Marketing strategy does not happen at once. Crafting an excellent marketing strategy ensures you are targeting the right audience. The more time you spend creating a marketing strategy for your business, the more opportunities you create to boost your sales.
Therefore, you should create a top-quality marketing strategy for your company. How to create a marketing strategy? It is simple and easy.
You can analyze the marketing strategies of the following giants:
- Microsoft marketing strategy
- Dior marketing strategy analysis
- Mamaearth marketing strategy analysis
- Tesla Marketing Strategy
To help you master a lot of things for your business. You can learn about the upper mentioned brand’s top-performing products, their authorized sellers, advertising strategy, go-to-market strategies, and a lot more. In this way, you can apply those strategies to your business and achieve perfection in it.
With that in mind, we have created this article to give you an overview of Microsoft’s marketing strategies.
Here you go!
Marketing strategies of Microsoft
Microsoft, a leading American multinational company, copes with social networking services, software development, consumer electronics, cloud computing, and a lot more services. Do you not know how this company became a giant in the industry?
Read out its marketing mix – 4Ps strategy.
The marketing mix is the blend of the most crucial elements of the business. These are the important factors of a business:
- Product
- Place
- Price
- Promotion
Let’s read out the following vital business elements.
Product Mix
Product is the specific item that fixes customers’ needs and meets their needs. On the other hand, the assortment of that product is called a product mix. With that in mind, Microsoft handles both software and hardware products.
The software products of Microsoft include Windows OS and Microsoft Office. Its hardware products include tablets, laptops, computers, phones, and Xbox. It means that this brand has a top-notch product portfolio. A portion of all profits made from the sale of third-party apps through Microsoft’s online stores is retained by this brand.
The Xbox, Windows, and associated gaming software are all included in the Games product line. The business also retains a portion of every movie and music sale made through its website under the Entertainment category. This component of Microsoft’s marketing mix reflects the expanding product diversity of the business.
Price Mix
The prices influence Microsoft’s product success in the market. This brand uses the following pricing strategies:
- Freemium pricing strategy
- Market competitive pricing strategy
- Buy only what pricing strategy you use
In the freemium pricing strategy, users are offered a basic version of the product for free but must pay for premium versions. In the market competitive pricing strategy, the company determines the prices of many of its products in response to market forces including competitors’ prices and consumer demand.
On devices with a screen size no greater than 10 inches, Microsoft’s Office 365 cloud productivity suite is provided at no cost. You need to pay a fee for using the suite on larger devices.
By providing a free trial of Office 365, the corporation can demonstrate the value of the software to potential consumers and win them over.
As a result, Microsoft has been adapting its pricing methods to meet the demands of the evolving computer hardware and software market and the increased competition from other technology companies, as seen by this aspect of the marketing mix.
Place Mix
Microsoft needs to reach as many people as possible in the computer hardware and software market. In this part of the marketing mix, the places where customers can do business are thought about.
In the case of Microsoft, products are sold in the official websites Microsoft Stores, and authorized sellers. Customers can find, buy, or download software through Microsoft’s official website and online store. This online place brings in a lot of money for the company.
On the other hand, Microsoft Stores are real places where people can buy things like smartphones and Xbox units. Even though not many of them, these stores are another direct way for the company to promote its brand and improve the customer experience.
This part of the marketing mix shows that Microsoft is expanding its reach to the global computer hardware and software market. This helps the company’s efforts to make everyone a customer, which are emphasized in its vision and mission statements.
Plus, the company’s authorized sellers offer a direct way to sell and market products. These sellers, who are usually in key business areas worldwide, help the company reach its target markets.
Promotion Mix
In this part of the marketing mix, Microsoft focuses on effective communication strategies and tactics to attract its target customers.
Microsoft’s marketing mix is based on the following strategies:
- Advertising
- Sales promotions
- Marketing directly
- Personal selling
- Public relations
Advertising like the “Women Made” Super Bowl ad, which improves the company’s image, is Microsoft’s biggest cost for marketing. In sales promotions, the company gives discounts and other perks to customers to attract them.
For example, students and veterans can get discounts on the company’s products. On the other hand, the company sells to organizations like educational institutions through direct marketing. In personal selling, people who work at the Microsoft Store show potential buyers products and tell them about their features.
Discounts for military members are also a public relations strategy for the company, but Microsoft Philanthropies is where most of the company’s PR work is done.
Through this philanthropic arm, donations and other related activities are made. For example, the company gives away computer hardware and software to non-profit groups and gives money to programs that help youth.
SWOT Analysis of Microsoft
The SWOT of Microsoft helps this brand to use its strengths and opportunities to tackle weaknesses and threats.
Let’s take a bird’s eye view of its SWOT analysis.
Strengths
Strengths are a brand’s key characteristics that differentiate it from its competitors. Strengths of Microsoft include:
- A leading software company
- Operates in more than 190 countries
- Top-quality & hi-tech products
- Has strong growth in the cloud business
- Recently added Stock Keeping Units (SKUs)
- Generates a remarkable market capitalization
- Powerful marketing & advertising platforms
Weaknesses
Weakness is another crucial internal factor of SWOT analysis. These are the weaknesses of Microsoft:
- Lack of innovation
- Unsuccessful acquisitions
- Risk of cybercrime theft
- Does not get market share in internet browsing
Opportunities
Opportunities are external strategic factors. These are the opportunities that Microsoft can grasp:
- Artificial Intelligence
- Smartphone industry
- Remove work solutions
- Cloud business growth
Threats
Threats are also considered external factors. These are the threats that Microsoft is facing:
- Imbalance recruitment in the workforce
- Competition with Apple and Google
- Cybercrime theft issues
Final Words
We have talked about all the key strategies Microsoft uses to stay ahead of competitors. You can employ these strategies in your business structure and grow it.
Furthermore, the SWOT analysis of Microsoft will also help you excel in your business. You can learn a lot of things from this SWOT analysis.
Best of luck!
