Sustainability for any company – large, small, profit, non-profit – and all size and types of firms in between – depends first on the quality of their products or services. Secondly the quality and dependability of customer service is vital. All of which is closely followed by the success of a company’s promotions – more specifically – the attention generated by their promotions.
Three companies to look at as good role models – and they are companies that have given substance to the definition of sustainability - IBM, Levi Strauss and BMW. Learning promotion techniques from any or all of these companies can result in promotions with maximum results.
IBM Start and Stop Promotional Campaigns
IBM Corporation oft called “Big Blue” is over a century old. During that time the company has been reinvented a few times. IBM is a company that originally produced and sold machinery such as commercial scales, industrial time recorders and meat and cheese slicers and eventually developed into a company who manufactured typewriters. Then the company moved onto mainframe computers and eventually started selling personal computers and power servers and these days professional IT and business consulting services.
Through almost of the company’s transitioning, one thing it held true to was the way it promoted itself to the consumer. IBM’s trademark of customer-centered story telling continues to serve it well and keep the company in the minds of its customers as a company looking for and finding effective technology-based solutions.
They use print, television and digital resources to bring their promotional messages to the heart of every business. An example of a recent advertising campaign run in the Wall Street Journal and major business magazines is the Stop/Start dialogs. One such ad reads: “Stop counting clicks. Start making money. IBM helped Staples create a better, more efficient online experience, which increased their conversion rate by 60%.”
The promotion makes a reader stop and read. The story gives a name, a problem and a solution.
Levi Strauss & Company Gets Up Close and Personal With Marketing
Levi Strauss is yet another company that is over a century old. Their advertising has taken on many forms over the years. It has also battled with many competitors with both lower and higher priced similar products. Nonetheless, Levis have become an icon much like the Kleenex tissue (Kleenex is a brand name not the product itself). In a similar vain, people often refer to blue jeans as Levis.
Levi Strauss has consistently used all genders, ages and sizes of models wearing their jeans going to various events from casual to professional. According to adbrands.net, “Levi’s turned street wear into a fashion statement.” The company did so by using emotional connections to their target audiences by allowing their consumers to see themselves wearing Levi jeans.
BMW - “The Ultimate Driving Machine”
BMW has been “The Ultimate Driving Machine” to its consumers for over 18 years. The company says just that by printing it - saying it – and producing a high quality car. BMW’s consumer research tells them that their consumers buy cars for performance first, then luxury, then value and safety. BMW lets the buyers know that the company has produced the a car that gives them all of that and more.
One of BMW’s latest full-page ads asks “A burning desire to innovate or simply a desire not to get burned?” BMW’s convertible was the focus of the ad. They have a new technology that keeps the seats 20 degrees cooler than seats in other convertibles.
Be assured, that is a promotion that will catch any previous, current or want-to-be convertible owner - and, of course sealing it as having the ultimate driving machine.
Learn from the Best Marketers
Although these companies have major dollars to spend on developing, implementing and sustaining long-term promotions, any company of any size can learn to use the promotional techniques to some degree by determining what makes the promotion work and then applying it to their promotional efforts.
