In our aviation marketing practice, we have been working with FBOs, MROs, flight schools, component manufacturers, software companies, brokers and service providers since 2012.
The variety of companies and professionals in the aviation industry is often surprising to outsiders, but there are a few things the industry has in common among all of these niches and three common elements across the marketing spectrum that have changed radically in the last five years.
1. Search Engine Optimization or SEO
SEO has changed for everyone, given several Google updates in the last year, including switching to the new Google Analytics 4 release, the emphasis on “core web vitals” such as site load speed.
These changes impact everyone, of course, but there are some specific impacts for aviation SEO. Google Analytics 4 makes it more difficult to track individual website visitors. Fortunately for aviation companies, we started with very small and specific audiences.
Not everyone is in the market for a PT6a engine overhaul. When someone visits a site that is devoted to that topic, we have a pre ty good idea of who they are and what they want, even if the information we get about them from Google Analytics is less complete.
Aviation is similarly impacted by the Core Web Vitals update. If there are only three or four service providers in a key niche, it is important to be the best of the lot, but we don’t have to beat Google or Amazon in site speed.
2. Social Media Marketing
There have been changes to social media marketing in recent years. The number of companies using paid ads has nearly doubled in the last two years, flooding our social media feeds with ads. This is also true in aviation social media marketing.
We’re finding that aviation companies have to work harder to create engaging ads with a compelling call to action, rather than simply “getting their name out there” with paid social media ads.
Very specific targeting is also possible with Facebook and LinkedIn, and aviation decision-makers are easy to identify by industry, job title, or interest keywords.
3. Trade Shows and Events
As in other industries, trade shows and events are back with a vengeance. And like other industries, aviation trade show marketing includes taking advantage of show hashtags and geolocation ads targeting the event center where the event is being hosted to serve specific ads only to attendees.
Almost eight in ten marketers generate sales by using event marketing across all industries, we think that may be higher in the aviation industry because aviation decisionmakers have a natural bias to go places and see things in person.
They tend to be very visual and detail-oriented people that like to see products and services in person and, quite literally, see people eye-to-eye while doing business.
While aviation as an industry has been slow to adopt many marketing technologies, aviation companies are also creating hybrid experiences including live broadcasting or recorded events and using QR codes to collect attendee data or launch multimedia experiences.
Every industry has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The aviation industry is no exception, but there are some specific nuances that aviation marketing professionals can take advantage of.
To sum up the last few years in three quick bullets:
- SEO is so specific for aviation that recent changes have helped rather than hurt aviation companies get found on the web.
- Aviation marketers are working harder to make their social media marketing investments pay off.
- Trade show marketing is still strong but has become more sophisticated by necessity as customers adapt to technology and culture changes driven by the pandemic.
ABCI is a marketing company that helps aviation companies sell more of their products and services by providing professional marketing services for any budget. They can be found on the web at https://AviationBusinessConsultants.com or by calling 702-987-1679
