Author: Grace

With one more year of focused aerospace marketing experience under our belts, it’s time for annual predictions.

What can aerospace marketers expect in 2016?

The answer is just as complex as the question, and it ranges from significant disruption and uncomfortable levels of change, to more of the same from businesses failing to think and act differently. Here are three big predictions, and a quick hit list of five more.

The Change Imperative

We’ve yet to meet an aerospace, defense or aviation business that is not risk-averse.

But when it comes to marketing, unwillingness to change may now be the biggest risk of all, because the most successful marketers have a whole new set of skills, all rooted in technology, and businesses that don’t adapt will be left behind. For many marketers, the change is not easy, with 34 percent of B2B marketing executives telling Forrester Research that they are “overwhelmed” by the pace of change, and 97 percent saying the pace will only accelerate. We fully expect more of the same in 2016.

Modern marketing is not a collection of trade shows, brochures and ads. And it’s not just a clever tagline or eye-catching design. In 2016, more aerospace marketers will acknowledge that modern marketing is a technology- and data-driven effort, and they will begin connecting the dots between activity, investment, and revenue — while many others will continue to be all talk and no action.

Sadly, marketers who don’t change will find that their jobs are in jeopardy. And businesses that don’t change, especially small firms unwilling to invest in new ways of doing business, won’t survive.

Still not convinced? Gartner predicts that by 2017, chief marketing officers will spend more on technology than chief information officers. It’s inevitable. It’s a turning point. And it’s a brilliant opportunity for aerospace marketers to update their skills and lead the way.

3 things you can do now ….

1. Brush up on your digital marketing knowledge with BDN Digital Marketing Guide.
2. Use technology to better understand your audience. Check out BDN’s blog on Analytics: 3 Easy Tools To Start Using Now.
3. Think outside the box with your marketing. Explore BDN’s 10 Unique Ways to Out-market Your Competition.

Follow the Leader

We’ve just established that aerospace, defense and aviation businesses are risk-averse. Yet there are a few bold visionaries not afraid to challenge the status quo. XTI Aircraft, for example, is developing a unique new VTOL aircraft and raising capital, in part, through crowdfunding, a business aviation first. While industry insiders were second-guessing both the aircraft and the unconventional approach to fundraising, XTI was forging ahead, improbably generating over $10 million in expressed interest in just six weeks with the extensive use social media and public relations outreach programs that generated buzz and coverage on a global scale.

XTI’s willingness to try something new was rewarded publicly and tangibly. As a result, BDN says to expect the unexpected in 2016, with more aviation businesses stepping out of their comfort zones to test new ways of doing business.

Demand Generation

HubSpot’s Marketing Skills Handbook reports that the No. 1 marketing skill manufacturing businesses seek is demand generation. That means manufacturing firms want marketers who can deliver leads, and with today’s digital technologies this is well within reach. HubSpot predicts, and BDN agrees, that “as technology continues to become increasingly crucial to marketing success, education and training are only going to become more important for marketers and the companies who hire them. We anticipate that certifications, in particular, will grow more common for marketers to differentiate them from others in the hiring pool. We also expect that marketing automation certifications will become more common over the next five years.”

As marketing seeks to more measurably drive demand, inbound marketing is taking off. Inbound marketing focuses on providing quality content that entices new leads to come to you. Inbound techniques enable your target audiences to find you at the right time — precisely when they are seeking knowledge and resources to inform their buying decision.

To start enhancing your skills now, and give your employer what he or she really wants, take a look at HubSpot’s Inbound Certification or expand your horizons with Lynda.com for online video training. Both are excellent resources and well worth a look.

Parting Shots

Less print. More digital. Apologies to printers everywhere, but there will be less of you next year. From advertising to collateral, print is gradually going away.

New horizons in social media. Aerospace marketers are already moving beyond LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, and are embracing platforms like Pinterest, Instagram, Periscope, Vine, and Reddit, among others.

Content is king. Content drives good SEO and leads, and aerospace marketers know it’s important. But few have the staff or writing bench strength to support the ongoing development of substantial content in the form of blogs, white papers, infographics, etc. The industry will continue to struggle with the content challenge in 2016.

Bad PR. As schools produce fewer trained journalists, the quality of public relations will continue to decline. That means there will be more embarrassing news releases touting “our brand new website,” and fewer substantial announcements with meaning and context.

E-commerce. It’s a growing force in the B2B world, and it’s coming to aerospace, defense and aviation. If you’re not using it already, get smart and get going.

There’s more! For even more predictions, including virtual reality and the Internet of Things, see this HubSpot blog, “7 Game-Changing Marketing Trends to Tackle in 2016.”