Your Marketing CoPilot

  Topics we cover in this conversation: Why a system is important, even (or especially) for small businesses who don’t have any money to waste.How Henry Ford didn’t invent the automobile, but became successful by automating the processHow “slacking off” after the sale is why businesses (and marriages!) often failHow most businesses become overwhelmed with the first three phases: The Eight Phases of the Perfect Customer Lifecycle Generating InterestCapturing LeadsEducating and building trustConverting the leadProcessing the saleFulfilling,  “wowing” & educatingUpselling and cross-sellingCreating advocates (testimonials, referrals, continuing the relationship) Colin Daymude is an entrepreneur, national speaker, trainer, coach and author of 4 books and numerous industry white papers, Colin founded The Annual Mortgage Marketing Review Conference and was former CEO of the fastest growing training company in the US. Colin has personally and/or through Infusionsoft consulted with thousands of businesses and has been described as being on the “cutting edge as a speaker and marketing expert”. Colin coordinates partner relationships for Infusionsoft and understands entrepreneurs.

Everyone enjoys working with people they feel they know.  Bob Jones makes ATP customers feel like “insiders” by letting them in on some of the personality and internal fun at ATP. Topics we cover in this conversation: How “interesting” trumps “professional”How to let customers in on the crazy things that happen in any office.How to get great blog ideas – (hint – it’s easier than you think)Aviation people ARE into social media, we discuss which ones they interact on the mostHow to get your company involved with blogging and social media, and to coordinate the efforts of a team (or teams, if you count marketing, sales & tech folks) without squashing spontaneity.How aviation people tend to be “hot” or “cold” on social media, few are “lukewarm” – How to deal with both extremes and keep communications open. Bob Jones has been with ATP for 16 years. He is a Product Marketing Specialist for ATP and Managing Editor of AskBob.aero Prior to joining ATP Bob owned a FBO in Livermore CA with 141, 145 and 135 certificates

Alexandre Zisa is an expert in industrial competitiveness, product performance, and design to cost. We talk about time-tested basics and the latest marketing technology with aviation thought leaders and marketing experts.  Broadcast through BlogTalkRadio and iTunes,  this podcast is a convenient way to get powerful, usable information that can make a difference to your sales this quarter. Alexandre Zisa visits with us on the Your Marketing CoPilot podcast. We discuss: Breaking the link between cost and qualityWorking backward from costUsing more expensive people can save you moneyPushing decisions “down” to the operational level results in more and better innovation.Marketing in Germany, France, the U.S. (or even in Oregon and Texas!) involves tailoring the message for the way people “dream” regionally Being an expert in a small niche, breaking the link between cost and quality, and  pushing decisions down to the operational level, may originate in the engineering field, but they apply equally well in advertising and marketing. Alexandre’s article on Design to Cost Made Simple He can be contacted at http://www.ingenics.com or Alexandre.Zisa (at) ingenics (dot) com or on LinkedIn.

Long Cycle Marketing is more than just one-hit-wonder advertising. It's a combination of respectful lead-generation activities and a sustained drip of information that helps bystanders become prospects, prospects become cusotmers, and customers become referrers and repurchasers.

Secrets, tactics and techniques for expanding your network with aviation thought-leades and decision makers.   Mark Leeper is an expert at building a large and lucrative network of buyers and influencers in your field. In this interview, we ask for his secrets for NBAA, HAI, Oshkosh and other important trade shows.

Every Company is a Publishing Company No matter what product or service your company produces, you undoubtedly also produce a lot of written materials. The quality of your sales “slicks,” user guides, brochures, instructions, warrantees, and training materials may very well be the factor that differentiates your product from others on the market. People buy solutions, not products. The old saying is that you buy a drill because you need the holes, not because you care about the specific features of the drill. All you care about is “will it serve my purpose?” You also need to create new material on a continuous basis. You need reasons to call customers to ask for their continued business. You need reasons to contact new customers who may not know about you (by positioning your product to a slightly different market with an article or tutorial.) You need reasons for the search engines to continue to index your site. You need reasons to build relationships with more than one person at your client’s company – people move around, and if your “advocate” isn’t there when it comes time to make another purchase, they may not remember why they bought from you rather than your competitors. You need reasons to keep the attention of your old customers so that they buy from you over and over again.    People want to buy from experts. And educated customers make better buying decisions. So, we create articles, press releases, tutorials, videos, Facebook posts, LinkedIn updates, Twitter tweets, and so on.

