Precise Marketing Strategy of Canon – With STP Analysis & Campaigns

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Canon’s marketing strategy leverages innovative advertising, strategic digital marketing, and strong customer engagement to enhance brand visibility and drive growth. This case study explores the marketing strategy of Canon, detailing their advertising campaigns, target audience, digital strategies, and recent news, providing comprehensive insights into their effectiveness.

Canon, a leading name in the imaging and optical products industry, is renowned for its extensive range of cameras, camcorders, printers, and other imaging solutions. Known for its commitment to innovation and quality, Canon has established itself as a major player in the sector, continuously pushing the boundaries of technology and design.

In this case study, we will delve into understanding the marketing strategy of Canon from a marketing perspective. We’ll explore the latest updates about the company, examine the marketing strategies it employs, and assess its performance in the digital landscape. This analysis will provide a comprehensive overview of Canon’s marketing approach.

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About Canon

Founded in 1937, Canon has evolved from its origins as Precision Optical Industry Co. Ltd. into a global imaging and technology powerhouse. Headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, Canon is renowned for its cameras, printers, and medical equipment.

The company’s commitment to innovation is evident in its pioneering spirit. Canon introduced the world’s first digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) camera, revolutionising photography. Today, their product range extends far beyond cameras, encompassing a diverse portfolio of imaging and industrial solutions.

Canon’s philosophy, ‘Kyosei,’ emphasises cooperation and living together for the common good. This principle guides their business practices, from environmentally friendly production to customer satisfaction.

Canon, with its extensive global reach and history of innovation, remains a key force in shaping the imaging industry.

Big companies like Canon are looking for digital marketing professionals to take their marketing campaigns up a notch. Many aspirants who want to work in such companies start looking for a digital marketing course to begin their careers in this dynamic industry.

 

What’s New With Canon?

• Revenue (2023): Canon’s marketing strategy is one of the main reasons the company has generated an income of $32 billion (Source: Canon Annual Report).
• Market Share: 40% of the worldwide camera market (Source: Statista).
• Product Range: Over 200 products including cameras, camcorders, printers, and other imaging solutions (Source: Canon Corporate).
• Employee Strength: Approximately 180,000 employees (Source: Canon Corporate).

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1. Business News

As a result of Canon’s marketing strategy, the company reported a 10% increase in global revenue, reaching $32 billion in 2023, driven by strong sales in the imaging and optical product segments.

2. Product Launch

After closely studying Canon’s target audience, the company recently launched the EOS R5 Mark II, an advanced mirrorless camera designed for professional photographers, featuring 8K video recording and enhanced autofocus.

3. Marketing News

As part of its marketing strategy of Canon, the company ran a new, ‘Capture the Future,’ campaign. This campaign focused on the latest innovations in camera technology to inspire users to explore new creative possibilities.

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4. Celebrity News

Keeping in line with Canon’s marketing strategy, the company collaborated with renowned photographer Annie Leibovitz for a campaign showcasing the capabilities of the EOS R5 Mark II. This was aimed at boosting the brand’s credibility and attracting professional photographers.

 

Buyer Persona of Canon’s Target Audience

A buyer persona gives a detailed description of Canon’s ideal customer. Canon’s marketing strategy is based on its audience’s motivations, preferences, challenges, and online activities.

Based on the detailed breakdown, it’s no surprise that the marketing strategy of Canon involves leveraging social media platforms like YouTube and LinkedIn to execute its marketing campaign. Here, the company can feature health and wellness with medical advancements that meet the requirements of Canon’s target audience.

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Marketing Strategy of Canon

Let’s learn about the marketing strategy of Canon and understand how Canon carries out its marketing campaigns.

Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning

Canon has a diverse customer base, appealing to both younger millennials and their older counterparts. While the company traditionally catered to an older demographic, they’ve recognised the potential of younger, more adventurous consumers. To tap into this market, Canon is focusing on innovation and production efficiency to deliver top-tier products faster.

By understanding customer needs and preferences, a new marketing strategy of Canon can be created that employs value-based positioning strategies to differentiate its products. Their global presence, with regional headquarters, allows them to adapt to local markets and deliver tailored solutions.

