Marketing Strategies
A well-carved thought process!
Inventing and production of a product or a service is never enough. People have to buy it to make the venture a success. And let’s face it, for every penny a human being spends, he needs to be convinced that the penny spent will earn him value. To convince customers of a product, companies must promote it.
Numerous sleepless nights are invested in promoting the products. Textbooks and Google says that there are 4 P’s of marketing: Place, Price, Product and Promotion. Every element of marketing is a world in itself. Market research, consumer response all plays a huge part in a successful marketing campaign. We have discussed some popular marketing strategies that have worked in the past and some that are working successfully till date in this blog.
4 P's Of Marketing
McDonald’s Marketing Strategy:
McDonald’s has been one of the leading food chains in terms of sales and volume for quite a few years now. If you are a city person, a McDonald treat once a moth is an obvious dinner alternative! Started from a small hamburger restaurant in California, how did McDonald’s embark on the path of becoming the largest food chain across the globe? The answer lies in the unique marketing strategy of the fast food chain.
McDonald’s offer its customers a wide variety of choice in its menu option. And not only that, McDonald’s ensures that the choice of menu is according to the region in which it is selling. For example, in the Western market, beef hamburgers are a very popular choice. But when McDonald’s opened its franchise in India, it shifted to chicken hamburgers for the Indian market where beef is not acceptable. Also, it introduced options like aloo-tikki burgers for the large Indian vegetarian base. This is known as the ‘Product’ base of a marketing strategy.
McDonald’s directly market itself to children who in turn coaxes their parents for a McDonald’s treat.
Research shows by the age of three, children are able to understand the difference between television programs and commercials. McDonald has targeted the children as customers by advertising Happy Meals and fun toys.
The Happy Meal bag contains games and pictures for children to occupy them while eating. It also blends movie and cartoon characters to further drive the emotional instincts of children. It ensures an emotional attachment of children to the McDonald’s brand. The website is also another form of advertising. It is highly interactive and works to promote the toys as well as engage children in puzzles, games and coloring activities.
Uniquely, McDonald’s does not stop at toys and Happy Meals. It has created a notion of ‘learning’ among parents and children by offering educational materials.
Do you see how McDonald’s has successfully captured the market by targeting children? Fascinating, isn’t it?
The OLA electric scooter launch
A very recent marketing strategy that gained a huge positive response is OLA launched its electric scooter on 15th August 2021. But even before the announcement of launch date, OLA scooter captured the market in a matter of time. It was reported that on the first day of Ola Scooter Booking, more than 1 lakh people had booked the scooter.
A very recent marketing strategy that gained a huge positive response is OLA launched its electric scooter on 15th August 2021. But even before the announcement of launch date, OLA scooter captured the market in a matter of time. It was reported that on the first day of Ola Scooter Booking, more than 1 lakh people had booked the scooter.
We can easily say that modern technology; a price targeted consumer base combined with the reputation of OLA has factored in the success of OLA electric scooters.
The Freedom 251 is a smartphone that came into the Indian market with a mere price of INR251/- in February 2016. It was marketed by Ringing Bells as the world’s cheapest smartphone. The promotional price was only offered for a time period of 3 days. As expected the traffic for online booking of the smartphone was so high that the site crashed on the very first day itself.
The Indian Cellular Association doubted the smartphone from the very beginning. It also complained that senior members of the government had been present on the launch event for the smartphone. On 20 February2016, the Ringing Bells offices were raided by government officials demanding answers as to why the product does not have a Bureau of Indian standards certification.
The lowest price ever seen for a smartphone along with political associations made Freedom 251 a huge success. But the unrealistic price charge soon got the smartphone in controversies of fraud from which it never recovered. Some comment that the phone looked like a Chinese cellphone in which the original brand was disguised by use of whitener. Many were arrested in the scam and the circulation of the phone was prohibited.
The 21-day Marketing Strategy
One popular way to build a habit is the 21-days strategy. It says that you have to commit to a goal for straight 21 days in turn to make it a habit. Similarly, the 21 days marketing strategy uses the concept of targeting a potential customer’s mind. When a viewer sees an advertisement for 3 weeks straight, he is convinced to buy the product. Once he is convinced, there is no going back for the marketer. The main tactics for this marketing strategy is a presenting an advertisement that people can connect with. This strategy worked in favor for large business houses in the past. One such company is Coca-Cola, the soft drink brand.
Every commercial on the television, each advertisement before YouTube videos possesses a story and screenplay written behind to convince you in buying the product. It is a well thought process that is a very essential component of marketing. Using innovative marketing strategies you are made to buy the product in your mind. And a product is bought in thee mind, no one can convince you to un-buy it. Ultimately, you end up purchasing the product!