How well does an industry known for its innovations in aircraft speed, range, safety, comfort and connectivity do when it comes to digitally marketing its products and services?

Greteman Group, the aviation-specialty marketing agency based in Wichita, the Air Capital, wanted to know. And thought others in the industry would be interested, too.

The agency conducted an Aviation-Specific, Digital-Marketing State of the Industry survey April-May. It sent the survey to more than 300 aviation industry contacts representing the C-suite, owner, president or executive level. Social-media outreach also encouraged aviation marketers to participate. Sixty-six individuals that fell within our aviation executive profile completed the 10-minute survey. All respondents who provided their email address received a report the agency distributed on May 30.

“Our goal was to showcase where we as an industry stand when it comes to fully utilizing digital marketing and advertising,” says Sonia Greteman, agency president and creative director. “We expected the results to be enlightening, and they were.”

While analyzing the survey results, the agency had several ah-ha moments when comparing aviation to other B2B industries. While aviation is on par with trends in some areas, in others it lags behind. One example: search engine optimization (SEO). While respondents reported a belief that SEO impacts lead generation, most aren’t measuring its effectiveness. Another example: for an industry that typically has long sales lead-times, marketing automation is not being fully leveraged to boost sales. However, the survey revealed a desire for change. Aviation marketers appear ready to start implementing digital tools that help them better measure and improve their marketing efforts.

On July 12, the agency will host a livestream to dive deeper into the results and share insights on how to improve digital marketing strategies.

Aviation marketers can sign up for the livestream at https://bit.ly/2Jhpzvi  Also, anyone interested can download a copy of the survey results at https://bit.ly/2H6SywJ

“The quality responses we received should start some rigorous conversations on digital marketing,” said Jordan Walker, Greteman Group digital director. “Implementing the right targeting tactics, ramping up analytics, optimizing campaigns and landing pages - opportunities exist to really maximize marketing dollars through digital media.”