Aviation Marketing Consulting's Tips for Growing Your Email Lists

Thinking about buying an email list? Wait. Before you pay anyone for a “list” of potential newsletter subscribers, you should absolutely attempt to capture these names directly. Why? Because it’s free, and it’s been my experience that purchasing an email list does not provide good value or results.

If you build it, they will come.

This doesn’t apply just to “Fields Of Dreams,” but also to building subscriber lists with names and emails that are interested in the products or services your business provides.

The most effective way obtain a good list is to build it yourself. And it all starts with good content. If you build it, they will come. Here’s how:

1. Write practical, useful content. You will never collect email addresses just because you provide a newsletter “free of charge.” You must first provide content that the reader deems worthy to click, stay, and subscribe. Providing unique and valuable information first and foremost is the most important way in growing your email list.
2. Make it easy. Add a subscription form to multiple pages of your website where it is appropriate to do so, place it in a prominent position on the page and identified clearly.
   

   Here is an example of a squeeze page. Notice the prominent sign-up form and video testimonial.

3. Ask for just the basics. Request minimal information – for most newsletters, a first name and email address will suffice. The more information you request, the less likely your web visitor will subscribe to your newsletter.
4. Provide a sample newsletter. Offer subscribers the ability to view your newsletter before they sign up. Those that like what they read will sign-up. Those that don’t would most likely unsubscribe from your email list anyway.
5. Give away an opt-in bonuses. Create an opt-in bonus in return for subscribing. An ebook or PDF report, webinar, podcast, or downloadable or web-based software are great ways to entice new subscribers, and builds credibility as well.
6. Include “Sign Up” button. Use a button or link within your newsletter providing a text link to your subscription page. If readers forward newsletters to others, or share online, the “sign-up” button or link will give others an immediate manner to opt-in.
7. Testimonials. Put testimonials on your squeeze page and/or your email sign-up forms in your website. Video is very compelling medium for testimonials. If possible testimonials should include full names, locations and/or links to establish credibility.
8. Have a Privacy Policy. Let readers know without a doubt you will never share their contact information. Have a Privacy Policy page on your web page, and provide a link to it below every opt-in form.
9. Create a squeeze page. A squeeze page is a simple page on your website designed solely to capture opt-in emails addresses. Unlike other pages on your website with content and navigation, when a person arrives at your squeeze page, they have only two options: either sign-up or leave.
10. Set Expectations. Let subscribers know what they will be receiving: useful information, discounts, offers from third parties, or some combination? How often will they receive emails: daily, weekly, monthly? If possible, let subscribers adjust their own preferences. Letting people know what to expect will increase your opt-in rate.
11. Use Social Media. Post links to published newsletters on your Facebook and Twitter pages. Mention upcoming topics for future newsletters to generate additional interest.
12. Archive past newsletters. Make it easy for subscribers to access past newsletters and provide the capability to search past newsletters by keywords and topics. A library of newsletters also builds your credibility and positions you as an authority in your particular field.
13. Network with publishers. Publishers of other newsletters and/or print articles can provide valuable links, content, and subscribers to your own publication. This is a win-win for both, and will help to build your lists faster.
14. Ask readers to share. Word of mouth is viral. If a subscriber finds your newsletter to be informative, ask them to share it with friends and colleagues. This is a great way of get new subscribers.
15. Blog consistently. Blogging creates great dialogue with potential customers, and creates nice synergy with email marketing. Be sure to include a newsletter sign-up form on your blog page.
16. Comment. Post valuable comments on related blogs. In most cases, comments are posted with a link back to your site. This is an easy way to generate new traffic and subscribers.
17. Allow reprints. Websites and publishers actively look for high-quality content. Allow them to reprint yours as long as it’s not modified. With each reprint, your audience and exposure grows leading to new subscribers, traffic and links.

It doesn't take long for a significant amount of ice to accumulate on aircraft wings creating a potentially dangerous and fatal situation

It appears that icing played a major role in the Dec. 20th. crash of a TBM 700, a single-engine turboprop, 14 minutes after taking off from Teterboro, New Jersey for Atlanta. It was reported that moderate to severe icing was in the departure area. Four members of one family were were killed, along with their dog and a business associate. The aircraft crashed onto center medium of Interstate287. Luckily, no one on the ground was hurt.

