Beyond the Surface: Exploring the Similarities Between Scuba Diving and Positioning
Nick trains scuba instructors as a PADI Course Director, the highest professional rating in recreational scuba diving.
By Nick Copping, Co-CEO
Nick Copping is Co-CEO of ZOOM Marketing. When not exploring positioning for clients, Nick is a Professional Association of Dive Instructors (PADI) Course Director and has trained over a thousand students, hundreds of instructors and completed 10,000 dives.
The first time I donned scuba gear and swam into the ocean and realized I could breathe underwater, I was “hooked.” Since then, I've played with dolphins, been nose to nose with seals and watched sharks line up for cleaning by wrasse like a fish car wash off the coast of Molokini.
As a PADI Scuba Diving Course Director, I’ve noticed a lot of similarities between what I do underwater—and what I do for work. I’ve put in an exciting 10,000 hours for both.
Humans can’t normally breathe underwater and marketers can’t live in their customers' shoes, but in both cases, entering another world yields surprising rewards.
We weren’t designed to breathe underwater—and even with all of the technology and tools we have at our disposal, we can’t survive diving deep for long. Everything about deep scuba diving means putting aside your natural instincts and entering into the unknown. You have to learn a wonderful new set of principles and skills—physics, mechanics, technical diving gear and sophisticated dive computers. If you can approach this world with energy plus curiosity and not fear, you’ll discover a new world.
Diving is magical. When you get to about 100 meters below the surface, all the colors of light have mostly diminished except the short wavelength energy. Everything looks blue and dark until you flip on your dive light—and when you do be prepared for an amazing treat. Ginormous sunfish, visually startling white Metridium fields, glowing organisms, bright coral. An explosion of life and color that you’ve never even seen before. Not going deeper means missing out on sights and experiences you wouldn’t ever have by staying on the boat. But when you are looking at the ocean from the surface, everything looks exactly the same.
Discovering the Unknown
As a marketer, it’s easy to gain a surface-level understanding of your market—there are NPS scores, surveys, opinions from your sales staff. Your customers’ world may be very different to what you assumed.
Be curious. Be excited. A whole new world can open up if you take the plunge…and it’s OK to do marketing without diving, but it’s much more fun to add in the diving!
Data-Driven Discipline
At the same time, you can’t afford to lose yourself in the magic—in business or in diving. Think about it: you are two miles from shore, and too far to swim underwater without enough air in your tank. That’s when the processes and skills you’ve learned kick in. How deep am I diving? How much air do I have left? You have to study your gauges, check your equipment. Like legendary cave diver Bill Stone said, “We descend into the abyss not to escape reality, but to confront it head-on.”
Data diminishes our fears and uncertainties. Without the right skills and data, you are second guessing—wondering how deep you are, how much air you have left, and how much energy you're exerting.
Once you've mastered the skills and the data, you can actually enjoy the beauty of the ocean. You can thrive, just be in the sea, and enjoy the experience. The same goes for business—when you have the data to know what your customers want, you can align with that and go with the flow. Every team is on the same page, and you're not trying to reinvent the wheel with each new tactic or campaign. Instead, you're just building and expanding on what's already working.
Every function in the business should be moving in the same direction, not always looking for what's wrong, but focusing on what's right. When you're persistent with data, you're rewarded with deeper insights—into where your customers are and where they're headed. It's just like being one with the underwater environment; you know you know the landscape better than anyone else, and have a leg up on competitors.
Mastery—Becoming One with Another World
Mastery, in scuba diving or marketing, is about becoming one with a world that is not natively your own. In diving, this means seamlessly integrating with the underwater environment. You can’t truly appreciate the wonders of the ocean if you're fumbling with an inflator hose or thinking about something else. In marketing, mastery comes from fully immersing yourself in the customer’s world. It’s not enough to toy with surface—level ideas or dream up ad copy; you must dive deeper into the customer's needs, desires and perceptions.
“The customer’s world (like the ocean) is rich with insights that can only be discovered by going deeper, asking the right questions, and being curious enough to explore the caves where the real treasures lie.”
Imagine diving 130 feet to the Second Cathedral in Lanai, Hawaiii, leisurely descending to the bottom, sitting cross-legged in the sand, and watching whales and dolphins swim just feet away. You’re not a visitor; you’re part of that world. In marketing, this translates to entering the customer’s world, understanding their pains, and recognizing what gives them pride. You communicate in a way that truly resonates with them.
Staying on the surface, creating positioning statements in the comfort of a boardroom, is like staying on a boat and assuming all is the same below. The customer’s world (like the ocean) is rich with insights that can only be discovered by going deeper, asking the right questions, and being curious enough to explore the caves where the real treasures lie.
Mastery in marketing, like in diving, is about comfort and fluency in an environment that may initially seem foreign. But with the right equipment—data, insights, and experience—you can uncover gems that others might miss.
In the end, not every diamond floats on the surface. The most valuable insights, the ones that will set your brand apart, are often hiding in the depths, waiting for those with the courage and skill to dive in and find them.
I’d love to hear your thoughts about diving and marketing, or come join me in Monterey and we can explore in person.
Reach out anytime here, or schedule a call.
About Nick
Nick Copping is Co-CEO of ZOOM Marketing, Silicon Valley’s first and longest-lasting positioning agency. As a physicist, Nick was instrumental in designing ZOOM's data-driven process, incorporating the scientific method into a traditionally creative-only process. His deep understanding of tech helps pinpoint innovations and translate them into business value. When not exploring positioning data, Nick teaches PADI Instructor Development Courses and other instructor-level training as a PADI Course Director, the highest professional rating in recreational scuba diving.