Media in Focus - Aviation Trader

Aviation Trader is a highly regarded monthly marketing publication and website carrying corporate and private advertising for aircraft and aviation equipment and services. ‘The Trader’ is circulated in hard copy form throughout Australia and New Zealand.

See Aviation Trader's listing in the MediaScope Directory - including their ABA audited website statistics

Your Name: Tony Shaw - Business Manager
Name of Media Brand: Aviation Trader
Target Market: Aviation Stakeholders (both buyers and sellers)
Launched: 1988
Staff: 6

Can you give us an overview of your background and experience?

I’ve been with the business since early 2001 coming from a background in General Management but with no experience in publishing or aviation at the time. I was engaged to grow the business using best business practice principles rather than using previous industry experience.

Tell us how & why Aviation Trader started?

That’s an interesting story. Our editor / publisher Kevin Gosling had been in the Aviation industry all his life and saw that there was, and in fact had never been, a totally focused industry marketing medium nor one that had the power or reputation to claim that it could truly represent the total aviation marketplace with a single brand. It was a considered ‘leap of faith’ followed by a huge commitment to build the brand and develop a truly sustainable business model.

Outline Aviation Trader's current market position and your forward plans?

We’re still the only tabloid style publication in the market and still maintain a strong market leadership position because we are the only business currently focusing on 100% marketing. Our strategy going forward is to maintain the relevance, quality and value of our print publication but continue to invest significantly in digital publication and information delivery resources consistent with the need to guarantee information currency and global reach for our advertisers in a cost effective and seamless service environment.

What benefits do you offer advertising buyers and marketers?

We offer a strong, integrated media platform, cost effective rates, value choice and we’re still the most recognised marketing brand in the industry.

What is the best & worst thing about being an independent media publisher?

What’s the worst thing? To be honest it’s being out there without a ‘stable’ to fall back on in difficult times. We don’t have investment partners or other brands or business units and therefore have to underwrite the bad times and fund growth initiatives from core business revenues, reserves or lines of credit. That’s a difficult proposition in an ever increasingly competitive and dynamic business world.

What’s the best thing? Not having to answer to a Board of Directors that may not truly understand!

Tell us about your advertising sales structure?

We have a dedicated sales team with specialised print and on line capabilities. We run both classified and display ads in our print edition and use an integrated workflow platform, developed in house, to re-purpose data for the various digital channels we offer or are about to offer.

What are some things you have learned when dealing with advertising buyers?

We’ve learned that respect and integrity are the key elements in developing quality relationships. We’ve learned not to make assumptions about things like deep industry knowledge or marketing capability. We’ve learned that we can generally value add any client’s commitment / proposition by using our business experience and graphic design skills to complement their product knowledge. We’ve learned to view our relationships as partnerships with an equal ‘skill’s’ contribution / capability.

Can you offer any advice to someone starting a new commercial media
business?

Do your market research diligently, use your head not your heart, accept that you must have a low cost business model and be prepared to write off most of your investment! We’re now in a saturated and diverse media environment made even more difficult by the arrival of low cost / low resource digital media channels. When you’re in that situation you’ve got to be prepared to write of much of your investment in ‘traditional’ marketing channels. In our market, new players often come in with clearly unsustainable business models but still manage to chip away at your market share. To take a case in point, we’ve had to write off our entire capital investment in digital technologies because the ROI just isn’t there – digital in our market is strongly perceived as either low cost or a free imperative – there’s no concept of relative value yet.

Where do you get your advertising and marketing information from?

I keep my industry knowledge really current, I attend any useful workshop I can and subscribe to daily industry bulletins - I’m a bit of a sponge, always looking for new ideas or new developments as they relate to business sustainability or market leadership.

If you would like to appear in Media In Focus please get in touch

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