Space Marketing Podcast - Julie Bonner with Freefall Aerospace

[00:00:00] My dad works in B2B Marketing, but I never really knew what that meant. Then one day my dad came by my school for career day and told everyone in my class he was a big

[00:00:09] ROAS man. Then he just kept saying things like, the bigger the ROAS the better. Over and over. My friends still laugh at me to this day. I think it means calculating a return on ad spend?

[00:00:23] One thing's for sure. I'll be known as the ROAS man's kid for the rest of my days. Why can't you just be a fireman or a lawyer? Why? You ruined my life dad.

[00:00:34] Not everyone gets B2B, but LinkedIn has the people who do. And with ads on LinkedIn, you'll be able to reach people based on job title, industry, likelihood to buy, and more. Start converting your B2B audience into high quality leads today. We'll even give you a

[00:00:48] hundred dollar credit on your next ad campaign. Go to linkedin.com.npn to claim your credit. That's linkedin.com.npn. Terms and conditions apply. LinkedIn, the place to be. To be. Welcome to the Space Marketing Podcast, where we look at marketing principles,

[00:01:35] strategies and tactics through the lens of space. Hi, I am your host Izzy House. And I am so excited to share my journey with you as we explore the different space industries. On this episode,

[00:01:50] we will look at the satellite segment with Julie Bonner, Creative Director for Free Fall Aerospace. So lift off in three, two, one. Welcome to the Space Marketing Podcast. Information relating to our discussion today

[00:02:17] and links to the video version can be found in the episode show notes on space marketing podcast.com. Please like and subscribe to the podcast. It will help more people reach beyond the atmosphere. Information in this episode is for entertainment and information only. Please consult a professional

[00:02:40] for your specific situation. Our next guest is Julie Bonner, Creative Director from Free Fall Aerospace. Free Fall is developing revolutionary antennas for satellite communications. They provide high gain telecom over a wide field of view with efficient beam steering by coupling

[00:03:02] their phased array line feed with a spherical reflector. That means that significantly reduced weight and complexity for ground stations or spacecraft antennas. And the result is more data when and where it is needed at a minimum cost. So Julie, welcome to the podcast.

[00:03:27] Thanks so much for having me. Happy to be here today. So it is a pleasure to meet you and what I like to do first is actually meet you. So why don't

[00:03:39] you tell us a little bit about you and how you got interested in space? I'm here in Tucson, Arizona and space kind of came to me. So let me explain that. My background is as a graphic

[00:03:54] designer and almost seven years ago, I had a freelance design project for Free Fall Aerospace. So that's how I was connected to a company building innovative antennas. And so they needed some new

[00:04:12] brand identity, marketing collateral, they're going to do a trade show. And so I was hired as a contractor to work with them. So that's how I actually connected with space. And I can't deny

[00:04:24] that I've always been fascinated by space, but this was my up close and personal lesson in learning about space and more importantly communications. You first linked to me and you tagged me and

[00:04:38] I'm like, oh, what is this? And I was curious because I had not seen Free Fall Aerospace before and that's really hard to say really fast. And but marketing tip for listeners, engage with

[00:04:51] people that you follow like or are connected because social media is not just a place to post your content. It is a place to actually meet people. And I was able to meet you via that post.

[00:05:06] I appreciate that. And I think that's a great tip. I think sometimes we may like like posts on LinkedIn, but really it's commenting and being engaged and asking questions is where we can start building those connections. Oh, and the questions are so important because, you know,

[00:05:25] like with me, I need to know what questions that, you know, the marketing professionals that are, you know, space curious want to know as well as the business owners that need some marketing

[00:05:38] tips. I need to know what you need to know. Right? It is so important to have that back and forth conversation, but I love LinkedIn because I get to meet very interesting companies and people

[00:05:50] in space and you are one of them. Thank you. When I looked up Free Fall, I'm like, wow, this is so cool. So do you want to tell us a little bit about what Free Fall does? Definitely.

