International Business Machine Corporation was founded in 1911. It is credited with revolutionizing the way we look at technology and business, and is the brain behind innovations like the floppy disk, UPC Barcode, SQL Programming Language, Hard Disk Drive, Dynamic RAM, and the Automated Teller Machine.
This is proof of the company’s commitment to innovation, which has helped it become the name it is, even after a century. One of the biggest names in making computer software and hardware, IBM has changed its strategies according to time to emerge as a winner. Let’s check a few of them.
1. Product and offerings
IBM offers a range of tech products and services- Cognitive solutions, global business services, systems, distributed computing, psychological registering, information and analysis, IT framework, and the Internet of Things (IoT).
Along with these, technology services & cloud platforms include infrastructure and technical support services along with integration tools. Global financing includes customer financing, industrial financing, and remanufacturing and remarketing facilities
To ensure client data security, IBM’s Cloud Data Encryption Services (ICDES) uses sophisticated technology and has a distinctive name.
So you see, the IT giant offers a plethora of products and services, and continuously innovates to keep up with changes and challenging times.
2. Two-way pricing strategy
The company has adopted a market-oriented pricing strategy that has its offerings, especially services, being sold at competitive prices when compared with its counterparts like HP, Accenture, Oracle, Dell Technologies, and Xerox.
And along with being competitive, for its products, IBM has adopted a value-based pricing strategy, that has it fixing prices according to the product’s value – how goods are perceived and wanted by end-users.
3. Marketing Strategies
Using the conventional and contemporary, IBM employs a differentiation strategy by offering its customers something new and different from its competitors. It caters to every client in a differentiated manner based on the client’s needs. And this is where its focus on innovation has helped it achieve success.
When it comes to advertising, IBM invests majorly in online and offline advertisements in order to keep customers up-to-date with their new offerings and also strengthen recall. Two noteworthy campaigns by the company are- ‘Code & Response’ which helped in garnering attention towards ill effects caused by natural disasters and ‘Smarter Planet’ which was undertaken to make areas of healthcare, retail, finance, and cities ‘smarter’.
4. Social Media strategy
Just like it believes in innovation, keeping up with tomes has been another focus of IBM. This is visible with the undeniable presence of the company and its happenings and offerings on social media.
The company uses many popular social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to expand its reach and be visible. Along with this its presence on YouTube and LinkedIn is massive.
