Why the Same Marketing Keeps Producing the Same Diver

Let’s pick up where I left off.

If the dive industry has been asking,

“Why does our audience still look the same?”

The answer is…

Because we keep talking to the same person. In the same way. In the same places.

This isn’t mysterious.

For decades, most dive marketing has been built around:

• Gear-first messaging

• Certification ladders as identity

• Technical credibility as social currency

• Inside language that assumes you already belong

That works great…

If you already see yourself as a diver.

But if you don’t?

If you’re younger?

If you’re newer?

If you don’t come from a dive family?

If you don’t immediately vibe with shop culture?

The industry unintentionally sends a message:

“This isn’t for you yet.”

So what happens?

• New divers try it once on vacation

• They have a great experience

• They go home

• And then… they disappear

Not because they didn’t like diving

—but because nothing pulled them further in

Meanwhile, dive shops keep marketing to:

• Existing divers

• Gear buyers

• The people already in the room

Which is comfortable.

And familiar.

And safe.

But it also means we’ve spent years recycling the same audience instead of growing a new one.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth:

When marketing is built around what insiders value,

It rarely resonates with outsiders.

And when an industry relies on insiders aging in…

Instead of newcomers aging up…

Eventually the math stops working.

This isn’t about abandoning core divers.

They matter. A lot.

It is about recognizing that retention without replenishment is a slow leak, not a strategy.

In the next post, I’ll dig into:

What younger and next-gen divers actually value::

—and why it’s not what most shops think.

Stay tuned.