Wake up call - all airlines - Marketing airlines in the low-cost era

Feb. 4, 2012 - PRLog -- Good night Malev, Good night Spanair! Good morning legacy airlines wherever you are.
The wake up call is here and you can no longer snooze  it. The legacy airlines and old model of flight product has gone bankrupt.
Legacy airlines and even some low cost airlines keep on offering us with the same old fashioned product – news flash: The consumer seeks something else!
Airline's marketing managers all over the world keep telling their selves "It's all a result of the recession" "We have to act with more advertising" "Let's offer special deals"
Well, guess where the problem is – the marketing departments it self.
The challenge with today's airfare business is the product. The product has changed – Consumers today are looking for different values:
-   Low price
-   Medium quality
-   Simple and direct channel of distribution
-   Flexible options
-   Quick response
-   Total control
If you are an airline marketing manager your thoughts right now are wondering from "He's right but the system is not working that way" to "This is rubbish. When the recession is over everything would come back to normal"
Maybe…
But right now we see one airline after another falling down.
So what can we do?
Rethink and renew.
If the revenue cannot rise from the old paradigm let's set a new one. Here are the basic rules for surviving and rising the airline dark era:
-   The price war - If you for the price battle make sure you can win the battle. It's ok to compete in other segments. The price battle is a tough one and it's more than complicated to compete airlines such as ryanair and jetblue. In order  to play that part you might just need to redesign your product and set you revenue focal point somewhere else.
(I do recommend reading the business plan of Ryanair if you're about to compete them)
-   Distribution – I'm sorry travel agents but your role has also changed. It's not that you're not needed anymore, but you're needed elsewhere. As for you, airlines, know this: Consumers are not stupid. They're becoming more and more sophisticated and therefore they know more about your product and how to overcome your pricing methods, your product hides and shows,  and practically to compare your product to others In ways you have never dreamt of.
It's time to go direct to consumer!
Check your website once again – Does it suit your competition? Would you book through your site or through third parties such as Expedia & Yahho Travel? If you're sincere answer was yes – go on to the next step.
If you're still reading this paragraph – You're investment in the company's website can redefine the revenue and success of your product.
As today's booking process becomes more and more digital and web oriented it's time to use this same platform to learn more about your consumers. You can easily track them,  find where they want to go, "haunt" them before they even decided of their next destination. It's easy with toolbars, google adwords and different marketing utilities.
It's worth following Agoda.com & Airberlin, as they follow you on and on from the first moment you considered searching their website.

-   Revenue base – up until now the revenue was based on the product and it's pricing – yeah, you actually sold flight seats! But it's different now. Ryanair sells their seats for 1-9 Euros, so how come they are so profitable? The revenue lies somewhere else: Cancellation fees, additional fees, food, insurance, affiliated hotels. It comes out that the seat price is only an excuse for so many surcharges.
Someone once said that Ryanair did all the "Not-to-do" items on the classic marketing book, but apparently the folks over in ryanair has re-written the book of airline marketing. So do a quick visit to the finance department, Look at the books, and check what is a small and forgettable bullet in the financial report today that can turn into the major income generator of tomorrow. (Did someone say airline shopping?)

-   R.I.P TOP OF MIND. LONG LIVE TOP OF SEARCH – For years and year we, marketing managers, spent huge amount of money on,  branding and awareness, hoping to be the first to cross the mind of a potential consumers. Ring-a-ding –2012 consumers don't mind and therefore you can hardly get into their  "top of don't mind".
There's an optimistic aspect of that: We now moving from top of mind to Top of search! Yeap, it all ends up at google / bing / yahoo.
If you're offer is at the first page of the potential consumer (let it be relevant) you've got 50% of the job done. It costs much less (SEO / SEM) and works much better (Sales!)

The market is changing. Legacy airlines die with every minute passing. It's not because there is no place for the legacy airlines, the contrary is correct: More people fly to more destinations with every year passing by. The resolution lies within the ability to change, to adapt, forget the all world we have all been operating in and adapt to the new world of Low-cost-Top-of-search-value-driven airlines.

For further details visit http://www.payperplane.com/

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The Author:
Roy Cohen, VP Creative at Grey Interactive, and former partner at CNA Israel.

Through the years I have worked with several leading airlines including: British Airways, Lufthansa, Elal and more.

I have always been attraced to the airline industry and developed some major skills in finding the best deals both money wise and product wise (The best flght experience for the lowest fare)

With PayPerPlane I hope to give all of you the best tools to achieve better results while planning, comparing & booking your next vacation.

Feel free to drop me a line at: roy@payperplane.com