Starbucks | E-Marketing Leadership via App

We're all familiar with Starbucks.
I don't even remember the first time I heard about it- it just seems like it's been here always.

The way the coffee company has positioned itself in our lives seamlessly says a lot about their marketing efforts. Some would even call their strategy aggressive, if their tactics weren't so in tune with what consumers want.

We see tons of Starbucks marketing every day, but somehow we aren't annoyed by it. Why should we be, anyway? Their modern, cool image and comforting products have become a staple of many every day lives.

The key to the company's e-marketing success has started through their app, which, paired with multiple marketing strategies that I will go over next, has made buying coffee easier and more fun for consumers and easier for their marketing team to reach their target audience.

My favorite marketing strategy that Starbucks has used recently is:

Starbucks For Life
This is an ongoing marketing strategy that the company has been using for two years so far. It is a website online, starbucksforlife.com, which allows users to log in with their Starbucks Rewards loyalty program, and earn a game play every time they buy something with their Starbucks Card. If users  match three stickers in a row, they win free Starbucks for life.
The strategy was so successful that Starbucks for Life is available during the holiday season as well as over the summer.
The fun, game appearance makes us forget about commercials and marketing and in the end provides an incentive to buy more Starbucks and earn more plays.

Although marketed toward adults, the game has a whimsical appearance that makes it seem fun to play and attracts adults.

A final point to note is that Starbucks has become almost synonymous with new seasons (and staple products like the Pumpkin Spice Latte). This means that consumers almost look forward to their next marketing campaign and welcome it.

And those campaign marketers know exactly where to hit us: social media.

I experienced first hand (and was very impressed) with their timely marketing strategy for the pumpkin spice latte.
When I opened Snapchat last week to take a photo of me in line at the Starbucks drive-thru for my first PSL of fall, I noticed there was a geofilter called "first PSL!"
It doesn't feel like an annoying advertisement, it feels like the brand knows us, and since familiarity with your audience is a key in marketing, Starbucks is doing everything right.

An example of the PSL geofilter in effect.