Digital Internet Marketing for Flight Schools

In modern day America, to get ahead in your business there’s one thing that matters most.  It’s generating revenue and creating more impact to your customers’ lives.  As flight school owners, we give the gift of flight to our students which is a magical skill that hundreds of years ago, mankind could only dream of.  However, to complete your mission of training more pilots, what matters the most is being seen.  The best, most impactful flight school is the most known flight school.  If a future student pilot is searching for a place to train at and your’s doesn’t show up on the internet, you’re practically invisible.

Today let’s go over how to make a plan to boost your visibility online.  We’re going to jump into actionable steps that you can take today.  But remember, if you’re looking for assistance in implementing these digital marketing strategies, call Right Rudder Marketing and schedule a free strategy session and see if your flight school is a good fit.

3 Steps to Marketing Your Flight School

These steps are your flight plan for better visibility and increased student pilot enrollment. We're focusing on three straight to the point steps: building a website that works, nailing the SEO game, and making Google and Facebook ads work for you. It's time to get your flight school on the map.  Let’s get more students flying at your flight school!

Step 1. Updating your website 

We all know that we need a website for our business.  When we set out on the path to establish our business online, along with creating social media profiles, we also look for building a website as well.  Most flight school owners find a friend or someone in their immediate circle to build one up quick and easy.  Or they might find a local marketing agency to load something up.

This entails using a no code page builder like GoDaddy, Wix, or WordPress.  While nothing inherently wrong with these options, using no code options does make your page load slower on the microsecond level and offers less flexibility which can cause it to rank lower on Google search.  In addition, once the website is built out and created, not much attention is given afterwards.  This is the biggest mistake.  It doesn’t matter too much how the website was created, but instead what matters is that we are consistently updating our website with additional content.  

Let’s take a step back and look at what our overall goals are with the website.  It’s simple.  The two goals of creating a website are:

1. Establish authority and secure your position as a flight school in the local area
   This means that you’re going to want to make sure people can find your website

2. Use the website as a tool to get inquiries about your school so that you can enroll more student pilots.
   This means that you need to make sure that you’re crafting your website in such a way that it becomes a “sales tool”

Let’s take a look at each of those objectives in detail.

SEO optimization for your website

If we want people to be able to find our website, we need to look at the science of “SEO”.  SEO stands for search engine optimization and it’s the tactics and methods we can use to get your website to rank higher on Google search and other search engines.  Effective SEO involves strategic use of keywords related to flight training, your location, and other relevant aspects of your school. When someone searches for flight schools in your area, your goal is to be at the top of that list. This isn't about being flashy; it's about being practical and ensuring your website is visible to those actively seeking flight training opportunities.

Getting leads with your website

The next thing we’re going to go over is getting leads for your flight school by using your website.  The core concept we’re going to go over here is called user experience.  This refers to what visitors feel and experience when they visit your webpage online.  We need to think of the website path and journey.  When someone goes to your website, what is the next step?  What pages do they go to?  What links do they see?  What buttons do they hover their mouse over? And which buttons do they actually click?

In marketing and sales, this is also known as the sales funnel.  I say this because we’re going to “funnel” or lead our visitor to a form page.  Whether that’s booking a discovery flight or inquiring about enrollment at your flight school, we need to make sure that we have established call to actions on your website that link to different pages which then lead to a form where visitors can input their contact details.

Step 2. Search Engine Optimization for Flight Schools

We had touched briefly on SEO on the updating your website section of this blog post.  By simply updating your website and providing fresh content, the search algorithms pick up on that and will rank your site higher.  However, there’s more than just updating your web page.  Let’s take a look at some of the techniques you can use to optimize your flight school website to rank higher on search.

Keyword research

Choosing the right words is like picking the best route for your flight. In SEO, these words are called keywords. You want words that people type when they're searching for flight schools. Tools can help you find these keywords. Think of it as using a map to reach your destination – in this case, getting more students.

Optimizing page titles and descriptions

Think of your website like a book. The title and description are like the cover – they tell people what's inside. In SEO, you want your page titles and descriptions to be clear and attractive. When someone sees your school in the search results, they should know exactly what you offer. It's like a preview that makes them want to learn more.  In addition, our titles and descriptions need to incorporate those keywords we talked about earlier to help rank on Google search.

Creating quality content

Content is what makes your website interesting. It's like the story of your flight school. Good content keeps visitors on your site. SEO friendly content uses the right keywords naturally. It's not about complicated words; it's about telling your story in a way that anyone can understand. Quality content helps your website become a favorite destination for potential student pilots.

Step 3. Advertise on Google and Facebook

The next ingredient to the secret sauce of making your flight school known online is using PPC (pay per click) advertising.  While there are a variety of platforms you can advertise online with like Hulu, Reddit, Bing, and Yelp, the most effective and widespread is Google and Facebook.  There are different use cases for each platform and we need to mold our advertising strategy to fit the platform in order to maximize results.

