0%
New York……..6.8%……….9,307,700…….6.4%……………..18,767,776……..49.6%
Average…………………………………………………………………………………….49.2%
Again, as shown, FB represents about 50% of the general population, across these main states as well. Further, Facebook allows one to select and target an ad by various segments, demographic and ‘activity’ or ‘interest’ tags. As a result, I pulled some of these activity tags and found the following:
Activity Tags in the USA (Adults over 20yo)
% of all Adult FB Users
1.3%….1,846,720..Skiing
0.5%….651,860…..Rock Climbing
0.6%….845,000…..Scuba Diving
If the percentage of penetration holds true for activities, as with the general population, then one could draw that there are 1,690,000 divers that identify themselves as divers in the USA or 1.2% (.6% x 2 or 845k X 2). Given that these people have identified themselves as ‘Scuba Divers’ one might conclude that these people are active or identifiable divers, but that is pure supposition.
However, using the “Scuba Diving’ tag, gender breaks down as follows as compared to Adult FB users and USA Census data for Gender:
% of all Adult FB Users…………..USA Census Pop…USA Census Pop…% Scuba Tags…# Scuba Tags
Men…….46.8% or 64,145,540….151,781,326…….42.3%………………..55.6%…………462,500
Women..56.4% or 77,282,260….156,964,212……..49.2%………………..44.4%………..368,800
As illustrated, the Facebook numbers and Census data are within 5 to 6% the same. However, there is clearly a larger percentage of men than women that are divers as compared to average FB adult users.
Continuing using the activity tag ‘Scuba Diving’ FB shows divers in the following states, of course this is ENTIRELY dependent upon a diver being on FB and then identifying themselves with the standard ‘Scuba Diving’ Facebook tag:
State………Counts….% of FB Divers….DEMA Cert Census….% Accuracy
CA Divers…113,820….13.5%……………….13.9%…………….97.1%
FL Divers….92,620…..11.0%…………………9.7%…………….88.4%
TX Divers….64,300……7.6%………………….7.6%…………….99.3%
NY Divers….45,220……5.4%………………….5.1%…………….95.7%
IL Divers…..30,720……3.6%…………………..3.5%…………….97.1%
WA Divers…24,180……2.9%…………………..3.2%…………….89.6%
Average:…………………………………………………………………94.5%
As shown, the Facebook state diver’s percentage breakdowns, on average are within 95% accurate of what the calculated diver residence state break down using DEMA’s Quarterly Certification Census data (and extrapolated for all divers in the USA by Cline).
If the accuracy of the states are so close, then it would be, in theory, possible to select a city, zip code or other demographic and see the number of divers within that region, if multiplied by two. As a result, below are the FB diver populations for these key cities, and extrapolated actual diver populations, using the 100% multiplier, then showing the percentage of divers within the identified state:
City……………% of Each State’s Diver Population…FB Diver Population…Calculated Diver Population
NYC…………………………….39.8%……………………….17,980…………………….35,960
Los Angeles……………………15.6%……………………….17,800…………………….35,600
Chicago………………………..52.6%……………………….16,160…………………….32,320
Miami…………………………..13.6%……………………….12,560…………………….25,120
San Diego……………………….9.2%……………………….10,460…………………….20,920
Dallas…………………………..15.6%……………………….10,040…………………….20,080
Seattle…………………………..35.3%………………………..8,540……………………17,080
As a note, NYC, Chicago and Seattle have a huge portion of all their state’s FB divers living in the key cities identified.
Using the Diver Certification Tags, the following show up as well (this is dependent upon someone identifying themselves by agency, which clearly only a limited number of divers have done so:
Agency……….% Total For Agency….FB Counts
PADI Divers…………69.0%………….137,980
NAUI Divers…………..6.3%…………..12,560
SSI Divers……………13.0%…………..25,960
SDI Divers……………..7.9%………….15,840
TDI Divers……………..3.8%……………7,680
Total Above…………………………….200,020
As shown, only 200k of 845k or 24% of divers even identified the above agencies, so this information is just what is presented, according to FB’s activity tags. As a note, there are many other world agencies listed on FB, I just choose some USA entities.
Of those FB users that indicate they are ‘Scuba Divers’ in their tags, the following countries shows count for divers. Of course this list below is HIGHLY dependent upon divers being identified on Facebook (as all these stats), but does show some interesting information:
Scuba Tags Other Countries (that are on FB):
192,860 UK
100,140 Brazil
92,780 Canada
91,000 Italy
87,180 Australia
65,660 France
46,540 Japan
14,340 Colombia
10,780 Chile
9,580 Venezuela
8,360 Hong Kong
7,260 Peru
2,220 China
As shown, Brazil is very active in Facebook, and other countries’ numbers again, are dependent upon Facebook penetration within that country and culture. It’s estimated there are 40,000 divers in Hong Kong and at least that many in mainland China, so this shows Facebook’s slow penetration within those cultures. Again, as a note, there are many other countries represented and this list is far from complete.
This is not necessarily an endorsement of Facebook advertising, although I have some clients seeing success with their FB ads, but more a study in how well Facebook has penetrated the USA and the diving industry, based on the outside comparative numbers as shown.
