The refreshing part of reading the New Yorker is knowing that so many jet and fractional owners are reading it too.
Of that group, it is important to note that private aviation readers can be divided into two groups: Those that made their own money vs. those that were born into it or just had good timing off the bus from Amherst into Goldman Sachs.
The ones that built their own usually have one thing in common - they knew how to get something far below its actual value. This would be the opposite of buying a business jet - which, until now, has been an exercise in paying far more for something than its actual value.
Popularity: 14%
The tough part about the childhood game of musical chairs is knowing that some fellow party goer gets the axe every time the music stops. Worse, it could be you if you aren’t fast enough in terms of lunging for that chair. While it would have been a stretch to say this about fractional ownership (or new positions in an Eclipse!) years ago, the fact is that we did.
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Popularity: 15%
When we sent this out in January 2009, we had already laid much of the ground work for www.jetowner.com.
The trick with marketing in the private aviation space is knowing a couple of things:
- The Internet is big - Too big.Think of it like the ocean and of the 34 billion herring in the sea. There are 34,000 that might need your aviation service. Hunting them via pay per click campaigns, etc., is almost guaranteeing you to spend more on each client than they generate for you.
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Popularity: 19%
Admittedly this is one of the toughest times on record for the industry, be it operator, manager, or owner. When we launched the Fractional Forum in 2003, we had already laid much of the groundwork for the Jet Owner Group. The idea was to fill the void: Give the person in back truly objective and honest information on how the industry worked.
The key to navigating uncertain times is to understand what you already know. The private air charter industry exists at the pleasure of those who are generous enough to buy an aircraft for the local, regional, or national charter operation of their choice. Being smart about investing in that aircraft typically means understanding all the dynamics that erode the fixed, variable, and true depreciation costs.”
Popularity: 19%
The reality of spam is that it is so common to your mail server is that you don’t get to see a lot of mail.
In the aviation paradigm this leaves me wondering how will any FBO, charter firm, etc. actually get anyone to read mail. We are an industry of spammers. The NBAA lists and empty legs alone are a testament to vacuous mail that has little or no value, but yet swamps your inbox.
When you misbehave with email, it can get serious, since filters will just blacklist your vapid and unwanted content.
For the record, misbehaving means sending email without explicit permission. That one statement encompasses 99% of aviation marketing mail. Have you ever noticed that Netjets never spammed you, nor Pfizer or McDonalds? That’s because their marketing folk have serious accountability for long term damage they cause to their brand.
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Popularity: 16%
NO ONE LOVES UPDATING
Our lives have become filled with more usernames and passwords than we can track. It seems that every vendor, marketing venue or tool on the Internet requires us to participate in the confines of a username and password, the necessity to login and then take some of our time. » Continue Reading
Popularity: 22%
Four years ago, when we launched our directory service we noticed that some airports were way more appealing than others and that some salespeople fared better than others in developing air carrier interest in passenger laden areas.
Through perception or reality, some airports were just more popular. Most charter firms want top billing (and sponsorship) at their airport. But when we started these sponsorships (for an example, click here or here) the first problem we ran into was that your best airport to sponsor isn’t always obvious.
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Popularity: 20%
Don’t you hate losing your keys? It is one of the most time honored modern struggles. You are late, you need them, and you can’t find them. If it is not your keys it is some PDA or phone thing you’ve grown attached to. Or, if you are really absent minded, like me, it is your wallet, … and keys.
A recent informal poll of air carriers in the hardest hit economic zones offered a resounding revelation that made us think about keys. Sales. Finding new customers is a bit like looking for your keys. When you need them, they are hard to find. Then we got a slug of these responses while doing the informal poll: “Things are slow.. we can’t / won’t advertise now…”
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Popularity: 23%
While many FBO and air charter folk may defend the alphabet groups for all the “good work” they do in Washington on our collective behalf, I have to admit the evidence is weak - especially when it comes to the world that I work in: People who charter airplanes, buy fuel and aircraft. That’s who feeds me.
Popularity: 26%
When you commute to work you think: Subway, maybe car, or bus.
Fortunately, some of us get to do it in a G-IV. The problem is that going to a loan application meeting in your G IV can cause the banker angst, especially when you didn’t bring your balance sheet with you. Then there is the uncomfortable question: How do you guys afford the G-IV?
That event marked the day the music died for many private aviation folk, no matter how much No Plane No Gain they had been exposed to.
But, there’s good news.
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Popularity: 24%