WHY I LOVE PUBLIX
The world can be a tough place to exist in nowadays. Religion,politics, parenting styles, and relationships do their best to tear us apartand pit us against each other. But if there’s one thing that people in thesouth can unit over, it’s our mutual love for PUBLIX!
I grew up in a Publix family. We shopped all of our groceryitems there, and the only time we ever left the confines of it’s comfort tobrave one of its lesser rivals was when we needed something like a pool floator DVD player. Between their infamous Pub Subs, free cookies from the deli,BOGO deals, and friendly employees clad in nostalgic green vests, shopping atPublix truly is a pleasure.
ALASTING IMPACT
Publix is known not only for their incredible customer service,but also for their community service. One of the Hallmark’s of the company istheir desire to be actively involved in the communities in which their storesare located. Most recently, the corporate office donated an incredible $5million to Habitat for Humanity (one of the many charities they support)! I don’tknow about you, but I sure feel good supporting a company whose causes are soimportant to them.
Beyond their charitable causes, Publix is known for the amazingemployees they hire! I’ll never forget Joe Skipper. He was the “seafood guy” atmy Publix in Ormond Beach, Florida for as long as I can remember. Because Igrew up going to the same Publix most of my life, Mr. Skipper knew my face andmy name, and walking past the seafood counter was always such a treat.Unfortunately, Mr. Skipper passed away a few years ago, but I have no doubtthat he impacted countless customers and fellow employees.
HITTINGTHE MARKET (NO PUN INTENDED)
So at this point, you’ve probably grasped the fact that Itotally love Publix! But despite their amazing employees and charitable causes,Publix, like all other companies, has to put in work to keep their brandcohesive and reach their target audience.
I’ll start with the positive and give kudos where they’re due.The Publix marketing department is incredible at providing quick and positiveresponses to customer inquiries. And these aren’t just generic responses, they’rewell researched and it’s obvious that Publix makes an effort to accept everychance they have to interact with their customers. They’re also very consistenton their 3 main platforms, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Scroll through anyof Publix’s feeds and you will find that they post every 1-3 days. Impressive!
Check out this response to a woman concerned about the ethicsbehind the eggs.
THEFACE BEHIND THE NAME
So with me singing Publix’s praises, you may be wondering whenthe heck I’m going to get to the part that needs improvement. Well, we’vearrived.
The first thing I noticed scrolling through all of Publix’sfeeds is that while they share a lot of yummy seasonal recipes and shoppingtips, I didn’t see the faces of any real people. The very first thing I do whenconsidering using a service or brand is go to their social media pages to seethe people behind the company. Who will be helping me, do they looktrustworthy, and do they like their job? Relationship is at the heart ofeverything we do, so why not put the faces of people like Mr. Skipper out therefor the world to see? Publix should consider starting a temporary or seasonalcampaign called “Population: Publix” or “People Of Publix”, in which once aweek they showcase employees of the month, celebrate employees for theirlongevity and anniversaries with the brand, and show that they value the peoplewho make their stores so great!
MEDIAINFLUENCERS
But, Publix should also realize that there are people outside oftheir company who can bring value to the brand as well! Take for example,blogger Mix and Match Mama (AKA Shay Shull). She is a southern wife and motherwho centers her blog around cooking, family, faith, and fashion. How easy wouldit be for Shay to share a short post on her blog using a Publix recipe? Shecould even just share a brief Insta-story about how one of Publix’s “Aprons”recipes saved the night after a crazy day, and include a swipe up link. Theamount of influence that social media celebs have nowadays is mind boggling,but I can nearly guarantee that if some of Shay’s faithful followers saw thatshe is a fan of Publix’s recipes, they would be running down the aisles to grabthe same items! I searched the World Wide Web and could not find a single mediainfluencer partnered with Publix. It’s possible they’re out there and I’mmissing them, the Internet is a big place after all, but it appears that Publixis missing a huge opportunity here.
Of course though, if bloggers like Mix and Match Mama are goingto partner with Publix, it only makes sense for the brand to create their ownhashtag for influencers to use. As I scrolled through all of Publix’splatforms, I didn’t see a single hashtag being used. Hashtags aren’t just someclever or sarcastic sayings to hack on to the end of a post. They createcommunity, they bring conversation, and they tie together posts from the brand,their influencers, and their followers. There’s plenty of opportunity to getcreative here, but what about something like #ThePubIsAPleasure to play off oftheir tag line?
Whether Publix chooses to reach out to media influencers andcreate a more centralized community with hashtags is up to them, but I thinkthey’re missing out on a great opportunity if they don’t!
SHOPPINGSERVICES
Lastly, let’s chat about Publix’s shopping services. You know about those, right? Oh,you don’t? Well don’t feel bad, I didn’t either until I started doing research forthis post. Instacart and Shipt are two companies that offer annualsubscriptions for their personal shopping services. Sign up for one of theseservices and get groceries delivered directly to your home! Hello, groceryshopping of the future, I’ve waited a long time for you!
Now maybe Publix feels like by posting anything about theseservices they’re essentially giving those companies free advertising – I getthat. However, I can’t tell you the amount of times I’ve reinvented leftoversin order to avoid going to the grocery store again. If I had known about theseservices sooner, I totally would’ve been participating. In other words Publixwould’ve gotten more of my moola. While they don’t actually make money bypartnering with these services, the amount of “in app” shoppers does eventuallyadd to their bottom line.
EXTRA,EXTRA~!
· The issue for Publix when it comes to advertising is thatwhereas many companies are starting to transition away from print marketing andare positioning themselves in the online market, Publix still has many “oldschool” customers and penny-pinchers who really get a kick out of clippingcoupons, and bringing in weekly ads and savings flyers, so I would assume thata large portion of their marketing budget goes toward that print marketing.
· However, I think that by allocating even a small portion oftheir time and budget to more creativity and greater diversity on their socialmedia channels, Publix can expand their reach far beyond where they’re at now.Publix prides themselves on excellence and rightfully so they’re a great brandand with some small tweaks to their marketing strategy, they will only getbetter!
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