Happy to answer anyone questions on this, just give me a call. Hope you all have a good week. See most of you next month at DEMA.
Sign up today if your not already on my email list here.
7.2012: William Cline’s Second Quarter Dive Industry Research Report is in YOUR email inbox! These industry surveys are conducted each quarter and sent to over 10,000 companies and individuals worldwide. This survey is in it’s with year, with over 4,000 collective responses, making this survey the longest running and largest work wide pulse of the diving industry. This is all offered free of charge to the industry as a while. The results will sent out once this survey has been tabulated, usually within 30 days or you can view all the survey results here for all the previous surveys. Sign up today if your not already on my email list here.
2.2012: William Cline Appointed to the DEMA Board of Directors in a worldwide membership vote held by DEMA in San Diego, CA. The three-year term is to represent the global scuba diving industry as well as assist with directing the DEMA Trade & Consumer shows, plus a variety of consumer and trade outreach programs and research.
02.2012: My 4th ’11 Quarter Scuba Diving Industry Research Report is out and some positive news for dive retailers in the USA this last quarter. Join my mailing list to receive a free copy of this quarterly research report.
11.2011: My 3rd Quarter Scuba Diving Industry Research Report is out and some very positive news for dive retailers in the USA this last summer. Also all confidence is up for the last quarter of 2011, which should signal a good selling December for dive shops. Travel is forecast to be flat in terms of growth for the last quarter. Join my mailing list to receive a free copy of this quarterly research report.
PRO TIPS – 10 Reasons Why Print Advertising is Not Dead (published 10/23 DiveNewswire)
William Cline named “Dive Industry Research Editor” for Dive Newswire – the diving industry only international PR news website. Thank you Scott D. Jones for the honor. Dive Newswire is the scuba diving industry’s only PR News website, with tens of thousands of impressions each week with their weekly newsletter. William is proud to be in such great company with fellow-editors and friends Alex Brylske, Dan Orr, Bryan Horn and Steve Weaver!
PRO TIPS – Five Tips to Increase Your DEMA Show Conversions and Sales (published 9/23 DiveNewswire)
Cline’s Quarterly Dive Industry Survey is in and a total of 103 dive businesses responded to the survey and indicated the following results here.
Cline’s Quarterly Dive Industry Survey is in and a total of 108 dive businesses responded to the survey and indicated the following results here.
Cline’s Quarterly Dive Industry Survey is in and a total of 153 dive businesses responded to the survey and indicated the following results here.
Cline’s Quarterly Dive Industry Survey is in and a total of 127 dive businesses responded to the survey and indicated the following results here.
Cline’s Quarterly Dive Industry Survey is in and a total of 110 dive businesses responded to the survey and indicated the following results here.
Cline’s Quarterly Dive Industry Survey is in and a total of 94 dive businesses responded to the survey and indicated the following results here.
Cline’s Quarterly Dive Industry Survey is in and a total of 156 dive businesses responded to the survey and indicated the following results here.
Cline’s Quarterly Dive Industry Survey is in and a total of 167 dive businesses responded to the survey and indicated the following results here.
Cline’s Quarterly Dive Industry Survey is in and a total of 151 dive businesses responded to the survey and indicated the following results here.
06.01.21: William Cline Interviewed By Tec Clark for his “The League of Extraordinary Divers” Podcast.
Cline’s Quarterly Dive Industry Survey is in and a total of 228 dive businesses responded to the survey and indicated the following results here.
Cline’s Quarterly Dive Industry Survey is in and a total of 156 dive businesses responded to the survey and indicated the following results here.
09.28.20: Cline’s 2020 State of The Dive Industry Sentiment Study Released
We as an industry are massively changing and it started well before this current global pandemic. We are seeing shifts in training, dive vacation habits and gear purchasing patterns that all point to seismic shifts in our dive consumer base. This survey is looking for the industry’s assessment of where we are going by sector, and what we can do to change some of the trends emerging.
A total of 323 dive business responded to this survey from over 47 countries, generating 1,228 open ended responses.
08.18.20: Cline Group Special Summer Global Dive Business Survey Released
This is a special summer edition of the Cline’s Global Dive Industry Survey – focused on collecting certification numbers.
07.28.20: Cline’s 1st & 2nd Quarter 2020 Quarterly Dive Industry Survey is in and a total of 128 dive businesses responded to this global survey and indicated the following results:
05.20.20: Special COVID #2 Global Business Survey Conducted May 2020.
05.01.20 & 05.12.20: William Cline interviewed as part of industry con series by dive consultant Ronny Roskosch – Do you have a recovery marketing plan?:
Related article appearing in DiveNewswire.com 5/12/20:
Do you have a recovery marketing plan?
There appears to be a glimmer of hope as we see the world slowly beginning the process of life restarting post-COVID. This last weekend, many states and countries began to relax quarantines and, fingers crossed, we will not see spikes in cases but instead, see the slow decline of this terrible virus.
The after effects will be slow-going for much of the dive industry, as islands and businesses plan and prepare for reopening while relying on airlines around the world to resume service to many locations.