Google Ads for Flight Schools

Let’s take a look at the steps you need to take to advertise on Google effectively.

Setting Up a Campaign

Setting up a campaign is the first step in taking your flight school's advertisement off the ground. Think of it like preparing for takeoff and doing a preflight check: choosing your budget, the locations where you want your ad to be seen, and the specific times it should appear. This control ensures that your advertising campaign is tailored to your school's needs, making the most of your resources for optimal reach.

Choosing the keywords

Keywords are the routes to your flight school. Like planning a flight, you want these keywords to align with what potential students are searching for. Google Ads helps your school show up when someone is actively looking for flight training. We need to make sure that we’re choosing keywords that people are actively searching for.  Below are some great resources to do keyword research.  We’re going to come up with a list of keywords and then load these keywords into our campaign.

1. Semrush

2. Ahrefs

3. Google Trends
   
   

Creating Engaging Ad Copy

Your ad copy is the voice of your flight school in the digital skies. It's your sales pitch, the words that convince someone to choose your school over the competition. Keep it simple, direct, and exciting – like extending an invitation to join a fun adventure. Engaging ad copy captures attention and motivates potential students to make your flight school their destination for aviation dreams.

In the next section, we'll explore Facebook Ads for Flight Schools, another powerful tool to elevate your school's visibility in the crowded airspace of digital advertising.

Facebook Ads for Pilot Academies

With billions of users spending a significant chunk of their online time on this platform, it's not just a social network; it's a bustling marketplace of attention. Aspiring pilots and aviation enthusiasts scroll through Facebook, making it an optimal space to showcase your flight school's offerings. Harnessing the potential of Facebook Ads allows you to strategically position your school in front of an engaged audience, capitalizing on the time they spend on the platform to generate interest, leads, and enrollment. So, let's navigate the terrain of Facebook Ads, understanding its dynamics as more than just a social space but as a key avenue for connecting with potential students and steering your flight school toward success.

Our key strategy for making the best use of the Facebook platform is to use Lead Generation Retargeting Ads. This is because of the nature of Facebook.  People who are scrolling through Facebook aren’t actively searching for businesses to spend money on.  They are just looking for a way to waste time.  So we need to use this knowledge to our advantage and only show ads to people that know a little bit about our business but haven’t made a decision yet.  This is the best method to capturing lost leads and really getting our flight school known.  We need to have multiple touch points to our prospects and running retargeting ads on Facebook is the final touch after they’ve seen our Google Ads and website.

Retargeting Ads

Retargeting ads are like giving potential students a second chance to hop on board. Here's how it works – we use something called the Facebook pixel. Think of it as a digital tracker. When someone visits your website, the pixel notes it down. Later, when they're on Facebook, your ad pops up. It's a reminder, a way to say, "Hey, remember us? Ready to take that next step?" This is not a random ad; it's specifically for those who already showed interest in your flight school. It's like giving them a friendly nudge to come back and enroll.

Lead Generation Ads

Lead generation ads are the direct route to finding potential student pilots. Here's the deal – these ads are designed to collect info from people interested in your flight school. When they click on your ad, a form appears right there on Facebook. They can share their details without leaving the platform. It's quick and easy, like booking a flight with just a few clicks. This way, you get a list of contacts who are genuinely interested, making it simple to reach out and turn those leads into enrolled students. It's about making connections from the start, ensuring your flight school stays top-of-mind when they're ready to start pilot training.

Your next steps

We've covered crucial ground to make your flight school known. From crafting a user friendly website to mastering the essentials of SEO and taking flight with PPC ads, each step is a strategic move to ensure your school not only appears on the radar but stands out. We demystified SEO, helping you understand its importance and providing practical tips to optimize your online presence. We delved into the world of PPC ads, both on Google and Facebook, unraveling the complexities and offering straightforward approaches to reach potential students.

Ready to accelerate your flight school's digital presence without navigating the skies alone? Consider reaching out to Right Rudder Marketing, your dedicated digital co-pilot for flight school success. As specialists in digital marketing for flight schools, they understand the unique challenges and opportunities in the aviation industry. From crafting SEO strategies that resonate with potential pilots to executing targeted PPC campaigns, Right Rudder Marketing tailors their approach to lift your school above the competition.

Why go solo when you can have experts by your side? Taking action today means connecting with a team that speaks the language of aviation and digital marketing fluently. Let Right Rudder Marketing guide your flight school through the intricacies of online visibility, ensuring that your flight school brand stands out in the crowded digital airspace. Don't just fly; fly smart. Contact Right Rudder Marketing and schedule a FREE growth accelerator call.  Let’s train more pilots.