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Digital Marketing Strategy of Canon

Below is a list of components that are employed when formulating the marketing strategy of Canon:

1. Social Media Marketing

As part of Canon’s marketing strategy, the company effectively leverages social media to connect with its audience. Platforms like Facebook, now known as Meta, and Instagram host engaging content, including photo competitions and locally relevant stories. YouTube is another key channel for Canon, offering tutorials, DIY tips, and inspiring content. Their dedicated channels for Asia, Europe, and the USA showcase a global approach to content creation.

2. SEO Strategies

Keeping in mind the marketing strategy of Canon or any other brand, the SEO strategy specifies that the number of Keywords (Terms used to search information online) under 500 is considered poor, over 1,000 are considered decent, and 10,000 or more are considered great. 133K organic keywords (Unpaid keywords that bring in traffic) are present in the outstanding canon.

Another positive is that the same traffic volume per month is over 1.9M. Therefore, Canon is on the right track. This result was obtained after a significant deal of effort was put into improving SERP results (Search engine results page listings.), and it will continue to develop.

People across the country, especially the ones residing in Thane and Faridabad want to explore SEO (an important component of digital marketing). This has led them to search for information using the keywords, ‘digital marketing courses in thane’ and ‘digital marketing courses in south faridabad’.

3. Influencer Marketing

Canon has cultivated a strong community of image-makers. For 23 years, the Explorers of Light program has showcased the talents of 42 professional photographers. These visual ambassadors represent Canon at events worldwide.

To expand its reach, the marketing strategy of Canon has leveraged the power of influencer marketing. Forty amateur photographers now collaborate with the brand, sharing their work on a dedicated Canon platform called ‘archive.’ This digital hub showcases the creative potential of Canon’s equipment.

One standout example of Canon’s influencer marketing success is its collaboration with YouTube sensation Devin Graham. His high-energy videos featuring Canon cameras have garnered over a billion views, solidifying Canon’s position as a top choice for action and adventure photographers.

4. E-commerce Strategies

Canon’s marketing strategy adopts a unique approach to sales. While they don’t operate an online store, their website provides detailed product information and directs customers to nearby retailers. This hybrid model combines the benefits of online research with offline purchasing.

Canon boasts a strong physical presence with 88 authorised collection sites and 12 service centres across the country. This ensures customers have easy access to their products and support. Interestingly, their retail outlets generate a substantial monthly revenue of 25 lakh, but the bulk of their income, a whopping 100 crore, comes from these authorised retailers.

Thanks to the incredibly designed marketing strategy of Canon, the company has successfully ventured into institutional sales, contributing 10% of its overall revenue. Their involvement in projects like Wipro’s ESIC hospital digitalisation and TCS’s Passport e-Seva, where they supplied 1,500 DSLRs, highlights their ability to cater to diverse customer segments.

5. Mobile Apps

• Canon Camera Connect – 4.2 ratings and 1Cr+ downloads.

This app helps you to connect your camera to your phone via wi fi and use your images.

• Canon PRINT Inkjet/SELPHY – 4.5 ratings and 5Cr+ downloads.

Both apps are accessible through the Google Play Store.

6. Content Marketing Strategies

Canon’s marketing strategy has a pretty strong content game. They keep publishing press releases on their official website so that their audience can understand the company better and stay updated with the changes in the products offered by the company.

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Marketing and Advertising Campaign Designed by Canon’s Marketing Strategy

1. ‘Big Smile With Canon’

As part of Canon’s marketing strategy, the company launched the ‘Big Smile With Canon’ campaign featuring humour with corporate values.

India, June 13, 2022: Canon India has started its corporate campaign, ‘Big Smile With Canon,’ to forge a better bond with customers and make the company more accessible to the younger demographic. As part of Canon’s marketing strategy, the campaign consists of five episodes and stars Mr Manabu Yamazaki, President & CEO of Canon India, and Mr Anshu Mor, a well-known stand-up comedian and former top business executive. With this partnership, Canon highlights its special campaign, adopting a creative tack to enhance its reputation as a young brand that the millennial client group can identify with.

