RE: How to market a flat subject?

From: Douglas Wilson <d.wilson_at_paradise.net.nz>
Date: Tue 31 Jul 2001 12:26:58 -0500

NICKI MANSFIELD <Nicki_Mansfield_at_StandardAero.ca> WROTE:

> I'd value your opinions on whether you, as
> members of the advertising population in general,
> believe I'd need to build on the high-tech end of
> aerospace products or whether such material could
> ever be considered sexy, if you will!

Nicky, you work for one of the world's most exciting, glamorous
and interesting industries - aviation. It's not "flat stuff".

There is a "more exciting way" than boring technical specification
web sites. That is to focus your creative strategy on the end
benefit to your customers and their customers of the things that
you do - not just on the technical benefits of your products.
Never forget that while technical buyers will do their technical
checks and make technical judgements, they are also human beings.
You know this already because you mention the importance of face
to face relationships in your marketing.

"Aircraft wheels and brakes, de-icing equipment" - that's the
stuff that me and millions more depend on whenever we fly. There's
high drama locked up in it and high emotion. Remember the feeling
of waiting for the rubber to hit the runway on landing and the
brakes to come on, particularly in harsh conditions.

I'd be looking for ways to release the drama which is inherent in
your product. One possibility is "extreme operating conditions"
when the de-icer, the brakes, the wheels, the engines are put through
their hardest tests. I can envisage some exciting animation or live
action video on your site dramatising performance in the extremes. Or
you might focus on the emotional context of flying with your family as
a way of dramatising the importance of your products' performance and
how seriously you take that performance. ("They don't know about us.
They don't care about us. But we're vitally important to them.")

While you might not target passengers directly you can influence
manufacturers by stressing the benefits to end users.

One final piece of advice, when looking for examples that might
inspire you, look outside your own industry at best practice and think
how you could be the initiator for your industry in adapting it.

Douglas Wilson
Benland/Wilson & Associates Ltd
Web Strategy & Marketing
Wellington New Zealand
d.wilson_at_paradise.net.nz



Received on Tue Jul 31 2001 - 12:26:58 CDT