Now is the worst time of the year for icing related accidents

It appeared that the pilot, a 1200-hour, instrument rated private pilot, reported he was picking up ice at 17,000 feet and requested 20,000 feet from ATC to climb to out of it.  Unfortunately, the attempt failed and the plane began losing altitude very quickly soon after.

This accident is an fateful reminder that we are coming into the worst time of year for icing. The NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) reports late December, January and late March are the most likely periods for icing related accidents to occur. These accidents occur at altitude during the cruise phase of flight when aircraft are flying through visible moisture at, or close to, freezing temperatures. It only take a short period of time in these conditions for significant amounts of ice to accumulate on the leading edges of an aircraft, which disrupts airflow, resulting in the lose of lift – a dangerous scenario, especially in instrument conditions.

View this video of Kevin Hawley, head of business development for
CAV Ice Protection, as he discusses icing in greater depth and explains some of the systems available to combat icing in aircraft.

Below is the preliminary accident report from the NTSB involving this accident.

And remember ice is not only dangerous for aircraft. Be careful while driving and walking during these winter months.

NTSB Identification: ERA12FA115
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Tuesday, December 20, 2011 in Morristown, NJ
Aircraft: SOCATA TBM 700, registration: N731CA
Injuries: 5 Fatal.
This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors.

On December 20, 2011, about 1005 eastern standard time, a Socata TBM 700, N731CA, collided with terrain following an in-flight loss of aircraft control near Morristown, New Jersey. The airplane was registered to Cool Stream LLC and was operated by the pilot. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and an instrument flight rules flight plan was filed for the flight from Teterboro, New Jersey (TEB) to Atlanta, Georgia (PDK). The personal flight was conducted under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91. The airplane sustained substantial damage. The certificated private pilot and four passengers were fatally injured. The flight originated from TEB at 0950.

A preliminary review of recorded radar and voice communications revealed that the pilot was in communication with the Federal Aviation Administration, New York Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC). While flying at 17,000 feet mean sea level (MSL) the pilot reported that he was in icing conditions. The pilot requested a climb, and the flight was subsequently cleared to flight level (FL) 200. The aircraft reached a maximum altitude of 17,900 feet and then began to descend. Radar and radio contact with N731CA was lost about 1005.

The airplane impacted a wooded median on Interstate Highway 287, about 1 mile south of Morristown. Several sections of the airplane, including the propeller assembly, came to rest in a wooded area on the east side of the northbound lanes. A post-crash fire was evident in the highway median, where the fuselage came to rest. The outboard section of the right wing and several sections of the empennage were found about 0.25 miles southwest of the fuselage, in a residential area.

The pilot held a private pilot certificate with ratings for airplane single-engine land and instrument airplane. He reported a total flight experience of 1,400 hours on his latest second-class medical certificate application, dated July 14, 2011.

The airplane was manufactured in 2005 and equipped with a Pratt and Whitney Canada PT6A-64 turbo-prop engine. The most recent annual inspection was performed on July 27, 2011. At that time, the airplane had accumulated approximately 702.0 total flight hours. The last logbook entry was recorded on November 18, 2011, at an aircraft total time of 724.6 hours.

The wreckage was recovered to a storage facility, where a detailed examination will be performed NTSB.

For many of us, the cell phone has become an indispensable tool to conduct business, communicate, find information and entertain ourselves.

The year is wrapping up fast, and next year’s marketing trends are quickly taking shape. Some were much-hyped in 2011, but struggled to find their footing as cautious businesses dipped a toe into these new streams. Others, like social media and video, have been building momentum for a while.

For many of us – having cell phones permanently glued to our ears – it’s no surprise the most important trends will incorporate mobile devices. Expect them all to play a larger role in 2012, finding their place alongside more traditional marketing channels.

1. Social Media.

Social Media is no longer a teen scene. Practically all businesses are now engaged in social media in one form or another and have specific line items in their marketing budgets for this activity. This continues another trend that places less and less emphasis on traditional marketing tools, such as advertising and PR, in a company’s marketing mix. For businesses to take advantage of this trend, they should develop a well-thought-out strategy for the role social media should play in their 2012 marketing program.

