Strategic Marketing Report: Analysing Amazon's Marketing Strategies

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Amazon's marketing strategies, focusing on the core argument that the most effective marketing approaches are "outside-in," starting with customer needs and wants. The report begins with an introduction to marketing strategies and an overview of Amazon as a case study, highlighting its mission and vision. It then delves into the top-down and outside-in marketing approaches, comparing their pros and cons. The main body of the report examines Amazon's specific marketing strategies, including SEO, advertising (Amazon Marketing Services), and technological advancements. The report justifies the preference for the Outside-In approach by emphasizing customer satisfaction and relationship management through the use of customer-centric strategies. The report concludes by reiterating the importance of customer focus in driving strategic marketing decisions and providing a summary of the key findings.

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11-24-2018

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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Top-down marketing approach........................................................................................................4
Pros of the top-down approach of marketing..............................................................................4
Cons of the top-down approach to marketing..............................................................................5
Outside- In marketing approach......................................................................................................5
Pros of the outside- in approach of marketing.............................................................................6
Cons of the outside- in approach to marketing............................................................................7
Amazon marketing strategies..........................................................................................................8
1. Amazon SEO.....................................................................................................................8
2. Advertising........................................................................................................................9
3. External marketing..........................................................................................................14
4. Technological advancement............................................................................................16
Why Outside In approach of marketing strategy is better than Top Down approach of marketing
strategy...........................................................................................................................................17
Customer satisfaction through outside in strategy.........................................................................18
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................21
References......................................................................................................................................23

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Introduction
Marketing strategies are the forward-looking approach, to a long-term planning with the main
motive of gaining competitive advantage, along with strategic planning, where the company’s
strategic situation is analyzed. According to that, it is formulated, evaluated, and selected
market-oriented position in the competition, which will contribute the marketing objectives and
goals of the company. For studying this topic, focused over a statement, that is “The best
marketing strategies aren’t top down, they’re outside in, starting with the customers’ needs and
wants,” amazon.com, Inc. will be considered.
Amazon.com, Inc. is an American based cloud computing and electronic commerce company,
founded on 5 July 1994, by Jeff Bezos, and is based in Washington. It is one of the largest
worldwide internet retailers, according to market capitalization, and revenue. The company
initiated by offering books online and now it is sell streaming videos, MP3, software, electronics,
furniture, video games, apparel, toys, food, jewelry, and audiobook. The latest products added to
the brand list are Kindle e-readers, fire TV, fire tablets, and echo devices (Amazon, 2018).
The company’s mission is always center around the online customer of the company, who are
kept on the priority every time. The focus is on the customer of the company, which is the reason
for the successful internet retailer worldwide. Moreover, the vision of the company is to become
globes most customer-centric brand and create a place where individuals can visit and search for
their required product online (Forbes, 2018).
One of the advantages observed of the company over other companies is its delivery time. For
example, Alibaba group, one of the major competitor of this brand, has the largest sales online in

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this industry. Nevertheless, Amazon competitive advantage is that it delivers the products with
guaranteed time like one-day delivery, or two-day delivery.
To justify the statement, “The best marketing strategies aren’t top down; they’re outside in,
starting with the customers’ needs and wants,” Amazon marketing strategies will be analyzed.
The concept, pros, and cons of both the marketing strategies approach, that is top- down, and
outside –in will be discussed in detail. The comparison between both the approaches will be
helpful in justifying the statement.

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Top-down marketing approach
The top-down marketing approach is one of the traditional methods of marketing, where a new
idea is been generated and is implemented to target customers in the market. This is the oldest
and well-known strategy in the business world and is responsible for keep uniformity in the
company. According to this strategy, the salesperson of the company tries to appeal to the
executives and key decision makers from a potential customer. Generally, large or encompassing
goods are included that will be implemented in the whole organization (Bhave & Mishra, 2014).
This system is important for ensuring large deals more efficiently. In simple words, the need of
the potential customers is identified and is offered to those customers. For example, the
enterprise software system including Oracle and SAP are used in global companies, where the
software company provides training and resources to the customers so that the purchased
products worked for them (Mura & Mariani, 2016).
Pros of the top-down approach of marketing
 Large contracts- one of the advantages of this approach is that the contracts for which the
teams are working are generally large in nature, and are responsible for large revenues
 Lock out competitors- the stress of competitors are not once the deal has been done since
the nature of the deal is not timely, that is not reselling the goods each year (beverland ,
2016)
 Large product roll out- this is one of the benefits from the large sales, this strategy
facilitate huge product rollouts, where the advantage is that the company will sell a
physical product that is to be maintained

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 Recurring revenue- this is another benefit, that is the recurring revenue, which will
depend upon pricing of the company’s product (Wilson & McDonald, 2016)
Cons of the top-down approach to marketing
 Sales took a longer time- the completion of sales took a long time to complete after
initiating, as the contract is large and involve attracting the key decision makers, and
these sales are also expensive to implement
 Large amounts involved- since the amounts are involved in each contract, the payment is
not made in one installment by the customers. For this reasons, the customer could have
timeline drawn for the purchase.
 After sales services- the services are not over with the sale of the goods, the training of
the service is generally involved afterward. Moreover, the sale team have to be active
even after the sale has been taken place
 Losing a contract- this is one of the major disadvantages of the approach since the
contracts involved are very large and large revenues are involved. If one contract is lost,
this could be a great loss to the company (cleverism, 2018).
Outside- In marketing approach
This approach to marketing is focused on the customer; it is seeing your business through the
eyes of the Company’s customers. This marketing approach is customer centric and enhances the
customer’s direct link, to observe and adapt the purchasing pattern soon. The responsibility of
the company with this approach is to search for growth opportunities and involves the
positioning of the organization. It includes building customer value, and relationships with the
sales and research and development team. Through this marketing approach, the company is

