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Give Your Social Media Altitude

The aviation community actively shares on social media platforms. Just search Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for hashtags like #avgeek, #bizav and #instaaviation. Companies with an active social presence have many reasons to capture their audiences’ attention: community engagement, pilot recruitment, sales, you name it.

social media marketing strategy audience growth results

That’s why social media marketing was top of mind for Clay Lacy Aviation when they named Greteman Group agency of record. They wanted to elevate their organic outreach and generate engagement across their four core services: aircraft management, charter, FBO and maintenance.

We worked closely with the in-house marketing team to develop and implement an organic social media marketing strategy to activate an audience of nearly 16,500 users — and then grow it by 13.51% in six months.

Setting the Stage for Social

The Clay Lacy Aviation brand, name and presence are more than 52 years strong with a laundry list of industry firsts. They were early adopters of social media, creating active accounts as each new social network took center stage.

An in-house marketing team stretched for time limited the company’s ability to remain active across its social networks with a consistent brand voice and style. That’s where we came in.

social style guide

Social Style Guide

We developed guidelines that outline how to say what where. Specifications for graphics, photography and video incorporate their well-established brand and service areas.

Social Media Marketing Strategy

Aviation audiences vary channel to channel. We developed distinct social personas, objectives and tactics for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.

content marketing process for social media marketing strategy

Process Driven Content Marketing

Clay Lacy Aviation’s well of content is almost bottomless. Fifty years of collecting experiences, photos and stories make for a content creator’s dream library. So much content, though, can be daunting. We put a process in place for collecting, creating and distributing it across social media for maximum efficiency.

Targeted Campaigns to Attract New Audiences

The company opened a charter location serving the northeastern U.S. and needed to increase awareness with potential customers. We launched an inclusive campaign, complete with digital advertising, influencer collaboration, Northeast-specific blog content and owned media outreach.

Dedicated Landing Page and Email Drip Campaign

social media marketing strategy drives targeted landing page visits

Social Marketing Videos

Social Graphics That Tell Stories

Social Media Marketing Strategy Drives Results

Our social media marketing strategy for Clay Lacy Aviation continues to drive measurable results for awareness, engagement and — most importantly — lead generation.

Quarter over quarter, we saw a nearly 5% increase in engagement and 61% in traffic to the website. New leads generated from social saw a benchmark-breaking 86% increase.

Looking to grow your own audience, increase engagement or drive more social leads? We can help apply a dedicated strategy and proven process to your efforts. Contact us.

10.28.20 · Shae Blevins

Send More, But Better Emails

The ease and cost effectiveness of email campaigns led to their abuse, so we cannot fuse and fume too much about abiding by the much-needed regulations that rode to the rescue. Sure, rules can cramp our style, but they’re better than seeing our emails go straight to spam. Or worse. Getting ourselves blacklisted.

First, Why Do We Care? 

All agree that while email campaigns are no longer the sexy new thing, they still offer an unrivaled way to connect. To keep people in the know. About changes they might otherwise miss. Or that the media doesn’t have the resources to cover. Email gives you the opportunity to tell your story, provide context and offer an easy way to provide feedback back to you. With email, you are talking to people who know you and have opted in to your content. They want to hear what you have to say. Email accounts continue to dwarf social media. Some stats show as much as three times the number of Facebook and Twitter accounts. Combined. The advantage really shifts in email’s favor when you look at who sees your content. If you have a clean, updated email list, at least 90% of the intended inboxes receive your message. In contrast, as few as 2% of your Facebook followers see your posts in their feeds. Why? Facebook limits the number of times your posts appear in the news feed so you’ll have to resort to paid or sponsored posts. You can boost the number of followers who see your posts, but it will cost you.

Conversion Metrics That Matter

Email helps you make data-driven decisions. In short, email lets you track effectiveness. In addition to seeing who opens the email, you can see how they interact with its content. Typically, your goal will be to drive them to content on your website. Using UTM tracking codes with a URL builder lets you monitor such conversion metrics as watching an instructional video, reading a case study, downloading a whitepaper, signing up for your news or adding a product to a cart.

Protect Your IP Reputation

Email campaigns have been affected by the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act. Both went into effect in 2018 in an effort to protect data and privacy. Worries about warnings and fines for noncompliance have eased as marketers better understand the guidelines and have stopped overreacting to them. Remember the deluge of GDPR notices urging people to opt-in, saying previously obtained consent was no longer valid? Today, most marketers feel that if someone opens your email and takes an action, such as clicking on a link, that is tacit permission for you to reach out to that individual again. So build clean, targeted lists. Scrub invalid addresses. Segment based on specific messages.