[00:06:03] So one, I will actually just share where the name came from because some people are like, wait, what is this? And what does that mean? Go figure our co-founder and inventor of our technology. He is a professor of astronomy. So where the name Free Fall came is that

[00:06:22] anything in orbit is in a constant state of Free Fall. So it really ties back to their background in radio astronomy is where the name originated from and why Chris Walker is still

[00:06:34] a professor of astronomy at the University of Arizona. And that's where Free Fall spun out of. So almost, I think seven years now is when this technology Chris Walker had created this and

[00:06:48] they went through the incubator program at the University of Arizona. And then the U of A is who recommend that the leadership talk to me about helping them with their design and marketing.

[00:07:00] So that's how we got connected originally. And you mentioned in the beginning a bit about the technology, but if it's okay, I'll explain what you brought up. So what makes this technology so unique are a few things and it's sort of the coupling of a spherical reflector

[00:07:24] and also steering the beam around. And how this is different is from, you may have seen ground stations that are parabolic and you need to move the entire dish to point into connect with the

[00:07:39] satellites going over our technology is keeping a stationary reflector. So no need to adjust it and point it that's staying where it is. And we can steer the beam around this helps save on many

[00:07:52] things like power and what everyone cares about is cost. So lowering the costs also of providing this connectivity from space to ground. Well, in one of the pictures, it looked like it

[00:08:04] was a balloon that turned into a dish. So that was extremely interesting. And I had never thought about that before. That's our technology in space. That's where things started for freefall was creating

[00:08:17] a really lightweight low mass inflatable antenna that you could launch into space. It would open up and deploy a very nice large aperture, but the weight would be so much far less. And obviously

[00:08:32] we know everything that you launch costs a lot of money. And it really is dependent on the weight and size. So here is a way to fit this technology in one or two years within a CubeSat

[00:08:43] or small sat and get it up to space and then provide connectivity and data back down earth. So that's the inflatable CubeSat antenna. That is awesome. When we first started, it was over an article that I had posted about the importance of having a marketing professional

[00:09:02] on your team for a space company because space is kind of new to the game of promotion, outreach and marketing. And your title is just as important in this discussion as the freefall part because you're a creative director. So you want to tell us a little bit

[00:09:21] about what it is you do for freefall and the importance of marketing and promotion in the company. My title is director of communications and you may be referencing two of my past titles in other positions where art director, creative director. And so that kind of shows my background

[00:09:41] in design and sort of managing everything for a brand, especially the visual side of things. So like many other people you probably are talking to, I'm sort of the creative department, the PR, the marketing within a small company. So we're a company of about 10 people and everyone

[00:10:03] else is an amazing engineering expert. And then I'm here to help communicate what they're doing with potential customers, with the public and engage with our community. So you do a lot, wear many hats and it's very hashtag startup life, I would say. It's important to note that

[00:10:24] having even just one person on your team that understands marketing and understands promotion, they're able to get what you need outside of the actual company and not have a full staff. So but if you're just, you know, the bookkeeper or something, you're not going to understand

[00:10:44] the what is good and what it's not, what is attractive, what is connective. And so you want to talk about maybe some of that, what does your day look like? Well, and I'll add to what you're

[00:10:59] saying. I think one of the pieces is the leadership recognizing the need to bring in someone on the marketing or design side. And I was brought in, like I mentioned almost seven years ago,

[00:11:11] I was like the fifth or sixth, I think fifth employee with Freefall Aerospace. So that contracted design work actually led into a full time position because Doug Stetson recognize the need and the importance of having quality and professional work designed and communicated

[00:11:33] from I think a fairly early time in the company. But I think it shows recognizing the importance of that where someone like me can help take a company as they're growing. Many times we see case studies and when we look at a successful company, we don't see

[00:11:52] the blood, sweat and tears that go on behind the scenes. So what are some of your marketing challenges that you've encountered, you know, in your journey with Freefall? I'm sure that many tech companies or people handling the marketing can relate. So one of

[00:12:08] them is definitely creating new technology. So so the company's developing new technology it's probably innovative. People don't necessarily understand how it works just yet. And so explaining how does this new piece work? Why is it better? Who can it help?

