Starbucks marketing strategy. Business & Marketing Term Paper

Starbucks Marketing Strategy
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Introduction
Starbucks is a coffee company that has a belief in the importance of having a great and enduring company that maintains a balance between social conscience and profitability. The company offers a wide range of products that customers can enjoy in their stores, on the go or at home such as, coffee, handcrafted beverages, merchandise and fresh food. The company started by traveling early to places where their coffee is being grown and understanding that the future of the company depends on famers and family futures. Therefore, the company nurture relationships and invested in building global networks that aided in creation of a new brand of coffee. Additionally, their stores are always welcoming and the heart of their neighborhood in order to create a positive impact in the world. Starbucks has one of the brands that is most recognized in the world with their recognition reaching epic heights. This has been aided by the marketing strength and commitment towards brand consistency. The following discussion explains Starbucks marketing mix under the different strategies it applied in marketing.
Positioning
The company has a marketing strategy that is unique which starts from its products. Ideally, the company has differentiated itself based on the high quality coffee it offers and its brand has spread in the world becoming a leading brand of coffee that is retailing. Starbucks operates a multinational brand with a new chapter that has opened in Asia. Basically, product differentiation based on quality has resulted in increased popularity and building customer loyalty. However, the company’s marketing strategy has not been limited to products only but the company is unique and great in other areas of promotions and marketing. The central pillar of the company’s marketing efforts is product quality. Ideally, this helps in reputation and brand image. At the stores, a lot of marketing takes place by use of brand merchandise with the addition of good customer service which creates a positive reputation to the brand. In the recent times, the company has invested in advertising and marketing that has increased sales and improved the awareness of the brand among people (Rahmani, 2015).
Segmenting
The company strives in building identity in its brand by giving customers an enjoyable and relaxing experience. This has been effective from the aspect of experiment of the brand which has been consistent and effective in the stores in the world. Starbucks has a different and unique approach for gathering insights from customers in comparison to other budgets in marketing research that are used by other global organizations. The company goes against the normal complex and rigorous customer surveys and choses informal and casual talks with their customers in order to know the overall mood. More so in understanding the experience gained from the store and gathering important feedback. Although Starbucks conducts marketing research to shape the strategies to market entry in other countries, the major aspect is that it does not have hard and compartmentalized view of knowing and understanding their customers. Therefore, the innovative and clever modes of understanding customers has enable the company to establish an iconic international brand resonated together with customers in the world for a long period of time (Van, 2016).
Ensuring an ethical brand
Additionally, Starbuck is responsible and observes social ethics in its all undertakings. The company carefully observes its purchasing practices which include showing support towards farmer loans and programs to conserve forests. The company also creates opportunities by training, educating and employing people. Moreover, the company also is an initiator of many programs that aim at reducing the company’s energy footprint by conservation of water and energy, green construction and recycling (Steenkamp, 2017).
Product branding
Starbucks observes branding as a major element and it has invested heavily in the creation of look and feeling that is standardized in its stores and merchandise. The company’s Siren logo has become one of the most logos that are recognizable in the world. Starbucks international expansion strategy is aimed at recreating the company’s experience in the new countries it enters resulting to similarity in experience in all its stores in the whole world. In the US, where the majority of stores are located, the company has adopted designs principles that are appealing in creating stores from shipping containers that are unused. The interiors of the containers are spruced up by artistic and clever ways by use of definite materials and lightning arrangements. Internationally, the strategy of the store is based on localizing of the elements in the store while on the other hand observing the true Starbucks experience. Starbucks brand stately has also moved with changes in order to take advantage of emerging and new platforms through which customers can be engaged. Through its website, customers are able to leave comment and ideas on the way the company can improve products and the experience of customers.
Product Promotion
Additionally, the company’s brand has been able to capture a good size of digital and social media presence that has been able to receive a new focus in the previous years. This strategy has been brought about by the need to engage with customers in a better way and also to be visible where future and target customers usually spend time online. Therefore, the company has a Facebook page which is active, Twitter account, Google + community, Instagram page, Pinterest page and a YouTube video channel. In 2015, the company joined with Duracell Powermat in an effort to remove wireless charging among the stores in UK hence, adding the customer experience and introducing innovation digitally in its stores. Additionally, the company has invested heavily in mobile marketing. The brand has successfully embraced innovation digitally through the development and removing an app used for payment, giving tips to baristas, redeeming rewards and earnings. Moreover, the company has successfully applied technologies such as QR codes, virtual cards and download coupon in promotional campaigns. In addition to this, the company has a leverage Artificial intelligence that allows its customers place orders by use of voice command and messaging interface by a mobile app resulting to a massive increase in customer engagement (Steenkamp, 2017).
Marketing
The company has been able to successfully launch an international branding campaign that included a day in Sta...