FLYTSITES is all about digital marketing, but sometimes some traditional marketing can really help a flight school get fast results when it comes to generating new students. Using these techniques can add up to make a big impact.
Here’s our list of 5 ideas to try:
Tip #1: Drop Off Pilot Career Brochures To Local High School Counselor Offices
High School guidance and career counselors are always looking for new ways to get their student population excited about their opportunities in the future. Create a stack of compelling brochures about the benefits of your school, career options, financing, and scholarship opportunities. Offering a special on a discovery flight in the brochure is a great way to get these students introduced to aviation.
Strategy #2: Attend a Local Career Fair
High schools frequently host career fairs and it’s a great way to get face to face time with potential career students. These events are typically free and the only costs will be marketing materials and booth design.
Here’s a couple of tips:
If possible, bring a couple of pilot colleagues from different fields in aviation to speak about their direct experience. These can be from any industry, such as medevac, airlines, charter, cargo, military, LEO, fish and game, local airport ops, air traffic controllers, etc.
You can partner with non flying aviation businesses to help offset costs in booth design and marketing materials. These can be large corporate businesses like Boeing or Garmin, charter operators who need flight attendants and schedulers, major airlines, local airports and more.
Strategy #3: Target Graduating Seniors With Direct Mail
Colleges, Universities and even national flight schools have all seen the benefit of sending direct mail brochures and info packets to high school seniors during this pivotal transition period in their lives, and now.. it’s your time.
There’s a lot of different ways to create compelling marketing materials for direct mail, from doing it yourself on software like Adobe’s Creative Cloud or hiring a professional copywriter and designer. Don’t forget however, the quality of your marketing reflects on the quality of your brand and your service.
If you don’t really know what you’re doing, we suggest partnering with experts like the team at FLYTSITES to design your content. A small budget targeted correctly can go a long way, but you’re still competing against large brands who have deep pockets.
Strategy #4: Host Career Day at your Local Airport
Hosting a local career or aviation discovery day event at your local airport is a great way to increase interest in your local community. Kids love aviation, and parents and grandparents love to see their kids around airplanes, even if they aren’t pilots. It’s why you frequently see those random cars parked along airport perimeter fences with smiling faces looking to the sky.
The key to any good event is about two things. Promoting the event to make sure you have a successful turnout, and successfully running the event to everyone’s expectations.
*Pro Tip* Often times, the airport will cosponsor these events and provide additional benefits for the event such as the AARF Truck and Firefighters, Airports Ops Staff, Air Traffic Controllers, and other aviation personnel to show the different careers available in the field of aviation.
Strategy #5: YARD SIGNS Placed Strategically Near Colleges and High Schools
Yard signs are a simple and cost effective way to increase visibility. For a few dollars you can create several signs and place them in strategic locations around educational facilities and other high traffic places.
Now it’s time to get out there and get some of these a try. Good luck!
As always, reach out to the team at FLYTSITES with any questions or help with digital marketing and content creation needs.