[00:12:29] And a big tool for me is working with a local animation company here in Tucson. And so, you know, my background is in design, but I work with it and animators just a few blocks away

[00:12:41] to help bring that tool into our toolbox. And so that quickly with animation or video, I can show customers this is how it works. Here's why it's better. Here's how it benefits you.

[00:12:54] And so I think having those type of tools are so beneficial when it's something new and people don't understand it exactly just yet. So you're like showing versus telling. And I'd like to point out that you said how it benefits them

[00:13:10] that you are not sitting there trying to make a widget and force it down their throat. You're showing them how it benefits them. Yes, and another piece. So the them is obviously our

[00:13:23] customers. And so we're in a B2B business. And like you mentioned, we met on LinkedIn. So that's on behalf of Freefall. That's where I'm spending more of my time on social, is on LinkedIn for the company. The other challenge that I was going to mention,

[00:13:36] and this ties right in, is the them. I can't always speak about who they are. And so that's a tricky part as a marketer. I would love to share the companies that we've been working with. And at some point that should happen. But for now, I can't.

[00:13:53] And so that's another challenge in this line of work with new technology, research, design, prototyping. New things that are coming is you can't always share. And a smaller company like us would love to be able to share the names of some of these larger

[00:14:08] companies that we're working with. So that's a definite challenge. And I'm hoping though over the next year, I'll be able to share more about who those people may those companies maybe. Let's just say they're big. Yeah. Yeah. And yes. And so I think that's,

[00:14:25] I mean, that's a challenge and sort of I think the tech world. You're working on new things. You sign NDAs. And you know, that's where we're at. So. But I would like to point out that does

[00:14:37] not mean that you don't do marketing and you don't do promotion. One of the things in, I actually have a book about space marketing. And one of the challenges I put in there is

[00:14:48] the secrecy. So you get a lot of companies that are like, oh, we don't want to talk about what it is that we do. Well, if you don't talk about what you do, there's ways you can talk about it.

[00:15:02] But if you don't talk about it at all, then it's like you don't exist. You don't exist. Guess what? You don't get the investment dollars. You don't get the customers. You don't get the

[00:15:13] thought leadership and you cease to exist. I would say this, if you don't have sort of anything out there, if you're asking for funding and you don't even have a website,

[00:15:26] you don't have any sort of, you're not very searchable. You don't show sort of a track record of some of your milestones or what you're up to. Those are all things that people are searching. They're checking you out before you can even move to that next conversation.

[00:15:43] So it is important to have a presence. Have a consistent brand. Obviously I'm talking about design. Wait, where's my logo? I designed this logo so you better believe it's painted on our conference room and it's on the sign outside our building. And when we do events,

[00:16:03] the trade show graphics are right there. And so having that consistent brand, whether it's in person or it's making sure our LinkedIn looks consistent to our site and consistent and on and on. So it's building that brand and having consistent branding.

[00:16:21] And it's professional. Yes. And it's getting your story out there. And you don't have to give away your secrets, but you do have to share your stories and make it about your customer

[00:16:36] you can't name their story as much as you can with a non-disclosure. So there are some ways that you can work with what you have. Right. Hold on to your boosters. We will be right back

[00:16:50] with guest Julie Bonner, communications director for freefall aerospace after a brief message from our sponsors. Please like and subscribe to the space marketing podcast wherever you listen. You may know you're listening to this show along the marketing podcast network,

[00:17:16] but did you know there are other great shows on MPN to help your business? Christie Heiler hosts a fantastic podcast called Own It. Christie, tell us more about the show. Own It is all about celebrating women and non-binary advertising agency owners. We talk

[00:17:31] about buying out of the boys club of advertising because less than 1% of ad agencies are owned by women. And where can people subscribe? You can find the podcast at until you own it.com. We're also on the marketing podcast network at marketingpodcast.net. And of course,

[00:17:46] you can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You heard her go subscribe. In the incubator that I was first part of it was a technology incubator. They had some incredible tech out there that could have really solved a lot of global problems, but nobody knew they existed.