Last week, Delta Airlines announced they are resuming service to the USVI and the West Indies island-nation of Anguilla announced they were fully ‘open for business’ as they had no confirmed cases as of a few days ago. Glimmers of hope are emerging.
So now is the time, if your company has not already begun, to create a recovery marketing plan to restart your dive marketing and promotions. Being that many companies, large and small, will have greatly reduced marketing dollars for the remainder of 2020, targeting expenditures with laser focus has never been more important.
Google, Bing and Facebook offer a staggering array of tools to help with this laser-focus. Recently an article was published by Pathmatics, an analytics consultancy, shows what percentage large companies dedicate to Facebook, vs Google Desktop, Video or Mobile. Great read – but the takeaway is United Airlines planned their spend pre-COVID at about 40% Facebook, 40% Google Display (Desktop mostly) with the remainder to video and mobile. These are some good guidelines as you look to restart your digital marketing to capture divers.
There are also an array of tools available to geo-target as well as device target. However, people are home more than ever which translates to an abundance of ‘desktop’ users out there – which lends well to video or beautiful underwater photos for use in ads. Furthermore, using ‘look alike’ audiences in Google for example, can help you reach divers that may not be familiar with your company or brand. Now is the time to develop standby marketing plans so you are ready to launch campaigns to target quarantine-weary divers most likely to respond to a value proposition or offer i.e. past customers.
Borrowing from Carnival Cruises and Sandals Resorts playbook, they have maintained regular weekly offer-driven emailers throughout this pandemic. In fact, Carnival recently surveyed their past guests and the number one motivation to get back on a ship? Discounts and offers. I was surprised, but we all know divers are very resilient, just like cruisers. They want the adventure, and are ready to get back in the waters as long as the motivation is high for a booking or purchase.
Fort Young Hotel & Dive Resort in Dominica (West Indies) is capitalizing on this type of proactive plan. Although Dominica is still experiencing quarantine, and airlift has not yet resumed, they just launched a ‘guaranteed dive vacation’ gift card promotion for a prepaid dive vacation that can be transferred or gifted to any diver with a three year expiration date. They know that there have been anniversary, birthday, graduation, and summer travel trips that have been postponed and have the foresight to encourage divers to get back in the water as soon as possible with flexibility as travel resumes.
The key is being creative with what little you will have to spend and if you do not have a digital recovery marketing plan, this is the week to start. Another awesome resource is a company called Shortstack.com. They offer a free plan to set up and test social media or website promotions, giveaways or contests. These tools are wonderful ways to engage your past or potential customers, and the cost to execute these programs are reasonably priced.
There are many resources out in the travel industry, and if you want some guidance within diving, reach out. I am more than happy to give some free advice or point you or your company in the right direction. I recently did an interview that spoke a bit about the concept of marketing during these times in the above interview.
I hope this has been helpful and best wishes for a speedy recovery, business-wise for us all.
From my desk at home,
WIlliam Cline
President
Cline Group Advertising
Scuba Industry Specialists since 1990.
04.13.20: Why we need to know… A COVID Dive Industry Business Survey Request
Eighteen years ago was 2002. Our travel world was in terrible shape as a result of the fallout from the 9/11 attacks. Those in the business back then probably remember how tourism boards, resorts, dive operators and retailers were hurting, but we needed to know how we all were doing. That was the first year of my Cline Global Quarterly Dive Business Survey.
All businesses rely on information to function and if we were to emerge from the semi-recession created back in 2002, we needed to know how everyone was doing and what the outlook would be for each successive quarter. The survey I created is almost identical to the same questions I initially wrote 18 years ago. Quarter after quarter, I have asked the industry at large the same basic set of questions:
How did you do last quarter?
How do you think you will do next quarter?
It’s time for the First Quarter 2020 business survey, and we all are hurting. Everyone in our industry has been terribly affected by this COVID killer. According to the survey outlook, the 4th quarter of 2019 was looking positive and most everyone looking forward to a solid 1st quarter of 2020. Sadly, we all know that is not going to be the case.
So what value will there be in asking everyone how they did and what are they expecting in the second quarter, when we actually do not even know if our industry will be open for business in the second quarter?
As a result, I have suspended the regular business survey and opting instead to ask COVID-related questions. The survey will ask your company’s response to this crisis, if/how you’re staying in touch with your customers, and if your local government is offering any business assistance programs.
Here is the link to the survey: https://www.williamcline.com/limesurvey4/index.php/648211?lang=en
Please help me by completing this survey. I would love to have thousands of worldwide responses so I can parse the results by region. When we all get through this I will resume the regular quarterly business surveys. Hopefully this will all be over by summer or late-summer and we can all get back to our normal lives and business.
Thank you in advance and I will publish the results of this once I receive a valid total number of surveys to tabulate region by region. Please share this link with your vendors and other dive industry colleagues.
From my Home Office,
William Cline
Cline Group
04.02.20: Create your own “Dive” Stimulus Package (appeared in DiveNewswire.com)
As everyone here in the US has seen, it appears our government may have some relief for small businesses, unemployed and possibly even mortgage and student loan abatements or furloughs. All this is a good sign for our economy, and will help to create hope when we need it most.
But what about the dive industry? How will this package help, especially if you’re a dive resort in the Caribbean, that is not eligible for any help?