Disclaimer- There Will Never Be Enough Time! In a sense, there is no such thing as time management. We all have exactly 24 hours in a day, seven days in a week, 365 days in a year. No amount of management will alter those facts. The only thing we can actually manage is our own activities and those of our teams. In our years as sales and marketing consultants, we’ve found that the teams that get the best results are not necessarily the ones with the coolest product or the most brilliant campaign ideas. The team that are the most successful are the ones that get things done!

Nothing Happens ‘Till Somebody Sells Something! We’re big fans of automated marketing, especially "inbound marketing," which brings in qualified, interested leads. And I enjoy gadgets and technology as much as the next person But products and services, especially high-end, high-risk items like aviation products and services, don't simply "sell themselves." There is no gadget, software or trick that will sell them for you. In this internet-driven, customer-centric, vending-machine, self-service checkout world, is “sales” really necessary as a profession? Absolutely! If you are in business and if you are successful, you probably already know these three things:  Products do not “sell themselves.”*  Technology does not sell products.  “Inbound marketing” is a great step, but even it does not sell products.

Information Packages When a prospective client says “please send me some more information about your product or service,” they can mean one of many different things: “I want to use your information as negotiating material with our current product/service provider.” “I don’t know what questions to ask you to sound like an intelligent consumer.” “I need to run this by my board/tech guy/brother-in-law.” “I’m not interested, but I’m too polite to say so!” Our advice - create an information package that far surpasses anything sent out by your competition. Then be very selective and send it only to qualified prospects. The “Shock and Awe Package” Marketing expert Dan Kennedy first introduced us to the concept of the “Shock and Awe” package in a workshop in 2009. He calls it that because your intended prospect should be shocked and awed by the size and quality of the box and its contents. Also called a “salesman in a box” concept by other marketing companies, a package of materials gets, quite literally, “in the door” with your prospect. Why Should I Spend Money On This? John actually asked this question, probably on behalf of CFOs everywhere. ? It’s a very good question – glad he asked. The only reason to spend money on any marketing effort is to improve sales. It’s been our experience that information packages, make a significant enough improvement to our conversion rate to far exceed their cost. Of course, you can spend as much as you like and have few results if you create an expensive kit and send it out indiscriminately.

Are trade shows a good use of your marketing effort and budget? For many companies, the answer is a resounding “yes!” For others, it’s a frustrating, exhausting experience that makes no discernable difference to their annual sales figures. What makes the difference? A plan. Determine if a trade show is the best option for your marketing resources Pick the best show to showcase your product or service to your ideal customers. Create a plan to attract customers to your booth at the show. Make connections. Follow up after the show. One company builds their marketing efforts for the entire year around the NBAA show, and they make enough sales resulting from and subsequent to the show and follow up efforts to improve the bottom line. Take a clear-eyed look at your marketing budget, and calculate how many sales you will need to make in order to recoup your investment. Of course, you may decide to go even if your prospective customers will not be there; but go with the understanding that marketing is not your primary purpose. And don’t use your marketing budget for show expenses! If you do decide to use a trade show for marketing, understand that it represents a significant investment. To get results, you need to commit. Don’t just “kind of” do a trade show. The snowboarder’s term “Go big or go home” comes to mind; you will need to invest a significant amount of time and/or effort to get the most out of it.

We talk with aviation thought leaders including Ryan Keogh, Cutter Aviation Ludo Van Vooren, EBusiness Aerospace Jill Heisterkamp, Heiste Communications Brad Elliott, Showalter Flying Service Rick Andritsch, VJS Lincoln

We compare many of the features available from commercial email marketing packages and describe which are best for marketing  aviation and business to business products and services.

