Do you want to replicate the IKEA marketing strategy?
Studying a successful company like IKEA and implementing their marketing strategies is an excellent place to start if you want to improve your marketing game.
In this article, we’ll look at seven marketing tactics that the furniture retailer IKEA uses to grow its business and engage with its customers. Then, we’ll look at how you can implement these strategies in your e-commerce business.
Ready? Let’s dive right in.
The 7 Successful IKEA Marketing Strategy
1. Create an Experience, Not Just a Product
What’s the first thing you think of when you think IKEA?
It’s probably furniture, but it could also be Swedish meatballs or a Saturday afternoon meandering through their giant warehouse while arguing with your spouse.
Shopping at IKEA is different than shopping at other furniture stores, and it makes IKEA’s model a unique in-store experience for its customers.
People can buy products from anywhere and from anyone. But if you can give them an experience when they buy from you, you will stand out.
And that means they’re going to come back to you time and time again.
How You Can Make This Work for You
You should think outside the typical sales box when planning your marketing strategy.
While your goal is to drive sales, there are more ways to do this than simply promoting a product. IKEA’s success comes mainly from offering other reasons to visit their IKEA store besides buying a new coffee table. You can get a bite to eat. You can get design inspiration from their beautifully set up example rooms. Heck, you can get daycare for your kids.
And while you’re there, you’ll probably buy a few extra things that weren’t on your list.
Creating this unique experience for your customers will take some creativity and a good understanding of what your target audience would like to see from you. But if you can swing it, it will help you bring in more people, make more sales, and endear people to your brand.
This kind of experience can include providing helpful information, in-depth tutorials, workshops to accompany your products, offering other helpful or fun services for your customers, and hosting online webinars.
Oh, and Swedish meatballs.
2. Have Strong Brand Identity
The brands that everyone knows are the ones that have a very clear identity. IKEA is one of those brands. Its message of ease, value, sustainability, and maximizing your space is clear in everything they do.
They are well known for clean advertising with a few bold colors (blue, yellow, and orange, which are the brand’s colors) and images showing immaculate homes with modern, clean decor.
When you see a picture of an IKEA kitchen, you know it’s an IKEA kitchen.
If you want your brand to excel, it’s important to have a clear idea of the message you want your brand to send.
How You Can Make This Work for You
You’ve undoubtedly heard a time or two that your content needs a clear call to action, but you have other things to consider when it comes to advertising.
Every ad you run should also contribute to and reinforce your brand’s image to the point where, eventually, people can tell it is your ad without much analysis.
You’ll want to start with a clear idea of what your brand stands for. Sit down and think about how you want your brand to be perceived, what words you would use to describe what your brand does, and what makes you different from the competition.
Compile these attributes into a makeshift mission statement. Voila. You have your brand’s image.
All advertising should be created with this mantra in mind and should extend to everything you do as a company.
3. Invest in Content Marketing
Catalogs and Swedish meatballs are nice, but an effective content marketing strategy in the digital age is a must.
With offerings ranging from videos in their Home Tour Series to inspiration boards on Pinterest, IKEA has mastered crafting online content their customers are dying to view.
Every chance you get to interact with your customers is an opportunity to build your brand, strengthen your relationships with your clients, and promote your products or services.
IKEA recognizes this, and it’s one of the reasons they’re flourishing.
How You Can Make This Work for You
You shouldn’t produce content without rhyme or reason. Start with a clear picture of your target audience in mind.
Who are your customers? How did they find you? Are they more likely to hang out on Facebook, Twitter, or TikTok? What need are they looking for you to provide for them?
Knowing the answers to these questions will help you craft successful content marketing campaigns that feel natural rather than forced.
IKEA’s campaigns contain images, videos, and writing their customers like to engage with in their day-to-day lives. The products are placed in situations where it almost feels like the customer is stumbling upon them organically (rather than seeing them in a promotion).
Your content marketing efforts should feel organic, too.
If you shoehorn your product or service into your content, your customers will notice.
