Netflix is a subscription-based streaming service and production company available in over 190 countries. It has 222 million subscribers, gaining 18.2 million subscribers in the last year alone. One of the reasons behind Netflix’s success is its marketing strategy. The cornerstones of Netflix’s marketing strategy are innovation, the latest technology, creative advertising and real-time data analytics. Netflix’s focus on constant analysis and optimization helps connect with customers across a range of devices and touchpoints. Netflix’s marketing strategy has been an inspiration for other businesses. Here are 5 marketing tips which could help repeat Netflix’s success:
1. Provide personalized content. What makes Netflix superior to other streaming services like HBO or Amazon Prime is its obsession with content personalization. The algorithm will be rearranging programmes over time, based on a user’s viewing history and preferred genres. In 2018, consumer preference for personalized content reached an all-time high, with 42% of users claiming that they get annoyed when content is not personalized. Regardless of your budget, you should focus on your customers: try to create shopping experiences that address their interests, which eventually will increase user engagement, and will help build stronger customer relationships.
2. Use humour in advertising. Using humour in advertising is a good idea only if the idea that you are promoting is not too controversial. Although bold humour can attract a lot of attention quickly, it can also backfire badly and leave a long-lasting negative impact on your audience. If done correctly, humour can generate a lot of user engagement. Netflix applies this in practice: its brand is known to be casually humorous, which resonates well with millennials. Its social media team does not invest in sponsoring tweets. Instead they write casual tweets which show how charming and witty they are, and simply post them.
3. Focus on e-mail marketing. Although Netflix has expanded its customer base through other types of marketing, they are still committed to using e-mail marketing. E-mail marketing is still relevant as it is based on personalization. Using data about your viewing preferences, Netflix writes personal e-mails. Viewers are assigned personas according to their viewing history. Netflix keeps track of the completion rate of every show or movie watched by every user connected to an account. Having all these data, it can craft truly personalized e-mails and better target advertising.
4. Be innovative to stand out from competitors. Netflix’s management realized early on that they would not be able to compete in the market only by streaming shows and movies. To differentiate their offer, they decided to produce their own original content. Showing original content allows Netflix to reach more users, thus giving it a competitive advantage. In addition, Netflix’s algorithm looks at your viewing history and suggests shows or movies based on your interests. This is another way to stand out in the market. The key takeaway is that you need to add value to your customers in a unique way. Your team should come up with ideas on how to differentiate your business.
5. Utilize buzz marketing. If people know less about something, they tend to talk about it more. This idea underlies Netflix’s selling tactics. It releases snippets and makes hints for their upcoming releases. This causes an urge in the audience to find out what the company is planning, and creates a lot of excitement. That becomes a popular topic of conversations. Bird Box has become one of the most successful original Netflix productions because of the buzz surrounding it. Its memes which mocked movie scenes attracted a lot of attention. A similar approach could be taken in other contexts.
References: Nishita Acharya, iimskills.com | CJ Haughey, engagebay.com | Maheen Siddiqi, bettermarketing.pub | Anne-Gaëlle Sy, sortlist.com | Vipul Agarwal, marqueex.com