For US companies, we have some options, such as the SBA disaster loan program, possible rent abatements, credit card forbearance programs. However, if you’re located in the Caribbean and outside of the USVI, you may not have any local options.
It is those of you that are not in the US I am primarily addressing with this article.
Many owners may be experiencing panic and despair as the airlines stopped flying to your island. This has happened all across the Caribbean and Pacific. During this forced down time, some have reported employee training, if they can afford to keep payroll going, others are engaging the local community or as in the case with most, have shut down completely.
I wrote an article recently entitled “Don’t Quarantine Your Dive Marketing” which I specifically addressed keeping the ‘lights on’ with your marketing during this downtime. The gist of the article was the world is in shock, give your customers – divers – something positive to focus on for when the world starts revolving again.
However, many companies have very little to no budget for marketing with their companies shut down, so what can you do that has little cost and can still help when the world starts up again? Here are four simple things that cost little to nothing, depending your staff and workflow during this downtime:
- Email Campaigns: Now more than ever, people are home and in front of computers. A large section of the world is still employed and collecting a paycheck. A well written email campaign would be perfect to send to your past customers. They are the ‘low hanging fruit’ in that those divers are more likely to return to your business. At the least they know your operation, the island and diving, and if they had a great experience, are more likely to return. Send them an incentive to do just that! This crisis will not last more than a few more months and people will want to travel. Give them motivation to look at something late summer or fall. Make your package bookable with little or no up-front costs so your customers feel there is nothing to lose to book something now. It will not help your bank account today, but it will help ensure your plan to recover knowing you have business ‘on the books.’ Another thought is to tell your customers what’s happening while you’re closed if there is anything happening locally. Hubspot has an excellent set of tools and guides for free if your new to email marketing, or want to bush up on the basics: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/email-marketing-guide
- Organic Social Media Campaigns: Organically posting on your social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Instagram) is another excellent way to passively communicate to your customers and potential customers. Create content and posts that inspire, educate and motivate a diver to consider booking a dive vacation. Not all content needs to be sales, as social media works far better with content that excites, like a great dive video, recipe for a local dish, or interview with one of your divemasters. Hootsuite has an excellent guide for content creation, based on what has worked in 2019: https://blog.hootsuite.com/social-media-best-practices/
- PR: Keep your message alive during these stressful times. People – divers – want to escape this crazy world and thinking about that next dive vacation is the perfect medication for today’s troubled times. Do not be afraid to communicate your message. There are also a plethora of PR services in the general travel marketplace but the best in the dive industry is Scott Jones’ DiveNewsWire.com. His reach is the best in the world for the dive trade. Shops and dive travel agents need to be communicated with as well. Even though many are shut down, they also are looking at the changing landscape and planning for moving trips around as needed. Entrepreneur Magazine has some great advice from on PR during this COVID crisis: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/348186.
- Your Website: Use this downtime to fine tune, update content, make your web presence more exciting and relevant. Most companies have websites that need attention and it’s usually on the ‘low priority’ side of the marketing mix. Now is the time, if you can afford it, to get that content updated. People are surfing more than ever in the history of the internet as people are trapped at home around the world. Use this opportunity to make your website engaging and relevant. Here is a great, timely and travel focused blog on improving the travel buying experience on your website: https://vwo.com/blog/increase-travel-website-bookings/
Staying positive during this time can be very hard, but we will pull out of this and the airlines will start flying again. Keeping your message alive with divers is more important than ever, and don’t be afraid to communicate.
Stay strong and positive friends.
From my desk at home,
William Cline
03.20.20: Don’t Quarantine Your “Dive” Marketing (published in Scuba Diving Magazine and DiveNewswire.com)
I borrowed the title of this article from someone I follow that is a SEO expert, Bruce Clay, and his words of wisdom apply to our dive industry now more than ever. We are all facing massive business income reductions, no matter if you are a dive instructor, retailer, resort, magazine or manufacturer, we are all equally affected by this current crisis. The most typical reaction I have seen is to conserve all cash, cut expenses and ‘hunker down’ to wait out this hurricane-like event.
I would like to propose another approach, one that still fits into the ‘conserve and cut’ model, yet allows your marketing to remain active, therefore support those vendors and ultimately, helping with the recovery process with your business for when this crisis ends. Most vendors are in the same boat as your company. If you’re a retailer, customers can’t visit your shop, depending on where you live. If you’re a resort or tropical dive operator, you are at the mercy of your local governments, and when they shut down flights, business comes to a halt. But your expenses do not. I mostly deal with the latter, and all of my resort, liveaboard or tourism clients are struggling, but the key will be in the recovery.
We all foresee at least two to three months of minimal travel, but when this virus is under control, and that will happen, we will have a large pent up demand for diving. I like to tell my clients, ‘adventure is in a diver’s DNA,’ they seek the unique experience, hard-to-get-to dive spots, and pay for the experience far above average consumers or tourists. This marks my 30th year of marketing dive services and products for our industry’s companies and governments. We have seen stock market crashes in the late 90’s and 2008, and the closest thing to this crisis was 9/11, in terms of travel stoppage.
