What makes the Starbucks Marketing strategy so effective, and how does the company has gotten to selling millions of coffees daily? Continue reading to learn more!
What does it take to sell over 4 million coffees per day? According to Starbucks, it takes a whole lot of marketing. The coffee giant has implemented several clever marketing strategies over the years that have helped them become one of the most successful businesses in the world.
In this blog post, we’ll discuss some of Starbucks’ most successful marketing campaigns and Starbucks marketing strategy that makes them so effective. So, if you’re looking for some inspiration for your next marketing campaign, Starbucks is a company worth studying!
Overview of Starbucks
Starbucks is a coffee chain founded in 1971 in Seattle, Washington. Today, it is the largest coffee chain in the world, with over 20,000 locations in more than 60 countries.
Starbucks sells a variety of coffee and espresso-based drinks, as well as pastries and snacks. In addition to its retail locations, Starbucks has a significant presence on social media, with over 17.8 million followers on Instagram and nearly 3 million followers on Twitter.
One thing that makes Starbucks so successful is its use of marketing to reach a wide audience, i.e., its marketing strategy. Starbucks has utilized several marketing strategies, including traditional advertising, social media marketing, guerilla marketing, and cause marketing.
Take a closer look at some of Starbucks’ most successful marketing campaigns.
Starbucks Marketing strategy
1. In-store Marketing
This is the oldest and most effective Starbucks marketing strategy for getting the word out about your business. If you are lucky enough to sell something people want (i.e., coffee), this is a great way to get your business noticed.
After all, Starbucks knows that customers like to stop by the store when they have time. This is why they put displays outside their stores to entice them into the store. Many studies show that people will shop for coffee up to 10 times before making a purchase.
However, the majority of their revenue comes from the first sale.
Starbucks Marketing strategy: in-store Marketing
Starbucks’ approach to in-store marketing often varies from location to location, but they have always aimed to provide customers with a good experience while they are there.
The company typically focuses on the atmosphere of the store to set the tone for their customers’ experience. This includes everything from creating an inviting space to having friendly, knowledgeable employees who know their customers by name.
2. Customer loyalty programs
Another component that makes the Starbucks marketing strategy so successful is customer loyalty, or more specifically the famous Starbucks loyalty programs.
Customer loyalty programs reward customers for repeat visits by giving them benefits such as free products or coupons. Examples include the program run by American Express, where customers can earn “Amexdiamonds” that can be redeemed for a wide range of items.
These are often coupled with frequent flyer miles, encouraging customers to visit more often to earn enough miles to redeem an award trip.
Starbucks Marketing strategy: rewards
The customer rewards program, called MyStarbucksIdea, offers similar benefits. A customer earns “MyStars” for various actions, including visiting the chain on a specific day, making a purchase, or creating a “MyStar” video.
Customers can exchange their MyStar points for gift cards and merchandise. The company also offers an online loyalty program through its website, which is the best Starbucks marketing strategy.
3. Social responsibility
Starbucks’ success can largely be attributed to the fact that the market itself is a socially responsible company. In 2010, for example, Starbucks pledged not to sell any coffee from the 100,000 coffee farms destroyed by Hurricane Mitch.
Today, Starbucks continues to be involved with some nonprofit organizations, including the World Wildlife Fund, the Starbucks Foundation, and the United Nations World Food Program.
4. Customer service and communication
Customer service is an integral part of Starbucks marketing strategy. With approximately 1.6 million stores worldwide, the company has established a culture of excellent customer service.
This is apparent at every level of the organization, from the managers and employees who are trained to give excellent service to the baristas who are required to know how to make great latte art.
The company ensures its customers have a pleasant experience when visiting one of its stores. Even if customers don’t buy anything while there, they’ll remember the great experience they had because of how Starbucks treated them.
The company uses several strategies to ensure customers have a great experience visiting their stores. For example, it offers free Wi-Fi access and a mobile app to help customers find the location of a nearby store and get information on the menu.
The company also has an easy-to-use online ordering system. Customers can order from anywhere and deliver their order straight to the door.
In addition to ensuring that customers have a good experience when they visit a Starbucks store, the company also focuses on communicating with them. The company sends regular emails about new products, events, promotions, and other information.
5. Starbucks mobile app
The Starbucks Mobile App is an excellent example of how Starbucks utilizes mobile technology to attract new customers and increase sales.
This free app allows users to find Starbucks locations near them, see if any deals are being offered, check inventory, pay for orders, and even get directions to the nearest store.
