If You Are Reading This: We Survived!

We are excited about new beginnings. Much like everyone else, even I can get jaded from time to time.  After 17 years producing local dive news magazines, I can get kind of worn out. Each December, I take some time off over the holidays to recharge my personal batteries and regroup both personally and professionally.  What went well last year? What did not?  What did I learn? What do I need to learn? Then,  like many of us, I make New Year’s resolutions to be better in the new year. To get in shape, read, study etc..  We take a look at the business and how far we’ve come-wow! And what we can do in the coming year.

Our goals for 2013

We are going to double in size. By combining print and online together,  we have a distribution of about 30,000 copies per month. This year we’re headed to 60,000.  We have about 500 members of the Dive News Network. These physical retailers carry and distribute the magazines. They pay for them and value what we do to promote their businesses. We value them and support them in a variety of ways. We are creating ways to that better and more effective.

We’re going to increase our digital distribution.  As a 100% digital network, we value our Internet distribution and are focusing on getting our message out in 2013. We are offering ALL our readers a free 3-month trial online subscription to our online edition.  Try our new online magazine, the E-reader reader is fantastic and loaded with features that will WOW you. Most importantly,  the entire magazine HOT LINKED. That means if you see a website, click on it and your will be instantly connected. If you want call business-  click on it - call them now - that’s just the beginning.

We are going to reward our DNN members with more support.  We are going to give them free three month subscriptions to give to any customer, staff member or friend helping them plug into diving’s largest digital media network and join that businesses online community.  

We’re also giving them SIX months free to any new diver who takes lessons from one of our members.  Not every dive shop can do this.  Only members of our network can give these away,  so make sure that DNN membership is something you ask for.

We are going to more fully integrate our print and online digital content. Our magazine is wonderful and we love it. Print has actual pages that her texture and immediacy,  we love it and will keep it.  We also value the online world; it is instant and has unlimited possibilities.  We will merge those two world’s  by offering both print and online.  But not just both;  we will have printed articles that have embedded videos including podcasts, webinars from industry experts, or  photo albums.  Our readers can comment on our “content” via social media,  sharing their content with all our readership – it is simply amazing!  All this will extended choices and value for all of us.

We will be sharing our message this year at Dive Shows and community events.  While this economy continues to be difficult, on all of us; especially small businesses. We will spend our small resources connecting with our readers.  You will find us  at all of these Dive Shows across the country. We will be handing out our magazines and engaging with our readers. Come meet us,  become a friend,  join the network and get plugged into diving’s largest digital media network - DNN.