Last week I took my children to Florida for spring break. We had a splendid time, albeit the six hour delay getting there, compliments of our friends at Delta Airlines. The extra airplane and airport time got me thinking. Some of my thoughts should not be repeated nor written down relative to Delta. But it also got me thinking about who should market on airlines. My conclusion: it comes down to two specific and reachable target audiences.
1. Families travelling with small children: I am lucky. My children are of the age that they are easy and pleasant to travel with at this stage. With each flight I am reminded of how difficult it was when they were active toddlers, when they wore diapers, when they were babies and inevitably caught colds when on an airplane. I would have gladly paid money for a product or person that could have helped me figure out a better way to change a diaper on an airplane – a cleaner, more convenient way. Or, I would have gladly paid money for an activity kit to keep my children occupied while on the plane. Or, if someone had rented a DVD machine with Disney videos as I was about to step onto the plane – would have paid a pretty penny. Parents of small children have a high degree of pain on an airplane trip and are likely willing to pay big bucks to relieve some of this pain.
2. Business travelers: The second audience of note is the business traveler group. Because I’m one of these people I instinctively get them. First, they don’t really want to be on the plane. They either want to be getting their business done or they want to be home with their loved ones. Every hour on the plane is a wasted hour. And it’s also an hour when they are a captive audience. If you have a product geared for a business traveler, an airplane might be just the place to find them. You might advertise in the airline publication, on a sign in the airport or in some other clever way.
This may sound a little narrow minded. There are certainly more people on airplanes than business travelers and travelling parents but I choose these two audiences because, for one, they are captive and easily targeted audiences and secondly, they have clearly defined pain points.
Good luck and happy flying.
No Random Acts: A Marketing Blog 