Besides maintaining a focus on aircraft sales, he also has extensive experience in aircraft consulting and management.   Brad has set up flight departments for several of his clients; consisting of aircraft crewing, aircraft management, aircraft maintenance and aircraft operating budgets.  Currently there are four Dallas Jet offices in the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex.    Throughout his career, Brad has earned ten different type ratings in jet aircraft   In 2008, Brad is on record for catching a 904 pound Blue Marlin while fishing in a Billfish tournament in the Bahamas.  Brad, his wife Rebekah, and their two children, Lauren and Blake, enjoy spending time at their ranch in North Texas.   What most people do not know about Brad is that he possesses significant entrepreneurial experience in real estate and commercial insurance.   This business experience, combined with his unparalleled experience in all facets of corporate aviation, has been the foundation of success for Dallas Jet International and its clients.   Brad answers these and other questions for us:   ·         The economy has been really terrible lately; but you’ve had an excellent year so far.  Why is that? ·         How have the demographics of airplane buyers changed in the last few years, and what has DJI done to adapt to that? ·         A really large number of people who have purchased from you in the past purchase from you more than once. How do you keep those relationships going?

John tells us about an article he read in the Washington Post and the implications for the economy and for aviation marketing. We also outline Long Cycle Marketing, (we made up the term to describe ABCI’s specialty) to describe the methods we use to help our clients sell large ticket, highly technical and/or business to business products. Long Cycle Marketing can be defined as the following: We respect the intelligence of our clients and prospects by not rushing the process. We don’t try to make a sale on the first contact with a prospect. We use some kind of informational “bait” as the call to action in our marketing efforts. We use a long “marketing funnel.” We make several contacts with prospects throughout the sales cycle, all informative, content-rich, cost-effective to our clients, and low-pressure to their prospects. . We recommend a variety of media to add credibility and keep the cost low. We always respect the prospect’s role in taking the next step in the process when the time is right for him or her. We continue the relationship after the sale for referrals, repeat purchases, and good customer service. Since the goal of business is to make money, long-cycle marketing may seem counterintuitive. But we’ve found that it’s the best, most reliable way to have a steady cash flow even in poor economic climates.  The key is using a “bigger funnel” so that there are always prospects coming to the point where they are ready to buy. Another update after we recorded this podcast-

We all know of companies that have great themelines, mottoes, slogans, tag lines or whatever we want to call them. Some great examples: Google – “Don’t be evil.” Nike -  “Just do it!” Chevy – “Like a rock” Cessna – “Rise” Jim Gorman, a guest on an upcoming “Your Marketing Copilot” podcast, wrote another great one - The U.S. Postal Service (for flat rate shipping)  – “If it fits, it ships!” We write great content for aviation companies, but the elusive and mythical tagline is something we could all use help with.  We have the illusion that the great ones just drop out of the sky onto the business owner or marketing director’s head, fully formed and perfect. Lightening strikes, thunder rolls, angels sing and we have no doubt that it’s “the one.”  The reality is not always so dramatic and clear. We’ll be asking Jim the following questions: What can a great themeline do for your business? What can a great themeline NOT do? Why image advertising is not the same as brand advertising and why one is a waste and the other isn’t. Jim is the owner of Gorman 360. He has gone from copywriter to Executive Creative Director at some of the biggest ad agencies in the country and for some of the most-respected companies in their fields, including Chevrolet, The U.S. Postal Service, Piper Aircraft, Embraer Executive Jets, Hawker-Beechcraft, Raytheon Defense Systems, FLYING Magazine, Pillsbury, Mattel, Kmart and a bunch of other retailers, financial institutions, hospitals and on and on.

Market research is seen as a black art. It’s often misunderstood even by marketing professionals. To entrepreneurs and businesspeople who wear many hats (including marketing) market research can be the most mystifying and frustrating part of the job. We talk with JetNet’s Paul Cardarelli who answers these and other questions in a straightforward and helpful way. There are three key elements in any marketing campaign – the offer, the presentation, and the list.  We spend a lot of time in our marketing consulting business perfecting the first two items, but of equal importance is to have the right list of people to present the offer to. How do you go about determining the right list for marketing your product or service? What are some types of market research that can be conducted using JetNet’s products?  (Can you give some examples of how your products are used?) What other roles can this data play in the marketing process?  What other resources does a company have to have access to in order to make use of your products?  A marketing department, CRM software, an ad agency? JETNET is online at twitter.com/JETNETLLC, and broadcasting breaking industry news and soliciting feedback on their online blog, The JETSTREAM, at jetstreamblog.com.  For more information on JETNET LLC log on to www.jetnet.com or contact Paul Cardarelli, JETNET Director of Sales and Marketing, at 800-553-8638 (USA) or paul@jetnet.com, or for international inquiries, contact Karim Derbala, JETNET Exclusive Agent, EMEA, at 41.0.43.243.7056 or karim@jetnet.com.

