Make Millions Using Coca-Cola’s Acquisition Strategy

This is a pretty remarkable fact: Coca-Cola has been around for 130 years and is still one of the top brands in the world. 

While it’s hard to believe such a simple drink like Coca-Cola can be an inspiration, it just goes to show that a combination of the right product and innovative marketing can help build great business empires.

So what can you learn from Coca-Cola?

The brand spends $4 billion yearly on marketing, but at the heart of it, the Coca-Cola client acquisition strategy is incredibly simple. 

We’re going to break down the infamous Coca-Cola marketing strategy to leverage the tactics of one of the most profitable companies in the world. Wherever your industry, you can take these tips and turn them into actionable insights for your business.

Coca-Cola’s Acquisition Strategy: A Consistent Brand Name

When we talk about the branding of a business, we’re talking about the perception of a product or service. It’s a perception built over time as people interact with your product and get to know your company. 

What Coca-Cola has done right is build a recognizable brand name that people trust. The perception is that Coca-Cola is a consistent, high-quality, and legitimate product worth consuming.

A strong brand perception is one where people immediately think of the name and can recall what they’ll get and what the brand stands for.

Another excellent example of this is McDonald’s. No matter where you go in the world, you know that when you walk into McDonald’s, you will recognize the menu, how to order, and the process of how it’s delivered. 

The consistency of both brands needs to be stressed here: no matter where you go, the brand is clear. This is why these brands get customers coming back for more.

So, let’s learn how to build a brand for more successful client acquisition.

Coca-Cola: Design, Font, and Logo

When we say that the branding has stayed consistent, we mean it. Coca-Cola’s logo has evolved throughout its 130-year existence, but only slightly. The color palette and script have remained quite consistent since 1886. This was very intentional.  

There have been some iterations of the logo, with the company trying on some new styles, but for the most part, they have stayed true to the brand’s origins. 

coca-cola strategy

Why is this important to know for your brand-building strategy?

Two key insights from the Coca Cola business strategy are worth noting here:

  1. When you focus on building a recognizable brand, you don’t have to rely solely on direct response marketing. What we mean by this is creating ads and funnels to get someone to click and become a lead. That’s great for short-term growth. But over time, you want to be so well known that you’ve already developed a level of rapport and authority as a reputable company that people come to you. 
  1. Sticking to the same branding (even when you feel tempted to change it) is an investment in developing that authority. The biggest mistake of new entrepreneurs when it comes to branding is the “shiny object syndrome.” This is where people create multiple companies with multiple branding, or they keep changing their core company branding. This results in so much complexity and changes that no one can recognize anything. 

An alternative is to do what Cola-Cola did: turn this core company into a parent company with one set logo, and even if other companies are being created, they could also be a part of the overarching brand. 

For example, did you know that Sprite, Fanta, and even Glaceau Smartwater (among many more brands) are all owned by Coca-Cola? Coca-Cola didn’t change its branding to own them; it created child brands under the company and remained consistent in its branding.

Let’s go deeper into Coca-Cola company acquisition strategy, especially regarding how they market their product (and what you can replicate in your business). 

Remember: Whether you’re a product-based or service-based business, the overall mentality of consistent branding stays the same.

Coca-Cola’s Marketing Strategy 

Coca-Cola’s acquisition strategy has been so successful that it has become a case study for other companies to follow. Here’s how Coca-Cola does it so well:

Coca-Cola Uses the 4Ps of Marketing

Coca-Cola’s marketing strategy is so effective that it has been used as an example in business schools worldwide, and many other companies have adopted their 4Ps of Marketing (Product, Price, Place, and Promotion).

1. Multiple Products

One of the essential aspects of Coca-Cola’s marketing strategy is offering a wide array of products. Multiple products allow them to cater to different types of customers looking for other things from their main product. 

By offering numerous choices, Coca-Cola can attract customers and make more money. Coca-Cola has developed Coke, Sprite, Fanta, Dasani, and many other sodas that are well-known globally.

2. Flexible Pricing

Coca-Cola prices its products to be affordable for everyone regardless of income level or location. It was one of the first companies to offer coupons, discounts, and other incentives to get people to buy more products more often.

Coca-Cola’s price point varies depending on the country you are in. Still, they also offer promotions where they give away free samples of their products at events or sporting events like football games or concerts.

3. Place: Local and International

Gaining a competitive edge in the business world is a challenging task. Coca-Cola is in more than 200 countries and territories, giving it an extensive distribution network. It has a total of 6 geographic regions of operations, including Europe, Latin America, North America, the Pacific, Eurasia, and Africa.

The company has its own branded trucks and delivery vehicles – you’ve likely seen a Coca-Cola truck drive past at some point in your life.

In addition to having its fleet of trucks, Coca-Cola also owns many factories around the globe where they produce their products locally to save time on transportation costs and provide consumers with the best product at all times.

4. Creative Promotions

Coca-Cola has had a consistently creative approach to its TV commercials and promotional events.