However, Forrester Research, one of the largest media research company’s suggests “The first thing brands have to do is not think about today, but about how they want their brand to be perceived when the world starts to return to normal.” I am not suggesting we pretend like things are normal in any fashion, as we have to acknowledge the current conditions, but there is nothing to say we should not focus on encouraging consumers to plan late summer, fall and winter travel, classes or purchases.
My recommendations are to contact your media vendors and ask if they would be willing to delay billing, or even finance your 2020 expenditures into 2021. They are in the same position as you and chances are they are still going to send that email blast, and still going to print that issue. Plus with everyone at home in front of computers and on their phones, digital websites will see more traffic then over the next 60 days. Working with your media partners to ‘keep the lights on’ marketing-wise, could turn out to be the smartest move to not only help your company or brand recover quickly, but helps out those vendors as well. As I said, and I think most people will agree, future income is better than no income.
Peter Shankman, a digital maven says “Everything is Shut Down. Except you. You’re Still Very Much Alive” in other words we have to move on with our lives and protect our brands. This too shall pass… But from many examples over the history of our country, those brands that keep their message relevant and in front of your consumers, recover far more quickly than those that go dark. Coca Cola kept marketing during the great depression in the 1930s, and at the time Pepsi was a rival, among other soda brands. Coke pulled so far ahead of Pepsi it took until the mid 90s to catch up to Coke’s marketshare (a great read since your home: Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind: Al Ries, Jack Trout).
From my desk (at home) today,
William Cline
972-267-6700
02.09.20: Why is Dive Research is Important? (appeared in DiveNewswire.com)
Why participate in dive surveys? Great question, why take the time to tell someone else about your business? These are typical questions most dive businesses ask themselves when they get a survey from myself, or DEMA for example. Most industries are data driven. That means there are reporting systems that show sales for almost any product as many industries have data reported by automated POS systems that compile sales volume, channels, price, and dozens of other aspects of a product’s sale. The grocery industry is very sophisticated. For example, an Egg producer can determine how eggs are sold and my whom, and who exactly buys eggs in almost every local marketplace in the world – and at what price. To prove my point, just Google search “egg sales statistics usa” and you will find a summary how many hens there are in the USA and how many eggs each hen produces each year! We in diving do not have this level of reporting because we do not have any automated data collection or required reporting. I created the Cline Global Dive Survey over 19 years ago because of this basic deficiency in our industry. DEMA and myself, in separate efforts, are trying to close the data gap in the dive industry and the ONLY way is via surveys. So thanks for helping, but when you complete a survey, you are really helping your company by enabling the collection of numbers that allow you to compare your performance to others in your region or stakeholder group. Data drives so much of what happens with our customers, but without data collection in the form of surveys, we as an industry remain at a disadvantage. Just food for thought next time you see a survey link from myself or DEMA, or really any reputable company in our industry.
Thoughts from behind my desk…
William Cline, producer of the Cline Group Global Dive Survey Report
09.2019: William Cline featured in a segment on THE DIVE LOCKER podcast by Tec Clark: The new dive Industry podcast will feature an interview with Cline Group’s President, William Cline where he discusses the CLINE RESEARCH REPORT, the industry’s only quarterly global dive study of dive businesses. Trends, and overviews are discussed, as well as the second quarter results and forecasts for the third quarter of 2019. Subscribe now to Tec Clark’s The Dive Locker Podcast on iTunes, Google Play Music or Stitcher.
01.20.19: NEW! Cline Research and DEMA Release Study on New Dive Industry Professionals
By DEMA Association.
A new research study published by DEMA and conducted by William Cline of the Cline Research Group is being made available to all members of the diving industry. The goal of the study was to learn more about getting new (and often younger) professionals involved with the Diving Industry, DEMA Show and the DEMA Association.
In a study that combined a written survey with a face-to-face focus group, DEMA asked new diving professionals to express their opinions about the future of the Industry and the value of DEMA Show and the DEMA Association. Forty new professionals responded to the written survey, and nine new professionals attended a face-to-face group study during DEMA Show 2018.
Important findings from the focus group study include:
- New professionals believe that the industry will grow in the future as younger customers are exposed to the experiences inherent in recreational diving.
- Networking, connections, updating, innovation, social opportunities, knowledge, and face-to-face interaction are important to new professionals in their DEMA Show and Industry experiences.
- Motivations for attending DEMA Show included networking, seeing new products and innovations in diving, and obtaining professional education.
- Data is critical to new professionals. They describe themselves as “data hungry.”
- New professionals, and especially younger new professionals, want an advanced education – Marketing 202 instead of Marketing 101.
- Critically, participants in the focus group felt that DEMA and DEMA Show could provide the resources to bridge the current generational gap – specifically by providing educational opportunities and social interaction between the generations.
- New professionals see the experiences of current industry members as an asset to everyone and want to learn from these experienced professionals. They also see themselves as a resource for new technologies and ideas.
- Topics in the study also include ways to communicate with new and younger professionals and the new professionals’ desire for mentorships that help bridge innovation and experience.
Download a copy of this new study here.
