You probably don’t have a six-figure advertising budget. Or a team of marketers working around the clock to promote your brand. Or a squadron of sales execs with MBAs at your command.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t learn some valuable marketing lessons from those that do.
A solid marketing plan is the lifeblood of any business, from Fortune 500 mega-corporations to niche companies with a payroll of one. And many marketing strategies that the big boys employ can do wonders for small and mid-sized businesses as well.
Take, for example, these three successful marketing strategies of Fortune 500 companies:
Anheuser-Busch Has Kept its Linchpin Products Consistent for Over a Century
Anheuser-Busch really is the “king of beers.” Its two keystone products, Budweiser and Bud Light, combine for a staggering $8 billion in annual sales. From television and radio commercials to print ads, marketing events, billboards, and social media engagements, the brewery makes a splash on its consumers’ radar every single day. Of course, when your advertising budget is a cool $1.6 billion, your chances of reaching the masses are pretty good.
Part of A-B’s success lies in its consistency. Sure, the company has added dozens of ancillary products over the years (flavored beers, energy drinks, malts) in response to the latest drinking fads. But its breadwinners have remained consistent. A Budweiser in 2016 tastes the same as it did 40, 50, 100 years ago. Even the iconic “eagle” logo has remained largely unchanged. And for 8 decades, A-B has been trotting out the world-famous Clydesdales on special occasions, creating an aura of excellence around them.
Your own business won’t appear in Super Bowl ads with horse-drawn wagons and Dalmatians, but the marketing strategy still applies: aim for consistency in the way you market your bedrock products. Too often, business owners are in a constant state of marketing flux, altering their approach to appear new and fresh. Instead, develop a marketing engine that works, and stick with it.
After all, sometimes, as A-B proves, tried and true trumps new and shiny.
A rock solid, consistent marketing approach is always cause for cheers
Red Bull Mastered the Art of Event Marketing
Did you know that Red Bull isn’t even an American company? A lot of people don’t. After all, the energy drink company is omnipresent at American mega-festivities, including several extreme sports events. It’s a marketing tactic that keeps the soft drink company in the spotlight. An e-newsletter or tweet can be easily ignored; a giant billboard looming in the background while a snowboarder attempts a double backside alley-oop rodeo, not so much.
Digital marketing may be your bread and butter, but don’t forget to bring your product into the “real world” as well like Red Bull has done. Event marketing, after all, is a terrific way to build customer relationships and communicate your brand message in a controlled environment.
Not every aspect of business has to be serious. Social media allows room for fun and games, too
Allstate Uses Social Media to Transform a Boring Necessity of a Product into a Grand Old Time
How did Allstate inject levity into the humorless world of insurance? Through the magic of social media, of course, which they use to communicate and entertain rather than to make sales pitches.
Allstate’s YouTube videos offer everything from life advice and humor to informative, helpful pieces having little to do with purchasing insurance. They respond instantly to Facebook and Twitter messages and are happy to discuss offhand topics. Visit their Instagram page, and you’ll find pictures of employees having fun at corporate events. These social media tactics combine to have an all-important humanizing effect on the Allstate brand.
Chances are, like Allstate, your brand doesn’t fall under the “fun times” category. But if AllState can turn a humdrum, no-nonsense product like insurance into a good time (and a profit-turning one at that), you can, too. And it starts with a willingness to engage, inform, and perhaps even entertain your customers on social media.
