Marketing nowadays has become much more complex than simply selling a certain product. In our society with all the new advancements and modern technology it is easier to market through different outlets but it has become harder to keep your audience interested. It requires more thought and creativity to be able to appeal to the larger audience. There are many ways in which companies choose to advertise their brand and usually they will try to sell more of a value or lifestyle rather than the actual product in order to give a personal appeal to the consumers.
Major corporations such as Coca-Cola, McDonald´s, Starbucks, and Apple all share the similarity that they have loyal customers in which they have acquired through their brand marketing. They give their customers a sense of comfort and familiarity. This has made customers loyal to them over the years. Now these major corporations have evangelist customers that almost do their marketing for themby word of mouth. Evangelist customers love a brand so much that they tell others about it and encourage them to see for themselves. Starbucks is a great example of evangelism marketing because they have extremely loyal customers. Starbucks does a great job of marketing on their own as well by engaging the customers by writing their names on the cups, asking for customers thoughts and ideas through social media or their website, and they are open to suggestions. For example, the Starbucks cup contest, where customers could submit their designs for a new cup, was a brilliant way to engage their customers and make them feel involved.
Customers usually are not impressed by companies who make it obvious that their main goal is to make money. In marketing it is important to show the customers that they will be the one´s benefiting from it as opposed to the producer. Marketing has become more popular now with all of the social media outlets that can facilitate the process. Another example from Starbucks was their“tweet-a-coffee”campaign. It was a cool and creative idea where one could link their Starbucks card or credit card to their twitter and gift a coffee to a friend through social media.
McDonald´s recently made a great move in terms of social media marketing by being the first brand to use snap chats latest sponsored geofilters. This was smart because it is just a fun way for customers and snap chat users to acknowledge the brand and their love for it plus it is also just a funny thing to do. This is a great way for them to engage their customers even more and it would not be possible without social media.
sammydavidoff 