Subscription expert Robbie Baxter on Brand Strategy

Introduction

Robbie Baxter is a leading expert in sharing the benefits of today’s membership economy. As Robbie explains, leading organizations like Netflix are always looking for opportunities to grow their business. In addition, these businesses have a sharp focus on repositioning their existing business to adapt to changing market conditions.

Netflix Brand Strategy: Clear Value Proposition

During my time consulting with Netflix, I was very impressed with the focus on their value proposition. When you look at Netflix’s brand strategy, their model has constantly evolved over time. However, the value proposition has stayed fixed. I think this is a very important principle for organizations to uphold, especially within membership economies.

For example, Netflix has always been a great resource for video content. However, their content delivery has completely changed. Ten years ago, they exclusively shipped DVDs to their customers. Fast-forward to the present, streaming is now the go-to platform for most of their customers. In addition, they create a lot of original content. Clearly, these are significant changes to undergo over a period of time. That said, the Netflix value proposition is still consistent. They continue to deliver great video content while evolving its brand strategy to engage with more customers.

I used a lot of my experiences at Netflix to serve as the basis for my book on membership economies. Through the years, there has been a shift from ownership to access. In other words, users don’t own the content that they stream online or the DVDs that ship to their home. Instead, Netflix creates access to content on each customer’s terms. Furthermore, you’re not locked into holding on to content that you may not want later on.

Furthermore, Netflix’s brand strategy is a perfect example of relationships being more important than transactions. For example, users have a profile on Netflix and their content preferences are a big part of the user experience. When you engage with Netflix, you’re not making an anonymous transaction the way that you do with other services. Simply put, the focus is on the customer and has completely changed how businesses conduct transactions.

Interestingly, this model has started to appear in a variety of different businesses and industries. For example, we’re seeing non-profits and traditional businesses adopt this brand strategy. Simply put, it’s not just happening with tech startups in Silicon Valley. This new model is impacting how businesses interact with customers in all walks of life.

Click here for our latest blog posts