Some brands have grown exponentially since their inception. Samsung is one of them. How did they manage it? What did they do to increase their customer base? What did they do to keep their consumers coming back? We think Samsung’s Marketing Strategy played a significant part in all this, especially its digital marketing strategy. This article analyses a few digital marketing strategies used by the company and the Marketing Mix of Samsung to better understand 4 strategies – pricing, products, placing/distribution and promotion so that you can get an insight into what they have been doing.
About Samsung
The Samsung Group is a multinational South Korean association headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul. It encompasses multiple related businesses, most of them combined under the Samsung name and is the large business conglomerate.
Samsung was founded in 1938 by Lee Byung-Chul. Started as a trading company, they further diversified their realms to textiles, food processing, insurance, etc. Samsung made an entry into the electronics market in the late 1960s and started growing thereafter.
Unfortunately, the company was divided into 5 business groups after Lee’s death namely – Samsung Group, Shinsegae Group, CJ Group, Hansol Group, and Joongang group. By 2020, Samsung has 287,439 employees and have assembly plants and a sales network in over 75 countries.
Samsung’s mission statement is “We will devote our human resources and technology to create superior products and services, thereby contributing to a better global society.
If you wish to learn more about the successful marketing strategies employed by Samsung, we have another blog covering that topic.
Buyer Persona of Samsung
A buyer persona generally refers to the detailed information of an ideal customer of a company. When it comes to Samsung, people from India use it the most. This buyer persona will help you understand the attributes of a regular Samsung user.
Buyer’s Persona
Name:
Sam Williams
Place:
San Francisco, California
Age:
34 years
Profession:
Software Engineer at a tech startup
Motivation
- Cutting-Edge Technology
- Efficiency and Productivity
- Creativity and Content Creation
- Sustainability and Social Responsibility
Interest & Hobbies
- Photography
- Gaming
- Cooking
Pain Points
- Device Compatibility
- Software Updates
- Privacy and Security
- Customer Support
Social Media Presence
From the table above we can conclude that an ideal Samsung User is a tech-savvy software engineer from San Francisco, California, who is motivated by cutting-edge technology, efficiency, and creativity.
Want to know about the current challenges of Amul? Read a detailed SWOT Analysis of the brand before moving on with marketing strategies.
Let’s further dive into the marketing mix elements of Samsung.
Marketing Mix of Samsung
1. Product Strategy of Samsung
Samsung’s marketing strategy focuses on creating innovative products in all its categories to stand out from the clutter and get a competitive edge. The brand keeps evolving with its strategy to create a sense of global sensation in the industry for high-end technologies.
Samsung generates revenue by selling smartphones, home appliances, sound devices, etc, excelling in all areas of product diversification. Their products can be classified into:
- Smartphones & tablets: The company dominates the market when it comes to high-end smartphones and tablets. Apart from the Galaxy S series and Note series, the brand also offers A & J series as their economical smartphones.
- Television and Home Entertainment: With QLED & 8K TVs, Samsung’s marketing strategy continues to penetrate the home entertainment industry.
- Samsung Home Appliances: To cater to household requirements, Samsung produces smart refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners, and other household appliances.
- Wearable accessories: To keep up with the trend, Samsung has started a new range of smartwatches, earphones, and exclusive Galaxy watches to keep up the pace with its competitors.
- Memory/Storage Products: Apart from its high-end products, the company also provides memory chips and SSDs for various applications.
2. Pricing Strategy of Samsung
Samsung has adopted a multifaceted and dynamic pricing strategy to stay ahead of its competitors and price correctly to its consumers. Here’s a look at its pricing modal:
- Premium pricing: The brand charges heavily for its flagship products like the Galaxy and Note S series. By doing this, they carve a special niche for its premium users.
- Competitive pricing: The product mix of Samsung includes mid-range products that aim to cater to all segments of society. The prices for home appliances like microwaves, ACs, etc. are super economical, paving the way for mid-pocket consumers to experience Samsung’s quality.
- Market-based pricing: To ensure penetration in the market, the company also prices its products based on market conditions, competitors, and consumer behavior.
- Limited-time promotional pricing: To boost sales and dominate the market presence, the company launches limited-time offer prices on its new products. This persuades the consumers to purchase by creating a sense of FOMO and hinting toward savings on new products.
- Skimming price policy: When Samsung launches its products with newer features and capabilities, they tend to price it a bit higher than others. (This is called Skimming Price Strategy) On the other hand, when some other company launches a smartphone with the same or better features, Samsung reduces the price and easily avoids losing market share as a result of the competitor’s debut.
3. Place Strategy of Samsung
Samsung sells to retailers and service providers directly. As a result of this strategy, only service dealers are responsible for corporate sales. The strength of this company lies in its distribution system.
Samsung’s products are likewise distributed by a single distribution company in one location, which then distributes them to other locations.
Let’s summarize the company’s placing strategy:
- Worldwide retail stores: The distribution channel of Samsung has a global footprint. With retail stores and authorized dealers in different countries, Samsung ensures that its products are accessible to everyone.
- Online marketplaces and websites: Samsung sells its products from its official websites and top-notch marketplaces like Amazon to capture digital shoppers.
