If you’re getting to read this article without ever having heard the name Kardashian, you’ve accomplished a task of Herculean proportions, most likely completely by accident.
While the name “Kardashian” dominated the 2010’s and even bloomed under the camera flashes of the 2000’s, the Kardashian-Jenners were perhaps always destined for the limelight, with famous trials and Olympic medals in their lineage.
But why now, decades later, are the Kardashians a household name, surviving cheating scandals, highly controversial stunts, and more?
It all comes down to marketing. Marketing and the ever-vigilant Kris Jenner.
How the Kardashians Used the Social Media Wave to Make It to the Top
For a few decades, the Kardashian-Jenner name lay somewhat dormant. Kim was appearing in magazines and tabloids as 2000’s icon and heiress Paris Hilton’s stylist and close friend, but the name “Kardashian” didn’t really start to make headlines until February 2007, when an unfortunate breach of privacy had Kim’s, well… EVERYTHING on every news site and gossip rag across America.
That’s where the Kris Jenner magic comes in. Amid the buzz, Kris made the genius move that’s still paying off in dividends: she pitched a reality show following the lives of her and her family members to Ryan Seacrest.
That move kept the famous family on TV and rising in popularity for two decades and counting!
Digital Marketing Institute did an in-depth exploration into the Kardashians’ marketing magic, click to read the whole article here!
“Keeping Up with the Kardashians” and Breaking the Internet
Kris’s work didn’t stop with getting her family on TV. She made yet another brilliant marketing move by making sure that she was listed as an Executive Producer on Keeping Up With the Kardashians. This way, she was able to oversee every aspect of the writing and storytelling aspect of creating the show.
But she didn’t clock out at the end of the work day.
Kris Jenner is always engaging, observing, and looking for what’s being said about her family so she can spin that yarn into a sweater of Emmy-winning entertainment. She responds to comments, retweets articles, and puts her millions of followers’ eyes on whatever’s going on in their lives.
And this unique brand of marketing works with a delayed release effect too!
First, you get the immediate gratification of following the drama as it unfolds online across your Twitter timeline. Then, you get to see it rehashed and discussed months later on Keeping Up With the Kardashians.
But it’s not just television. The Kardashians are always promoting, especially when it’s their brand.
When Kim Kardashian’s famous “Breaking the Internet” photoshoot graced the pages of Paper Magazine, she literally told us her goal was to get so many clicks, it broke the internet. And it did!
And while some argue that this up-close-and-personal approach to their lives is invasive and extremely produced, no one can deny that it’s a money-making MACHINE.
What Can We Learn from the Kardashian Marketing Strategy
So how can we apply this marketing genius to our own lives and companies? We can’t produce an entire TV show or do a scantily-clad photoshoot to promote our brand and it likely wouldn’t work for us the same way.
But there are certainly some lessons to take from the Kardashians’ marketing strategy to emulate on our own.
First, collaboration.
For the most part, using social media and absorbing that content is largely free. So where does that money come from?
Advertisements and collaborations, sometimes within their own empire!
From Sugar Bear Hair and Flat Tummy Tea ads to makeup collaborations between Kylie and Kim for Kylie’s cosmetics brand, the Kardashian-Jenners are combining their star power with brands that are on people’s lips.
Who in your industry do you admire? Could you collaborate or partner up?
Secondly, there’s cross-promoting across platforms.
Television and More
When Keeping Up with the Kardashians was pitched to the Kardashian daughters, they agreed with the hope that it would promote their boutique, Dash.
It goes on cyclically from there. The social media buzz promotes the drama which promotes the show which promotes the brands which promotes social media buzz.
If you make YouTube videos about your brand, promote them on social media. When you ship out a product, send a card with it that invites them to check out your social media accounts.
Finally, we can take the careful combination of behind-the-scenes and social media.
From photoshoots, the making of makeup campaigns, peeks into the intimate moments of motherhood, and on and on, we are constantly getting updates about what these Kardashian-Jenners are doing. And with 550 million devoted followers across the sisters watching, something has to be working.
Consider your following and demographic. What could they want to see that they can’t glean from just buying your products?
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