[00:18:05] And so those solutions, those cure for cancers, you know, are sitting in a file box in some storage unit gathering dust. So you got to be out there and back to the investors. If you're

[00:18:21] presenting to an investor and you don't have a nice looking PowerPoint that has a really strong story in it, which marketing professionals know how to craft. Then if they have 20 people that are

[00:18:36] presenting to them, they're only going to remember the ones with the really good stories of why they should invest in them and who they are. So even if it doesn't go outside of the board room,

[00:18:50] you still need to have this type of professional position in your company. It really does make a difference. Agreed. We're tweaking our pitch deck again right now and that it's a work in progress

[00:19:06] and it's sometimes changes and also tailoring it to who you're speaking to. So that's important. Absolutely. You got to know them. So once you figure them out and what they're looking for,

[00:19:21] then you craft your story to hone in on that so that they feel it. They feel you and so that's important. So time to toot your horn. What are some marketing successes that you've had with freefall?

[00:19:40] You know what's so funny? I had to write down a few things because I feel like in this world, you move so fast and so I'm always onto the next thing. The next thing.

[00:19:49] I'm like and so looking back though, I think you know I feel proud of this brand that I helped create from scratch. So I would say the biggest pieces coming in learning about the technology.

[00:20:07] I have fantastic people on the team here to teach me all kinds of things and about how things work sometimes a little too much detail. You know if you're an engineer, you know what I'm

[00:20:18] talking about. But you know learning all about this and understanding who the customers are and then creating a brand that's like we mentioned professional speaks to the problems we're trying to solve has interesting and engaging sort of graphics

[00:20:37] to catch attention but also to show what we're talking about. And so I for me, I think the biggest thing is just building this brand over time and it's it you know you

[00:20:47] can't do it in a day and sometimes people get confused about the word brand too. And although I'm a graphic designer and I would love to think the logo is the only important thing about your

[00:20:58] brand, it's really what your customers think about you. So it's not just the visual stuff I'm talking about but it's like your messaging. It's how you treat your customers. It's are you a great collaborator. It's all those things put together. So I think I helped create this

[00:21:18] foundation and to help with this amazing technology. So I'm like you know a little piece of this team here so it's great. And your customers and your clients and your audience they decide

[00:21:33] who your brand is. I mean you can control it to a certain point but you know at the end of the day it's it's how they they feel when they see your brand. It's the connection

[00:21:44] the emotional connection that happens. So if they had a bad experience with somebody that is you know not even a public facing person you know that's what they're gonna feel. So having happy people on your staff and having a consistent message with your staff

[00:22:03] even the person that has nothing to do with it as long as they it's important that they understand the message that you're trying to get across too. Marketing is everything that you do. Yes I'll add

[00:22:17] to this stuff about sort of the staff and environment too like I feel fortunate to work with I keep mentioning really smart people but also kind people and our leadership including Doug Stetson and now Dan Jirasi is our new CEO here. Create this environment of

[00:22:39] collaboration, engagement it's just a nice place to come to work so I think that sets a real tone. Being able to hopefully share that in if you noticed sharing like our company photo like

[00:22:54] it had it had our dogs in it we have portraits of our office dogs they're here so if they bark that's why like they're here. That is so cool. Yeah so just like this sort of great environment to

[00:23:07] work and then it's just a pleasure being here and it's a pleasure for me to share you know what we're working on. A point that I mentioned before in another interview with Nat is that

[00:23:19] you know as a creative person you are kind of the filter of what you're experiencing and if you don't have a good experience day to day it's going to show in your work you can't help it.