Starbucks mobile strategy: app
Starbucks 3 Best Marketing campaigns
1. The “Tweet a Coffee” campaign
The first campaign Starbucks used to draw attention was its “Tweet a Coffee” campaign. Beginning in 2010, Starbucks created the Share a Coffee campaign, which gave customers a way to spread awareness for their favorite coffee shop.
The Share a Coffee campaign encouraged people to create special coffee-based projects, like coffee table books and coffee art. During this time, Starbucks also began to develop relationships with other brands and businesses to further the Share a Coffee campaign.
These included partnerships with The United States Mint to produce a commemorative coin and with the National Park Foundation to highlight and preserve historic locations.
By 2015, the Share a Coffee campaign had expanded to include collaborations with companies like Netflix, Google, and Facebook. In 2017, the Share a Coffee campaign won two Grand Prix Awards from the International Advertising Festival in Cannes, France.
The campaign’s goal was to encourage customers to buy an extra coffee to share with friends. Starbucks created short videos to promote the campaign featuring real-life stories of people sharing coffee. The videos were shared on social media and generated a lot of positive buzz for the company.
2. The “Red cups” campaign
Every holiday season, Starbucks launches a marketing campaign centered around its red cups. The campaign features festive red cup designs and encourages customers to share photos of their cups on social media using the hashtag #redcupcontest.
The contest is an excellent way for Starbucks to generate excitement and engagement around their brand during the holidays.
This Starbucks marketing strategy has been so successful that it has become an annual tradition for the company. It was also a significant success for social media when it launched in 2010.
So many people shared the photos on social media that it became difficult to find the original cup designs. In 2016, Starbucks extended the contest to include a chance for people to win $10,000 and a trip to visit them at their corporate headquarters.
The Red Cup Contests have also been successful because of the design’s creativity. Last year, one design featured a coffee cup filled with peppermint marshmallow treats. Another design included the Starbucks logo inside the top of a marshmallow cup.
The designs may not be original, but they are fun and fit well with the holiday theme.
Starbucks has also been creative in using its social media accounts. Each year, it posts a different holiday-inspired design on each of its accounts.
Starbucks Marketing strategy: Red cups for Christmas
For example, in 2017, the company posted a design featuring a Christmas tree made from iced coffees. They also posted a design last year with Starbucks characters hanging ornaments on a virtual Christmas tree made up of all of the company’s current drinks.
This is a great way to get creative with its social media content while promoting its products, making the Starbucks marketing strategy so successful.
3. The “Green apron” campaign
In 2011, Starbucks launched a cause marketing campaign called “Green Apron.” The campaign’s goal was to raise awareness about recycling and sustainability. To promote the campaign, Starbucks gave away free reusable shopping bags to customers who purchased at their stores.
The campaign was a success and helped solidify Starbucks’ reputation as an environmentally conscious company. It even inspired other businesses to launch similar campaigns of their own.
The Green Apron program won the EfCA’s 2012 Social Media Impact Award for its ability to generate environmental awareness and educate consumers on environmental topics.
Starbucks ran the program through its social media channels. They tweeted, posted, and shared information about the program using Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Google+ with the hashtag #greenapron. They also ran a competition asking people to share their recycling reasons.
Green Apron campaign. Starbucks Marketing strategy.
As part of the campaign, they encouraged their customers to upload their photos to the Starbucks #greenapron website, where other users would vote for their favorite reasons. They gave away over $100,000 in Starbucks gift cards to people who created the best reasons to recycle.
As a result, people learned that there are many reasons to recycle that have nothing to do with saving money. For example, recycling helps prevent landfills from becoming trash dumps, keeps our water clean, and prevents air pollution and global warming.
Bottom line
By using these strategies, Starbucks has been able to create a global brand that connects with customers on an emotional level. By understanding the power of words, emotions, and images, you can create a powerful campaign and Starbucks marketing strategy to attract and hold the attention of your target market.
Do you want to learn more about Marketing strategies? Check out these articles:
- Tesla Marketing Strategy: 10 Curious Things To Know
- Hermes Marketing Strategy: 4 Billion-Dollar Marketing Lessons
- Red Bull Marketing: 7 Effective Billion-Dollar Strategies
- 7 Awesome Secrets Behind Blackpink’s Marketing Strategy
Great article and on spot observations on the best marketing campaigns. Keep up the good work!
Thanks Liliana! I appreciate it.