Best marketing strategies used by companies

Marketing campaigns are all around us and in abundance. The best marketing strategies and campaigns employed by companies have known to primarily increase sales and also brand perception and equity along with that. Great marketing is what a product or service relies on for sales and awareness, it can undeniably be stated that marketing strategy is an extremely advantageous component of the whole process.

Marketing strategy is so important that many a times it has carried a seemingly absurd product and has led to an increase in sales of it. A good example of this is the pet rock that came out in the 1970’s, Gary Dahl managed to sell over a million dollars of a mere rock owing to his genius marketing strategy and communications.

This just goes on to show how potent and powerful a good marketing strategy can be and how far it can propel you (over a million dollars far)

How Gary Dahl actually did this was employing a strategy that involved cultivating a sense of wonder and interest in his customers, which is so much easier said than done. The execution of this campaign is a fun one and shows us without a doubt the competency of great marketing.

Here is a list of successful marketing campaign examples:

De Beers: A diamond is forever campaign

Almost everyone today adheres or at least knows about the tradition of a man proposing to a woman with a diamond ring. However it is interesting to note that this was not always the case and was an everlasting result of the marketing campaign executed by the jewellery company De Beers, not only did they increase the sales of their brand but made sure diamonds were seen as a girl’s best friend and a symbol of love and fidelity.

The marketing campaign “A diamond is forever”

Truth be told, before this campaign came around diamonds were not doing very well on the market, which led to De Beers orchestrating a sense of limited supply coupled with the non negotiable requirement of one during an engagement.

This has stood the test of time considering it is still the norm to have a diamond ring when getting married and having songs written about it (if you like it then you should have put a ring on it). This craze has been on an incline since the time it was put in place and shows no signs of plateauing any time soon.

Point of learning: The need and demand for a product can be created even if it does not exist currently.

California milk processor board: Got milk campaign

The got milk campaign is by far one of the most memorable campaigns in all of America. It single handedly led to a 7 percent spike in the sales of cow milk in the state of California and also proved to be a point of cultural convergence for the rest of the country. The commercials had extremely effective creatives and showed celebrities as well as superheroes with milk mustaches that went down very well with the kids. This commercial, as simple and creative as it was communicated to people, the “cool” factor of drinking milk and the rest of course is history.

It is also interesting to note that these campaigns were mainly executed in print which had an enormous reach back in the day (the 1990’s, 1993 to be precise)

Point of learning: The campaign with extremely simple but creative copy and execution managed to convince consumers of their messaging. This just goes on to show that you do not need complex slogans to make things go  your way.

Marlboro cigarettes: The marlboro man campaign

Around the year 1955 the Marlboro man quickly became more than just a mascot, he became a cultural icon all through the United states of America. He proceeded to become a relevant symbol of masculinity.

The marlboro man was a free roaming cowboy, and at the time cowboys were seen as the epitome of masculinity and vigour, by attaching the personality of the marlboro man with a good american cow boy Marlboro successfully convinced their consumers that real men only smoked their brand of cigarettes. This campaign was so incredibly effective that even when tobacco was being discouraged and warned about the Marlboro man never lost his appeal, this in itself is a big deal.

This was what led to Marlboro stepping into its identity and strategically using it to harvest economic profits even in the face of a business adversity (medical officials dissuading people from smoking cigarettes on health grounds)

Point of learning: It is extremely obvious that people associate traits, characteristics, and nature with certain brands. Marketing can be used as a clever tool to attach these characters to your brand and then sell it to people.

Volkswagen beetle: Think small campaign

The Volkswagen beetle think small campaign is considered one of the most iconic print campaigns of all time, and for good reason considering they really broke out of their mound and presented their product in an extremely unique way thus grabbing eyeballs everywhere. This campaign successfully and single handedly changed America’s notion of what a car is  supposed to look like, it challenged the prominent notion of “bigger is better”

Prior to this campaign most people were into buying large and spacious cars, associating it with luxury

It led to Americans seeing the appeal in small minimalistic cars that are functional.

This would be considered as an extremely successful campaign just like the others mentioned in this article not only because it led to increased sales but also because it changed the notion of what cars were supposed to be like.

On a concluding note we would just like to mention that the mark of a successful marketing campaign is not just increased sales it is also in the instrumental role it has played in shifting perspectives and changing notions (more often than not on a wide scale).