Aviation Marketing: 4 Must Have for a Flight School Marketing Plan

Students are the lifeblood of any flight school. To attract them, you need a solid marketing plan.  The benefits are numerous. Even just the act of creating one forces you to think about your business deeply. Potential investors will surely want to view one. Here are four things an aviation marketing plan must include.

1) Market analysis

Define your market, its segmentation and decide which niche you want to go after. Are you targeting everyone within a 45 minute drive? Or do you have famous instructors and aiming to attract students nationwide? Take an inventory of your strengths and weaknesses. An advantage might be a lower cost structure or good reputation. And be sure to discuss market trends. Are regulations changing the market? Is the number of people trying to become a pilot increasing or decreasing? An aviation marketing plan needs extensive research.

2) Pricing strategy

Your profitability depends on your pricing. This can be hard to get right and getting it right can take a lot of trial and error. In general, the lower the price the more customers you have. But it also means less profit per customer. Sometimes it makes sense to be the low volume premium player rather than trying to be the cheapest provider. Also, how sensitive your customers are to price changes?  Are you a discounter or a luxury provider? Will you offer discounts? Beware of repeatedly offering pricing specials because customers may come to expect them. 

3) Promotion strategy

Basically, how are you going to generate interest with your aviation marketing? Are you going to advertise in specialized pilot magazines? Or put up ads on Google and Facebook? Getting public relations right is important as well. Although PR firms can be expensive, they can help you generate buzz.  Lastly, see if you can take advantage of attracting more students using inbound marketing. Efforts seem to be hit or miss, but if you’re successful you’ll draw a large audience.  The Role of Internet Marketing Plan for B2B

4) Financial summary

This is what your boss or potential investors want to see. Anyone can come up with a huge and unrealistic flight school marketing plan. However, designing a reasonable one that will bring long term profitability is an art. Be sure to include any assumptions you make. Make a pro form a monthly income statement.

Writing a marketing plan is no small undertaking. Often they are dozens of pages and detail how exactly how to grow the business. This can take a great deal of time but its worth it in the end. 

The above tips will help you leverage the power of your online and traditional aviation marketing solutions to increase your traffic, raise conversion rates and improve your income flow. Please read the eBook "Essencial Guide to Intenet Marketing" to be more familiar with how to use effective marketing strategies that will change your business.