02.2019: 2018 Cline’s Global Dive Business Survey is Out! This year marks the 17th year this quarterly global dive industry survey has been conducted. Thousands of businesses have responded over the years to the industry’s only global free business survey. Starting this year, some new data points will be collected and reported. First, each of the major categories for dive retailer income will be reported in a year-to-date format, giving a review of the year for that income category. For instance, as a whole, all dive businesses that reported showed their 2018 gross income rose by 4.6% compared to 2017. New certifications for dive retailers, reported a 3.3% increase in 2018 vs 2017.
The second new data point asked is the number of new certifications. Each quarter this will be tracked by category of business and reported. Retailers, instructors, resorts and liveaboards posted 3,561 new certifications in the 4th quarter of 2018. Based on the average retailer reporting 50.4 certifications per store in the 4th quarter, and applying that to all retailers (1,400 USA est. USA base) then approx 70,560 new certifications were issued by USA dive retailers last quarter.
The Cline Quarterly Dive Industry Survey is free to everyone, and participation is not manadatory to receive the quarterly results.
View the latest survy results here: https://www.williamcline.com/mail/sendstudio/admin/index.php?Page=Newsletters&Action=View&id=208
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12.2018: Cline Group Conducts The First Young Professionals Focal Group at the DEMA show in Las Vegas, NV: William Cline and Tom Ingram moderated the industry’s first “millennial” focus group with Young Professionals, those lass than 30 years of age and relatively new to the diving industry. Prior to the focus group, 40 candidates responded to a basic survey asking for opinions on barriers to younger divers entering the sport and then becoming professionals. Of the 40 responses, 24 were within the target ‘under 30’ age bracket. The focus group was utilized to further explore the questions asked within the exploratory pre-survey. A total of nine candidates participated in the focus group and were geographically spread out across the USA. William Cline created an interpretive report of the two surveys for DEMA. This study will be released in the near future to the industry at large.
9.2018: Cline Group Hired to Launch New Fort Young Dive Operation in Dominica: Known as the Caribbean’s ‘Nature Island,’ Dominica has long been a treasured dive destination and Fort Young, with its prime location in the country’s capital city of Roseau along the shores of the Caribbean Sea, has played host to dive travelers from around the world for more than a decade. Now, with the launch of Fort Young Dive, under the consultation of Cline Group, Fort Young Hotel is poised to become the go-to dive destination in the Caribbean. “Fort Young has long been a place for divers to stay, and with the launch of Fort Young Dive we wanted to partner with a diving-specific marketing representative within North America and William’s unique talents and experience are a perfect fit for our resort,” said Marvlyn James, Fort Young Hotel’s general manager. “We look forward to working with him to introduce divers to the tremendous beauty of our island, both on land and underwater.
7.2018: Cline Group Completes First Scuba Diving Economic Impact Study for Hawaii Dive Association! The Hawaiian Islands Recreational Scuba Association (HIRSA) is happy to announce the release of their first scuba diving economic study for the State of Hawaii. The report, created and complied by William Cline of Cline Group, was a groundbreaking study for the state. Using combined sources of operator surveys and Hawaii Tourism Authority tourism figures, this study found in 2017 there were 356,148 divers that participated in scuba activities in Hawaii’s waters. The total estimated economic impact of these scuba divers is a staggering $519,887,657.47 per year, including an estimated 1,079,460 in room nights specifically generated as a result of scuba diving activities.
5.2018: Explorer Ventures Sets Sail with William Cline/Cline Group for Marketing and Research Assistance! The leading edge in dive liveaboard destinations has selected William Cline to assist with their marketing efforts. Explorer Ventures, long known for providing value, variety and quality dive liveaboard experiences, has tapped William Cline of Cline Group for a broad variety of marketing, research and analytical services. William Cline elaborates on the new relationship “I am excited to work with Clay and his talented team to help bring new levels marketing and branding assistance to his already very successful company.” Explorer Ventures Liveaboard Dive Cruises offers destinations in the Caribbean, Galapagos, Indonesia and Maldives. William Cline / Cline Group has been offering dive consulting services in the industry for almost 30 years and provides quarterly intelligence on the Global Dive Industry via his free research newsletter, The Cline Survey Report.
1.2018: The Chinese New Year holiday is Feb 7th to 22nd, the longest holiday in this year and also called Spring Festival. This is the most important holiday in China, especially for manufacturers, as most of workers have to leave their hometowns to work in factories sometimes very far away from their homes. As a result many manufacturers and business take a long break and shut down during this period. Days of the actually shutdown may vary, some companies may take up to a month off. Check with your supplier if your planning any orders right before or during this period.
8.2017: The Hawaiian Islands Scuba Association says “ALOHA” to William Cline/Cline Group for Marketing and Research Assistance! William Cline has been retained by the Association of Hawaiian dive operators to assist with conducting a detailed economic impact study of Hawaii’s Scuba Industry for the State’s tourism picture.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: KAILUA-KONA, HAWAII, USA: The Hawaiian Islands Recreational Scuba Association says “ALOHA” to William Cline/Cline Group for Marketing and Research Assistance.
William Cline/Cline Group has been retained by the Association of Hawaiian dive operators to assist with a variety of marketing and consulting projects including conducting a detailed economic impact study of Hawaii’s Scuba Industry for the State’s tourism picture.