One example is the “Share a Coke” global campaign, allowing people to buy bottles of Coca-Cola that had their names labeled. The campaign began in Australia, where the top 150 names were printed on bottles, and a huge marketing campaign spread awareness to the masses that they could buy a Coke with their name listed on it. 

By that summer, more than 250 million bottles and cans of coke were sold, which is an impressive number since the population of Australia was under 23 million people at the time. The campaign went global, reaching more than 70 countries. 

What can you learn 

You want people to remember what they see and hear so that they will think about your product when they are ready to buy something new. This means that you must keep things interesting by being innovative while not going so far that people don’t recognize your branding. Engaging promotional movements that get people to feel excited and rewarded in some way (in this case, by having their name on the bottle) is a great way to encourage people to buy.

5. Localized Positioning

Coca-Cola uses localized positioning as an effective way to connect with consumers in different countries around the world. Localized positioning involves tailoring your message for each market based on local culture, customs, language, and other factors that make up their unique identity. In this way, although the product and branding are the same, the way that it is marketed in India will be very different from how it is marketed in the U.K. 

6. Sponsorships

The company is a well-recognized brand for its sponsorships, including American Idol, NASCAR, Olympic Games, and many more. Since the 1928 Olympic Games, Coca-Cola has partnered with multiple events.

It also partners with other sports organizations to sponsor their events, such as Major League Baseball (MLB), National Football League (NFL), National Basketball Association (NBA), and NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). In 1978, Coca-Cola became an official sponsor of FIFA World Cup. This was a smart move since sporting events attract massive global audiences and are televised on every channel you can think of – which means everyone is seeing Coca-Cola.

4. Social Media 

The company uses various digital communication channels to post images and videos, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. It also uses search engine optimization (SEO), email marketing, and content marketing as part of its marketing strategy. 

Some examples that display the popularity of Coca-Cola’s social media channels:

Instagram: 2.8 million followers

Twitter: 3.4 million followers

YouTube: 3.88 million subscribers

What You Can Learn From the Winning Coca-Cola Business Strategy

If we were to boil down the 130 years of success that Coca-Cola has experienced into a few key points that give you ideas to action in your business, it would be the following.

1. Keep it simple

When you find the product or service that feels right, don’t attempt to branch out (especially too soon). Yes, Cola-Cola owns plenty of other brands, but Coca-Cola the drink, is still the most widely-known core product (plus, the other beverages didn’t enter the market until well after Coca-Cola was enjoying success). 

Find an offer that works, and when it starts to see results, double down. Rather than use that as the moment to break out to new products/services, instead, focus on scaling the systems to reach more people. Coca-Cola realized that it could acquire clients all over the world. That was a huge part of its acquisition strategy. More reach rather than more offers.

2. Keep it consistent

Cola-Cola shows us that consistency is a secret weapon. Decide on the visual branding, and stick to it. If it must change, then do as Coke did and try to implement only small changes. That has your brand recognizable for the long term. 

3. Personalize your offer

Just as we have seen with Coca-Cola’s winning global promotion “Shae a Coke”, people love when they feel connected to the product/service in a very personal way. Interactive, fun, and wide-reaching promotions (think social media movements) are winning strategies. 

People want to feel not only connected to the brand but connected to a community. How could you not only customize your offers to be very personal to your clients but also create communities and promotions that ignite excitement and enthusiasm?

Of course, there are many more insights you can learn, and our video below goes deeper into Coca-Cola’s acquisition strategy.

Coca-Cola Acquisition’s Strategy FAQs

Why is Coca-Cola so successful?

Coca-Cola has been around for over a century, but it’s not just the fact that it has been around for a long time that makes it successful. Coca-Cola has been using consistent branding to create a recognizable name all over the world. 

What are the strategies used by Coca-Cola Company?

Many people want to copy the famous Coca Cola business strategy because they know it works. Ultimately, it is not rocket science. It’s about creating a winning product that is simple to deliver, scaling that with strong branding, positioning itself in global markets and through unique promotional systems, and being active on multiple online channels.

What is the secret behind Coke’s marketing strategy?

If we could pinpoint one secret, it would be the consistency of Coca-Cola’s branding that enables it to be widely known and loved throughout the world. Our article shares more about how this consistency is created and upheld throughout its 130 years in business.

Wrapping Up: Adopting Coca-Colas Client Acquisition Strategy

Now that you’ve got some deeper insight into the successful Coca-Cola client acquisition strategy, you can see how branding and marketing, done right, can skyrocket a business to stardom.

By following the principles outlined in our article, you’re on your way to creating a winning strategy for your business. Consider how you can implement the marketing strategies of product, price, place, and promotion and what it would take to create more consistency for long-term recognition. 

If you’re serious about acquiring more clients and scaling your business, we can help. We work with B2B and B2C companies to develop a profitable client acquisition strategy they can implement immediately. Learn about the results you can expect in your business by booking a free consultation call, and one of our advisors will reach out to you. 

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