Starbucks Marketing Principles - Essay Example

According to Scott Bedbury, “brands are not simply products or services. Brands are the sum totals of all the images that people have in their heads about a particular company and a particular mark. Brands absorb everything around them like Imelda Marcos in the shoe department at Nordstrom” (quoted in Kalin, 2001). By this definition, customer service and the quality of the products are actually considered part of the brand. Strong brands help companies establish a place within the international and local marketplace (Aaker, 1996). They also help the company develop a strong consumer base through brand recognition. However, brands don't become strong without offering quality products and excellent customer service. This is because brands only become strong when they have a high number of loyal consumers. Loyal consumers are made by giving them products that they enjoy and appreciate and taking care of customers when they have complaints or problems. According to Childers, satisfied customers exponentially increase in number, resulting in greater profitability for the company (2005). To see how this works, it's helpful to apply these ideas to a company like Starbucks.

This company now has a very strong brand which it has gained by focusing on quality products and excellent customer service. However, the company continues to grow today based largely on its strong brand. In conducting a SWOT analysis of the company (figure 1), it is easy to see that one of the company's strengths is its quality, organic, and customized coffee blends. While competitors may also offer a similar quality product, Starbucks stood out in the early days by providing superior customer service, offering personalized in-store service. Each customer was treated as a regular, whether they were or not, with their name written on their cup and plenty of customization of their order available. Now that the company has cultivated a very strong consumer base, it relies more and more on its strong brand to continue driving growth. As part of this brand, it offers customized menus for each region based upon local and national favorites. All of these different menus are brought together under the one brand identified by a simple and universal logo. Even if the menu isn't the same as the menu back home, travelers to new places can feel at home as soon as they walk into a Starbucks store because of that logo and a relatively similar approach to decor. 

            Examining this company and assuming I have correctly identified the marketing principles it considers to be most important, I believe Starbucks is doing a good job of following these principles. Having a strong global brand is important to success in the commercial world today, but Starbucks has not forgotten that it developed that brand by offering quality products and excellent customer service. It proves this by maintaining a focus on what the local market enjoys and expects. “Experience has shown that companies need not always create one-size-fits-all global brands just because the world appears to be shrinking. Indeed, firms should recognize that adapting brands to local conditions will on many occasions be the best approach, and at times the only approach, because local conditions will leave them no other choice” (Managing Brands, 2005). By adapting their brand to local conditions but insisting that everything sold in the similarly decorated coffee houses carries the Starbucks logo, the brand is able to continue building while still providing customers with a sense of being at home and comfortable. This gives them a strong competitive edge against competitors who may not have as many locations or as strong of a brand. This, in turn, increases customer's sense of being cared for which automatically increases the perception of the brand's attention to customer service and increases brand loyalty. Continuing to provide quality products ensures that these customers are not disappointed with their experience and maintains the brand's image as a higher-class coffee house, all part of the experience customers expect.  

            Starbucks' commitment to maintaining a strong brand by ensuring continued quality products and excellent customer service has made it possible for the company to jump into the digital age with the same strength it used to jump into the coffee house market. According to Melissa Allison with the Seattle Times, the company employs five people as their dedicated social media team and this team has managed to build the brand's online presence higher than most other brands. "One of the most successful brands using social media, Starbucks wins more than a popularity contest with its vast numbers of online fans. The sites have become an important way to advertise daily and, occasionally, drive huge numbers of customers into stores" (Allison, 2013). The way they do this is through a continued dedication to excellent customer service and social media sites that proudly display the Starbucks logo. They stand out because they don't see their social media sites as a one-way communication tool from them to potential customers. Instead, they see it as a two-way interaction with their customers. This attitude is another means of providing quality products to their customers and maintaining the brand in their minds.