If you’ve ever tried to sell a very specific type of aircraft—say a warbird, a turbine Bonanza, or something rare and beautiful like a Stewart 51 Mustang—you may have run into a familiar wall: everyone who might want it already knows about it. You’ve emailed, posted, boosted, listed, and re-listed. Then, silence. That’s not a reflection on the aircraft—it’s called advertising fatigue, and yes, it’s real.
At AirSpace, we’ve learned to recognize the signs and structure our process to avoid it—or at least outpace it.
Our Process: Built to Maximize Visibility Before Saturation Sets In
When we take on an aircraft listing—whether it’s a pristine Beechcraft, a single-engine Cessna time-builder, or a one-of-a-kind piston-powered experimental—we follow a rhythm that’s designed to build awareness without exhausting the audience.
- Contract: We begin with clarity—everyone involved knows what we’re doing, how we’re doing it, and who’s on first.
- Documentation: Logbooks, maintenance records, photos, and a proper spec sheet. This is what serious student pilots and experienced buyers require, why not give it up front?
- Listing: We publish the aircraft on our platform and push it to high-visibility channels—nothing static, no dusty hangar corners.
- Exposure: Over the next couple of weeks, the aircraft shows up across our media network, through social, SEO, direct outreach, and email campaigns.
- Boosts: As we get closer to the auction date, we re-engage the audience—targeted ads, reposts, and reminders designed to stir that “now or never” urgency.
- Saturation: This is the magic moment. Ideally, this is when interest is peaking and new eyeballs are still arriving.
- Auction: We aim to cross the finish line before the audience tunes out—and that’s where timing makes all the difference.
But Sometimes… We Miss It by That Much
Let’s be honest. Sometimes we overshoot. Maybe the campaign’s a week too long. Maybe everyone who was going to call already did—and didn’t. We’ve been there.
And sometimes I’ll admit—Lisa here, the one who builds the timing strategy—I’ll say “we’re not quite there yet,” and then… crickets. That’s ad fatigue. It could be the plane, it could be the market, sometimes the only way to know is to back off and start fresh at another time.
The Wild Card: Enter the Stranger
And then, just when we think it’s time to pull the plug, someone new shows up. The one person who hadn’t seen it before. They’re not your typical type-rating-checking, line-item-scanning buyer. They’re curious. They’re excited. And they’re ready to buy.
That’s the kind of person a Stewart 51 attracts—someone who’s not just a buyer, but an adventurer. That’s why we keep the faith even when the metrics say it’s gone cold.
Different Planes, Different Buyers
If you’ve sold enough aircraft, you know that a Beechcraft buyer is going to want every detail. They’ll ask smart questions, inspect the logs, and check AD history line by line.
But list an experimental, and the pattern shifts. These buyers move fast. After checking initial build quality, they trust their instincts. When it’s right, they pounce.
We keep those patterns in mind as we shape each campaign—because the same approach doesn’t work for a Cessna 152 time-builder and a turbine Bonanza. One needs mass exposure to student pilots and instructors; the other may only appeal to a handful of deeply experienced aviators.
A Word from the Team
Lisa Hutton, Operations Manager at AirSpace:
“Part of our job is knowing when to push—and when to pause. Aircraft listings aren’t evergreen. They have a shelf life, and we time that exposure curve just right so we are in full momentum when its time for the auction, before that curve dips.”
Matt Hutton, President of Business Development at AirSpace:
“We stay close to the market. We’re talking to buyers, brokers, and shops every day, and that helps us stay in rhythm with what’s hot, what’s cooled off, and when to go full throttle.”
In Summary
Advertising fatigue is real—and especially for niche, high-value aircraft, the window for peak engagement is narrow. At AirSpace, we don’t just list aircraft—we manage exposure cycles. We adapt to each listing, each audience, and each unexpected curveball. Sometimes, we even laugh at ourselves when we miss the mark. Then we regroup, recalibrate, and find the right buyer anyway.
Because whether you’re selling a student pilot’s first piston single or a one-of-one warbird, timing matters. And we’re here to make sure we don’t just market your aircraft—we move it.