Top Ten Aviation Marketing Articles of 2018

All of our favorite shows and sites are full of roundups this time of year.  We’re seeing  countdowns and lists everywhere to sum up 2018. 

#10 – Three Business Building Aviation Campaigns to Plan for 2018

What three aviation marketing campaigns should you plan to build your business in 2019?

Here are our picks for the best business-building strategies, balanced with some revenue-generating ideas.

#9 – How to Cross Sell

How to cross sell aviation products and services.  Most of the marketing strategies and cross selling techniques you learn in college or sales training have to do with things like fast food.  But there also are some great examples of cross selling that suit the aviation market!

#8 – Aviation PR Disaster Recovery -How to Handle Natural Disasters and Human Errors

Aviation involves a lot of risk management, and aviation pr is based on the same discipline.

Chances are, at some point in the next few years, something bad is going to happen.  It could be something outside of your control like a natural disaster or something due to human error. We are all humans, and we employ humans, and humans make mistakes.

You know the saying – “There are old aviators, and there are bold aviators. But there aren’t many old, bold aviators!”

Aviation companies  that have taken the time to think through some likely scenarios and how they will respond are the ones that will survive.  Most of us encounter at least one small or large “disaster” every five or ten years.

In this episode, we talk about a natural disaster currently occurring at our house.  We provide our six principles for creating a good “bad news” press release.

#7 – Book Club Discussion – Blue Ocean Shift

In this episode, John and I discuss our experience of reading the book, Blue Ocean Shift by W Chan Kim and Renée Morbougne.   We go through the worksheets from the book for our own company and going through the process with some of our clients.

This is particularly relevant for our clients. Many of them are VERY innovative in the ways they solve problems.  They have to be innovative in the rapidly-changing, but also change-resistant, aviation industry!

#6 – Book Club Discussion – Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance

We liked it more than we thought we would – quite entertaining, and with some great stories relevant to those of us who develop marketing programs.

Key Points:

• Focus
• Hairballs
• Risk
• Big Ideas

#5 – Exaggeration is Not a Good Strategy for Aviation Marketing Personal Branding

In this episode, John and I discuss a recent disaster involving exaggeration in personal branding and aviation marketing.

We all think, “this is the sort of thing that happens in OTHER industries, not aviation!”

But unfortunately, this isn’t the first and, unfortunately, won’t be the last disaster we see. It’s important to show your company, product or service in the best possible light.  But it’s even MORE important to be scrupulously honest, especially with verifiable facts. Exaggeration can kill your credibility fast. And credibility is hard to come by, and even harder to get back if you’ve compromised it.

Some folks will say this is a social media problem, but that’s kind of like calling Watergate a telephone problem.

We talk about what went wrong in the case study we observed, and how to prevent exaggeration-related mishaps in your own marketing and personal branding.

#4 – FBO Marketing Materials

FBO Marketing Materials – Three Ways to Be Better Than Every Other FBO!

FBO marketing pros often tell us that it’s VERY difficult to differentiate.

And if you read the home pages of several different FBOs, you’ll see that most struggle to come up with something competitive or interesting or specific.  Many say things like: “We’re the best FBO because we offer the best service!”

Great. If EVERY FBO offers the best service, how are pilots, passengers, dispatchers and flight departments to choose?

In this episode, John and I talked about using the Logo Test to see if your website copy is compelling. You can also use this test on any online or printed marketing materials as well. Most are incredibly bland, vanilla, and unconvincing.

#3 – Is Aviation Facebook Marketing Dead?

#2 – Aviation Prospecting – How to Fill Your Pipeline with Customers

Prospecting for Aviation Industry Buyers

We focus on one marketing topic each month. If you follow along, you’ll find that by the end of the year you’ve made 12 powerful improvements in your sales and marketing in 2018!

#1 – Aviation Digital Marketing Glossary

Aviation professionals understand the need for precise language. Aviation has more unique terms than just about any other profession! Digital marketing also has a specialized language.

Unfortunately, this can lead to misunderstandings.  It can lead to unfortunate situations where aviation professionals purchase digital marketing services from slick service providers who don’t take the time to be understood.  Both parties end up frustrated and disappointed with the results.

This is sad.  Aviation sales and marketing professionals stand to gain a lot from intelligent use of digital marketing!

In our practice, not a month goes by when someone tells us about being “taken for a ride” by a fast-talking digital marketing salesperson. This sort of thing is bad for everyone.  It gives marketing companies a bad name.  It also causes aviation companies to waste valuable resources on services that aren’t right for them, or don’t provide the results they expect.