I was going to start this blog with "I don’t know about you..", but the thing is, I’m pretty sure I do know you. You’re probablly like me when it comes to researching something. Do you research your next dive trip or gear purchase in a magazine? I didn’t think so, I don’t either...I research online and talk to friends. And I know you do as well.
So riddle me this batman, why do scuba businesses spend most of their advertising dollars on magazine ads?
For a very small ad in a moderately popular scuba magazine, you will spend at least $1000 a month. Do you know how much $1000 a month in online advertising will get you? Lets see...you can get 1000’s of people guaranteed to visit your website through text ads PLUS have your banner ad viewed over 30,000 times!
Can you track how many people actually view your ad in a magazine? Sure, the subscription rate may be high, but how many people actually view your ad? Through online advertising, you can view how many people viewed your ad and how many clicked on it. And if you use tracking software on your website, you can even view how many of those visitors turned into a sale or lead.
If you sell a product or service to scuba divers you have to know that most divers own a computer and have access to the internet. They will talk to their friends online (through email, IM or social networks). They will use search engines. They will read blogs. They will search forums. If your ad or message is easy to find on all the above, then you will earn a new customer much faster and cheaper than your competitor, who may still advertise mostly in magazines.
I’m not saying magazine ads should be completely ignored...but most (75%) of your marketing dollars should be spent where 99.9% of your customers do their research. Any business, in any economy needs to market their product/service where most of their customers are everyday. Contact me if you want help with your online advertising campaign, I will help you with Google Ads or other ad networks...not just DiveBuddy.com ads. Your business needs to be online and everywhere.
Sincerely,
Greg Davis
Owner and Member #1
DiveBuddy.com
UnderwaterAds.org