We’re facing a pandemic and many changes to our industry, and we’re getting a lot of questions about aviation marketing in April 2020:
“Should we continue our aviation marketing efforts or lay off for awhile?”
“We were depending on a bunch of events this summer to make our sales numbers, are we totally out of luck?”
“We’re working from home – what can we do to improve our sales and marketing efforts with tools we can use from home and without meetings?”
“How we can adapt our products and services to be attractive to people NOW?”
So, John and I talk about these questions and more – and include three things NOT to do, and five things to do instead!
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Paula Williams:
Welcome to this week’s episode. Today we are talking about COVID-19, as is everybody else in the world. And this is actually our second podcast on this topic, and it’s because we’re getting a lot of questions from our clients about what shouldn’t we be doing this week or month, what should we be investing in, what can we do, given all of the crazy things going on, right?
John Williams:
Pretty much anything you want.
Paula Williams:
No, we’ve got some do’s and don’ts. You can’t do NBAA.
John Williams:
Well-
Paula Williams:
You can’t do… Well actually, yeah, there’s still a lot of events this summer that have been canceled, and we’ll get into that in just a minute, but I’m Paula Williams.
John Williams:
I am John Williams.
Paula Williams:
And we are ABCI, and ABCI’s mission is…
John Williams:
To help all you folks out there in the aviation world sell more products and services, even now.
Paula Williams:
Exactly. So carrying on with that. So this episode is being brought to you by our Aviation Sales and Marketing Lab, which is where we do consulting for our clients who are making their way through this. There’ve been some big changes in the industry, big changes in the way people advertise, big changes in the way people do things. So three things you shouldn’t do, several things you should do. Okay?
John Williams:
Okay.
Paula Williams:
I don’t remember the number, but okay. Don’t do this. All right? One thing that pilots do not do, and this is one of the things that I love about this industry, is that they do not throw up their hands screaming, under any circumstances. They don’t take their hands off the wheel, they don’t close their eyes, they don’t panic. Right?
John Williams:
Exactly.
Paula Williams:
What was the saying that you have? “Keep flying until all the pieces stop moving?”
John Williams:
Oh, yeah. Because particularly, being a helicopter pilot, you fly the thing until the last piece stops moving, then you get out and walk away.
Paula Williams:
Exactly. And that’s exactly the same situation that we have here. We’re encountering a little bit of turbulence. I mean, it’s not always appropriate to pull out the throttle, it’s not always appropriate to start screaming, it is not always appropriate to do any particular thing. You need to keep flying the airplane. Aviate navigate, communicate. Right?
John Williams:
Exactly.
Paula Williams:
Okay. The other thing you should not do, head for your secret bunker and nobody hears from you for six months. Right?
John Williams:
True.
Paula Williams:
And this is what a lot of the media makes us think we should be doing, is holing up and watching Tiger King for six months.
John Williams:
Don’t watch that silly [inaudible 00:02:54].
Paula Williams:
Oh, it was terrible. We got started watching it, and I blame Benet Wilson, because she was posting about it.
John Williams:
Paula, that wasn’t very nice.
Paula Williams:
Oh, I know. She doesn’t mind, I’m sure. But we started watching it, and it was such a train wreck, we couldn’t stop watching it. So anyway. Yeah. I mean, there is a certain amount of TV watching and a certain amount of taking care of your kids, especially if they’re off of school right now and you have to do the homeschooling thing. There’s a lot of things that you need to do. Take care of your family first, of course, but don’t lock yourself up in your secret bunker with all of your toilet paper and wait for this to be over. Right?
John Williams:
Unless you’re one of those that bought a warehouse full of toilet paper.
Paula Williams:
Even if you did, it will eventually run out. I mean, you’re going to have to participate in the economy, you’re going to have to participate in society. Hunkering down doesn’t help.
John Williams:
Nope.
Paula Williams:
All right? Okay. And don’t do this, right? Do not just robotically carry on as if nothing happened. So, don’t keep running your same campaigns as if the world were normal, because it’s not. A lot of things have happened, a lot of shows have been canceled, a lot of periodicals are not running or are running revised schedules. A lot of flight schools are having to not do classrooms because of the local regulations where they are. There’s a lot of things that people are having to do that are different, right?
John Williams:
Indeed.
Paula Williams:
All right, so here’s what you’re going to do instead.
John Williams:
Which is nothing, it’s a blank screen.
Paula Williams:
Oh, there’s lots of things on this screen.
John Williams:
Now there is.
Paula Williams:
Exactly. So we’re going to talk about each of these things in turn, but there are several of them. One is to be normal, right? Try not to let this affect you too much, try to be yourself in the midst of the craziness that’s going on around you, even if everybody else is being somebody else.