- Experience centers: To give hands-on experience to its users, Samsung invests heavily in creating experience centers to attract consumers with its unique marketing approach.
4. Promotion Strategy of Samsung
Promotion is an important part of the company’s marketing mix. Advertising, according to Samsung, is the most effective kind of marketing for attracting new customers and positioning the brand.
Samsung uses print media, social media platforms, and digital media to market new goods. To take advantage of celebrities’ large followings, the brand has invited several celebrities to serve as brand ambassadors and market the product that proves to be very efficient.
Recently Samsung released their new range of smartphones related to the Korean singer band BTS. (It includes exclusive packaging, colours, and in-box items featuring members of the band)
Samsung also collaborated with Blackpink, a popular Korean pop band, and released a special Blackpink edition of their Galaxy A80 smartphone in black and pink with the group’s logo on the back. This collaboration helped increase Samsung’s sales and popularity significantly.
Samsung also introduced its new feature known as the Samsung Virtual Assistant to drive in the audience.
Recently, Samsung introduced many new advancements in their online site too for user convenience. For example, E-Catalogue provides an overall description of all the products in a simple user-friendly book form.
Samsung has utilized the star control of its brand envoys and celebrities like Olivia Ong, Desmond Tan, Priyanka Chopra, Abhinav Bindra, and Aamir Khan to pick up way better permeability within customer advertising. These celebrities are regularly a portion of the company’s digital showcasing as they too do social media promoting, which can be seen in commercials for particular items.
Now, let’s see how Samsung took Environment Sustainability to its advantage
Samsung Sustainability Strategy
Samsung has this informative section on its website which focuses on Environmental Sustainability, Corporate Citizenship, Digital Responsibility, Labor and Human Rights, Diversity and Inclusion, and Sustainable Supply Chain. This whole section highlights the Eco-management value system where they mentioned that all their products are environment friendly and the planet will always be their priority. Their slogan “Planet First” expresses commitment to social responsibility through business practices that prioritize environmental protection.
Through Corporate Citizenship, they promote, empower and support the next generation to achieve their full potential and bring in positive social changes.
How does Samsung use digital marketing in their strategy
1. Search Engine Optimisation
Samsung has put a lot of effort into SEO.
As per Ubersuggest data, it ranks in India for 8,816,435 keywords as of September 2023. Its organic traffic is 188,525,558 sessions per month. The stats are higher compared to their SEO performance in April 2023.
Here are some of their Search Engine Optimisation techniques :
Backlinks
Samsung gets backlinks from 99,286,407 unique domains. All this increases the Domain Authority of Samsung’s domain and helps it rank higher.
2. Social Media Marketing
One of the key things that Samsung does well on social media is to create engaging content. Samsung posts a variety of content on its social media channels, including:
- Product announcements and reviews
- Behind-the-scenes photos and videos
- Tips and tutorials
- Contests and giveaways
- User-generated content
Samsung also uses social media to listen to its customers and respond to their feedback. This helps Samsung to understand its customers’ needs and wants, and to improve its products and services.
Here are some specific examples of Samsung’s social media marketing campaigns:
- #GalaxyUnpacked: Samsung uses the #GalaxyUnpacked hashtag to promote its new product launches on social media. This hashtag allows Samsung to generate buzz and excitement around its new products and to reach a wider audience.
- #SamsungMoments: Samsung encourages its customers to share their photos and videos using the #SamsungMoments hashtag. This helps Samsung to create a community around its brand and to showcase the ways in which its products are used by its customers.
- Samsung Solve for Tomorrow: Samsung Solve for Tomorrow is a global competition that challenges students to use STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) to solve real-world problems. Samsung uses social media to promote the competition and to share stories about the students who are participating.
Samsung’s social media marketing strategy is effective because it is focused on creating engaging content and connecting with its audience. Samsung uses a variety of social media channels to reach a wide audience and to create a community around its brand.
In addition to the above, Samsung also uses social media to:
- Promote its CSR initiatives
- Partner with influencers to promote its products and services
- Run paid advertising campaigns
Samsung’s social media marketing strategy is a key part of its overall marketing strategy. By using social media to connect with its audience, promote its products and services, and provide customer support, Samsung is able to build brand loyalty and drive sales.
Top Competitors of Samsung
Here’s the list of top competitors of Samsung:
Conclusion
The Marketing Mix of Samsung has worked well for them and have proved to be quite beneficial. Constant product diversification and the introduction of newer features have helped them spot a place at the top in the industry. With product differentiation, their customer satisfaction also helped them to get on a long way. Along with innovation and newer technologies, their environmentally sustainable policies have also made them stand above the crowd.
Hope you enjoyed reading this case study and gained enough insights into the marketing mix of Samsung. To read more case studies on such popular brands, visit IIDE’s blog page and explore the library of enriched case studies on different brands.
Also, If you’re someone who wishes to pursue Digital Marketing as your career, then visit our website and go through some of the best courses in Digital Marketing. Watch this 45 minutes free masterclass on Basic of Digital Marketing by the founder and CEO of IIDE, Karan Shah.
Insightful analysis! Marketing mix of Samsung showcases strategic depth. A great read for digital marketers seeking inspiration and innovation.
The digital marketing strategies employed in the marketing mix of samsung are at another level.