Lauren Smith, representative for the association explains the significance of the needed study: “We are very happy to have William Cline working with our association. His experience with many other tourism boards will be valuable as we propose new dive marketing budgets at the State and Federal levels to show and prove the massive economic impact that scuba diving has on the Hawaii’s annual tourism product.”
William outlines his plan to assist the association in establishing the economic impact of scuba diving in the State of Hawaii: “We are honored to be a part of this effort to help establish the tremendous value of scuba diving in Hawaii. Our experience with Broward Country/Ft. Lauderdale in Florida, as well as foreign governments such as The Bahamas, Bonaire, Grenada and Barbados will lend valuable expertise to helping Hawaii’s dive operators apply for funds they need to promote their amazing dive destination.”
The Hawaiian Islands Recreational Scuba Association is the official state of Hawaii dive association and represents members across all the islands to local, county, state and federal government. H.I.R.S.A.: www.HawaiianScuba.org.
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What are the next generations for in 2020? Check out this new paper about generations and who we will be marketing to in the next 10 years!
New! Mini eBook Published Articles on the following topics:
Mini eBook 1: DEMA’s Certification Census vs. The USA Diver Population
A comparative detailed state by state analysis using DEMA’s quarterly new diver census report, then extrapolated and compared the US Census and dive store populations as supplied by Dive Training Magazine. The report shows calculated state by state percentages of dive stores, diver populations and penetration of diving within each state.
Mini eBook 2: Dive Industry vs. US Population
This article presents a comparison of USA Birthrates, USA Census population data and compares to calculated diver populations and details some amazing trends in past years, as well as future years growth of the USA diving industry.
Mini eBook 3: Facebook vs. The Dive Retailer
With the popularity of Facebook and other social media platforms, Pintrest, Twitter, etc, many marketers are wondering how influential are these mediums in decision making processes for travel. This article pulls data from a large travel survey and applies to the Diving Industry.
Mini eBook 4: Perception Vs. Reality: Today’s Diver
Perception of lack of lifestyle selling within the diving industry has harmed the industry. This eBook compares current perceptions and what they should be to sell diving to the masses.
Mini eBook 5: Facebook Divers?
Using Facebook’s ad creation tool, it’s possible to use Facebook to locate divers in specific regions of the USA and worldwide. This fascinating analysis of Facebook’s populations and users compared to known diver populations and US Census data. This is the first time Facebook has been used as a diver population calculation tool, as well as factors offered to use their tools to calculate diver counts in any Country, State, City and even Zip Code.
10.2012: Facebook Divers? William Cline’s Analysis of Facebook’s “Scuba Diving” Tag! T
Recently I was doing some work on a Facebook ad campaign for a client, and realized Facebook gives out some great data if you want to take the time to use their marketing tools.
According to Facebook Ad Set-up Tools, there are right now 167,820,980 people in the USA on FB (all ages). If you look at adults over the age of 20 years old, you get 143,055,780 adults in the USA on FB.
They break down as follows as compared to the 2010 USA Census Data:
All FB Users………167,820,980
USA Census Pop…308,745,538
% of FB:Census….54.4%
FB Adults (20+)….143,055,780
USA Census Pop (20+)292,632,799
% of FB:Census….48.9%
As shown, about half of all adults in the USA are on Facebook. Using this data by comparing FB users to the USA Census population, we see the following breakdowns for some sample major states where diving is popular:
% of all Adult FB Users…..FB Users………US Census Data….US Census Data…..% of FB Use
California……12.8%………17,524,120….11.9%……………..34,761,358………50.4%
Texas…………8.4%………11,538,100……7.8%………………22,694,507……..50.8%
Florida………..6.2%………..8,456,400……6.3%………………18,365,645……..46.0%
New York……..6.8%……….9,307,700…….6.4%……………..18,767,776……..49.6%
Average…………………………………………………………………………………….49.2%
Again, as shown, FB represents about 50% of the general population, across these main states as well. Further, Facebook allows one to select and target an ad by various segments, demographic and ‘activity’ or ‘interest’ tags. As a result, I pulled some of these activity tags and found the following:
Activity Tags in the USA (Adults over 20yo)
% of all Adult FB Users
1.3%….1,846,720..Skiing
0.5%….651,860…..Rock Climbing
0.6%….845,000…..Scuba Diving
If the percentage of penetration holds true for activities, as with the general population, then one could draw that there are 1,690,000 divers that identify themselves as divers in the USA or 1.2% (.6% x 2 or 845k X 2). Given that these people have identified themselves as ‘Scuba Divers’ one might conclude that these people are active or identifiable divers, but that is pure supposition.
However, using the “Scuba Diving’ tag, gender breaks down as follows as compared to Adult FB users and USA Census data for Gender:
% of all Adult FB Users…………..USA Census Pop…USA Census Pop…% Scuba Tags…# Scuba Tags
Men…….46.8% or 64,145,540….151,781,326…….42.3%………………..55.6%…………462,500
Women..56.4% or 77,282,260….156,964,212……..49.2%………………..44.4%………..368,800
As illustrated, the Facebook numbers and Census data are within 5 to 6% the same. However, there is clearly a larger percentage of men than women that are divers as compared to average FB adult users.
