H&M background
Positioned in downtown Los Angeles, H&M is a multinational retail-clothing corporation that deals in fast-clothing products for men, women, youngsters and children. The firm is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. The paper explores the media elements, which the firm utilizes in communicating with customers about the corporation’s products. Additionally, the study seeks to offer recommendations on how the corporation can improve its promotional strategies.
Methods of communicating with customers
Traditional media elements
Traditional media can described as the means of mass communication that was used before the advent of internet and digital age. Television, radio and print newspapers along with magazines and billboards are some of the major channels of conventional media instruments of mass communication (Keller and Kotler 56).
In order to create awareness of business operations among consumers, H&M utilizes diverse traditional media channels. First, the firm places attractive billboards displaying the establishment’s products on high traffic roads as well as areas near the enterprise’s location to charm clients. Besides, the firm also places adverts about its products in magazines and newspapers.
Further, H&M utilizes radio channel to carry out commercials concerning the corporation’s products. Moreover, the corporation’s increase in sales over the years is attributed to the utilization of television medium where celebrities are covered wearing the firm’s clothes.
New media elements
New media refers to the current mechanisms of mass communication characterized by the use of computer expertise. The elements of new media include web sites, streaming audio and video, chat rooms, e-mail, online social communities, web advertising and mobile computing. Besides, modern media also includes the integration of digital data with telephone (Levy, Weitz and Grewal 33).
H&M recognizes the significant impacts of modern media on promoting business products. For instance, H&M currently utilizes mobile advertising to enhance the firm’s in-store traffic. In fact, the firm runs mobile ads inside the mobile site of the Associated Press to promote its products.
In addition, H&M uses the social media sites where clients are able to share ideas as well as offer responses to the customers’ queries. Specifically, the firm runs Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, You Tube Google+ and Instagram accounts where the corporation updates and engages clients about the latest brands available.
Further, the corporation has a web page that uses cookies, which offer clients with the best experiences concerning the firm’s goods and services. Moreover, the firm utilizes distance selling characterized by streaming audio and video channel that is trendsetting, alluring and interactive. Through such channel, customers are offered with the latest products, which the firm offers online. In this regard, the firm is able to reach and interact with millions of clients across the globe (Keller and Kotler 63).
Recommendations on how to improve promotion strategies
H&M should increase updates concerning products on the social networks to interact with clients across the globe (Levy, Weitz and Grewal 67). Actually, research shows that the use of social networks has increased tremendously over the past decade. As such, the firm is capable of interacting with clients from large geographical stretch. Besides, the firm should also minimize the number of celebrities in promotion campaigns.
In most occasions, H&M promotion campaigns involve numerous big superstars including David Beckham and Shakira. As such, clients often lose concentration on the firm’s product and focus on the superstars. Moreover, given the intensity of competitive rivalry in the industry, the firm should launch online distribution outlets to augment its share of market in the clothing industry. In reality, available data shows that customers are embracing online shopping and online retail sales are projected to record tremendous increase in the next half decade.
Works Cited
Keller, Kevin and Peter Kotler. Marketing Management. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2012. Print.
Levy, Michael, Barton A. Weitz and Dhruv Grewal. Retailing Management. New Delhi, India: McGraw-Hill Education (India) Pvt Limited, 2013. Print.