What do you read and where do you go?

[Bob Bevan]

Apologies for the unconventional enquiry but I need some help and guidance from the helicopter owning fraternity.

We provide a service for UK based light aircraft and helicopter owners although I will not name it or what type of service it is as I do not want to fall foul of the forum rules, not get beaten up by the moderator.

Anyway, we currently promote the service via advertising on various sites (including PPRuNe, Flyer etc) plus sponsored ads. However I now want to ramp up the level of promotion specifically for helicopter owners so in this regard I was just wondering:

a) Are there any publications which owners on here tend to purchase or at least read?
b) Are there any other helicopter related sites that they use on a regular basis?

A bit of a cheek I realise but nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Many thanks,

[topendtorque]

Helicopter owners all employ helicopter pilots.

I doubt much they've changed these past fifty years,

Helicopter pilots= stick books.

Should get plenty exposure there!!

[Grenville Fortescue]

Helicopter owners all employ helicopter pilots.

:confused:

[topendtorque]

Hard day Grenville.

[Bob Bevan]

Apologies, I should have explained the service is primarily at the smaller end of the helicopter scale (i.e. R22, R44, JetRanger etc) where there is a mix of private owners and commercial as oppose to larger aircraft.

[ShyTorque]

This forum encompasses all categories of helicopter pilot, but many, if not most, contributors here are not owners, but professionals flying helicopters belonging to companies or other organisations.

So you'll get some answers from folk not fitting the main purpose of your request.

(The clue is in the name of the forum). ;)

P.S. I read car and motorcycle magazines and don't often buy helicopter books.

[Bob Bevan]

(The clue is in the name of the forum).Mea Culpa ShyTorque, :O

You are absolutely right of course. My problem is that I'm struggling to find a place where helicopter owners (is there a collectiver term, a whoop perhaps), especially of the smaller helicopters, congregate. Light aircraft owners on the other hand seem to congrgate all over the place (PPRuNe forum, flyer, LAA, BMAA etc).

[J.A.F.O.]

I don't know which books helicopter owners read; helicopter pilots tend not to read their books but colour them in. :}

[Sir Niall Dementia]

About the only book aimed at your market would be Helicopter Life run by the HCGB.


We manage plenty of helicopters here and AFAIK all our owners read are the bills, and then complain about them......


I've asked a few of our pilots and they very rarely buy any aviation mags, and only read Flight International from back to front.


SND

[Grenville Fortescue]

The CAA make publicly available the details of every UK registered R22, R44 and B206 in the country including the owner's name and address.

While we still have a Post Office why don't you simply send out a mail shot with the details of whatever it is you are offering?

[Bravo73]

Do you advertise in Helidata yet? Avia Press Associates - Helicopter International Magazine - HeliData News & Classified (http://aviapress.co.uk/hdc.htm)

Otherwise, Rotor Torque (the magazine of the HCGB) would probably get you access to the owners themselves: Helicopter Club of Great Britain | Rotor Torque (http://www.hcgb.co.uk/Default.aspx?id=487271)

Finally, how about the BHA (British Helicopter Association) handbook? 2013 / 2014 Issue | British Helicopter Association (http://www.britishhelicopterassociation.org/?q=bha-handbook/2013-2014-issue)


PS Is the service (that you dare not mention) anything to do with insurance?

[heli1]

Wonder why the moderator always converts Heli data( when written correctly) to Spankers Gazette whereas other mags keep their original names?

[Bravo73]

Wonder why the moderator always converts Heli data( when written correctly) to Spankers Gazette whereas other mags keep their original names?

I imagine for the same reason that L a n d Rovers get turned into Trabants and P r o o n gets turned into...

(ie Personal agendas and a questionable sense of humour). Ooops, I've only gone and done it now. :sad:

[Senior Pilot]

Wonder why the moderator always converts Heli data( when written correctly) to Spankers Gazette whereas other mags keep their original names?

Nothing to do with me, Chief: I'm aircrew.

All the changes were part of Danny's particular sense of humour and have remained even after he sold out to the Yanks. Heli data was changed because someone thought PPRuNe was a good outlet to overdo the exposure.

The comment on Flight reminds me of the definition of job security: reading Flight magazine from the front :p

[Bob Bevan]

Many thanks for the various suggestions that have been put forward:

Sir Niall Dementia,
I did read your name twice before I got it, maybe I’m getting old. :)

I will have a look at Flight International to see what they offer. Unfortunately some mags have an ‘exclusive’ advertising arrangement with the current big supplier in our sector which makes it a little harder to break in and hardly helps increase competition in the market.

Grenville,
I have thought about using G-Info but it is inevitably a bit more invasive (e.g. people get one of those lovely little mail packs hitting the door mat). As you say, maybe I should try to keep the Royal Mail busy for the sake of all the foreign investment funds that now own a slice of it.

Bravo 73,
Thanks for those suggestions which I will definitely follow up on. You are correct in you assumption of the type of online service we provide for helicopter and light aircraft owners (To quote Basil Fawlty, I did mention it once but I think I got away with it)! :p

One other suggestion which has been muted is to try advertising on some of the mobile apps. This would be ideal because it is digital advertising which is usually a better bet for an online business like ours. Anyone got any views on which mobile apps are most used by pilots?

Thanks again to the community for the help?

[Bravo73]

Bravo 73,
Thanks for those suggestions which I will definitely follow up on. You are correct in you assumption of the type of online service we provide for helicopter and light aircraft owners (To quote Basil Fawlty, I did mention it once but I think I got away with it)! :p


It wasn't an assumption. I just clicked on the "Visit Bob Bevan's homepage! (https://visicover.com/)" link on your profile. I'm sure that others have probably done the same. ;)

[muffin]

Unfortunately Bob the best one for your target market is the one that won't accept your ads (sorry to cross post from another forum). Sponsorship by another party is the reason for your problem I am afraid. I have been in your position myself so I do sympathise.

Your e mail shots must be working as you found me from somewhere though.

[Redland]

What happened to Blades magazine?

That was great, at least I enjoyed reading it.

[Harry the Hun]

For the light types I usualy read accident reports posted here on pprune.

[Bob Bevan]

Sponsorship by another party is the reason for your problem.Muffin, it is a bit of a pain that they who shall remain nameless (and I don't mean Voldermort) seem afraid of a little healthy competition! I wonder why that might be?

To be honest it is not a huge problem for us as most of our enquiries are referred from existing clients or generated through digital promotion (e.g. banner ads on PPRuNe). The latter has the benefit over 'off the page' that users can click straight to our site. Off the page would therefore just be for brand build purposes.