Continuing using the activity tag ‘Scuba Diving’ FB shows divers in the following states, of course this is ENTIRELY dependent upon a diver being on FB and then identifying themselves with the standard ‘Scuba Diving’ Facebook tag:
State………Counts….% of FB Divers….DEMA Cert Census….% Accuracy
CA Divers…113,820….13.5%……………….13.9%…………….97.1%
FL Divers….92,620…..11.0%…………………9.7%…………….88.4%
TX Divers….64,300……7.6%………………….7.6%…………….99.3%
NY Divers….45,220……5.4%………………….5.1%…………….95.7%
IL Divers…..30,720……3.6%…………………..3.5%…………….97.1%
WA Divers…24,180……2.9%…………………..3.2%…………….89.6%
Average:…………………………………………………………………94.5%
As shown, the Facebook state diver’s percentage breakdowns, on average are within 95% accurate of what the calculated diver residence state break down using DEMA’s Quarterly Certification Census data (and extrapolated for all divers in the USA by Cline).
If the accuracy of the states are so close, then it would be, in theory, possible to select a city, zip code or other demographic and see the number of divers within that region, if multiplied by two. As a result, below are the FB diver populations for these key cities, and extrapolated actual diver populations, using the 100% multiplier, then showing the percentage of divers within the identified state:
City……………% of Each State’s Diver Population…FB Diver Population…Calculated Diver Population
NYC…………………………….39.8%……………………….17,980…………………….35,960
Los Angeles……………………15.6%……………………….17,800…………………….35,600
Chicago………………………..52.6%……………………….16,160…………………….32,320
Miami…………………………..13.6%……………………….12,560…………………….25,120
San Diego……………………….9.2%……………………….10,460…………………….20,920
Dallas…………………………..15.6%……………………….10,040…………………….20,080
Seattle…………………………..35.3%………………………..8,540……………………17,080
As a note, NYC, Chicago and Seattle have a huge portion of all their state’s FB divers living in the key cities identified.
Using the Diver Certification Tags, the following show up as well (this is dependent upon someone identifying themselves by agency, which clearly only a limited number of divers have done so:
Agency……….% Total For Agency….FB Counts
PADI Divers…………69.0%………….137,980
NAUI Divers…………..6.3%…………..12,560
SSI Divers……………13.0%…………..25,960
SDI Divers……………..7.9%………….15,840
TDI Divers……………..3.8%……………7,680
Total Above…………………………….200,020
As shown, only 200k of 845k or 24% of divers even identified the above agencies, so this information is just what is presented, according to FB’s activity tags. As a note, there are many other world agencies listed on FB, I just choose some USA entities.
Of those FB users that indicate they are ‘Scuba Divers’ in their tags, the following countries shows count for divers. Of course this list below is HIGHLY dependent upon divers being identified on Facebook (as all these stats), but does show some interesting information:
Scuba Tags Other Countries (that are on FB):
192,860 UK
100,140 Brazil
92,780 Canada
91,000 Italy
87,180 Australia
65,660 France
46,540 Japan
14,340 Colombia
10,780 Chile
9,580 Venezuela
8,360 Hong Kong
7,260 Peru
2,220 China
As shown, Brazil is very active in Facebook, and other countries’ numbers again, are dependent upon Facebook penetration within that country and culture. It’s estimated there are 40,000 divers in Hong Kong and at least that many in mainland China, so this shows Facebook’s slow penetration within those cultures. Again, as a note, there are many other countries represented and this list is far from complete.
This is not necessarily an endorsement of Facebook advertising, although I have some clients seeing success with their FB ads, but more a study in how well Facebook has penetrated the USA and the diving industry, based on the outside comparative numbers as shown.
Happy to answer anyone questions on this, just give me a call. Hope you all have a good week. See most of you next month at DEMA.
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7.2012: William Cline’s Second Quarter Dive Industry Research Report is in YOUR email inbox! These industry surveys are conducted each quarter and sent to over 10,000 companies and individuals worldwide. This survey is in it’s with year, with over 4,000 collective responses, making this survey the longest running and largest work wide pulse of the diving industry. This is all offered free of charge to the industry as a while. The results will sent out once this survey has been tabulated, usually within 30 days or you can view all the survey results here for all the previous surveys. Sign up today if your not already on my email list here.
2.2012: William Cline Appointed to the DEMA Board of Directors in a worldwide membership vote held by DEMA in San Diego, CA. The three-year term is to represent the global scuba diving industry as well as assist with directing the DEMA Trade & Consumer shows, plus a variety of consumer and trade outreach programs and research.
02.2012: My 4th ’11 Quarter Scuba Diving Industry Research Report is out and some positive news for dive retailers in the USA this last quarter. Join my mailing list to receive a free copy of this quarterly research report.
11.2011: My 3rd Quarter Scuba Diving Industry Research Report is out and some very positive news for dive retailers in the USA this last summer. Also all confidence is up for the last quarter of 2011, which should signal a good selling December for dive shops. Travel is forecast to be flat in terms of growth for the last quarter. Join my mailing list to receive a free copy of this quarterly research report.