Carlton Posted March 5, 2014 Report Posted March 5, 2014 To all the other VA owners, how do you guys get more pilots and how do you recommend I advertise? Quote
StartVM Posted March 5, 2014 Report Posted March 5, 2014 Well, you need to offer something other airlines don't. There are thousands of VA's to choose from, think why would someone fly for me? New website, smartCARS, events, Teamspeak? Nope, got that covered those are now just a standard. Raise the bar and offer something revolutionary! Cheers and good luck! Quote
magicflyer Posted March 5, 2014 Report Posted March 5, 2014 Well, what an excellent question. Firstly, before going anywhere I would like to say that I have not yet been the CEO of a virtual airline, however I have been HR, COO, Hub Manager, and have worked with a dozen virtual airlines, so I hope that you do find the following at the very least credible. If you plan on investing a sum in advertising it should strictly be held for some sort of competition awards. Taking the now-gone Emirates Virtual example, the CEO invested roughly the cost of 3 Boeing 777 PMDG licenses, summing to $250+, and ended up with an overnight registration of 100 Pilots, followed by a total of 300 pilots within the first week of operation. Of those 300 pilots, there were 3 dozen flights made daily and as much as 10 flights on the live acars information page at a time. I need to emphasize that it is also an excellent idea to pick a prize that has something do to with your VA. Optimally, you should also select a well-known company and an anticipated addon as your prize. As for the competition itself, be creative. Facebook Advertising and Google Search Engine Ads are not as effective as you might think Alternatively, If you're looking for a free way of advertising and getting pilots to register with your VA. Good luck. Reveal hidden contents Just Kidding. There's actually a few ways of advertising. Seniority. Just as a pilot, the more years you spend with an airline the more acquainted you get with the crew and hub staff. For a virtual airline, it's the other way around. The more time you spend as a VA, the more people will get acquainted with you. Just let the virtual airline age, itself. Chances are you're probably not going to get more than 150 pilots, unless there's something unique(there's that word again) about your VA. Join an Alliance Most alliances do require 3~12 months before you can join them, which brings us back to seniority List the VA. Head over to a few VA listing sites, most often this is the one I use to look up VAs: http://www.va-list.com/. Contrary to some beliefs, if you have some money, and can't afford a Competition, I recommend signing up for their premium listings. It'll get you more traffic, which in turn can become members. Be Creative & Unique. As mentioned above by Hawaiian, be unique and provide something other VAs don't have. For example, I haven't seen a lot of VAs that offer incentives(Such as a custom livery, etc...) for reaching a goal. Make sure your site is also designed well, although this doesn't have to be a necessity, it would sure be an advantage to your growth. 1 Quote
StartVM Posted March 5, 2014 Report Posted March 5, 2014 On 3/5/2014 at 4:31 PM, magicflyer said: Well, what an excellent question. Firstly, before going anywhere I would like to say that I have not yet been the CEO of a virtual airline, however I have been HR, COO, Hub Manager, and have worked with a dozen virtual airlines, so I hope that you do find the following at the very least credible. If you plan on investing a sum in advertising it should strictly be held for some sort of competition awards. Taking the now-gone Emirates Virtual example, the CEO invested roughly the cost of 3 Boeing 777 PMDG licenses, summing to $250+, and ended up with an overnight registration of 100 Pilots, followed by a total of 300 pilots within the first week of operation. Of those 300 pilots, there were 3 dozen flights made daily and as much as 10 flights on the live acars information page at a time. I need to emphasize that it is also an excellent idea to pick a prize that has something do to with your VA. Optimally, you should also select a well-known company and an anticipated addon as your prize. As for the competition itself, be creative. Facebook Advertising and Google Search Engine Ads are not as effective as you might think Alternatively, If you're looking for a free way of advertising and getting pilots to register with your VA. Good luck. Reveal hidden contents Just Kidding. There's actually a few ways of advertising. Seniority. Just as a pilot, the more years you spend with an airline the more acquainted you get with the crew and hub staff. For a virtual airline, it's the other way around. The more time you spend as a VA, the more people will get acquainted with you. Just let the virtual airline age, itself. Chances are you're probably not going to get more than 150 pilots, unless there's something unique(there's that word again) about your VA. Join an Alliance Most alliances do require 3~12 months before you can join them, which brings us back to seniority List the VA. Head over to a few VA listing sites, most often this is the one I use to look up VAs: http://www.va-list.com/. Contrary to some beliefs, if you have some money, and can't afford a Competition, I recommend signing up for their premium listings. It'll get you more traffic, which in turn can become members. Be Creative & Unique. As mentioned above by Hawaiian, be unique and provide something other VAs don't have. For example, I haven't seen a lot of VAs that offer incentives(Such as a custom livery, etc...) for reaching a goal. Make sure your site is also designed well, although this doesn't have to be a necessity, it would sure be an advantage to your growth. What didn't you touch on? That just helped me as well thanks 1 Quote
SkiesTheLimit Posted March 5, 2014 Report Posted March 5, 2014 On 3/5/2014 at 1:17 AM, carl363 said: To all the other VA owners, how do you guys get more pilots and how do you recommend I advertise? Maybe less Nevia bro Quote
Carlton Posted March 6, 2014 Author Report Posted March 6, 2014 Thanks to all who posted! magicflyer, that was a great speech Thanks for that mate really has helped me! Regards, Carl Mark 1 Quote
StartVM Posted March 6, 2014 Report Posted March 6, 2014 He already has a quite complete site based around the Nevia template. I don't see that as an issue, IMHO Quote
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