Starbucks Promotional Mix

Related Literature Truell, Allen, Milbier, & Michael (2007) said that promotion is one of the four Ps of marketing - price, product, place, and promotion. Promotion is generally thought of as a sequence of activities designed to inform and convince individuals to purchase a product, subscribe to a belief, or support a cause. All of the various tools available to marketing managers for promotional activities constitute what is known as the promotional mix. The promotional mix includes advertising, personal selling, public relations and sales promotion.

According to Ingram (2009), advertising on the coffee shop’s premises is a must for coffee shops. All coffee shops should have a facade that clearly distinguishes the establishment for what

Starbucks Coffee Company didn’t just go for unconventional marketing strategies for the fun of it. They thought hard about promoting their company, and have decided that Starbucks is more likely to benefit if it employed unconventional word of mouth viral social media strategies that perfectly matched the concept the company wanted to portray. The first point to learn from Starbucks marketing strategy is its emphasis on product quality. Their coffee, even if priced slightly more expensive than expected, is notorious for satisfying customers with its rich, delicious taste and aroma. Another point is the creation of unique and relaxing “experience” and “atmosphere” for people. It has been one of the strongest concepts attached to the company, to which customers have been strongly

On their website, on Facebook, on Twitter and in their blogs: individuals are encouraged to express their experiences with Starbucks history, and the company strives to “personally” join in the discussions.

The Starbucks marketing strategy has always focused on “word-of-mouth” advertising and letting the high quality of their products and services speak for themselves. For years, this has been uniquely Starbucks, and it has played a huge part in making Starbucks Coffee Company a success. The definition of social media viral marketing speaks to this new word of mouth that Starbucks has run with and made their own.

There is another coffee shop, the Indian Coffee House, which has been solely dependent on word-of-mouth advertising until now. It has been hugely successful because its patrons either blog about it and spread the word or suggest it to their friends. And the role of marketing communication in this case would be thus remind the consumer of the rich heritage of ICH by extending their word of mouth strategy through tools such as PR, social media and good will of the patrons. ICH marketing communication will worked for the overall goals of the business by developing strategic campaign and helping ICH to increase sales, retain existing customer with their quality service and help the brand gain credibility solely through word of mouth. Also ICH used public relation