Promotion Plans and Blends of Starbucks Paper Example

A brand is a name given to a product or a service offered by a business that it takes to identify by itself. In today's marketplace teaming up with other several products and services, all of which are being commoditized, a brand will stand out from the clutter and attract the attention of customers (Heslop & Nadeau, 2010). This is because a brand name can create loyalty, trust, faith, premium-ness, or mass market appeal and stand for it depending on how a particular brand is marketed, promoted and marketed. In this regard, such a brand will help to differentiate a product from other similar products and enables it to charge higher premiums, in return for its clear identity and greater faith in its function.

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I chose to talk about Starbucks which is a coffee chain business well-known through its CEO Howard Schultz, for its commitment to corporate responsibility. As much as leading the way for the corporation to becoming a more responsible business, he has also used the business brand to improve the lives of the people across the world. Through the corporation's corporate responsibility program, Starbucks has shown its commitment to fighting hunger, encourage service as well as environmental protection initiative (Morgenstern, 2010). This dedication is as a result of the excellent customer relationship, and Shultz used the business to carry out something more impactful than just making a profit. As a result, the impact that it has made to the world makes it a remarkable example of one of the perfect product brands that have earned customer loyalty and trust.

It is important to note that the primary target market for Starbucks is men and women who are at the age of 25 to 40 years old. This group accounts for almost forty-nine percent of the corporation's total business. The business appeal to this age group through hip, modern design which is always accompanied in the Starbucks advertising and decor. In a promotion plan, a target market is an essential element because of the following reasons;

To find your market, established businesses should start with the existing customer data by looking at the sales data to see what is moving in the right direction. The company should survey the customers to get their demographic information and establish how they make purchasing decisions. The second reason for defining a target market is to avoid any possible inefficiencies (Heslop & Nadeau, 2010). This is because, as a small business, if you try to reach everyone with the same message, a lot of resources will be wasted in reaching the people who are unlikely to be interested and therefore defining a specific target market will help to avoid such wastages. Undeniably, determining a target market will help the business change with time. As the business improves, there should be a continuous analysis of data and customer information. The target market of Starbucks today might not be interested tomorrow and only through brand loyalty and trust can make them stick to the business. For example, Southwest Airlines removed the logo from their trash bags because it was unnecessary and economically imprudent. The company changed with the time demands. Target markets also help business to establish and know their bases.

Promotional blend describes a mix of variables of promotion that is chosen by marketers in a bid to help a firm reach its goals. Starbucks promotes its products mainly through advertising. This component of the marketing mix is the communication strategies that Starbucks uses to pass information about the firm and its products (Morgenstern, 2010). The promotion blend used by Starbucks includes advertising, public relations as well as sales promotions. The corporation advertises its products through television, internet, and print media. It also infrequently uses public relations even though it has not been very successful (York, 2010). Also, the business uses sales promotions like the Starbucks card that customers use to acquire freebies.

Conclusion

Being that the target group of Starbucks is a youthful population, the use of media channels like the internet would be a perfect technology to adopt. Reaching both customers and potential customers using online marketing is essential for any business (Doyle, & Stern, 2006). In this case, the company will be in a better position to attract customers through various internet based marketing tactics. Here, the business will be able to entice people to purchase its products as well as services by posting the products and explaining the attributes of the products. Media makes the message being passed more effective because it acts as a vehicle that provides greater reach for other promotional blends like advertising. Internet marketing is beneficial because it is not as expensive as compared as compared to other marketing efforts explained above. Moreover, it covers a large target group as most people have internet devices like phones.

References

Doyle, P., & Stern, P. (2006). Marketing management and strategy. Pearson Education.

Heslop, L. A., & Nadeau, J. (2010). Branding MBA programs: The use of target market desired outcomes for effective brand positioning. Journal of Marketing for Higher Education, 20(1), 85-117.

Morgenstern, K. (2010). Marketing Mix of Starbucks. GRIN Verlag.

York, E. B. (2010). Starbucks gets its business brewing again with social media. Advertising Age, 81(8), 34.