Dive Friends Bonaire · 2024 to present

Building the marketing department for Bonaire’s largest dive operator

RoleMarketing & Sales Manager, Leadership Team

Team3 marketers, hired by me

Budget$300K a year

Scope7 dive shops, 3 retail brands

Dive Friends boat at dusk above a coral reef, half underwater shot

+34%Online bookings since 2024

55Active partners, bringing in about a third of pre-booked revenue

+216%Community on Facebook and Instagram, 2024 to 2026

150Guests in 9 groups from the Delfins Diving trial

The situation

Dive Friends grew from one dive shop to seven through acquisitions, reaching about 70% market share and 70 employees. Marketing hadn’t grown with it: freelancers and part-timers, no shared direction across locations, and three retail brands each doing their own thing.

My role

I joined the leadership team in December 2024 to build a marketing department from scratch. I hired a team of three and own the $300K annual budget.

As part of the management team, my work went beyond marketing. Together with the GM, I shaped how we train the shop teams, got the seven location managers on the same page, and streamlined operations across locations.

Dive Friends boat Tiki Diver on the water

Instructor helping a diver up the boat ladder

What I did

01Audit everything firstStrategy, budgets, channels, agencies, ad performance, OTA relationships, partnerships, customer journeys and brand consistency, across all seven locations.

02Decide on data, not assumptionsReallocated budget, restructured partnerships and set up tracking and reporting, so the leadership team could see what works and steer on it.

03A new partner propositionBuilt a proposition for hotels and online travel agencies. The network grew to 55 active partners, who now bring in about a third of all pre-booked revenue.

04Delfins Diving, a white-label brandLaunched a dive brand with Delfins Beach Resort (Tapestry Collection by Hilton). A group trial launched at the DEMA trade show brought in 9 groups and about 150 guests. Individual bookings follow in Q4 2026.

05One brand, many touchpointsSet a content framework: authentic guest content for organic channels, higher-quality storytelling for paid, website and partners. Rebranded and relaunched ARENA and The Beach Shop.

06Beyond marketingAs a management team member, worked with the GM on training the shop teams, aligning the seven location managers and streamlining operations. Also mapped the customer journey and introduced reporting structures.

Aerial view of a Dive Friends pier on Bonaire

Aerial view of the Kralendijk waterfront

Looking back

The biggest shift wasn’t a campaign. It was moving decisions from gut feeling to data: tracking that works, reporting the leadership team trusts, and budgets that follow results.

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