Brad "B-Rad" Elliott of Showalter Flying Service, Orlando (ORL) is our guest this week. We talk about: "B-Rad's" experience with online marketing Social media as an icebreaker for in-person networking or sales. Showing you care about your "family" - customers, employees, former employees, etc. Using social media as a conversation, not a billboard Using different social media tools and strategies for different reasons & results Helpful, engaging content, including Hurricane Tips and Questions of the Month Really good (and really bad) examples of trade show marketing. How great marketing shows your personality and your company's culture.  It can't be faked and there is no substitute for having a great team that really cares about customers.   Showalter "hires for attitude and trains for experience" to ensure that the attitude is consistent and shines through in every customer interaction. Ideas like being an expert in a small niche, breaking the link between cost and quality, and  pushing decisions down to the operational level, may originate in the engineering field, but they apply equally well in advertising and marketing.

Alexandre Zisa is an expert in industrial competitiveness, product performance, and design to cost. He visits with us on the Your Marketing CoPilot podcast. We discuss: Breaking the link between cost and quality Working backward from cost Using more expensive people can save you money Pushing decisions “down” to the operational level results in more and better innovation. Marketing in Germany, France, the U.S. (or even in Oregon and Texas!) involves tailoring the message for the way people “dream” regionally Alexandre is an engineering expert, but many of his ideas are very helpful in marketing because he is such a creative thinker. Ideas like being an expert in a small niche, breaking the link between cost and quality, and  pushing decisions down to the operational level, may originate in the engineering field, but they apply equally well in advertising and marketing. Alexandre’s article on Design to Cost Made Simple He can be contacted at http://www.ingenics.com or Alexandre.Ziza (at) ingenics (dot) com or on LinkedIn.

Live from her couch in Baltimore, we have the Aviation Queen herself, Benét Wilson! Benét takes a few minutes out form reporting on EBACE to talk with me. Here's what we talked about: How to find a direction for your blog and online personae. How a "personal brand" gives you security in a turbulent world. Networking effectively in aviation (online and offline.) How to go about establishing a personal brand. Networking on escalators, elevators and hotel bars at aviation events. Why Benét hasn't looked for a job since 1992. How online contacts become offline contacts in the aviation community. How to pitch a story to an aviation reporter. (Especially Benét!) The #AvGeekCinema phenomenon on Twitter, and how some of the silliest things can lead to great business contacts. Gossip about Chris Elliott, Mary Kirby, Brad Elliott, Jon Ostrower, Chad Trautvetter, Steve Trimble, Rupa Haria, Elyce Moody and other great personalities in the aviation space. Here's the article on Benét's blog -

Jason Marrs, the author of the book No B.S. Price Strategy: The Ultimate No Holds Barred, Kick Butt, Take No Prisoners Guide to Profits, Power, and Prosperity Jason’s wife works in health care and education in a field where the competition is a free service. Sometimes raising your price can attract more customers. (Seriously!) How competing on price may actually shrink your market. Even in B2B environment, businesses don’t buy products, people do. Packaging your product so that you’re selling a complete solution to your customer’s problem or need allows you prove more value and charge a premium price. Jason Marrs is the CEO of the Strategic Pricing Center, Creator of the Simple Strategic Pricing System and Co-Author of the book No BS Price Strategy with Dan Kennedy. He is an intense innovator and pricing/marketing strategist coaching entrepreneurs and professionals to overcome price reluctance and resistance, to stop leaving untold sums of money on the table, and to finally get paid all they are worth—so they can have the freedom and security to enjoy the important things in life. Jason is also an in-the-trenches entrepreneur with successful business interests in healthcare, education, publishing, and consulting. Learning from champions of business’ real purpose, he is unapologetic about putting his wife and two young children before all else, and living proof that business success and a happy home life can coexist.