4. Make Use of Your Social Media Channels
While in a business’s early days, social media is often a distraction to be avoided. But once you’re established, using it to its full potential is important.
Knowing which social media platforms your customers use and reaching out to them on those platforms is imperative. For IKEA, those platforms are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.
They post promotions, discounts, unique giveaways, events, and news and use it as a platform to share their content. They’re responsive to their followers and quick to address customer complaints.
How You Can Make This Work for You
There’s lots of advice on social media marketing, but it’s pretty easy to start. Facebook has a helpful resource explaining how to use its business tools.
Here are some tips based on what has made IKEA successful:
- Post frequently. Social media moves fast, so publish often to stay on top of your customer’s minds.
- Advertise and post social media-specific deals and promotions for your customers. This will increase your followers and keep people interacting with your page.
- Listen to your followers. You can help turn a bad experience into a good one by responding to complaints quickly and resolving issues promptly. Check social media at least once daily to answer comments and private messages.
- Cross-promote your posts across multiple social media platforms to maximize your reach.
5. Get to Know Your Customers
Social media is a great way to interact with your customers, but you must go further.
It seems that so much of marketing is just trying to read your customer’s minds, but why not get the answers straight from the horse’s mouth? IKEA has run many successful campaigns where they’ve gained customer insight to help shape their marketing and product decisions.
A great example of this was their First :59 campaign, where they reached out to their customers to ask them about their morning routine and how it impacts the rest of their day.
They then created the First :59 campaign to offer expert advice and tips to their customers.
How You Can Make This Work for You
Reach out to your customers and ask them questions on various marketing channels.
Email them a survey. Post a link or phone number on your website. Create a hashtag campaign on Twitter.
Many people are happy to share their opinions on issues impacting their lives. This could be specific to your product or the whole marketplace.
You just have to ask them.
6. Keep It Fresh
IKEA is constantly adding to its offerings with new products that often become part of its permanent collection.
Anytime they change things up, they give current customers a new incentive to come to check things out and create new opportunities to catch the interest of would-be customers.
On top of this, they run promotions, events, and community outreach campaigns that catch people’s attention and get them talking around the water cooler.
How You Can Make This Work for You
While adding to your roster of products and services is a great way to change things up and attract new business, you can generate new interest in several ways.
Create new blog posts or infographics. Publish new videos. Update the design of your website.
Another good strategy is to re-promote some of your strongest campaigns with subtle tweaks.
This will help keep your existing audience engaged while helping you reach out to people discovering you for the first time.
7. Don’t Take Yourself Too Seriously
Consumers nowadays are getting tired of the hard sell, and that’s why the IKEA marketing strategy resonates with them.
IKEA knows furniture is part of your life, but they also know there are more important things in your life than IKEA products.
Their advertising reflects this by keeping things light and fun.
How You Can Make This Work for You
Don’t be afraid to be humorous and lighthearted in your advertising.
IKEA’s ad making fun of Apple’s intense marketing campaigns for its new products is a great example. This funny satire is immediately recognizable to just about anyone and endears the brand further to customers.
Avoid advertising that appears heavy-handed or sensational. It’s unlikely the product you’re selling will change your customers’ lives forever, but you know it will improve it!
Ready to Apply IKEA Marketing Strategy?
This IKEA marketing strategy guide offers many insights for businesses looking to enhance their market presence and customer engagement. From its innovative approach to customer experience to its adept use of digital marketing, IKEA sets a high standard.
However, a powerful tool like OptinMonster is invaluable to capitalize on these strategies.
OptinMonster can help you implement key aspects of IKEA’s approach, such as creating engaging online content, capturing leads, and converting visitors into loyal customers.
By integrating OptinMonster into your marketing toolkit, you can draw inspiration from any successful IKEA marketing strategy and apply it effectively to see tangible results in your business.
OptinMonster is the perfect partner to elevate your marketing efforts and achieve your business goals, whether you’re a small startup or a growing enterprise.
What are you waiting for? Start increasing pageviews with OptinMonster.
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