Marketing the skies wins Westpac Auckland Business award

For one Auckland business, the final day of work when the country entered lockdown in March was unique to say the least – their staff jumped into Waiheke Island for the day! 

Skydive Auckland’s timing for a treat for staff and customers was well timed, as well as a marketing technique was by chance perfectly timed . “As uncertain as the lockdown was, it was great to end on such a high note,” says Skydive Auckland’s Marketing Manager Jo Austin.

It is part of Skydive Auckland’s ethos to keep things fun and one of the many factors that led them to a fantastic night out at the Westpac Auckland Business Awards 2020 for the North & West Region last month. The Awards are powered by the Auckland Business Chamber and Skydive have been entering for three years. This year they took out the Supreme Business Excellence Award.

They also walked away with the Excellence in Marketing Award and were finalists in three further categories – Excellence in Strategy & Planning and Excellence in Community Contribution, and Employer of the Year, staking a claim as one of the best in the market across all areas of business.

Entering the Westpac Awards gives companies the chance to benchmark themselves, reflect on their strengths and refine their plans for the future.

Skydive Auckland has experienced growth, even during a year as challenging as 2020, when the Chinese market cut off around last Christmas. Their experience is resonating with customers. Trip Advisor rates them as #1 of 228 tours offered in Central Auckland.

Jo manages the responses on Trip Advisor. “It is actually a pleasure,” she says. “There are so many five-star reviews. It’s lovely hearing the feedback and we make sure our team hear it too by bringing it up in our meetings, highlighting whose been mentioned.”

Aside from the fact that they’re literally throwing people out of planes, Skydive Auckland has some unique selling points, inluding the highest tandem skydive in the Southern Hemisphere..

On top of that, they also run the New Zealand Diploma in Commercial Skydiving, the only qualification of its kind in the world. Skydive Auckland work with drop zones around the world and provide them with work-ready staff. Lockdown didn’t hold the team back, with the school continuing to run throughout the year. Some students formed a bubble and lived on site while others connected in through Zoom.

Traditionally 66 percent of the company’s customers come from overseas, but that hasn’t stopped the team from moving forward.

“We have always had a strong focus on the domestic market as well. This is really good opportunity to strengthen domestic in general and then when the borders open – well that can be the cherry on top!” says Jo.

“We want to make our presence stronger, while keeping in touch with the overseas agents. I’m talking to those overseas at the moment it feels like everyone is already planning trips to New Zealand. It seems like the whole world seems to want to come to New Zealand right now!”

Charity focus

One of Skydive Auckland’s major growth areas this year has been with charities. The last financial year has seen a 65 percent increase in charity jumps. The concept uses a free jump as an incentive for people who raise a certain amount of money for a charity. They then all come together to jump at an event; yet another incredible way Skydive Auckland has a positive impact. Skydive Auckland is the only official Skydive for Charity platform.

In June, Mercy Hospice hosted Leap for Life; in July, Red Cross NZ hosted Jump!; and in August, SPCA ran Jump to the Rescue.

“The SPCA has been doing it for years, growing year on year. 2020 was amazing. I think everyone was sick of lockdown and just wanted to jump. Charities have really suffered the last few months and something like this is such a valuable thing for them.”

Always looking forward, Skydive Auckland have plans to push their Charity platform further.

 “I think there is so much more room for growth, so much potential…” says Jo.

Many of Skydive Auckland’s other customers are families. There is no age limit, and they have a large plane which allows whole families to jump together. Birthdays, stag parties, and people ticking of their bucket lists or wanting to overcome a fear make up some of the others. Anyone from ages seven to 97 have jumped and Skydive Auckland also caters for people who are paralysed through a special harness.

Other customers are sport skydivers or come to learn as a hobby. It makes for a unique and interesting experience with so many different levels of activity going on

Clever marketing

Like many marketing gurus, Jo loves analytics. The results of Skydive Auckland’s marketing strategy are all measured through analytical tools including Wherewolf, (a digital registrations and operations software), POS (tracking types of booking), Google analytics and Facebook analytics.

The company’s social media strategy is also solid and commended during their most recent Qualmark review, were they received Gold status. Messages centre around experience, people, responsible tourism and safety.

Skydive Auckland’s marketing strategy also includes the development of an eight-part TV series based on their skydiving school, produced by Greenstone TV and shown on TVNZ in October 2019. It resulted in a 200 percent increase in enquiries for the school. Plan are afoot for another series.

The team will be heading to the Westpac Auckland Business Awards Best of the Best Awards in April next year, joined by the winners or the Central and South & East regions.

While overseas visitors will eventually return, in the meantime between awards, charity and non-stop fun, Skydive Auckland is still flying high.