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framing strategies that will help to attract more and more customers and enhance the ability to
grow the customer’s value. Therefore, it is responsible for the effectiveness of marketing
performance, and offer counsel to the leadership team of the company (Day, 2014).
The initiation point for this strategy is customer value. The company using this approach is
concentrating more over nurturing and creating customers by offering high value to the
customer. To enhance this value, they keep themselves in their customer’s position and observe
them from their point of view or perspective. To be staying focused over the customer, a
company can follow certain tips like observing what customers are trying to do and understand
them well. Utilizing the understanding, in order to create the products, which will fulfill the need
of the customer while solving their issues. Moreover, for a successful strategy, a company must
be good at listening to their customers considering all key touch aspects, closing the loop with
the consumer while considering their feedback. It involves making a decision, which is in the
best favor of the customer and attempts to reduce the confusion and convolved experience,
which will eventually reduce the efforts of the customer (Hutt & Ferrell, 2016).
Pros of the outside- in approach of marketing
 An innovative idea- this strategy is more innovative in nature, as the company is offering
the customers the product they are need of by observing their actions, and perception of
the customers are considered.
 Customer focused- the strategy is truly customer-centric, it the customer for which the
products are developed and marketed. Therefore, the customers must be the key to the
strategy to make

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 Customer satisfaction- customer satisfaction is the most important aspect for any
company to increase sales, and become successful. Satisfaction of customers is
maximized through the application of the marketing approach
 Customer relationship management- through this approach, the CRM is also possible,
buy knowing and observing customers of the company, the customer relationship
management is easily approachable.
 High profitability- since the customers are highly satisfied, the company, which will
eventually affect the profits of the company, also increases sales.
 Long-term success – this approach is responsible for the long-term success of the
business, this is one of the major advantages of this marketing approach (Vellas, 2016)
Cons of the outside- in approach to marketing
 Difficult to implement- this approach is easy and attractive to listen, and understand but
when it comes to implementation, it is very hard to implement when compared to other
approaches
 Dynamic market- the market is dynamic, and changing every day, due to which it
becomes more difficult to observe and bring changes according to that, and change their
strategies respectively
 The higher risk involved- the risk involved while adapting this marketing strategy is very
high than other approaches because the taste and preferences of the customer are
changing very drastically (Jawoski, 2018)

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Amazon marketing strategies
The approach used by the company for marketing strategies is Outside- In strategy. This has
already been discussed that the vision and mission of Amazon are focused around the customers
and their needs and wants.
1. Amazon SEO
This strategy includes a high ranking of SEO, which is search engine optimization. SEO
of Amazon is on the platform of Amazon that is On Amazon. These include:
 Keyword- the keywords selected are the best for researching and finding a
product. For example, if a person is searching for designer cover, even if the
customer is searching cover, all the option will be open, or if customer type
designer, the designer cover products will be available to the customer
 Product text- the text used is optimized for machines and humans for best
outcomes. This includes the information that is necessary to provide for the
decision of buying, communication, that is the major benefits are highlighted of
the products to attract customers, and presentation, that is the structure and
present of the information so the customers can search it easily and quickly
(Johanson & Mattsson, 2015).
 Product images- the availability of visual appearance of the product are available
in plenty number and quality of high resolution, which will attract more and more
customers, and improve the busying decision speed of the customers (sellics,
2018).
 Product reviews- the reviews of the products are also available, with which the
customers can judge how other like the product and make their buying decision

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accordingly. It could be not advantageous for the company but since Amazon
works for the best of the customer, the motive is the benefit to the customer and
not just the company (sellics, 2018).
 Questions and answers- the customers are free to ask questions, and the
representative of the company gives the answers within 24 hours. This is the
helpful act of the company to clarify any confusion regarding the product or
service
 Product information- the information of the product is essential for filter
navigation and additional information is beneficial for the customer to understand
the product quantity, description, the warranty by the manufacturer or the seller.
This includes specialized product finders (sellics, 2018)
 Delivery method- the method of delivery, as discussed before is the main
advantage of the company; it uses the fulfillment by Amazon shipping services
that have a positive impact on racking. The delivery availability is quick and easy.
The shipping fees are not charged to the customer if the amount of the purchase is
above to a level mentioned (Finne, 2017)
2. Advertising
The advertisement is part of the marketing strategies of the company. The types of
advertisement done by the company are:
 Paid advertisement
 Amazon marketing services- many kinds of advertisement could be
displayed on product pages and in the search result of the website by
utilizing AMS. The charges of AMS are click based that is pay per click

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(PPC) or cost per click (CPC). AMS address the potential customers very
precisely. It must be part of all Amazon marketing strategy, as it is very
effective services (Ryan, 2016).
Three different formats of ads are offered by AMS, which are headline
search ads, product display, and sponsored products. The vendors can use
any of these formats, the only criteria are that they must have an AMS
account and have to log into it. Seller central account can directly access
tools of headline search ads and sponsored products and sellers are limited
for this access. Sponsored products of Amazon allow sellers in the search
result to bid on the ranking of an advertisement. Sponsored brands can be
deployed in various places on the search result page of Amazon, which
includes banners that are linked to the landing page of Amazon with
specific products that are selected. Moreover, product display
advertisements are displayed on pages of products below the buy option.
They are also deployed in keyword targeting or response to a particular
keyword or through interest-based targeting (sellics, 2018)
(Source: (sellics, 2018)