Marketing lessons from today’s top brands

Last year’s top five global brands, as announced by Interbrand, were the usual suspects. We’re sure you could recite them by heart. And that’s exactly why we’re taking a look into their marketing strategies. They may have the largest marketing budgets in the world, but if you’re on a smaller budget (because really, who isn’t?), you can use the same principles to make a difference in your marketing strategy.

Apple

From 2004 to 2014, Apple has seen unparalleled revenue growth — $8 billion to $180 billion. Neil Patel makes an interesting distillation of the two key components of Apple’s marketing strategy: positive reviews and product placement. You don’t need to be a billion-dollar company to facilitate positive reviews. Hubspot has created an awesome guide full of helpful suggestions for getting positive reviews. Begin by identifying where customers can leave a review and start putting serious thought into strategies to get past, current and present clients to write a review. With a little creativity and a lot of persistence, you’ll build up that five-star rating in no time. When it comes to product placement, think outside the box. You may not be scoring TV deals, but what about joining forces with a local influencer or other local businesses? Scaling Apple’s strategy may not be as hard as you think.

Google

Where to begin? One could say that Google’s foundation of success is their talent, and they’ve acquired this talent through marketing themselves as one of the best places to work in the world. You can scale this by devoting more time to your human resources program. Consider the benefits you may be able to offer that are less expensive but still meaningful to today’s top job hunters, whether it be unlimited vacation, flexible hours or a casual dress code. Also consider your marketing efforts in relation to getting the message out that you care about your employees, as any potential employee will definitely be scouring your Glassdoor, website and social media pages. Post about happy teammates, outings and other perks that make your company a desirable place to work. Also, it shouldn’t go without saying that Google is the purveyor of modern-day demographic marketing with regards to audience targeting and segmentation. By using their tools for analytics, you can hone in on what’s working (or not) for your audience.

Amazon

Amazon is on the cutting edge of marketing. Their social media presence personifies the company as an accessible expert. From relevant video content to customer engagement, they are on top of their online presence. (We recommend TalkWalker’s post for a deeper dive.) Follow Amazon’s lead by increasing your engagement and drilling down on your brand voice. Are there areas in which you could be more on-trend or accessible? For example, we love how Moz uses GIFs to respond to emails!

Microsoft

Take it from Microsoft’s blog post on the subject: their marketing strategy comes from hard-fought self-reflection. By addressing their weaknesses and analyzing the current market, they found their place and enjoyed increased relevancy even when the chips were down. Let Microsoft’s strategy inspire you to take stock of where you stand and where you should be standing in the marketplace. This “know thyself” idea is such an important marketing concept. You can’t be all things to all people. Find your tribe.

Coca-Cola

An illuminating interview with Francisco Crespo, CEO of Coca-Cola, revealed that Coca-Cola organizes its different brands into different categories and proceeds with marketing plans accordingly. If you have different products in your catalog, consider developing a hierarchy to maximize each offering. 

Feeling inspired and geared up about marketing strategy? Great! Give us a call at (843) 216-0442 or email info@trio-solutions.com and let’s get started on a world-class plan today! After all, strategy is our specialty! The beauty of a full-service agency is that we can approach it from all angles and execute it from one highly coordinated hub.