What Can Flying Teach You About Digital Marketing

During the time I’ve been interested in flying small airplanes, I’ve learned about many similarities between flying and digital marketing. So I thought I should let you know about them, too.

Plan Your Flight Trip in Advance

Ahead planning is essential both in aviation and in marketing. Without a clear plan, you can be easily beaten by running out of fuel or a stronger competitor.

Make Sure to Have Enough Fuel

Pilots have to calculate their fuel before take-off. They have to consider the weight and the the trip length. Calculate your resources like pilots do: budget, HR, tools.

Fasten Your Seatbelt

Keep yourself and your passengers safe. Make sure you and your team are secured against any possible risks like losing a key team member.

Be Multilingual

Flying abroad does not only require a good command of aviation English, but also of other languages while negotiating with smaller airports or local authorities. Try to learn foreign languages at least at an elementary level to be on the game.

Watch the Instruments

Pilots can get easily betrayed by their senses because outer conditions are distracting for a human body. Therefore they rely on instruments. Watch your KPIs and rely on them rather than your or your client’s feelings.

Hold the Yoke Softly

Grasping the yoke hardly means that the pilot can not feel and react to the movements of the aircraft properly. Use your soft skills like negotiating and communication along with your hard skills in digital marketing.

Learn How to Recover from a Stall

A stall is the most annoying situation ever to happen on an aircraft. The airplane loses lift and starts to fall from the sky. Avoid any minimal or “basic” activities. Do it right, or don’t do it at all.

Watch Out for Other Aircrafts

The pilot has to confirm to the tower that he/she has other aircraft in sight. The pilot ultimately becomes responsible for maintaining a safe distance. Know about your competitors and watch them closely. Know your own position on the market and don’t try to copy them.

Stay Calm in Low Visibility

Flying in low visibility requires special training. Pilots learn to stay calm, focus on the instruments and gather as much data as possible. When you are unsure about your marketing results, don’t panic. Focus on your KPIs and plan for a long term.

Maintain Radio Contact with the Tower

Pilots are no solo players. They have to communicate with the tower to the necessary extent. Stay in touch with your client / boss and make sure he/she understands the current situation and your plans.

Use the Right Frequency

Always use the frequency the air traffic controller gives you. Produce content in a frequency that is convenient and easily consumable for your audience.

Be Prepared to Change the Course

Pilots sometimes deal with unexpected situations, like weather changes, system failures, passengers’ issues etc. Don’t take your strategy as a carved-in-stone document. Leave some room for slight changes, improvements and tuning of your strategy on the go.

Be Prepared for a Bird Strike

Unexpected situations happen, and a bird strike is one of the least pleasant, as it typically happens at low altitudes when there’s little left to do. Always focus on getting traffic from multiple sources and don’t utterly rely on traffic from Google. You could be hit down by a Penguin or other animals.

Use a QRH

The so-called Quick Reference Handbook contains checklists for various situations, whether expected or not. Do your own checklists and use them, e.g. when checking on-page SEO or content publishing.

Know Your Destination Airport

Especially with smaller airports, it is sometimes a pain to gather all necessary information for a pilot, like active runways for landing, available approach angles, fuel information etc. When it comes to marketing, make sure to know your goals. Track your path to the goals and make corrections when something goes wrong.

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