John Williams:
Yep.
Paula Williams:
Believe in capitalism. We are firm believers in the fact that that people trading value for value is a wonderful thing, and is going to do more good than harm. Right? Three, do an impact audit for each client. We’ll talk about what that means and how to do it. Reach out personally. I mean, virtually personally, but not personally, personally. So John and I are married, we’ve been quarantined together, so we can stand this close together, but a lot of you can’t meet with your clients in the same room, for one reason or another, either because you can’t travel because of meeting restrictions, and other kinds of things. So reach out personally but virtually.
John Williams:
And don’t be afraid of it, for crying out loud.
Paula Williams:
Absolutely.
John Williams:
Just observe and be aware of what’s going on, and just go about your business.
Paula Williams:
Mm-hmm (affirmative) That falls under the be normal category, I think. Don’t you think?
John Williams:
Well, I know, but I mean, I heard of a person that has an airplane for sale in Los Angeles, lives in Utah, says he can’t get there to go take pictures. Why not? I mean, you can go get on an airplane, you can drive out there, it doesn’t matter. Nobody’s stopped any of that stuff. If you drive or if you fly, if you fly privately, then you got it knocked. If you fly commercially, probably still got it knocked, because my son just went from Denver to Pittsburgh, and there were 12 people on 150 seat aircraft. I mean, give me a break. That’s more than six feet apart.
Paula Williams:
That’s true. Yeah. I mean, if you’re in a high-risk group, of course you want to take precautions and things like that, but in general, don’t overreact and be crazy. Reach out personally, we talked about that. Adjust and diversify, and also work on your business, rather than in it, especially if you are in a situation where you are having fewer customers, so you have a season of downtime, right?
John Williams:
Yep. I mean, we’ve talked to some local businesses, and that’s what they’re doing.
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Paula Williams:
Exactly. Okay. So thing number one, be normal. This is a Goalcast video – the Make Your Bed speech – US Navy Admiral, William H. McRaven, delivers a speech about the importance of doing the little things like making your bed, embracing the fears of life, and changing the world for generations to come. I think he was speaking at a graduation, and was it a military graduation?
John Williams:
Yep, Annapolis, I think.
Paula Williams:
Annapolis graduation? Okay. And the point that he was making is that the most accomplished people in the world succeed at small things first. So if you want to change the world, start off by making your bed, and in times like this, we have a tendency to feel like, “Well, I’m not going to do anything. I’m not going to get out of bed. I’m not going to get out of my pajamas. I’m not going to brush my teeth. I’m not going to do any of that stuff,” and that just makes you feel worse, and everybody around you feel worse because you smell bad.
John Williams:
Even at six feet.
Paula Williams:
Exactly. So the fact that you are able to have the self-discipline to manage your own routine, even if no one is managing it for you. Maybe you don’t have any clients to see that day, but you still get up and get dressed, and you do your thing. Right?
John Williams:
You’d be surprised how much better you feel if you go through your normal routine, and get up and attempt to do some stuff in business.
Paula Williams:
Right, which is not to mean that we are completely innocent of any slacking. We actually watched the entire Tiger King over the course of the week, way too much TV. But for the most part-
John Williams:
That was after business hours.
Paula Williams:
Exactly, that was after business hours. So for the most part, we are doing our darnedest to keep things normal.
Okay, believe in capitalism, right? “Find a need and fill it. Successful businesses are founded on the needs of people.” The people that you serve have different needs now than they did two weeks ago. So if you are running a charter, you’re going to want to make sure that you are adjusting that business so that you can get people where they need to go, so that-
John Williams:
And maybe you want to start another line of business within your company.
Paula Williams:
Mm-hmm (affirmative) Exactly. I know Aerostar, one of our flight schools, is focusing rather than on their classroom training because they can’t right now, have a number of people in a classroom, so they’re focusing on their ground school distance learning program. So there’s always something that you can do to help people use that time well. I mean, their needs didn’t go away, their dreams didn’t go away. They still have money in their pockets, it still needs to go somewhere. They might as well be advancing their goals in the best way that they know how, and you might as well be helping them the best you know how, right? So it’s all about innovation and providing goods and services that people need, right?
John Williams:
Uh-huh (affirmative)-
Paula Williams:
That’s what capitalism is for.
John Williams:
Yeah. It’s in times like this when lots of successful companies are started.
Paula Williams:
Exactly. And part of the reason that I’m such a staunch believer in capitalism is because companies, especially small companies, can innovate much faster than the government can, or any government can. So no matter how well intentioned the governments are, it is the small businesses of the United States and other places in the world that the practice capitalism that are going to do the most good in the situation.
John Williams:
Right.
Paula Williams:
Circumstances change, small groups of people can adapt, and larger groups of people take a longer time. That’s just physics, right?
