“The cheapest thing about an airplane is the owner.”
– Overheard at an aviation trade show.
“I do these radio remotes and free barbecues with cheap discovery flights several times a year. It’s great advertising – we get lots of media coverage, we have a ton of people show up. But most of them just eat the free food and maybe go for a discovery flight if they can split the cost between three people, and then we never hear from them again.”
-Frustrated flight school owner
Our product will easily pay for itself in the amount they’ll save in mechanic labor alone in six months. And yet they still argue with me about price.”
– Frustrated component distributor
It’s a paradox in aviation – you would think the consumers of aviation products and services would be a little more concerned with quality and safety, and less concerned with saving nickels as they sometimes appear to be.
If you seem to be attracting freebie-seekers and cheapskates, here are a few things to consider:
- Do your marketing materials position your product as the lowest-cost alternative? (Being the low-price leader is a scary place to be unless you have the buying power of Wal-Mart, and nobody in aviation has that kind of advantage.) It’s much better if your USP (unique selling proposition) is based on the highest quality or the best service or something more difficult for a competitor to replicate.
- Are you rewarding bad behavior? By offering freebies or deep discounts on a regular basis, you’re teaching would – be consumers to wait for your sales or special events, and eroding the integrity of your pricing. (Why is it worth $1000 if you were selling it for $600 during your sale last week?)
- Sometimes (probably most of the time) it’s too expensive” or “I can’t afford it” is just shorthand for “You haven’t yet convinced me of the value.”
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Aviation Marketing
