New Dive Operation

[pipmax]

My name is Kyle Forester and my wife is Nicolle. We are both Padi Dive masters who have left that crazy Zimbabwe. We have started operations in Vilanculos, Mozambique and are now fully set up. We would like to contact Scuba Dive clubs and try and attract them to come and dive with us. Any advise you could offer to help us get off the ground would be greatly appreciated. If you wish to try us out please contact us at pip@safariconcepts.com,
Thanks,
Kyle.

[Jack]

Dear Nicolle and Kyle,

Welcome to our forum.
Of course you can do big advertising in all dive magazines and on TV. A very important point in advertising is regularity. Don't hope to put an ad one month everywhere and nothing the following months... this will bring nearly nothing. Don't use your budjet in the first month. Instead of making one full page advertising for one month it's better to make a tenth of a page for 10 months. The result will be much bigger with the same investment.

Now in the 21st century much more cost effective is to use the internet (don't ignore the paper press, it's still an important support and diversity is important). Using the internet you can contact diving clubs and travel agents for very cheap prices. I would go for a net linking and social linking campaign. Let me ask Mako to make a analysis for you and give you some good advice. I know he was managing 2 diving centers in Zanzibar (not far from you) he was also in charge of the travel department of a 5 five star PADI IDC center in Europe and in charge of the diving school in a diving club. He should know what people appreciate on the other side. Is http://safariconcepts.com the hotel where you will have the diving center?
Come back and check this thread and don't hesitate to ask more questions. If you keep us updated we could make a case study out of it.
I wish you a good start with your new diving center and lots of good dives...

[pipmax]

Thanks your suggestions are greatly appreciated. Yes Archipelago is the resort. Advice from Mako would be great,
Kyle

[Mako]

Dear Nicolle and Kyle,
Wow what a nice place with such great grounds, it should not be difficult to reach success. Mozambique is a top destination for diving, the channel of Mozambique is great for pelagic!

Originally Posted by pipmax

We would like to contact Scuba Dive clubs and try and attract them to come and dive with us. Any advise you could offer to help us get off the ground would be greatly appreciated.
Kyle.

Your nearest market and probably the fastest responding will be South Africa in the scuba diving directory you will be able to find the dive clubs and travel agents specialized in diving holidays and much more.
Now about how to contact them.
Never send spam mail everywhere and hope to get business out of it. The only thing you will get is a bad reputation. If you want to contact a dive club they must feel that this is not just an automatic generated mail like we all get and delete everyday. Write a nice personal mail where you have a place to adjust one sentence to copliment what you liked most on their website for example. This way they will feel you are really a physical person.
The best time is 2-3 months before the holidays in the targeted country, a little earlier for travel agents. This means you can follow the different holidays in the world and send your invitation according to it.
Don't make this mail too long, 10 lines should be fine and provide a link where they can read more about you.
This last point leads us to your website... check if you can put more info and photos about your diving activities on the Archipelago website. You should really consider having your own website, if you need a distant working company to make your website you should consider Scuba Promotion they are specialized in the diving industry and can build you a customized website in a few days.

Don't forget to send your new address to all divers you know along with your invitation. I am sure they are looking forward to meeting you again in your new location, I see on your website the chalets are big, don't forget to mention that they have plenty of space for their group or friends and I am sure that the 3 chalets near to each other are very good for the next dive club outing.

Ok this is what I found about your question for the time being. If I find something more I'll come back and post it.

Don't hesitate to ask more details or other questions.

Have a good start.
Keep us posted.
Mako

[Mexican1978]

This are very useful information, specially for the website issue, cause i have been looking through the internet and i didnt find a lot of resourses covering this topic.

I hope to see more from this kind of threads, its really helpful.

Thanks Mako