I have been on a couple of trips recently and what I observed from the two major carriers I traveled on is a lack of marketing basics.  No longer did either of these two major airlines care about marketing to me rather all they did was sell to me. 

Marketing is all about taking our prospects along a predictable process from knowing us, then they like us based on what they have learned so far, we build trust and then after earning their trust they will buy followed by referring friends if you have done a good job.

Here is what I have experienced

  • I booked a reservation online, before completing my reservation I was asked if I wanted to pay more for a better seat, prepay for checking my luggage and finally add Wi-fi to my order for a mere $16
  • Once I boarded my flight, in one case a pre-recorded voice came on to the loud speaker with flight information followed by the safety instructions.  No voices of the happy flight attendants welcoming me on board – Mistake #1 no personalization, people are your brand!
  • After we took off, I heard the first voice of a real person letting me know about the airlines credit card and why we should all jump on that opportunity and to make it easy the flight attendants would be coming down the aisle with applications!  Sales pitch #1
  • The next announcement was by a flight attendant offering us the opportunity to rent a digital entertainment device for inflight movies for only $8.99 and they proceeded to roll a cart down the aisle Sales pitch #2
  • On another airplane I traveled on recently they had video players built in the seat and so I was offered a set of ear phones should I want to actually listen for $3.00
  • Next announcement asked us to refer to our in-flight food menu located in our seat pocket so you could see the choices of snacks that I could buy – Sales pitch #3

We have all experienced situations when meeting someone new at a conference, networking event or such who tried to pitch us something within the first few minutes of meeting and it feel disrespectful and out of place right?

Develop a Marketing Process

1.  Know – how will you let people know about you and your services.  From advertising, articles you post and referrals

2.  Like – people will begin to like you often by how they consume knowledge from you. On your website you may have a blog where they read good tips on how they can succeed in doing something or learning something, they may receive a helpful newsletter or come into your place of business and are received warmly.

3.  Trust – you develop trust in time, perhaps you put on a workshop and attendees feel a sense of trust because you provide credible information. You write white paper reports where you provide your best tips and through that they gain trust in your expertise.

4.  Try – develop ways for people to try your products or services.  Give them a taste of what you offer with no obligation to buy.  Nurture them along by allowing them to try.

5.  Buy – only after steps 1-4 have been completed will a person become a buyer in most cases.  Remember it is unlikely when you meet someone the first time they will buy something from you without building a relationship with them first!

6.  Repeat – often you can sell another product or service to someone who has had a good experience with a previous purchase so be sure they are made aware of your other services AFTER the previous purchase and they are satisfied with the results.

7.  Refer – this is the step we all ideally want.  No form of sales beats a referral, it’s that personal testimony from someone that is gold and we all want to earn that.

What I know for sure is that people buy from people they know, like and trust.  In the example of my recent airline experience I did not develop any real sense of loyalty and I would not refer either of the two airlines I have flown recently because I was unimpressed.  I know the airline industry has changed, but they have been through bad times and many bailed out financially by the government.  We do often have choices and those airlines that demonstrate they want and will earn our business will succeed in the long term.

I wonder how much good and loyalty airlines could garner these days with a friendly smile, personal interaction, laughter and a free bag of peanuts! (shout out to Southwest Airlines)

How do you WOW your clients?  Would love your thoughts about the airlines or marketing ideas in the comments below.