moonshine
Line Up and Wait
We do that by stopping to try hard and get "new blood" and instead concentrate on making the show more fun.
Works out for me - and I sell airplanes for a living. I learned from observing - competitors were spending resources on ads and trying to be annoying and omnipresent - I started off with a limited budget in a **** poor economy, and I'm still here. I might not be setting the world on fire with sales, but the vast majority of my customers are referrals from other customers.
Flying is a demanding hobby - the cost of entry is fairly steep and (as a thread nearby suggests) hobby pilots don't always know what to do with that Private ticket. I know I didn't.
I think the best way to go about it is through providing information*. I liked the idea I saw in my old flight school newsletter - a couple of times they included ideas for some season-appropriate destinations - day trips and overnighters - pretty pictures and all. I know I'd take a trip or two - just like in boating - "Oh, there's this new restaurant up the river, you'll love it".
For me taking time trying to figure out what would work for that particular person pays off. I don't try to upsell customers with avionics they will never use or a 206 when they really need a 150. Oh, and never buy an airplane if you don't like it from the get go. Even if it has a ton of bells and whistles and should fit your mission best. If your guy doesn't like the toy, he won't use it. It'll sit and rot and create bad PR.
Happy participants generate a buzz - new people will be coming in because they want to. Provide information, but don't overstretch it - "Oh, those two guys could have become pilots and airplane owners and valuable members of the flying society if only someone knocked on their door and handed them a brochure and told them how great it is". Bulls__t. If they so wanted to, they'd find a way. Many people I started flying with don't do it anymore. Some have found other, more fulfilling hobbies (believe it or not. Scuba diving is one), some just never wanted it that bad.
My college buddy always wanted to fly. We built close to a gazillion scaled models together, and would talk airplanes over the beer (instead of the normal freshman year subjects) every time. Fast forward a few years - I found a place to fly (only a two hour drive from the city) and was flying there for a while. He wanted to come every single Saturday and never did. First time I managed to drag him out was by an evil plot - I stuck him into the car and drove him there. He loved flying. Said he was a fool not to have done it earlier.
Another few months of "this coming Saturday I'm gonna come over". Finally it ended up in a "aw, screw you, not talking to you about flying ever again" conversation and sure enough, a couple of hours later he was at the airport. Made good progress to pre-solo in just a few flight hours. That was seven years ago. He still comes out to the airport here and there for an hour or two. Hasn't soloed yet. Says he'll come over for a visit and we'll go fly.
Another friend started flying because he was... very uncomfortable flying airlines. Some barriers on the way, but now he's been coast to coast and up and down this country a few times is his 172XP. Because he really wanted to do it this way.
So... Instead of the "aviation is dying we need more new pilots!" let's just keep making aviation fun.
"Because being a part of something that is dying stinks"(c)
*Please don't confuse providing information with education. Not everyone enjoys being a "student pilot", moreover permanently. If you're an instructor, that guy in the left seat is a paying customer, not "my student Joe". Besides the retarded lawsuits and resulting liability insurance for anything and everything, that loss of connection with the entry level is the greatest evil that hurts GA.
P.S. In retrospect, in my daily activities I feel like an aviation motivational speaker that happens to be selling airplanes
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