2. Mobile Marketing

With the proliferation of smartphones, everyone basically carries a computer in their pocket, and both business owners and customers are spending more time online via their mobile devices, iPads and tablets. The Facebook Generation in particular is very comfortable making their purchasing decisions on the go with a quick tap to the screen. Delivering content to consumers in real time based on their location is seen as the next big wave in marketing. Imagine walking past a Starbucks and receiving a text alert with a special offer for a caramel latte.

3. Geo-Targeting and Location-Based Marketing

This trend is a great opportunity for local retail businesses to compete with their larger competitors. A growing number of local web portals, such as Yelp and Patch, make it easy for consumers to find deals and reviews right in their neighborhoods. Groupon uses email marketing to provide personalized offers targeting specific locales and demographic profiles. Creating targeted, local marketing campaigns can become a great tool for smaller retailers to cost-effectively reach their geographic markets next year.

4. Video Moves Downstream

With the abundance of low-cost, HD video cameras, smartphones and simple editing programs, anybody can produce semi-professional-looking video. No longer is video marketing just for large firms with big budgets; this effective marketing tool is now within reach of every business, allowing them to utilize compelling visual storytelling to promote their products and services.

5. Monitoring Online Business Reputations

With social media use growing exponentially and review websites like Angie’s List becoming ever more popular, it’s easy for consumers to voice their praises and complaints about products, services and businesses they interact with. Applications like HootSuite will make the process of tracking, managing and responding to online reputation issues easier. In 2012, more and more businesses will actively monitor their online reputations and have a strategy in place to deal with negative stories, posts and opinions.

Looking good isn't good enough. All flash and no function is a bad combo! Make sure your website looks good, but functions even better.

I just got a call from an aviation parts distributor unhappy with their website.

They spent quite a bit of money redesigning the site, but had not noticed an appreciable increase in traffic or inquiries. Even worse, when the company president went to show a customer the website on his iPad, the only thing that came up was a blank rectangle.

“On the laptop, the website certainly looked great!” commented the president. I agreed the site was well-done – nice graphics, animation, and photography, but unfortunately, it was created in Flash, which as you may know, is not supported by Apple’s iPhone or iPad. (More about Flash later.)

This particular company’s website was a delight to look at. The whole focus was to make a dazzling impression at first glance, but just like a Lamborghini may look great in your garage, it’s not the ideal car for stop-and-go commuting.

Function Over Beauty:  Websites Need to do More than Just Look Good

Your website should be built only after a comprehensive audit and analysis has been done. There should be clear objectives of what you want your website to accomplish and how it should do it.

Some basic considerations are:

• Attracting visitors. This may include search engine optimization, advertising, social media, email marketing, etc.
• Deliver a compelling sales message. How are you different or better than your competitors and why they should buy from you?
• Answer frequently asked questions. Information that provides clear answers to likely questions about your products or services.
• Establish credibility. Information, sources, media, and testimonials that establish your credentials, authority and reliability of your business, products, or services.
• Ability to collect information. A means to collect basic contact information from potential customers – a free newsletter, report, or some other incentive to provide contact information.

Additional features for your website:

• E-commerce capability. Provide an easy and intuitive way for customers to purchase products or services.
• Customer service. Provide ways for existing customers, for instructions, answers to questions, a forum, support, etc.
• Reasons for customers to keep coming back. Provide additional information of interest to your customers, a blog with comments, a referral or incentive program, or another means of staying connected after the sale.

Once you have the basics done, you can work on the design. Trade the dazzling and stunning for a website that works.

See Paula Williams’ post about websites that don’t sell

Steve Jobs vs Adobe’s Flash

Steve Jobs took a big gamble by when he chose to not support Adobe’s Flash technology.

“Flash is a spaghetti-ball piece of technology that has lousy performance and really bad security problems,” Jobs said, according to biographer Walter Isaacson.

Steve Jobs was right.

