Nike’s marketing strategy has enabled the brand to differentiate from competitors such as Adidas and Puma and maintain its status as the dominant market. For years of significant success, Nike has employed a marketing communications mix approach that utilizes different channels to communicate with consumers. This mixed communications strategy has enabled the company to market its products and enjoy a significantly larger market share in the global athletic and leisure industry. Nike’s marketing efforts combine traditional and digital advertising methods, direct marketing, personal selling, sales promotions, and public relations (Davis, 2016). These marketing efforts have a unique role in communicating with target consumers and enable the company to create a balance between maintaining existing customers and attracting new customers.
Advertisement is among the most significant elements of marketing communications that Nike effectively uses to drive sales and promote new products. Nike’s advertisements are through traditional (including television and print) and digital media (Davis, 2016). These include;
Celebrity endorsers: Popular athletes such as footballers are pictured on digital platforms and traditional media wearing Nike products to convince existing and potential customers.
User-generated content: Nike has turned to user-generated content, particularly on its social media platforms, to advertise products and promote its brand image (Chanpaneri & Jain, 2021). This is done through posts that send important messages to users, such as self-care, to make interested people feel involved and attracted to the brand.
Featured collaborations: Nike’s mixed communication marketing entails collaborating with prominent people to advertise products. For years, Nike has continued collaborating with celebrities such as Serena Williams, Tiger Woods, and others with large followings to make advertisements and communicate brand information to target customers (Chanpaneri & Jain, 2021).
Promotion through influencers: Nike is a reputable brand that has gained significant attention from influencers without sponsorships. However, to gain such popularity, Nike has adopted an affiliate marketing approach to gain a wide spectrum of fashion, sports, and lifestyle topics, specifically on the YouTube platform. Users who search for these topics easily interact with Nike, thus strengthening the brand’s reputation.
Bold-brand website design: Nike has used website imagery for years as an advertisement strategy. Stunning images of products and models appear on Nike’s website, leaving an impression on visitors’ minds and a desire to connect with the brand (Chanpaneri & Jain, 2021).
Recommendations for Brand Growth
Despite the significant success, Nike can continue growing its brand based on the following recommendations.
Market penetration
This entails venturing into new markets to increase the customer base and the overall market share to grow profits and enhance competitiveness (Araujo, Caldwell & DeFanti, 2018). Although Nike enjoys a global presence and a larger market share than its competitors, the company can leverage this advantage by conducting marketing research to identify new markets ahead of rivals. The company can also utilize the marketing communication mix approach to penetrate new markets through advertisements that highlight the exclusivity and uniqueness of products at every corner of the globe.
Market development
Nike needs to adopt market development as a strategy for brand growth. The aim is to expand the sporting products business through sales in additional market segments (Araujo, Caldwell & DeFanti, 2018). This is an intensive growth strategy that Nike does not fully maximize considerably because of its global dominance. Although market saturation may reduce the relevance of market development, the differentiation generic approach and differentiation focus generic competitive strategy could enhance Nike’s efforts in entering new leisure, fashion, and sports footwear markets.
Diversification
Nile can turn to product diversification as a strategy to grow its brand. The aim is to introduce and sell new products in markets and regions, such as specific countries or continents. For diversification to be effective, the company needs to make changes in the corporate or organizational structure to add new elements that allow new business operations (Araujo, Caldwell & DeFanti, 2018). Nike also needs to incorporate generic strategies within its strategic plan to increase competitive advantage for further diversification outside the sporting products market. Additionally, a generic differentiation strategy can increase Nike’s success potential for new products in industries outside of sports, fashion, and leisure.
References
Araujo, D., Caldwell, H., & DeFanti, M. (2018). Nike’s Utilization of Brand Strategy to Increase Global Competitiveness. In Competition Forum (Vol. 16, No. 1, pp. 109-115). American Society for Competitiveness. https://search.proquest.com/openview/33a1bb6882ec697b39093e94b2f780ce/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=39801
Chanpaneri, A., & Jain, P. (2021). Content marketing as the leading technique in digital marketing: A case of Nike. International Journal of Research and Analytical Reviews. www. jar. org. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Apeksha-Chanpaneri-4/publication/357366168_A_CONTENT_MARKETING_AS_THE_LEADING_TECHNIQUE_IN_DIGITAL_MARKETING_A_CASE_OF_NIKE/links/61ca9482b8305f7c4b073b37/A-CONTENT-MARKETING-AS-THE-LEADING-TECHNIQUE-IN-DIGITAL-MARKETING-A-CASE-OF-NIKE.pdf
Davis, R. E. (2016). Word of foot marketing: Nike’s marketing efforts prior to the” Just Do It” campaign (Doctoral dissertation, Wichita State University). https://soar.wichita.edu/handle/10057/12651
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