Invention of the products, promotion of running and writing books and articles about running.
Bowerman the Co founder of Nike created the first Nike shoe commonly referred to as the “Nike Moon shoe.” Asides that He also helped promote Jogging in the 1960s and 1970s in America as a fitness routine and started writing articles about it and books about jogging as a fitness routine before launching the shoes. He visited athletes , students in schools went directly to where his customers were he didnt wait for them to come meet him.
How To Apply The Nike Marketing Strategy To Your Own Brand.
1. Figure Out The Needs Of Your Audience
Your audience is on the Internet because they’re looking for answers to questions. One way to position your brand or blog as an authority on your topic or market is to create compelling content that addresses those concerns. Doing this well means understanding exactly what your audience’s goals are and what they want to know, and then being there to answer and give solutions when they need them. Do this well enough, and you might even turn readers into passionate brand advocates.
In Nike’s case, people were looking for new ways to stay in shape. As jogging became more popular, people needed jogging shoes. Nike then smartly positioned themselves not just as a company that made shoes, but a company that helped their customers achieve their fitness goals (and just happened to make shoes that supported that goal).
2. Figure Out The Best Way To Reach Your Audience
In terms of your blog and overall digital marketing efforts, this means that you need to figure out where your audience hangs out on the Web and how you can best reach them there. Which social networks are they most active on? Should you pay to promote your content on those networks? Does an email newsletter make sense for your customers? Could print collateral be something they’re interested in? These are big questions to answer, but the key point to remember is that it’s important to go where your audience is.
3. Create Compelling Content That Addresses Audience Needs.
Whether it’s on your blog, social media channels, video platforms, or print collateral, every piece of content you create should address customer needs. Not only that, but you need to be creating the best content on your topic anywhere on the Web. If you’re not answering questions, solving problems, being entertaining, or otherwise helping your audience be better at doing what they love, then it’s time to rethink your approach. If you’re unsure of what your customer’s real needs are, consider everything from simple keyword research to surveys to get a better idea of what kind of content you can create that they’ll find valuable.
The Benefits Of Not Selling but promoting benefits.
Here’s the cool thing: Bill didn’t sell shoes; he didn’t need to. Instead, he sold jogging and all of the benefits that came with it. This should make us pause as marketers. Instead of selling our products we should be selling the benefits that products like ours promote. Running shoes matter to people who jog, so selling them on jogging is always a good first step.
Good Content Marketing Doesn’t Sell, It Spreads
It is about providing value and building trust with customers. Bowerman’s book built trust and provided immense value–a trait that naturally carried over to his products. He didn’t intend for the book to be used as content marketing, but because, with content, the lines between value and marketing are so blurry, marketing is exactly what he did.
In this process he Sold His Shoes.
Question of the day
What are the needs of your customers and how can you position your brand as a solutions provider in that aspect?
Where are your customers located online and offline and how you locate them ?
What kind of content will you create to educate them about the benefits of your products before they buy into your products?
Thanks for your attention and please enjoy your day.
Dr Laide Okubena