Hawkins Flight Academy
348 trackable leads in 6 months at a $47.90 blended cost per lead. See how Right Rudder Marketing built a complete digital growth system from the ground up for Hawkins Flight Academy.
Hawkins Flight Academy: 348 Leads in 6 Months at $47.90 Cost Per Lead
Hawkins Flight Academy partnered with Right Rudder Marketing in July 2025 after nearly two and a half years of self-managed marketing. Co-founder Matt Wilkins had built the original website, run Google Ads, and managed social media himself — and discovered firsthand that running a flight school and running a flight school's marketing engine are two very different jobs.
"I wish I knew then what I know now. We would have started with Right Rudder a lot sooner." — Matt Wilkins, Co-Founder, Hawkins Flight Academy
The Challenge
Before partnering with RRM in July 2025, Hawkins had no measurable digital acquisition engine in place. No structured paid campaigns. No organic search visibility for high-intent local searches. No conversion tracking tying inbound calls or form fills to a source. A self-built website that was not engineered for search performance or conversion.
Starting metrics at engagement (July–August 2025):
| Metric | Starting Position |
|---|---|
| Average organic search position | 40.9 (page 5 of Google) |
| Indexed pages | 61 |
| Google reviews | 19 |
| Lighthouse Performance score | 64 |
| Trackable monthly leads | 0 |
The school had a quality flight training program. What they did not have was a system to put it in front of the right student pilots, at scale, every month.
The Strategy
RRM built a complete digital growth system from the ground up — new foundation, new traffic engine, new tracking — with a clear scoreboard tying every lead back to a source.
1. Custom-Coded Website Built From Scratch
RRM developed an entirely new website for Hawkins, custom-coded to the highest technical standards. No template builders. No drag-and-drop platforms. Every element engineered for speed, search performance, accessibility, and conversion. The result: perfect 100/100 Lighthouse scores in SEO, Accessibility, and Best Practices, with Performance climbing from 64 to 70 in the first 90 days.
"They ended up building an incredibly professional website for us. The amount of detail that went into it, the way they listened to our story, to understand our product and what makes us different from other flight schools, has been incredible." — Matt Wilkins
2. Google Ads Campaigns Built for Intent
Campaigns structured around high-intent search terms — discovery flights, private pilot training, local flight school queries. The first month was a $220 ad test. By month four, monthly ad spend reached ~$1,500 and cost per Google Ads lead dropped from $145 to $52 in just two months as campaigns optimized.
3. On-Page SEO and Technical Foundation
Every page built around terms student pilots actually type into Google. Schema, internal linking, page speed, and content depth engineered in from day one rather than bolted on later. Indexed pages grew from 61 to 79.
4. Google Business Profile Activation
Monthly post cadence, fresh photos, optimized descriptions, and clean NAP consistency across the web. The GBP became a working acquisition channel rather than a dormant listing.
5. Local Citations Through BrightLocal
23 listings approved across major aviation and local business directories, building the trust signals that local search algorithms reward.
6. Full Conversion Tracking
Forms and phone calls wired to their source so every lead had a number attached. No more guessing where students were coming from. No more flying blind on which channels deserved more budget.
"When we talk about certain things, like 'hey, I want to try to reach flight instructors,' I don't have to explain what a flight instructor does. Or how flight schools operate. There is a whole amount of time saved because I'm not having to explain to a marketing company what my product is and what the industry is doing." — Matt Wilkins
Search Visibility (July 2025 vs. November 2025)
| Metric | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Avg. organic search position | 40.9 | 13.0 (+27.9 positions, page 5 → page 2) |
| Organic search CTR | 2.38% | 5.12% (more than doubled) |
| Indexed pages | 61 | 79 (+30%) |
| Lighthouse Performance | 64 | 70 (+9%) |
| Lighthouse SEO / Accessibility / Best Practices | — | 100 / 100 / 100 (perfect, maintained) |
Lead Generation (July to December 2025)
| Result | Total |
|---|---|
| Total trackable leads | 348 |
| Form submissions (organic + direct) | 121 |
| Phone calls (paid search + local) | 227 |
| Blended cost per lead | $47.90 |
| Cost per lead on Google Ads alone | $33.78 |
| Total marketing investment | $16,668 ($9,000 RRM + $7,668 ad spend) |
By December 2025 (month 6), Hawkins was generating 71 leads in a single month at scale — compared to zero trackable leads at the start of the engagement.
"We feel like we are top priority for them at all times. That is hard to do for any marketing company. Any feedback we give, any changes we want to our website, they are done quickly and with professionalism. We couldn't ask for anything better." — Matt Wilkins, Co-Founder, Hawkins Flight Academy
For an independent flight school, $47.90 per qualified lead changes the math on growth. A single PPL student paying through to checkride represents thousands of dollars in revenue. At less than fifty dollars per lead, the cost of acquiring that student is a rounding error against what they pay for training. The organic gains compound — Hawkins now ranks on page 2 of Google for searches that sat on page 5 six months ago. Paid filled the pipeline fast. SEO is now filling it for free, every month, on autopilot.
This is what happens when SEO, paid search, a custom-built website, and local presence run from one playbook, one agency, and one scoreboard.
The amount of growth we've had has been incredible, and the support we've received from Right Rudder has been top-notch. They are going to help us get to the next level. I wholeheartedly believe in what they are doing. Give them a shout. They are worth it.
