15 Free Resources for Smart Aerospace Marketers
We polled our staff, and asked everyone to share their go-to and must-read free resources with our readers and subscribers. Below is a list of BDN’s top 15 free resources for smart marketing. Do you have a favorite tool that we missed? Let us know!
Sales & Marketing Resources
Sales Benchmark Index: Several of us subscribe to this blog for its no-nonsense, results-focused approach to sales and marketing improvement. I look forward to receiving SBI’s actionable ideas and information about what really works, all based on research and data.
The Agency Post from Hubspot: This is pure gold. Yes, it’s designed for agency professionals, but I promise you’ll find it useful. Plus, its sister blogs for sales and marketing seem to know exactly what I need before I need it, and every topic is packaged and presented in just the right way.
Lenskold: Don’t waste time on vanity metrics. To master the art of marketing measurement, learn from the best. The Lenskold Group website is a bit dull, and it takes time to navigate, but it’s the place to be if you’re serious about marketing for results.
Unbounce: A favorite resource for landing page education, this company is really doing it right with content — and their sole focus is landing pages. One of their main contributors, Oli Gardner, is amazing in showcasing his personality because he’s just really honest about his expertise. Love it.
Contently: Smart content articles and resources. Very intrigued by the level of thought and examples used in the resources they offer.
Quicksprout: Real marketing advice that is actionable.
Convince & Convert Newsletter: Easy-to-digest digital marketing content delivered via email.
Digital Resources
Google Analytics: A great tool to analyze traffic coming to your website. Just by placing one snippet of code on a website, marketers are able to see the traffic numbers to their website, learn about where their traffic is coming from, and analyze visitors’ behavior on the website.
Google Alerts: By signing up for Google Alerts, a user can be notified when a news story is published about a particular company or topic. It’s a great way to monitor conversation on the Internet and identify trends and opportunities.
The Moz Toolbar: This handy toolbar provides a quick way to analyze a website for technical and SEO information. It offers insight into the on-page SEO elements (page title, meta description and keywords, etc) and the technical elements like the IP address of a page and the site load time.
HootSuite: Plan social posts and content ahead of time across multiple platforms with this social media tool. Also a great way to follow other social influences and social conversation relevant to your company.
SumoMe: Website plug-in that helps capture lead information by displaying advertisements strategically. SumoMe has various other features as well including HeatMaps, showing user hotspots on your website, and social sharing, helping to get your brand noticed.
Photo Resources
Wikimedia: This site, also from the Wikimedia Foundation, hosts all manner of media. Here’s an excerpt from their Welcome page: “Wikimedia Commons is a media file repository making available public domain and freely-licensed educational media content (images, sound and video clips) to everyone, in their own language.” It is not aerospace-centric, but has many aerospace-related items.
Google: Did you know usable, free, images are available from Google? On a page of search results, choosing “Images” as a category (below the search bar) will display images matching the search criteria. To narrow the search to free items, clicking on the “gear” button on the right side (in line with the categories), you select “advanced search” and in the resulting page, in the bottom-most field, labeled “usage rights” choose “free to use, share or modify, even commercially” from the drop-down menu. Then press the blue Advanced Search button — the result will be the same Images window as before, but the results should be usable per that search criterion. However, care should still be taken to review any usage requirements associated with each item, such as attributing the creator.
DoD: The go-to resource for military images. Be sure to fully understand usage rights and how the images may or may not be used for commercial or marketing purposes.
Bonus! Six More Photo Resources
Here are six more photo resources you may find useful, but remember, these are not free.
Airliners.net: You’ll find a nice variety of images and aircraft. Many tail spotter images, and loads of others, too. Good if you’re trying to find obscure aircraft. You work directly with the photographer. Cost per image is quite reasonable.
Air Team Images: Nice variety of images. Once again, good if you’re looking for specific make or model of aircraft. Team is good to work with, quite responsive, and costs are very fair.
Shutterstock: Good for general backgrounds, icons, and some aviation images. Image packs or subscriptions are available.
Ing Image: Some general aviation/aerospace images, and a good resource for contemporary people and environment photos. Purchase images through credit packs or subscriptions.
Corbis Images: Lots of aerospace images, not necessarily aircraft specific. Royalty-free images are available, but you need to watch for rights-managed and editorial-only usage requirements. Can be pricey. But you get what you pay for.
Getty Images: Beautiful, contemporary images. Lots of aerospace resources. Royalty-free imagery is available, but be aware of rights-managed usage and editorial-only imagery. Once again, depending on the image, it can be pricey.