Does anyone really stop and think about why Nike is succeeding so well in the world, with over thousands of stores around the world, selling essential products – shoes. I mean, how much can we expect from shoes except for comfort, and durability? After all, were sports shoe really necessary in the age where people were going about in brogues to the bars and offices instead of exercising after work?
Well, the simple answer is no. No, shoes meant for jogging or running were in fact not so much a common product when Nike was first launched. It was actually Bill Bowerman, the founder of Nike that first popularised the physical activity of “jogging” throughout the US, starting with his first pamphlet called the “jogging manual” before eventually expanding to a 90-page book on jogging. Of course, the very fact that Bill worked as a track and field coach and had the back of his national athletes was another factor that caused the huge boom in running, essentially popularising Nike as a brand.
To begin with, Nike’s marketing strategy targeted people’s want of getting fit. The very first shoes, the moon shoes were greatly suited for the needs of runners and people appreciated that. The shift towards running and cardiovascular activities as a whole were the triggers that popularised Nike, making them become more of a “need” rather than a want.
However, as time went on and Nike became a staple product for athletes around the world, the brand started bringing in a different strategy altogether. Focussing on its initial motto of bringing in the lightest shoes in the world to improve the speed of a runner, Nike started incorporating more technology in its fabrics. Jumping on the social media bandwagon, Nike decided that flashy shoes would do well since a majority of their customers enjoy flaunting their products online on platforms such as “Instagram”. Thus started the insane hype and demand for the new “fly knit” type shoes back in 2012, helping skyrocket their products once again.
By staying through to their ultimate purpose and staying relevant in their content marketing strategies, Nike is able to reach out to the hordes of people, all while creating content that showcases their benefits and essentially capitalising on their market share of sporting equipment and shoes.
If you’d like to adopt Nike’s marketing techniques, here are some key pointers to take note of: