Total Immersion Marketing (with Starbucks) by Guest Blogger, Michelle Ashby

Every day, I visit social media sites (mostly from my iPhone) to connect with my contacts and favorite brands. I often talk about my experiences and read opinions from blogs and my networks. This exchange of information is all part of the Engagement Marketing model my firm strongly encourages our clients to consider.

Many consumers prefer the ability to communicate directly <https://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1007356> with brands when making purchasing decisions. In discussing with my team about our own online habits, we realized one brand, Starbucks , is crossing over from an engagement model, to total immersion, thanks in part to an iPhone application connected to their popular loyalty program.

The Starbucks loyalty program gives customers various incentives, including free wireless access and free extras for drinks, in exchange for a customer’s willingness to keep a balance on a rewards card. The card works like many loyalty programs, but the Starbucks model is one of the most easy to navigate. The card connects to an account that keeps track of your balance through consumption. Lost or stolen cards are rarely a problem because the account holder is able to manage their cards online. Gift cards can be applied to the main account as well!

The Web site for this loyalty program has always been simple to use, but of course Starbucks made life even easier with the addition of an iPhone application. The Starbucks Mobile Card application gives customers 24/7 access to their balance, and the ability to replenish funds (one of my employees says it’s so easy that he does this during the wait between the drive thru order window and the pick up window).

Because Starbucks knows we need our coffee, and we need it fast, they are testing a mobile application in 18 stores that allows a customer to make payments directly from their phone. Anyone think they might sell even more coffee, bakery and juices…faster?

There is a second application that interfaces with the first that is devoted to providing location and product information. And, of course, there are Starbucks Twitter and Facebook fan pages.

These applications don’t just engage the consumer…it makes it completely impossible for anyone NOT to buy from Starbucks. So, marketers are calling this Total Immersion Marketing. In the same way Starbucks built a reputation for high-end coffee through specific, unified procedures and customs, they are building a platform across social media and mobile devices that will make it easy for customers to become immersed.

Now, I had my first “bad Starbucks coffee” the other day, but I drove away before I could take it back for my free re-do. Maybe they could come up with an app where you could log in and give them feedback on the quality of each purchase? I posted it to my Facebook page, my friends heard about it, but Starbucks did not. Perhaps an application could help spot troubled stores or learn more about changes in our drink choice habits.

Companies and brands can learn so much about their products and customers from well-crafted loyalty programs and social media sites. Learn more about how consumers are demanding brand interaction from their brands in an article by October 29th article from eMarketer.

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Guest blogger, Michelle Ashby is the CEO/President of Tipping Point Media in Rochester.