107's & Drone Services Business Owners... a little guidance please.

[dieselmac13123]

Hello. I recently started an aerial drone service in San Antonio, TX. I have my 107 and just finished with site, ecommerce, and paper media marketing things. My Question is how have you gotten the best return for your local business? I am currently compiling a realtor list for the area and even purchased one for my area online (hope its not iffy) to do email campaign. I also have been using Fiverr first for logo and stuff but then for local SEO… have done citations & backlinks but haven't really dove more than that. Also am gonna hit the streets to local realtor offices when my flyers get in...

What has the greatest return? How about marketing to commercial, developers, or land survey company oh and also for construction progress?
I have started businesses in the past but that was waaaay back when mortgage brokers could make a living lol.
I really like the mapping aspects to I did some acreage but used datamapper, since I didn't want to pay yet for drone deploy or another, whats the best to use, dont have P4 or N7 to do NVDI yet...

I see such a high return in this field vs. costs and upkeep. Plus I just love flying, done photography for years... [Edited by Moderator]marketing especially the amount of SEO work that they need to do has got me FLUSTERED.
If you outsource your local SEO stuff, do you use sites like fiverr or whats better. I appreciate any feedback from the Pros! Thanks in advance fellow flyers.

 

[BigAl07]

Hello. I recently started an aerial drone service in San Antonio, TX. I have my 107 and just finished with site, ecommerce, and paper media marketing things. My Question is how have you gotten the best return for your local business? I am currently compiling a realtor list for the area and even purchased one for my area online (hope its not iffy) to do email campaign. I also have been using Fiverr first for logo and stuff but then for local SEO… have done citations & backlinks but haven't really dove more than that. Also am gonna hit the streets to local realtor offices when my flyers get in...

Congrats. You're on the right track.

Just keep in mind that Realtors and Real Estate work as a whole is "Low Hanging Fruit" and very far from what I'd call "High Returns".

Best return is good old fashioned pounding the pavement and networking. The days of putting yourself out there on flyers and having people come running to you are long gone. The industry is saturated in most markets and John Boy's cousin will do it for pennies on a dollar just to be able to buy some beer etc.

The survive in this business you've got to be a photographer (sounds like you have that covered) but also an accountant, a marketing guru, a collections agent, on and a good drone operator.

Mapping and Surveying will often times require additional "Professional" licensing depending on your state and local regulations. In North Carolina you had better have those special letters behind your name or you're not going to like the attention you get from the State agencies.

If you're not good at marketing, SEO, or anything then you either get really good at it or you hire it out ASAP! Time is of the essence.

 

[dieselmac13123]

Awesome response, thanks for taking the time... Do you have a good reference for SEO work, around how much should I divulge monthly starting out. Didn't even think of the licensing for survey, whoops, lol, Im in Texas but Ill check ASAP. Was gonna create a campaign to do golf course work too, saw someones site that offers green maintaince survey, even a pretend fly through from ground level at the tees to the hole as a golf ball would fly.

So in an essence, put more into developers and commercial RE? Construction Im sure too, but I would need extra hyper-lapse setups for long term, which would have to be grounded right, well to do it right?

As to your John Boys cousin, that was pretty funny. I had a client recently hire me after she went with a low ball bid with someone else and showed me his idea of HDR, aka a auto jpeg with one filter applied, LOL. It takes me 15 min to check instruments, add lens filters, and more to even prep to get up in the air!!!

Hopefully they crack down more on people without 107's and fine tune our industry, I think its a 11k fine to the realtor as well, right?

Lastly, is there another market I should add the the repertoire, maybe hit those niche markets? Again you have been a great help already. Happy Flying.

 

[BigAl07]

Awesome response, thanks for taking the time... Do you have a good reference for SEO work, around how much should I divulge monthly starting out. Didn't even think of the licensing for survey, whoops, lol, Im in Texas but Ill check ASAP. Was gonna create a campaign to do golf course work too, saw someones site that offers green maintaince survey, even a pretend fly through from ground level at the tees to the hole as a golf ball would fly.

I don't have a reference as I do my own SEO but I'm a computer nerd from many moons ago. Reach out to a local web company, Social Media development company, or google it. Also your website hosting company probably has some tutorials and possibly even pay for use SEO experts.

So in an essence, put more into developers and commercial RE? Construction Im sure too, but I would need extra hyper-lapse setups for long term, which would have to be grounded right, well to do it right?

Do you know anything about the construction industry? When we get a Shot List from our clients they aren't written in laymens terms so you'll need to be on you A-Game so when they call out:

"Single Shots of Retention Pond, Rebar Holding, Truss Holding Yard, Demo Yard" you'll know what they are asking for. They aren't going to be happy (and probably not willing) to try and teach you how to do your job.

Also when we go on Construction Sites we have Personal Protective Equipment that is required to even be on the property. Steel Toes Shoes, Hard hat, OSHA eye protection, and a High Viz (must be Yellow) vest/shirt/coat. And our hardhat has to be a either WHITE or RED designated by our client. Only 1 requires red and it's an Aviation Facility and we have EMS certification so they stated RED.

As to your John Boys cousin, that was pretty funny. I had a client recently hire me after she went with a low ball bid with someone else and showed me his idea of HDR, aka a auto jpeg with one filter applied, LOL. It takes me 15 min to check instruments, add lens filters, and more to even prep to get up in the air!!!

You usually get what you pay for. For a $25 picture you'll get whatever I can take in a 30 second flight. LOL

Hopefully they crack down more on people without 107's and fine tune our industry, I think its a 11k fine to the realtor as well, right?

I WISH! I've been doing this a long time and it used to require a PILOT'S license. I used to get worked up by those flying "illegally" but now that the Part 107 has been diluted and the bar for entry almost removed I just grin and bare it. Some of my best paying jobs come from going behind "John Boy" and demonstrating why I make the $$ I make and not beer funds. If I'm going in behind another operator then my rates go up significantly.

Lastly, is there another market I should add the the repertoire, maybe hit those niche markets? Again you have been a great help already. Happy Flying.

That's hard to say. You'll have to feel out your local area and see what best suits your skills and abilities. By far the best paying gigs are with Utility Inspections etc. They also have the highest requirements on skills and equipment.