[00:23:34] I remember the first time I realized this I was friends with another graphic person and she was miserable and she had to do this carousel art and there was a really bad thing going on at work and the tiger on this particular picture that she had created

[00:23:58] looked so sad because you know that's what she was feeling when she was coming in and she didn't even know that the expression on the tiger that she had created was a sad expression it just was

[00:24:10] like an echo of her so that's when I realized we kind of amplify whatever the mood is and without even meaning to so it's really important to make sure that your creative people feel valued

[00:24:28] feel happy and that they get to they get to build their craft as well so like an engineer when they create parts and it works there's no other joy in the world that can beat that

[00:24:43] and we too have a craft and so when we build parts and then we see it work man that is just the coolest day ever. I will emphasize the part about feeling valued and I could tell just even during my experience contracting doing design work and marketing

[00:25:07] collateral for Doug Stetson how he valued what I did and so that was a big reason for me to accept coming full-time and all these years later I still feel valued for what I'm doing and I think

[00:25:20] you're right that is so key especially as a creative you know I also got into being a creator because I love I love seeing like the tangible things that we're creating and like people

[00:25:32] using them and so it feels really good to be in an atmosphere like that and yeah that's I think that's why creative can thrive is if they have that kind of support

[00:25:46] from their team. And who doesn't love to play with the beautiful images of space? Oh my gosh yeah it's inspirational it's positive it's it's just it's amazing I love the space

[00:26:01] and so speaking of space okay where do you see the space industry going and like maybe just the satellite in particular the satellite ground station where do you see them going in the next

[00:26:15] 10 to 20 years what can we look forward to? Well I think when you think about being in space obviously life support is it like the number one but I feel like number two is communication

[00:26:31] and there's no reason to send things up there or to live there or yeah do research if we can't get the data back down and learn like what's happening or people can't communicate with each other so

[00:26:44] our line of work in the communications industry is like I think crucial in the future and you know we're still working on stuff down on earth too and so I'm sure we've all heard of the you know

[00:26:57] bridging the digital divide but there's many people here without connectivity and so it's going to be sort of the same thing on space so if you can relate it like staying connected like these people on earth need connectivity to thrive and so we're creating these ground stations

[00:27:16] that will work in remote areas and so space is just like another level of that so keep getting people connected so that they can like live as they should be is very important so I think

[00:27:29] that's where things are going. And with small populations you know communications with the outside world pun intended I guess is so important is like if you have a moon base you know being able

[00:27:45] to talk with family and during COVID we got to experience a lot of that isolation so and the internet became a lifeline for a lot of us and it opened up space for me because I was able

[00:28:06] to connect with people that were in different continents and that's just so awesome and everybody needs that even if going on to the moon and to Mars and to beyond so you know he's critical yes

[00:28:24] for sure well-being right for well-being yes so so uh last question of the day and I always ask is what thoughts do you want to leave our audience with today what do you want them to mull around

[00:28:39] as they go about their day going hmm that's pretty interesting I need to look look into that okay there's so there's actually so many things but I would say one where I can really speak

[00:28:52] to the most is um bringing creatives into your team and realizing that having people of different sort of uh perspectives only makes you stronger can bring like fresh ideas can help complement

[00:29:13] what you're already doing and so you know when I was three I said I wanted to be an artist and I am actually a fine artist too um but uh never did I think I'd be working in the space industry

[00:29:26] I just didn't connect those dots this is kind of an interesting path that I'm I'm here at this point but I feel like opening up space to everyone so not just like the engineering route but you can

[00:29:41] be a creative and and be integral in the space industry so that's kind of where I'll leave it that spaces is open to everyone and everyone's gonna be a part of it and it'll be it'll be a very important piece I think is having people with different

