Trends and Challenges in Aerospace Marketing: ‘We Need More Support’

Last week we brought you research data and insight about trends impacting aerospace and defense marketers.

This week we continue that theme with verbatim comments from more than 30 survey respondents who wrote about their experiences in aerospace marketing. Here are the challenges, opportunities and trends they shared.

Market Conditions and Budgets

“Our biggest challenge is volatility within the industries where we work, specifically petroleum exploration.”

“The downturn in defense and aerospace has management looking to decrease marketing expenditures.”

“A decline in sales is dramatically impacting marketing resources. I am hopeful that the industry will rebound over the next few years.”

“Larger companies have more influence and are moving the market away from our solutions.”

“We are challenged by collapsing markets due to the global economy.”

“It seems our business is very much influenced by politics and whatever the current budget constraints that are in play.”

“We have too much ground to cover and not enough people or time to adequately address.”

“Our primary challenge as a small aviation electronics manufacturer is developing marketing programs around a changing product line that is undergoing constant timeline and feature revisions due to limited staff. Deadlines keep getting pushed back and budgets reduced due to delays in getting product to market.”

“Lack of funding limits our team and our messaging approach.”

“Marketing requires a sizeable investment of cash.”

“Due to tough economic times, budgeting for all required needs of a company can be tough. We use as many free social media and website resources as possible to help reduce costs associated with marketing.”

“Too much spending is required for trade shows and events that never go away. There are more every year.”

Insights: Budgets and resources are clearly a concern for our industry. Last week’s survey results revealed widespread under-spending, and the verbatim comments are in line with that assessment. Respondents also voiced concerns about the state of the industry, citing declining market opportunities as a prime challenge. With downturns in the business aviation, rotorcraft and defense segments, this is a very real challenge that must be addressed. But why are so many companies cutting marketing when sales are down? It defies logic. Because just as food is the fuel that helps us remain healthy and thrive, marketing is the fuel that is essential for business success. Without it, our businesses will weaken, wither and die. If marketing is the engine that powers your business, is it really the area to cut corners or to settle for a makeshift solution?

Resource: This white paper has more information about how much companies should budget for marketing, with benchmarks and industry data you need now.

Targeted Marketing to Reach Decision Makers

“Getting in front of decision makers is a challenge. Everyone understands our business and how it may be used to leverage their efforts, but the decision makers are buried in white noise from everything else.”

“In my business, marketing means selling ideas to customers and obtaining funding for those ideas. They are not for public dissemination, so marketing is very selective and done on a one-on-one basis vs. broadcasting. As we gain ground in funded projects and create products for sale, marketing will become somewhat more traditional, but still very selective, and the objective targets will be contacted via personal measures.”

“It’s tough to break through the clutter of email and offers.”

“I see a lot of money being spent on non-productive initiatives. As a small niche consulting firm, we would only be served by targeted marketing to a few potential prospects.”

“It’s extremely difficult to get a foot in the door with the right people. Sending emails offering support and adding value with our quality products and services to try to get new customers is completely ineffective. We’ve hit a wall as far as generating new leads.”

Insights: Aerospace industry marketers are generally fortunate to have a clearly defined audience of potential customers and influencers. Being highly targeted in this way should make our jobs easier, right? Yet time and time again we hear from marketers who are frustrated with their inability to reach decision makers. If this is a challenge you face, we suggest that you start by questioning your diagnosis. Are you sure that you are not reaching the right people? Or is there a problem with the messaging? Is the delivery method wrong? What do your analytics tell you? An abundance of aerospace marketing is company-centric, focusing too much on what the company does, and too little on how it will make the customer’s life better. Get to the root cause of the problem and you’ll be one step closer to a real solution.

Resources: If your goal is to do business with OEMs, this blog, “The Truth About Marketing to Aerospace OEMs,” details six specific steps to connect with your target audience.  Or, download this related infographic, “How to Gain Visibility with OEMs.” Are you working to generate more leads? Check out “Four Keys to Lead-Generation Success.”

Need for Measurement

“We are unable to measure return on investment effectively or directly.”

“On the general aviation side, finding ways to cost-effectively measure ROI and leads remains a challenge. The industry is specialized enough to warrant a more customized approach (software, etc.) but too small to really afford it, so a patchwork of systems is created.”

“Creating meaningful content, with enough depth and technical information to satisfy the customer, is a challenge. We also lack marketing team resources and the ability to justify ROI to the CFO.”

Insights: Measuring the impact of marketing is possible – it’s just not easy. Take advantage of the many resources and tools available to help you establish and build a process that will work for you and your company. And remember, calculating ROI is simply the cost of a sale subtracted from the profits on that sale, divided by the profit number (and expressed as a percentage).

Resources: While we do not endorse any single program or provider, explore these resources to learn more about how to measure your marketing effectiveness: Marketingprofs, Lenskold, Marketingmo, or Marketo.

Embracing New Approaches & Fresh Ideas

“Keeping up with social media is a challenge since it morphs easily into other avenues that may or may not be readily addressed.”

“Personal relationships and prior customers form the basis of our support. It’s tough to break the 30-year mold of “what we have done in the past” to get senior management buy-in on newer marketing trends and strategies. We also don’t have anyone with a formal marketing background to help us stay current and continually engage our market sector. We also don’t have a large budget for marketing. We are in the black hole of business development.”

“Most marketing efforts are run of the mill, with everyone using the same idea or concept.”

“People don’t think outside the box enough. A great deal of advertising and publication content is flat and lifeless.”

Insights: We often hear from aerospace marketers who feel their work — or that of their outside provider — has become stale. Many others say that they are overworked, overwhelmed and simply unable to keep up with the new tools and technologies that are revolutionizing our profession.

Resources: Get your marketing program back on track with inspiration from this fact-filled infographic, “12 Secrets to Marketing Success.” Do something different! From live chat to drones, here are 10 fresh ideas to breathe new life into a marketing program that has grown stale. Some businesses find that external support is a good fit for their needs; other times it’s not the best option. This white paper, “Is it Time to Hire an Outside Marketing Firm?” can help you find the approach that’s right for you.

Other Comments & Concerns

“Online tactics and properties are key to our marketing strategy, but using an old-fashioned direct approach (postcards) is also successful. We were staff-challenged last year, but have since staffed up. This allows us to focus on our biggest asset, our website, while also pursuing direct marketing. Supplying good content and imagery is always an issue with a smaller budget. Managing an integrated marketing program with many moving parts and deadlines is a challenge, and it’s hard to know whether a marketing management application will really help, or end up becoming the work. We have also been challenged measuring ROI for activities, but have determined that a contributory methodology is likely the best. We look at what activity contributed to a sale versus pegging a sale to one activity — something that is very difficult to do in B to B marketing.”

“Social media does not reach 59-65 year-old C-level executives.”

“Our major challenge is getting corporate approval for website redesign. The current site is ancient, has insufficient content, and is hard to navigate.”

“I see many smaller niche print and digital publications refusing to cover a newsworthy product launch just because the company is not an advertiser. We are finding that editorial is being driven a lot more by advertising sales input — at least for smaller market media.”

“Our real issue is how to be more efficient.”

“It’s hard to convince anyone that I’ve spoken to in aerospace that image, and how they present themselves, matters.”

“Building brand awareness for new or merged brands is always a challenge.”

What are your marketing challenges, issues and concerns? We’d love to hear from you and welcome all questions and comments!