Sunday, December 2, 2012

How Starbucks Reaches Their Various Publics

Previous posts have discussed how Starbucks reaches the public and the media. It is also important to remember that a large corporation needs to reach other people effectively as well, including employees and investors, among others. 


Employees


Starbucks calls their employees “partners”. They have what is called “Your Special Blend”, which outlines what partners at the company will receive. Partners are eligible to receive health benefits, retirement benefits and paid time off even as part-time employees.

The company offers perks with products and beverages including free products and 30 % store made drinks. They also offer education perks, including tuition assistance. All of these perks help to draw employees into the company and help to retain them as well.
 
Starbucks also has an online community for partners, thepartnercafe.com, where employees can sign in and look for career advancement opportunities within the company.



Investors 

A great deal of investor relations involves good marketing, so all types of communications specialists need to work together to get investors interested in a company. There needs to be IR, corporate and marketing communicators working together to get the right message to investors.


Starbucks has an entire section of their website dedicated to their Investor Relations. They are a publically traded company and their NASDAQ (logo) is SBUX. On their investor relations’ page, there is information about their annual reports, their filings, their stock prices and their stock history.

Starbucks also has investor conferences and quarterly earnings conferences each year to keep people up to date on the company and its financial situation. There is even an investment calculator, where you can enter the amount of money or shares you invested on a certain date and see how much your initial investment is worth today.

Starbucks follows some specific communications factors related to IR, including articulating the company vision, ensuring the stock price expectations are appropriate and trying to reduce stock prices volatility (Argenti and Barnes, 150).

Government

Starbucks is not deeply involved in politics, however Starbucks CEO Howard Shultz publicly endorsed President Obama in this past presidential race, and the company publicly supports same-sex marriage as well. Schultz also said he would like to boycott corporate political donations because the money needs to be used to create jobs, not support campaigns. 

Schultz believes in putting aside bi-parisanship and focusing on real solutions for our country: 

"Let’s tell our government leaders to put partisanship aside and to speak truthfully about the challenges we face. Let’s ask our business leaders to create more job opportunities for the American economy. And as citizens, let’s all get more involved. Please, don’t be a bystander. Understand that we have a shared responsibility in solving our nation’s problems. We can’t wait for Washington. At Starbucks, we are trying to live up to our responsibility by increasing our local community service and helping to finance small-business job creation with Create Jobs for USA. Our company is far from perfect, and we know we can do more for America. But we need your help. We need your voice" (Schultz, Starbucks.com). 



Demonstration of Corporate Social Responsibility 


Starbucks is a company very focused on community and corporate social responsibility. They have built the company around the idea of giving back and ethical practices. All of their coffee beans are ethically sourced from select countries. They have an entire part of their website dedicated to volunteer opportunities. Starbucks aims to strike a balance between profit and social conscience.

Starbucks also launched the Create Jobs for USA campaign, which is an initiative to help create jobs for Americans through donations. This campaign helps to boost our economy by creating and keeping jobs in the USA.

From the neighborhoods where our stores are located, to the ones where our coffee is grown – we are committed to helping communities thrive where we do business.”

A concern about corporate social responsibility is that it may not always be authentic. Starbucks has been involved in social responsibility for as long as the company has been around, so that helps the authenticity of their work.


While social responsibility can help increase profit, it doesn’t always. Starbucks has lost profits due to over-expansion, but continues to put money into fair trade coffee and part time employee insurance. “Chairman and CEO Howard Schultz is committed to making Starbucks a company that puts “people first and profits last””. (Argenti and Barnes, 175).

Use of a Spokesperson

Starbucks does not have a specific spokesperson. As a company, Starbucks does not do a great deal of advertising because they rely a lot on word of mouth and social media. They very rarely have done television ads. Their CEO, Howard Schultz, is the closest they have to a spokesperson. He writes blogs on the website and appears in the media. He is the most well-known person associated with Starbucks.

While there is no official spokesperson, celebrities are photographed all the time with Starbucks cups in their hands, which is free advertising for the company. “Studies have also shown that when celebrities appear in advertisements or endorse products, not only do we perceive the brand message as more authentic, but it also enhances our recognition and recall of the product in question” (Lindstrom, 160).


Having celebrities visit Starbucks and be photographed with the product is a great, free advertisement for Starbucks and people are more likely to think of the product and buy it themselves.


Use of Communication Strategies and Crisis Communication Strategies

I think Starbucks uses their communication strategies well. They are a top company that offers their employees great benefits that a lot of other companies do not. They are publically traded and make their investor information available. The CEO makes his political thoughts known, but not in a way that alienates their customers, and they are a socially responsible company that focuses highly on how to give back to communities where they do business.

Starbucks could be more involved in the media in terms of advertising and having a specific spokesperson, but since they are profiting without having to pay millions for advertising, they can use that money for their CSR efforts instead.

Their PR department seems to keep them involved in media with a great deal of online social presence as well as making the public aware of new products and campaigns as well.  

In a crisis, I think Starbucks would need to mostly maintain the course they are on. Since they are so involved in social media, their messaging would need to be spread across all their networks as well as through traditional media. Since Howard Schultz is the face of Starbucks, he would need to be seen and heard from in a crisis, making sure his messaging is transparent and honest.  

During a crisis, a company needs to have cohesive messaging. Anyone acting as a spokesperson in regards to the crisis needs to know what the company wants to say and how to say it. The messages the company puts out on their website, on TV and throughout the media needs to have the same main ideas so the public can follow along. The messaging needs to be transparent and honest so the company can rebuild their image and retain their customers and shareholders, even during a crisis. 




Works Cited
1. Argenti, Paul A. Digital Strategies for Powerful Corporate Communications. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2009. Print.
2. Lindström, Martin. Brandwashed. North Sydney, N.S.W.: Random House Australia, 2011. Print.