The idea behind the Starbucks website is to create awareness. The website is intended to pass information with regard to what services the company offers and why anyone would be interested in walking into one of the Starbuck outlets (Allison, 2010). The company has done a good job is highlighting why they are the best in the market. It has gone a notch higher in given the clients a feeling of what drives their passion. Expanding on the history of how the organization started (Our Heritage, 2010). Pointing out the motivations driving the company into developing its current brand and reputation; the company also highlights what makes their products exceptional in the market. The focus on the quality and the execution of the same ensures that customers get exactly what the company has promised in terms of quality. The website is addressing the coffee enthusiasts. The well crafted and delivered communication strategy is intended to attract those interested in high-quality coffee products. Quality coffee is the sells pitch that has been communicated. As such the clients after quality coffee are the perceived recipients of the communication on the website.
Business communication
From the website, the company builds a perfect brand marketing strategy using their different social media websites. The company has always focused their marketing strategy on “word-of-mouth”. Ideally, quality and good service would be communicated to an opinion leader who gives backing to the idea of quality in the outlet (Allison, 2010). Over the years, however, the company has been taking lead with regard to social media campaigns. It is credited as being the very first consumer brand company to have hit the 10 million followers on Facebook, beating the market leaders such as coca cola and Pepsi. There marketing communication strategy has been bent on establishing a Starbucks community. The marketing strategy that is used in the different social brands has grown over the years to attract more players and push for the company’s diversification move. Social media is not only a marketing tool but rather an interactive platform for the Starbucks community. A good number of consumers get to write review ask questions and also complain when the need arises using these platforms. The strategy of word of mouth has only been made much better through social media (Garza, 2018).
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Media richness
The company seems to have touched every section of the social media outlets available. They are not limited when it comes to having a presence in the major social media outlets that are available. They participate on Twitter. They engage the twitter followers through the starting of a viral marketing campaign that attracts the views of what people are saying about the brand. Through Twitter, they get to gauge the reputation of the company and what people are saying about the company as a whole. In Facebook, the company engages customers through uploading different videos, blog posts, and photos (Garza, 2018). They also use the platform to organize parties and make viral invitations to such functions. Their Youtube platform boasts of roughly more than 4800 subscribers. Through the Youtube, the company gets to upload different videos of the different coffee brands that they are using in their outlets. They also upload advertisements that they would be airing. They also get to use the platforms to allow the clients to understand the charity works they get to participate. The social media angle that has been invested in helps client s get an immediate response to a complaint or question and also to give their feedback.
Message framing
The website has an interesting presentation of the messaging. The wordings are designed in such a way that they build up interest and pull in the customers. The website starts off by giving a clear picture of the start of Starbuck and its rich history (Larson, 2008). This is slowly taken through the process of how the name of the organization was designed. The website explains the reasons behind the choice to exclusively deal with coffee. It also explains why quality coffee is so important for the company’s reputation; the website then goes ahead to introduce an identity opinion leader (Larson, 2008). The reasons for this introduction are to attract an identity for the consumers. Considering that the identity leader was an average person conducting the normal activities it is easier for the consumers to identify with such a person. The company also identifies the objectives and the ethical expectations of every outlet. The structure of the information given details the history and the expectations of the clients who visit their outlets. The wording choice of the first person makes the website appear to be taken directly to the consumer. Making Starbuck appear like an entity that a consumer would be able to converse with and get responses to some of the queries (Larson, 2008)
Opinion leaders
The website chooses to use Howard Schultz as the opinion leader on the website. The picture being painted in this instance is that the values and passion that drives the Starbucks family is closely linked to Howard and his passion for coffee. The website goes into details as to what was the push towards achieving this dream. It also paints a picture of the pitfalls that he had to endure to get quality coffee for Starbucks outlets. The website identifies his success story so as to allow the consumers identify with the company’s motivation to push for quality consumption of coffee. This is important because consumers are people who are interested in getting high-quality products. They are however attracted mostly to quality through a process. Considering the marketing strategy has always been about word of mouth. In such an instance Howard would be best placed to give accounts of quality coffee within the different outlets as such meeting their marketing strategy of word of mouth (Theodore, 2002).
Recommendations for improvement
The accounts given in the websites are attractive and they deliver the best marketing strategy. Their choice of wording also seems to hit their needed effect of attracting consumers to participate through responses. Their outreach to the different social media outlets is rewarding with the company recording profits. The buildup developed through the wording to attract the consumer's interests is also meeting its intended consumer. The website has however failed to give an account one could relate to concerning the consumption of coffee. The use of Howard as the opinion leader is good but it seems to box in the idea that Starbuck only considers internal opinions to be the best. Should the company be interested in attracting a variety of consumers the option of using a local voice would angle well with consumers? Reward loyal customer to feel as part of the company through featuring them in their commercials or relating with their review of the outlets. All this in an effort to reach out to the consumers interested in more push than just the story of Howard.
References
Allison, M. (2010). “Starbucks has a new growth strategy — more revenue with lower costs.” Seattle Times. Seattle Times, 15 May 2010. Web. 21 April 2018. < http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2011861321_starbucksstrategy16.html >.
Garza, G.(2018) “The history of Starbucks.” Catalogs.com. Catalogs.com, n.d. Web. 21 April 2018.< http://www.catalogs.com/info/food/the-history-of-starbucks.html >.
Isidro,I. (2004). Learning from Starbucks: 10 lessons for small businesses [Electronic version]. Power Home Biz. Retrieved online: http://www.powerhomebiz.com/vol144/starbucks.htm . (Isidro,2004)
Larson, R. (2008). Starbucks a strategic analysis: past decisions and future options [Electronic version]. Brown University.
“ Our Heritage.” (2010) Starbucks. Starbucks,. Web. 21 April 2018. < http://www.starbucks.com/about-us/our-heritage >.
Theodore, S. (2002). Expanding the coffee experience: Starbucks keeps sales brewing with new products, innovation and global expansion [Electronic version]. Beverage Industry. P. 57-62.