Larger objects take longer to move. Right?
John Williams:
Yeah.
Paula Williams:
Exactly. So the smallest possible unit should respond, and in this case, it’s small businesses, small to medium sized businesses. Okay. All right.
Next thing is do an impact audit. So if you go through your list of customers, and we’ve got ours on our whiteboard over here, and think about how is this impacting them and how can I help them through this? So we go through our list of customers, and we think some of these guys are going to be doing a land office business because what they do is positively impacted by what’s happened. There is a smaller number or an equal number, I would say, of clients who are going to be slowed down by this.
Paula Williams:
And so, what can we do to help them shift gears and maybe work on their business, rather than in it, for the next couple of months? So they’ll be ready for the next big innovation and things like that. So what can I do to help each of my clients? And if you do that with each of your clients, you’ll lose a whole lot fewer of them who panic and run away, if you’re reaching out to them.
Which leads us to our next point, which is to reach out personally.
John Williams:
And don’t panic, whatever you do.
Paula Williams:
Exactly. So I got a call from our account rep at Salesforce, which is surprising, because Salesforce is this huge company and we are this little tiny customer of Salesforce. We have their smallest plan, and we’ve got a couple of our clients who have their smallest plan, so we are a gnat on the wall as far as Salesforce is concerned, but we had a customer rep who I’ve spoken with in the past season, the one that actually sold us the product, pick up the phone, and call me and say, “I understand you’re in aviation, and I see that you’re getting really hit by this. I read this in the Wall Street Journal this morning, and I thought of you guys, and I thought, ‘What can we do to help?’ Are you guys used to working at home? Are your clients you still working at home? Can you use any of these free utilities that we’ve put together to help people use Salesforce from their iPads, or any of this stuff? What can I do to help you?”
Paula Williams:
And that was an out of the blue phone call, and of course, we’re used to working remotely and most of our clients are as well, but I just was really impressed by the fact that he thought to reach out and he had done some homework, and was concerned about us in the midst of all this, right? So if you reach out to your customers first, instead of just bunkering down and hoping they don’t notice this monthly bill going out or whatever, you really want to make sure that you’re being proactive and serving them in the best possible way. Right?
John Williams:
Absolutely.
Paula Williams:
Okay. All right. Adjust, and this is why we need the keyboard.
John Williams:
You didn’t plug it in.
Paula Williams:
I didn’t plug it in, so how do I go back [inaudible 00:13:47]?
John Williams:
Well, plug it in.
Paula Williams:
I’ll go plug it in.
John Williams:
It’s right there, just plug it in. Now hit the back button.
Paula Williams:
Obviously. Okay. Adjust and diversify. If you only have one product or service, now is a really good time to think about another one, especially if the product or service that you offer is only delivered in person, or is only provided in person. There are some really amazing technologies like Zoom, and… go ahead.
John Williams:
I just, you were talking about all the paper, and I happened to see a video today saying that you have to use paper, you cannot do digital only. And I thought, “What are these guys talking about?” because anything you’ve got on paper, can be put in digits. Anything.
Paula Williams:
Okay, true.
John Williams:
So I just thought I’d say, don’t think that paper’s the only way to do it.
Paula Williams:
Right. In fact, if you’ve been thinking about offering some services digitally or remotely, now is a perfect opportunity because people are expecting that and they don’t think that you’re being cheap, they think that you’re being smart, if you shift some of your products and services to a more digital or remote format. Right?
John Williams:
Right.
Paula Williams:
So some of your service calls, you might be able to do remotely. I saw a meme on Facebook with a sheepdog that was working from home, looking at this screen full of sheep and barking.
John Williams:
Or the flight attendant working from home.
Paula Williams:
Or the flight attendant working from home, that’s a funny one as well. So obviously, there are a few things you cannot do, but if you think about your product or service, are there any parts of it that you can break off and offer in a different way, digitally or otherwise? So you might think about maybe productizing some of your services and offering maybe a course, rather than doing your full, let’s go there and install this product and make it all work, maybe doing a webinar or a short course or something like that that’s online, so that you’re able to provide that level of service on demand, so if they want to-
John Williams:
And you can even do a large part of aircraft sales online and do a video tour.
Paula Williams:
Yeah.
John Williams:
You can go through paperwork. You can do all kinds of stuff, until it comes down where the purchaser’s got actually go view it, test fly it, sign off on it.
Paula Williams:
Yeah. I mean, digital logbooks are now I think accepted as legal in a lot of circumstances, where they weren’t maybe five or 10 years ago. So you can do a logbook audit of an aircraft you’re intending to buy yourself, in some circumstances, without ever having to touch the paper.
John Williams:
Yep.
