In our Drone Service Provider Business Guide, you’ll learn how to earn an income flying drones. Read it now.
In this post, we’ll share how to find your customers and market your business.
A fundamental component of building your business is pricing and marketing your offerings. As we discussed in the beginning of this guide, demand for commercial drone services is growing. However, the supply of commercial drone operators is growing, too. As of January 2018, the FAA reported that there were 122,000 Part 107-certified drone pilots. Many of these pilots are your competition. In this section, we’ll cover what you need to know to market your services and stand out from competitors.
What comprises the market for your services? Fundamentally, it’s a group of prospective customers that would benefit from drone-based remote sensing services. But, since no single drone service provider can address all the possible applications of drone technology, you’ll need to qualify your offerings, as well as your target customer (or target market).
First, consider your own constraints:
For example, you might live in Louisiana and only be able to conduct video inspection of electric utilities within the state, excluding its treacherous and swampy southern region.
By defining these limits, you’ll refine the size of your addressable market, or the number customers that you can serve. (While it’s helpful to identify limits when starting a drone business, bear in mind that growth is typically realized by redefining those limits.)
Next, consider your expertise: what kind of missions are you most qualified to perform? Do your interests or experience apply to a particular industry or type of mission? For example, traditional photographers typically see drone-based wedding and real estate photography as a logical extension of their expertise. A lineman could easily transfer their knowledge to drone-based electric infrastructure inspection.
Contrastingly, consider areas in which your expertise may be poor. For instance, if you lack experience contracting for federal and state governments, they may not represent be the easiest client to first target.
To market your services effectively, you must understand your buyer.
If you’re planning to sell to businesses, you should learn about those organizations and consider how you might help them achieve their objectives. Consider the following:
Beyond understanding the businesses you’re targeting, you must identify the professionals at said business who will ultimately procure your services. Knowing what role these people play in the organization, and how drones can help the business succeed, is critical to building a relationship with your buyer. Consider the following:
Ultimately, understanding your customer is key to marketing your services well, as building trust with your prospects is paramount. You do that by showing you understand their motivations and challenges and speaking their language. Prospects care about how drones can help them better do their job (more than they care about how fancy your hardware is).
Marketing to consumers is a lot like targeting business professionals. Knowing who they are, what they’re motivated by, and their pain points—as well as how they go about resolving those pain points—is foundational to an effective marketing approach.
Still clueless about where or to whom to start marketing your business? Review the Applications section of our guide for ideas. Also, talk to successful drone service providers. You can use local meet-up groups, online blogs, industry trade shows, and national conferences to keep abreast of industry developments and build professional relationships. Here’s a list of the top drone events of 2018.
There are hundreds of free resources that will teach you sales and marketing tactics.
Pick a unique business name. Hire a graphic designer to ensure your logo and collateral look professional. Build a website using a free tool, establish social media accounts, and advertise.
But, only do these things after you’ve defined your target customer, as discussed before. By knowing where your buyers go to research solutions to their problems, such as specific trade shows or industry publications, you’ve already identified platforms where you have the best chance of connecting with customers. It’s in those places that you should spend your time and money on marketing efforts. Ignore the rest. For example, only wedding photographers should have Pinterest pages.
Joining a commercial drone network is a great way to find projects and connect with potential customers. PrecisionHawk’s Droners.io platform has a network of more than 15,000 commercially licensed drone pilots, making it the largest network of its kind. The site is dedicated to connecting certified drone pilots directly to customers.
Browse job postings, pilot profiles, and portfolio reels by visiting the website and joining the network today.
Pilots participating in PrecisionHawk’s Drone Pilot Network not only gain access to a large and growing volume of consumer and enterprise engagements, but they also gain access to a support structure that will help them accomplish their missions.
To competitively price your services, there are a number of factors you need to consider including scope of services, location, and competition. According to Droners.io, drone pilots charge between $100 to $150 an hour on average, but rates will vary depending on the project requirements and industry.
You’ll want to answer the following questions before proposing a project rate to a client:
“Don’t undervalue your services—you’re doing yourself and the industry a disservice.” - Daryl Watkins
To learn everything you need to know about starting your own drone business, read our Drone Service Provider Business Guide. Or speak with one of our experts today.