In the cut throat world of business, marketing strategy can make or break multi billion dollar corporations, and T-Mobile is an example of a company that has utilized marketing to catapult to the top of the telecom industry. In this post I am going to focus on how T-Mobile has mastered the four aspects of the marketing mix with the help of revolutionary CEO John Legere and the "Uncarrier Movement." T-Mobile has become a branding powerhouse by using populism to target the tendency of humans to rally behind the underdog who is doing whatever it takes to help out the average consumer through cheap prices and a quality product.
As I wrote about in my previous post, the Marketing Mix is the way companies use Product, Price, Place, and Promotion to make it as easy as possible for prospective customers to purchase their product or service. T-Mobile has revolutionized their use of these four factors in the past three years, and have become masters at attracting and selling to new customers. I'm going to break down each of the four P's to show how T-Mobile subscriber growth has been soaring while their competition's has either been plummeting or remained stagnant.
Product
T-Mobile is a company that sells data, call, and text plans for cell phones. Just like Sprint, Verizon, and AT&T, T-Mobile has strong coverage that reaches most of the United States, so it may seem like it would be hard for them to stand out from the competition. There are a few ways that T-Mobile has used marketing to differentiate themselves from the other cellular networks. The most important is their BRANDING. From ads on the television to tables at the mall covered with the bold pink corporation's latest promotion, Pink has become synonymous with T-Mobile and this has allowed T-Mobile to create an image of "non conformance." This is also shown with their partnership with "underdog" phone maker Blackberry. T-Mobile wants to be known as a carrier that doesn't play by the rules, and as you will see their promotions reflect the branding direction the company has chosen.
Price
Price is one of the ways T-Mobile has drawn unparalleled increases in subscribers. In almost any advertisement from T-Mobile savings is trumpeted above all else. The company doesn't have the most extensive 4g coverage or the fastest data, but what T-Mobile and CEO John Legere want you to know is that they are the most affordable network provider. This can be shown through their aggressive advertising or their CEO's direct twitter attacks on the CEOs of Sprint and Verizon.
Place
If you have been to a mall with a T-Mobile store, the odds are that you couldn't have missed it if you were blind with a blindfold over your eyes. The bright pink branding stands out like few others, and draws you in. T-Mobile has a vast distribution channel like the other three major telecom companies. Everywhere from T-Mobile stores or on their website to Best Buy and other stores like RadioShack, you can purchase a phone with a T-Mobile plan. While this doesn't differentiate T-Mobile from the other three members of the "Big Four," it allows the "Uncarrier" to stay competitive and compete with the providers who service more customers.
Promotion
Promotion is the aspect of marketing that T-Mobile changed to take the industry by storm. Shortly after John Legere became the CEO, T-Mobile rolled out the "Uncarrier Movement" which mimicked foreign telecom companies no-contract plans. At a time when all of the competition used the two year contract model as their strategy, T-Mobile "gave the power back to the people" by setting them free from contracts. This gave them a very distinct competitive advantage which has become much less relevant as Sprint and Verizon have followed suit and abandoned the two year contract model. Other ways T-Mobile promotes their products is by advertising all of their unique "for the people" features like data rollover and no data charges for music streaming services.
In September of 2012 T-Mobile, the runt of the telecom industry, made the bold decision to hire flamboyant, controversial, and outspoken CEO John Legere. As you can see by T-Mobile's cutting edge use of the marketing mix as well as the fact that T-Mobile just recently passed Sprint as the third most subscribed cellular network. T-Mobile is surviving very strong competition in an market Oligopoly by focusing on marketing, which demonstrates the power of the marketing in business.
Sources:
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http://www.racowireless.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/TMO-Map.jpg
http://www.rcrwireless.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/T-MobileUSstore.jpg
http://www.tmonews.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Screen-Shot-2013-08-20-at-7.51.45-PM.png
http://i-cdn.phonearena.com/images/articles/180258-image/Donal-Trump-and-John-Legere-go-QWERTY-to-QWERTY-on-Twitter.jpg
http://media.idownloadblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/bii-sai-cotd-mobile-carrier-subs-1-1-1024x768.png
http://www.racowireless.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/TMO-Map.jpg
http://www.rcrwireless.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/T-MobileUSstore.jpg
http://www.tmonews.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Screen-Shot-2013-08-20-at-7.51.45-PM.png
http://i-cdn.phonearena.com/images/articles/180258-image/Donal-Trump-and-John-Legere-go-QWERTY-to-QWERTY-on-Twitter.jpg