Canon, a leading Japanese company in the imaging sector, is renowned for its reliable advanced technologies and outstanding services.

Canon India is strengthening its relationship with Indian customers with this campaign as the firm marks its 25th anniversary in India, particularly with the CEO stepping forward as the brand ambassador in the videos.

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2.’The Kathakaar of Life’

On World Photography Day, Canon unveiled its ‘The Kathakaar of Life’ campaign. This Canon’s advertising campaign aims to raise awareness of its flagship EOS R System and position it as every photographer’s necessary ally.

On World Photography Day, Canon India introduced ‘The Kathakaar of Life’ campaign, a heartfelt tribute to the country’s photographers. Recognising the art and dedication behind every captured moment, the campaign was thoughtfully executed in nine Indian languages, including Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu, Gujarati, and Assamese.

Canon’s President and CEO, Manabu Yamazaki, emphasised the campaign’s aim to honour photographers who preserve life’s precious memories. By using a child’s voice in each language, the campaign connected emotionally with a wide audience.

 

Top Competitors

Canon is not the only company that dominates this industry. Many other players can have a huge impact on Canon’s marketing strategy:

• Nikon: A leading manufacturer of imaging and optical products, known for its high-quality cameras and lenses, offering strong competition to Canon in the photography market.
• Sony: Renowned for its innovative mirrorless cameras and imaging technology, Sony is a significant competitor in the digital camera and video recording segments.
• Fujifilm: Fujifilm offers a diverse range of cameras and imaging solutions, known for their quality and unique film simulation modes, providing strong competition in the photography market.
• Panasonic: Known for its Lumix series of cameras, Panasonic competes with Canon in the digital imaging and video recording segments, focusing on advanced features and performance.
• Olympus: Olympus is recognised for its high-quality cameras and lenses, particularly in the mirrorless camera market, providing strong competition to Canon.

 

The Marketing Campaign of Canon That Failed

In line with the marketing strategy of Canon, the company ran a ‘See Impossible’ campaign in 2016. This campaign aimed to highlight the innovative and creative potential of Canon’s imaging products. The campaign featured various photographers and their works to inspire users to push the boundaries of their creativity using Canon’s technology.

Issue: Canon launched a campaign that faced backlash for its lack of diversity in showcasing photographers, which was seen as out of touch with the global creative community.

Backlash: The issue led to public criticism and negative media coverage.

Response: Canon responded by reassessing its marketing approach and ensuring more inclusive and diverse representation in future campaigns, demonstrating its commitment to diversity and inclusion.

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Conclusion

Canon’s marketing approach has a reputation for developing cutting-edge image goods. Profiling and categorising the population’s varied traits is made easier through segmentation. Canon employs a sophisticated customer segmentation strategy. By analysing factors like income, occupation, and lifestyle (psychographics), they effectively divide their market into distinct groups.

This allows them to tailor their products and marketing efforts to specific customer segments, including both corporate and individual clients. This targeted approach ensures that Canon meets the unique needs of each customer group.

The organisation has a varied targeting strategy to cater to various consumer segments appropriately. Based on the products given to customers and customer groups, Canon applies value-based positioning methods and user-benefit positioning strategies.

We hope that our blog post about the marketing strategy of Canon has provided you with valuable insight into the company’s marketing plans.

Thank you for reading, and please feel free to comment below with your opinions on this case study on the marketing strategy of Canon.

 

Learning From Other Brands

In comparison with other brands, the marketing strategy of Sephora emphasises creating a premium beauty experience through innovative store layouts, personalised services, and a robust loyalty programme, showcasing how a focus on customer engagement and product diversity can drive customer loyalty and market leadership.

Similarly, its marketing strategies of Dove leverage social media engagement, real-life customer stories, and campaigns centred around body positivity and self-esteem, highlighting the importance of authentic brand messaging in achieving growth.

Additionally, the business model of KFC focuses on franchising, menu innovation, and strategic partnerships to expand its market reach and maintain a strong global presence. These examples illustrate how well-crafted marketing strategies and business models can help brands excel in their respective industries.