In 2003, Elizabeth Holmes became an overnight sensation when she founded Theranos. At the tender age of 19, she was the media darling as she became the CEO of Theranos, an American privately held corporation. It was hailed as a blood-testing company through which traces of every disease could be tracked without much difficulty. The blood-testing machine was termed as a revolution of sorts, and the company quickly rose to new heights. At one time, its market valuation was over 10 billion dollars.
Theranos turned out to be a fairytale and a great success story. Everyone saw it as the ultimate triumph as a teenager started a company, made it big in the market and redefined success. But later on, it was revealed that everything Elizabeth Holmes told us was a lie. There was no such machine that she claimed in the first place. And everything turned out to be a blatant lie.
From the above episode, one thing is for sure that the marketing of Theranos was exceptional. Nearly every other media house and social media channels were rife with the news of Theranos as the ultimate new company in the field of healthcare. Exceptional marketing is the basis for any company to achieve success in any marketplace; this is a definite requirement. The company’s goal was achieved within a few years. It is another story that everything they told was based on lies, fraud, and deceit.
So, can companies just bluff around and claim something to their audience that they do not have? Not quite. Of course, it is not the right way to go, but in marketing, companies do exaggerate things a bit.
Let me define the suspect and how most businesses succeed admirably through perfectly marketing their products and services.
We know the marketing tactics of famous companies like McDonald’s, Pepsi, and Microsoft. Similarly, Nike and Coca-Cola also have great marketing strategies as they engage their target audience throughout the year.
Let me discuss the marketing strategy of Nike and how it deals with the emotion of its target audience.
When you talk about Nike’s marketing strategy, it can be summarized as investing heavily in marketing. The use that every one of us can relate to. All of us know that Nike products are very expensive, but you still have many people going for it and a company with billions of dollars in revenue every year. Top athletes in the world are always associated with Nike, with the likes of Rafael Nadal and Cristiano Ronaldo, for example.
Nike spends millions of dollars on sponsorship deals and offers support to communities and clubs worldwide. The company believes in providing support to poor and needy people. Although companies term this as one way of doing their corporate social responsibility, it is also a type of marketing as the company’s name is highlighted during such campaigns.
In the case of Coca-Cola, it is related to the price discrimination strategy in its marketing mix. In case you don’t know, Coca-Cola works in the beverage market, which is considered an oligopoly. There are very few players in the market with a large number of consumers. Worldwide, Coca-Cola competes with Pepsi, and its marketing strategy usually revolves around what its rival company is doing.
Coke looks to dominate the market with a new product that can take the market by storm. In this way, they can get a huge first-mover advantage and can get the lion’s share of the market. Obviously, it is easier said than done because Pepsi also looks to apply the same strategies and launch new products regularly. That is why taut marketing is necessary to make things work in favour of any company.
Digital marketing is the way to go nowadays as businesses must think of innovative ways to target their current and potential customers. There can be four distinct marketing strategies, and I have already mentioned mass marketing in the case of Coca-Cola. The second one is differentiated marketing which targets large groups within the total market. The third one is nice marketing targeting high penetration within smaller segments. And the fourth one is micro marketing targeting individual customers or micro-segments.
Creating a marketing strategy uses different approaches and channels that a company can use. Exploring basic tactics and complicated processes is the way to go to come up with the exact way to make things work. Establishing a strong brand positioning is also critical so that a company can elevate its product and its features. You need to have a USP in your product to market it better; otherwise, you have to create stellar ads and marketing campaigns to get things done.
Standing your audience and discovering where would most likely be found is the way to go. Big brands like Coca-Cola and McDonald’s don’t have to find their target audience as most of them know these big companies. But of course, there are many small players in the market nowadays compared to three or four decades ago. And the freedom for big companies is now diminishing as smaller players are eating up their share.
It happened with smartphones as Samsung and Apple dominated the market scene for several years. But now, many smaller brands, especially small-time players, are dominating the market. And there is every reason for them to worry. Still, Samsung and Apple have a commanding share in the market, but they will likely go down in the coming few years. Moreover, with the price of flagship products continually increasing every year, most people now look towards budget phones and the features they find.
If you think that you can add something valuable to this blog or know something new about how to market a product, you are more than welcome to speak up. The readers of this blog always look towards something new, and information in this regard will be highly appreciated.
For any questions or feedback, please use the comments section below.
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