By following best practices for email headers and mail server configurations, your emails should land where you want them – in recipients’ inboxes.

Moving People Closer

Email is an important tool in your customer relationship management (CRM). It helps move people through the sales funnel from awareness to consideration to research to purchase. The ultimate goal – loyalty. While your website serves as your best brand ambassador, traffic doesn’t just appear. You need to drive it there. Email can heighten awareness about the solutions you uniquely bring and marshal leads to your site for more information. Once there, hopefully you can present answers to their questions, form trust and convince them your solution may be the best (provided it is). In B2B-dominant industries such as aviation, purchase doesn’t happen until the lead reaches out and connects with you. The real magic happens here with discussions of their pain points and how you can make those go away. In a complex world, sales is very much a process of simplification. You can do it.

10.26.20 · Sonia Greteman

No Show Woes

Anyone who’d planned to be in Orlando this week, feels a pang. COVID-19 shut down the National Business Aviation Association’s Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (NBAA BACE) – something that would have felt inconceivable a year ago. As the world awaits a vaccine, we’re all doing the best we can to create new ways to strengthen relationships, build new connections, make deals and move forward. That doesn’t mean we can’t also take a moment to look back. BACE has been our trade show of choice for decades. It’s where we’ve caught up with old friends and met new ones. Helped clients roll out new product announcements, hosted panel discussions and said goodbye to industry legends. Donned our glittery best for the Corporate Angel Network’s always-fabulous gala. Been inspired by the keynote addresses and presentations of everyone from Harrison Ford and Magic Johnson to Jetman Yves Rossy and clean-energies innovator Bertrand Piccard. NBAA BACE brings the industry together, ignites imaginations and elevates spirits. Take a moment to reflect with me, won’t you?

Living in the Air Capital has its advantages. We always have a friend willing to give us a sweet ride.

“Jetman” Yves Rossy’s jet-propelled wing was on display in the front lobby throughout last year’s show. A video screen beside it let you watch this Swiss fighter pilot turned human bird occupy the sky alongside jetliners. Seeing him outside your window would make you do a double take, would it not? Rossy took the crowd through his journey, which included many iterations before he hit the magic combination. His inspiration? Wile E. Coyote and the Acme rocket strapped to his back.

A key benefit of trade shows is in-person connections with awesome, industry-leading clients such as Clay Lacy Aviation. Pictured here with members of our team: Scott Cutshall, SVP business operations, and Dan Harris, director of business development. 

One of our favorite moments was when Wichita’s Russ Meyer presented NBAA’s Meritorious Service to Aviation Award to the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP). The three WASP who attended the 2018 presentation – dressed in uniform – earned a standing ovation. In WWII, WASP flew every aircraft the Army had. They ferried planes, towed gunnery targets, transported equipment and personnel and flight-tested aircraft. More than 1,100 WASP served at more than 120 bases and flew more than 60 million miles before the program was suspended in December 1944. Thirty-eight WASP lost their lives and one disappeared on a ferry mission. WASP records were classified and sealed for 35 years, masking these women’s wartime contributions. After lobbying efforts, in 1977 the records were unsealed and veteran status granted to WASP members.

NBAA’s inaugural class of Business Aviation Top 40 Under 40 included Dreams Soar founder Shaesta Waiz, the youngest woman to solo around the world in a single-engine aircraft, an A36 Bonanza. Waiz just published her first book, Fly, Girl, Fly! recounting her history-making experience.

The rumor mill had it that Amazon CEO and founder Jeff Bezos checked out some aircraft at the 2018 static then went to two booths on the convention floor: Aerion and Terrafugia. Supersonic flight and a flying car or “roadable aircraft.” Both ends of the spectrum.

The industry joined in celebrating the life of FlightSafety International President Bruce Whitman, who joined the company in 1961 and built it into the training leader it is today. Other longtime friends who spoke included Aviation Week Editor-in-Chief William Garvey, Aviation International News Publisher Wilson Leach, Dassault Falcon CEO John Rosanvallon and Gulfstream President Mark Burns.

Gulfstream is a brand we’ve always admired, and of course, Sonia was attracted by the big G.

10.06.20 · Ashley Bowen Cook