“Why Should we Care About Aviation Marketing Campaigns?”

“Why can’t we just find a price that works, create an ad that works, and keep running that all the time?”

This was the most intelligent question we’ve had in a long time – unfortunately the person who asked it wanted to remain anonymous!

It stands to reason – objectives of any great company that cares about its products and its customers wants to do the following:

Create a great product, always.

Provide something of value, always.

Charge a fair price for that product, always.

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These are worthy objectives for marketing professionals. Seasonal or temporary campaigns can seem like a disruption of normal marketing efforts and business practices. Or seem like shady underhanded dealing.

We agree! We’ve all seen the people on street corners waving signs screaming “50% OFF! THIS WEEK ONLY!” week in and week out. Airline marketing campaigns seem to offer random pricing for the same flights. Online marketing and shallow landing pages that overpromise seem to bring out the worst in advertising. “Random acts of marketing” abound.

We’ve all bought products only to find out that they went on sale the following week and we feel like we overpaid.

Disingenuous campaigns or marketing strategies can ruin your credibility and your relationships with regular customers, and erode your market share as you .

Having said all that, why do we still recommend campaigns?

Here are three main reasons a successful marketing campaign (or two, or three!) can be absolutely vital to meeting your sales goals:

A Campaign Can Create a Sense of Urgency.

We all have to adapt to changes in regulations, technology, and competition.

I’m sure you’ve noticed the increase in the number of pilots that carry iPads and tablet computers.

When you develop new version of your product, to be compatible with new devices, there are several campaign techniques you can use or “calls to action” you can experiment with:

Reward early adopters, “beta testers,” or people who provide “user generated content” like testimonials or product photos with discounts.
Provide your older versions at a discount
Offer free upgrades if one is nearing completion
Give your own team an incentive to keep marketing fresh and inventive.

A Campaign Can Help You Try Out New Products or Bundled Services.

For some services, you can offer a temporary bundled service like ground transportation or hotel discounts.

Offering a short-term bundled “deal” in an ad campaign for an event gives you the opportunity to do several things:

See if your customers are excited about it,

Find out if your partner lives up to his promises,

Ensure all goes well and iron out any snags before jumping into a partnership with both feet.

Also, you may want to be sure your campaign includes different “bundles” of your own services to increase transaction size and encourage loyalty.

If your target market is for aircraft maintenance, for example, you may offer a loyalty program. For example, you could offer discounts or additional services like a detail cleaning with a phase inspection.

A Campaign Can Bring Back Old Customers

We’ve often said that the “money is in Phase Three” in aviation marketing, (Phase Three being repeat sales and referrals.)

That is why we advise clients to run a special campaign once or twice a year that focuses attention on your existing or past customers. This is a great way to ensure you’re capitalizing on your greatest asset – the people who already know, like and trust your company.

Referral campaigns can be a time to specifically reach out to your existing customers. Provide a “friends and family” or customer appreciation event.

There is probably a natural cycle to repeat purchases – one of our clients knows that his clients tend to make a purchase every three years. He gets more referrals and resales than anyone we know!

He keeps in touch with them during that three year cycle with monthly newsletters.
And he sends birthday cards.
He also does email marketing.
He writes blog posts about his area of expertise.
Targets them using digital media campaigns, using social media he’s already connected on, like Facebook or LinkedIn.
Makes certain his company gets found on all the search engines if his customer is ever looking for that product or service.
Reaches out to do influencer marketing with the attorneys, insurance agents, and other people his customers may be “talking shop” with.
He writes frequent and regular press releases to increase brand awareness and to be sure his customers (and past customers) continue to see the company in the news in a positive light.
He creates video content to demonstrate products or services.

At about the thirty month mark he makes a note to give them a call and find out how business is going and how things have changed. Those calls take time, but they always bring in new business.

Sample Campaign to Follow Up After a Trade Show

In this webinar, we share three ways to follow up after a trade show.

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To Sum Up

While we agree that the first priority should be to offer a great product at a fair price and a consistent experience to all customers. But marketing campaigns are a great strategy to add to your marketing plan. Whether your campaign goal is to create urgency, let you try out new products and packages, and bring back old customers, campaigns are a valuable tool that you can’t afford not to consider!