Marketing Strategy

Marketing Strategy 101
When it comes to marketing strategy blunders, pretty much everybody remembers the nosedive failure of New Coke, right? But what most people don't know is the fascinating story behind the story, & the valuable lesson it reveals.

In the early eighties, Coke was about to lose a marketing
trump card to Pepsi. Coke's market share had been in free
fall since the end of the war, declining from 60% at that
time, to just 24% in 1983. Pepsi was about to be able to
claim that not only did it taste better than Coke (as
proven in blind taste tests), but that it was actually more popular. This would have added even more fuel to Pepsi's already significant marketing momentum.

While Coke was also losing market share to other new market entries, and increasing consumer preference for diet, citrus, & caffeine-free beverages etc., Pepsi's marketing strategy was continuing to win new customers.

Obviously, people preferred the taste of Pepsi! Better
taste was the main thrust of their advertising. Why else
would anybody drink such an otherwise worthless mixture of ingredients?

This fact was further born out with the runaway success of
Diet Coke. Coke actually developed it from the ground up to taste more like Pepsi, rather than simply replacing the sugar content of the original recipe with artificial sweeteners.

All of the facts & evidence pointed to Coke having a taste problem with the original recipe. Coke had in fact been working in secret for years on a new one.

Drawing on the success of Diet Coke, Coke's marketing
strategy called for the modification of that recipe to a
sugar based drink. They felt they could finally turn the
tide by introducing "NEW Coke", based on that formula.

In pre launch blind taste tests, people thought the new
Coke tasted sweeter & smoother than the original. Extensive research revealed that people preferred the New Coke to both the original Coca Cola recipe & Pepsi.

Statistically speaking, the taste of New Coke was
significantly preferable.
New Coke was the solution, but what to do with the
original? If they kept both on the market, it was a sure
bet that Pepsi would be able to claim that it was more
popular than both, at least for a time! And a marketing strategy that called for the promotion of a new & an old Coke would only confuse the public & dilute the brand.

The original recipe was dropped.

So what happened when new Coke was introduced?

It bombed completely, & utterly! Here's the brilliant tag
line that they used to introduce it. "The Best Just Got
Better, Coke Is It!" Gee, that looks like a winner.

People hated the new Coke, many without even having to
taste it. And they were incensed that the original had been "stolen" from them.

One hundred years, & countless millions of dollars in advertising had made Coke Cola a part of people's very identity. Drinking Coca Cola wasn't about taste at all.

It was about mental association.

Emotional Opium!

The act of raising that funny looking spiral bottle to your lips. The cane sugary fragrance that followed. The sharp carbonated bite that set your throat a blaze with each vigorous swig. For many people, it was anchored deeply to fond, albeit sometimes even imaginary memories.

Coke had no choice but to bring back the original recipe,
amid a huge fanfare of publicity, as though it were the
second coming.

What a hullabaloo about nothing. Sugar water.

For god's sake!

If nothing else, this story should prove to you once & for
all that it's not what you do that counts, it's what you
say & how powerfully you say it. And, that your customer's
buy, or don't buy, for all kinds of seemingly irrational reasons. What's critically important is not your product, but how your marketing strategy relates ownership of that product to your buyer's beliefs, feelings, & desires!

It also demonstrates that "me to" can be a very dangerous marketing strategy.

While huge companies like Coke can afford to blow through billion dollar advertising budgets like there's no tomorrow, as a Guerrilla marketer, I urge you to avoid expensive frontal assaults & one-upmanship like the plague.

Be creative instead, & seek to outflank the enemy!

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Prepare fully, because as an internet marketing consultant it will be your duty to help different categories of Internet marketing clients. Some of your clients will be completely "green", some others will be seasoned veterans of Internet marketing.

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If you have enough knowledge and pertinent Internet marketing information, becoming an internet marketing consultant can be rewarding work.. All you need to do is stock up on Internet marketing knowledge and skill, educate yourself, and be ready help all levels of clients.