Under Jobs, the iPhone became the industry’s leading smartphone and the iPad emerged to virtually dominate the tablet market. While more phones run Google’s Android software (many of them promoting their Flash compatibility), no products captured the public’s imagination and attention, quite like the iPhone.

So when Jobs blasted Adobe’s Flash technology, people listened. He called it “buggy,” a battery hog, and a product created by lazy developers.

“Allowing Flash to be ported across platforms means things get dumbed down to the lowest common denominator,” Jobs said, according to Isaacson. “We spend lots of effort to make our platform better and the developer doesn’t get any benefit if Adobe only works with functions that every platform has.”

Although Jobs did not live to see it, he was vindicated in his assessment as Adobe announced in November following his death, that Adobe will abandoned its Flash initiative for mobile devices.

Apple put its support behind HTML5 as the preferred web platform to provide multimedia experience on smartphones and tablets, insisting it provides the best solution for creating and deploying content in the browser across mobile platforms. Apple’s support is a big reason why HTML5 now universally supported on most major mobile devices.

Steve Jobs was confident in his decision then, and vindicated in his decision not to support the ubiquitous Adobe Flash. Now the rest of us mere technological mortals know full well, Jobs was right. And as always, his goal was function and design, and not forfeit one for the other.

Focus groups provide valuable insights that can ensure success before the launch of a new business, product or service

I had an interesting conversation with an aviation entrepreneur, who has a great idea for an onboard combination flight system and entertainment center for small GA aircraft. He wanted to get an idea of how much he should allocate to marketing in the business plan he was developing. As we discussed the various marketing tools he could use to promote his product and budget he would need, it became clear that he did not have a clear idea who his prime target market was, how many units he thought he could sell, or how much to price the product.

I suggested that before he spent any more time and effort building the prototype, developing a business plan and trying to raise investor money, he should do some market research to confirm he had a viable product that would sell at a price that would deliver a profit.

I cautioned that, making too many assumptions in the product launch without validating them can be fatal mistake. The fact is, almost all failures, business or personal, can be directly attributed to making too many false assumptions.

Has this ever happened to you? It has with me! I’ve become so enthralled with a business idea that I am positively convinced is going to be an enormously success – I spend a lot of time and money in its development, only to have in crash and burn. In hindsight, I realized that I got so excited with the potential success of my idea that I was blind to obvious warning signs, which I blissfully ignored.

Remember that old saying: when you assume things, you make an “ass” out of “u” and “me.”

Larger corporations invest heavily in market research before launching a new product or service. They test everything from the color scheme of the package to the taste of their products. Yet, even with all their money and resources, they still manage to make some huge boo boos, remember New Coke, Crystal Pepsi, and Apple’s Newton.

Still, don’t dismiss the value research can have in the process of developing your product or service. Customer insights can be extremely helpful in identifying your real niche or core competency of your product/service from your customer’s perspective. You might assume one thing, but your customers might surprise you with answers that point to something completely different.

There are two basic types of market research: quantitative research and qualitative research.

Quantitative research – involves the analysis of existing data to help validate decisions about your product/service, which can help you determine the size of your market from a demographic or geographic perspective. For example, if you wanted to know how many pilots there are in New York State with an instrument rating and third class medical, you can get that “quantitative” information from the FAA.

Qualitative research – delves into understanding your customers needs, buying habits and motivations and is usually done by conducting one-on-one interviews or focus group sessions.
This approach can provide important insight into what your customers think about your product or service. Some questions qualitative research can answer are:

1. Would customers consider buying your product or service?
2. How much do they think it should cost?
3. How do they envision using it?
4. What features would improve it, and what features are not very important?
5. How easily do they understand the product or service?
6. Are there obstacles to communicating its benefits?

Research costs money, but saves in the long run

If you’re tempted to fore-go any pre-launch marketing research, I would argue that it almost always pays for itself in the end. At a minimum, it may provide suggestions on ways to improve the product/service, or ideas in how it should be marketing. Or, it may convince you that your business/product/service is not viable because the market is not there, or the price/cost ratio is impractical. Though this outcome may be disappointing, trust me, this is a far better outcome than having first wasted a lot of time and money and disillusioned of failure.