Paula Williams:
So there’s lots of things in the aviation industry, as traditional as it may seem, that you can do now that you weren’t able to do before.
John Williams:
And this’ll make it get better.
Paula Williams:
Yeah, absolutely. This will kind of push the industry in that direction. It’s funny, because we were talking about this the other day. When we started our business almost 10 years ago, our intention was to be the digital marketing specialist for the aviation industry, which has always been traditionally very, very show-oriented and very, very paper magazine-oriented, and things like that. It wasn’t ready for that 10 years ago, despite our best efforts. Right? A lot of folks really wanted to do the shows, really wanted to do the print ads, really wanted to do these other things, so we had to adapt to what people wanted, but now we’re getting back to where we started.
John Williams:
Well, and not only that, but the shows are getting really pricey, and then along comes this so-called pandemic, and between those two, digitizing a lot of your business makes a lot of sense.
Paula Williams:
Exactly. And we’re going to be talking next week about webinars maybe, so if you were doing shows and that’s how you do your product demos and other kinds of things, if you’re doing events in person, that’s still a fantastic way to get in front of people, but if you can’t do it for months at a time, now’s a good time to maybe add and diversify the way that you sell.
John Williams:
Exactly.
Paula Williams:
Work on your business, rather than in it. Right. So some of the things that you can work on would be things like your equipment. One of the companies that we know here locally, is doing renovations while their restaurant is closed. A lot of people are sending their pilots to sim training, assuming that some of the training organizations are still functioning, they’re working on their processes and things. I just-
John Williams:
And if you got to update IT equipment, now’s the time.
Paula Williams:
Right. Putting in new systems, new phone systems. Just spoke with Debbie Murphy at JetBrokers, they’re upgrading their office equipment and other kinds of things during this time. Just spoke with Doug at SSC, they’re redoing their email footers and all of those other crazy things that just never get done, until you have some time like this to work on those things. So equipment, processes, products. We talked about maybe offering products that are digital, if you can find a way to do that. You can work on your social accounts, see if there’s anything that you need to spiff up, anything that’s out of date, work on your website.
Paula Williams:
A lot of things happen with websites where they grow by accretion for a number of years, and then by four years later, they reflect the business that you had four years ago, not the business that you have now, and they’re using technology that’s outdated. So there’s a lot of improvements you can do there. Updating your brand and getting those things consistent, like your email footers, and all of your documents, and your business cards, and other kinds of things. So now’s a perfect time to get a lot of those things cleaned up and managed that you always thought you would do when you had time, right?
John Williams:
Well, now you do.
Paula Williams:
Now you have time. There’s another meme I saw on Facebook and that is, “I’ve always wanted to give my house a really thorough, deep clean, and I always thought it was because I didn’t have the time. That wasn’t the reason.” And now I have the time, and it’s still not getting done. Right? But anyway, so ,those are some things that you can do this month during April and the result, if you spend the spring doing these kinds of things, rather than throwing up your hands and screaming, or bunkering down in your secret bunker, you are going to have the best summer ever.
Paula Williams:
There was a saying about sometimes if you look at the peaks and valleys of your life, the valleys actually turn out to be the peaks when you look back on it backwards. Right?
John Williams:
Uh-huh (affirmative)-
Paula Williams:
And it’s because those are the times when you make these decisions that are going to make the biggest difference, when the wheels are turning again. Right?
John Williams:
Right.
Paula Williams:
Okay.
John Williams:
You’re making your money now from when it happens later.
Paula Williams:
Exactly. I mean, it’s easy to stay in business when things are good, but this is where you separate yourself from the competition because of the choices that you make in times like these, when things are uncertain. Right?
John Williams:
Yep.
Paula Williams:
Okay. All right. So once again, this was brought to you by our Aviation Sales and Marketing Lab. This is the best $279 a month you can spend on your business and also the best time that you can spend. We do require a month of your time where we actually go over, here are the objectives that we think you should be doing this month to help your sales and marketing process, and we work on those with you, and check back with you the next month and hold you accountable for some of those things. So it’s a nice check-in, and it’s also a lot of tools like Leadfeeder, JetNet-
John Williams:
SEMRush.
Paula Williams:
SEMRush, other things like that that add up to far more than the price of admission, and we also use those with you, so it’s not like you just have a bunch of software that sits around because you don’t know how to use it.
John Williams:
Right.
Paula Williams:
And you get to talk to our other lab members and see what they’re doing during this horrifying quarantine and how they’re managing, and we check in with each other once a week to see what everybody’s up to, and it’s a pretty nice little supportive and helpful group of people. All right, so thank you for joining us, and we will see you next week. I promise the world’s not going to end.
John Williams:
Stay healthy. See you.
Paula Williams:
Right.
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