[00:30:00] thoughts and ideas like around the table around the world so and as creatives you know I'm a fine artist as well and you know we have a different perspective and we can see we see things

[00:30:15] differently correct so and we're kind of I think a bridge between an engineer and the public you know so we can see we can see things like an engineer but we can translate you know what we see into

[00:30:33] different words so it's uh it may come up with solutions you know there may be something that is obvious to somebody with an art background that may not be obvious to who's looking at it at

[00:30:48] the time and so even in engineering the creatives can help figure out some solutions yeah I think I think where this aligns to with marketing and business so it's interesting we're in this we have

[00:31:03] very like a lot of similarities here is that artists have empathy I don't know an artist that isn't empathetic and I think that as marketers too we bring the empathy into the equation we understand we ask questions and how how do these people feel what's their problem

[00:31:25] putting yourself in someone else's shoes so I think that's another reason that artists or creatives can bring that to the table can bring that to a team and help them really think about not

[00:31:36] just like your own needs but like what really are the other people's needs absolutely so was I saw a look on your face and it looked like you might have had something else you wanted to talk about

[00:31:50] is there anything you want to talk about that we haven't covered well you know I would just say is you know I mentioned I'm in Tucson Arizona and I feel like Arizona there's a lot happening

[00:32:00] here in the space industry and it's not like a Houston or it's not you know it's not Texas or it's not Florida but there's a lot happening and even right in Tucson that people may not be aware of

[00:32:13] because we're like you know these different sort of smaller companies growing and creating really interesting technology so what I would say is um day when listening check out the Arizona Technology Council we're involved with that and it's a great way to see like the membership and what

[00:32:29] we're doing and right in this town we have Paragon they're creating life support systems we have um Phantom creating sort of new rockets and we're working on the communication side so I would just say to keep your eye on what's happening in Arizona and specifically

[00:32:47] Tucson for the future of space and education Arizona State University is leading the way in traditional education um in in space I mean they I've attended some things from ASU that um all

[00:33:05] the way I live in Kentucky so they are doing a wonderful job and there's just so much awesome stuff I've actually gotten some quite a few guests from Paragon oh yeah we've actually interviewed

[00:33:20] them and the Arizona Spaceport Alliance we've had those on so you know there's just so much going on in Arizona and hats off to Arizona yeah it's just I I'm like so happy that we're part of it

[00:33:35] and one of my goals is just um connecting with the community and and helping out and I love I'm involved with She-Tech which is bringing in 500 high school female students once a year and

[00:33:49] I do workshops with them and exposing them to sort of the space industry and possibilities and so there's a lot of great stuff happening and I especially love I love sort of that like you

[00:33:59] mentioned education piece and then especially uh the youth and and um getting people involved with STEM I it's I love that so much fun well and if if you listen to my show that you know

[00:34:12] that education is my most favorite marketing strategy ever because you're making somebody better and you know educating is how NASA was able to get the Apollo program off the ground is through education so and I believe it's vital and and I think the schools if we can

[00:34:35] get more STEM and more focus on workforce development that would that would be a very good thing seeing some trends that kind of bother me with STEM you know in the school system so

[00:34:48] you know I love the fact of what ASU is doing and keep on and I'll plug to you I'll plug to U of A too because many of my colleagues went to University of Arizona there may be a rivalry I

[00:35:02] don't know well they're both awesome they are both awesome a special thanks to Julie Bonner head of communications for freefall aerospace for sharing her journey to space be sure to check out her links listed in today's show notes please like and subscribe to the space marketing podcast

[00:35:23] so you can help get the word out about this incredible industry of space I hope that you have found this podcast useful for your journey as you reach for the stars you may know you're listening to this show along the marketing podcast network but did you know

[00:35:51] there are other great shows on mpn to help your business Robbie Samuels hosts the on the schmooze podcast Robbie tell listeners what to expect from the show since 2015 I've interviewed entrepreneurs who overcame challenges to achieve success in their field or industry tune into on

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