Marketing strategies of the top 5 companies

Marketing strategies is a heart of a business plan and play a very important role in promoting the brand. The result of the success of some of the top companies is there long and consistent win over the marketing strategies.

Today they are more than just a brand. So, what makes the marketing strategies of these companies better than their competitor’s. Do they do anything different?

Let’s look at the approach of each of these brands.

1) Apple

This brand is the result of years workmanship, unique thinking and its ability to captures and reinforces the company’s unique vision and cult-like culture. The visionary, Steve Jobs “Think different” mindset isn’t just a tagline today.

So, what makes Apple stay at the top, how do they do it?

Ignore criticism:

“Great ideas often receive violent opposition from mediocre minds.” – Albert Einstein

As an entrepreneur, you will be questioned, laughed upon and commented on your unique ideas. The success lies how well you overcome and deal with your critics and not let it come on your way.

When Steve Jobs first introduced the iPad, the critics said that it would fail.

Turning the ordinary into extraordinary:

The magic lies in thinking beyond what is ordinary and possible. Apple pioneered not only the features of a standard operating system and computer system but also reinventing the design standards. As a result, you can see the lovely iMac, MacBook Air, and the amazing iPhone series.

Justified pricing

Pricing is a major factor in your marketing strategies that would decide whether your products would sell or not. Many entrepreneurs face this challenge and prefer to keep their prices low instead of pricing strategically to a market that can bear the cost.

Apple charges double than what their competitors charge, and the audience is ready to pay, that is because they justify their price with features and benefits that can’t be matched.

Keep it simple:

Always communicate to the audience in a way that they understand. This has been a major advantage of Apple. A look at Apple’s webpage will make you agree to this. Their product specification and technical information is appealing to all the segments of the market.

More than a brand

Apple today is not just a brand, it is “the name”. We don’t just buy an MP3 we but an iPod, we don’t buy a smartphone, we buy an iPhone. It is the name that separates Apple from the other brands. Today, it would be tough to replicate such line of products. The result is years of efforts put in the making of such products, understanding their customers and marketing them.

2) Google:

Can you think of any search engine which as popular as google? The company’s visionary mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. Google today does not require any promotional strategy. This is because it has projects which are built around research and development and does not have hardcore products to offer.

Here are the key marketing strategies that Google uses.

The power of less:

“ Less is more. Keeping it simple takes time and effort.” Jeff Bullas.

Entrepreneurs need to understand that sometimes offering too much information on a product also puts off a customer. Always keep it simple. Google gives you clean, simple and interference-free search page. When you open the google page you see the Google logo and the search bar and hence Google is preferred over the other search engines.

Give what the customer needs:

Roy H. Williams says “The first step in exceeding your customer’s expectations is to know those expectations.” Google does exactly the same. The leaders of Google understands what the customer needs and gives them what they want. It does not post ads on its website, they understood that when people want to find some information, they do not want to crowd it with stuff that is irrelevant.

Direct marketing and not brand marketing:

Business should aim at providing information or services that can be relied upon. Google does this most of time. It has everything that we would expect from a search engine, without having to pay for it. Google in a way does a direct marketing instead of a brand marketing.

Building on the brand than income:

This is one of the excellent strategies of google. The search engine, however, is available for free for its users and what generates the revenue is paid listings and advertisements on the search pages.

3) Coca-Cola:

Today Coca-Cola is the market leader in soft drink industry and operates in more than 200 countries. It has a strong brand presence across which has bought Coca-Cola a long way.

Let’s look at some of the marketing strategies that this brand has adopted over the years that makes it the market leader today.

Market Segmentation:

Market segmentation is very important for any business, whether it is a large business or a small scale. Understanding your consumer based on different factors will always help to shape your market strategies and eliminate the woes of “one products fits all”, which does not help.

Coca-Cola doesn’t target a specific segment but adapts its marketing strategy by developing new products.

Target marketing:

Coca-Cola uses a mix of undifferentiated and mass marketing strategies as well as niche marketing for certain products in order to drive sale in the competitive market. For instance, the Diet coke target the niche segment of people who are more health conscious.

Positioning Strategy:

The positioning of a product is very important in deciding the popularity of your brand in comparison to your competitor’s. How do you want your consumer to perceive your product is the question to ask.

Coca-Cola uses a competitive positioning strategy to be a way ahead of its competitors in the non-alcoholic beverage market.

One brand approach:

The new “one brand” approach has worked wonders for Coca-cola.

De Quinto said the ‘One Brand’ strategy will provide consumers with ‘more choices’ as the brand aims to promote responsible health choices in light of global calls for a crackdown on sugar.

4) Microsoft

Microsoft is the technology giant with offerings in personal computers, Consumer electronics, and computer software. It is the world largest and most valuable company which is in Forbes top.

Demographic and behavioral segmentation:

Microsoft uses both demographic and behavioral segmentation strategies to segment the market into groups with similar characteristics. Demographic segmentation is used for products like operating system and office products which are applicable to everyone. For windows server operating system or for windows mobile phones behavioral segmentation is used.

Targeting strategy:

Due to wide product and service portfolio, Microsoft uses a mix of differentiated and undifferentiated targeting strategy.

Branding:

Microsoft’s products and services underwent a turnaround recently to reposition itself as a value-based company means to enrich the lives of the individual worldwide.

Positioning:

The operating systems and software are simply top of the mind positioned. Due to its brand value, most of the products that get launched gets a good positioning.

5) Amazon

Amazon the is the world’s leading e-commerce portal today. There is hardly anything that you cannot find on Amazon. Due to Amazon’s global scope and reach, it is one of the most valuable brands

With the numerous and crazy amount of choices available for e-commerce sites, what makes Amazon win over its competitors? Let’s look at some of the strategies that amazon adopts

Widest range of Products:

If you are aiming at reaching into the lowest segment of the market, this is the first and foremost requirement. Having every kind of product available will make you more reliable.

Amazon products line include several media, apparel, baby products, consumers electronics, groceries, health, and personal care items…etc, the list is huge. This makes Amazon the first choice. Amazon segmentation targeting and positioning practices are associated with targeting the widest customer segment

User-friendly interface:

One of the prerequisites for any e-commerce site is the ease of the use, clutter-free web pages and easy categorization of the products, easy search which has made Amazon attract more traffic than any other site.

Easy Scaleup:

When you want your business to grow without hampering its structure or availability, this is step is the key. A system that scales well will be able to maintain or even increase its level of performance or efficiency when tested by larger operational demands.

This is a major challenge for most of the business ventures and not all succeed at it. Amazon has been successful in this is strategy and it is the key factor that separates it from its competitors.