The Adobe Marketing Mix: a complete overview
As a designer, I’ve been using Adobe products for more than 16 years. Through this analysis, along with the previous one focused on the product, I intend to delve into the 7 Ps of the Adobe Marketing Mix.
The company
Adobe is a multinational company founded in 1982, one of the most enduring in this industry. It specializes in professional software for the creation and publication of multimedia content. Its target audience includes students, teachers, schools, and universities, as well as creative professionals, small, medium, and large-sized companies.
Product
Adobe offers a wide range of software and among its core products are Photoshop, Illustrator, and Acrobat Reader.
Before 2013, customers could buy software licenses; today, they can purchase cloud-based subscriptions that include one or more Adobe software, depending on their needs.
One such subscription plan is Adobe Creative Cloud, which includes more than 20 creative apps (such as Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, After Effects, Audition, Premiere Pro, and XD), access to a library of 20,000+ fonts, 100GB of cloud storage, teamwork tools, tutorials, and community platforms like Behance and Adobe Live.
Over the years, Adobe has updated its products by integrating new apps into its range, sometimes through important acquisitions. On the other hand, the company has progressively abandoned less profitable ones in response to emerging technological changes. Recently, Adobe has introduced significant innovations based on AI, with the release of Adobe Firefly and Sensei GenAI for some Creative Cloud software.
Adobe Document Cloud is a subscription plan that includes software to create, edit, share, scan, and sign digital documents, all based on Pdf format.
In 1992, Adobe introduced the Pdf file format (a proprietary format until 2008) and developed the Acrobat family, a set of software designed to view, create, edit, and print Pdf files. Over the years, Acrobat evolved and progressively enhanced its features, eventually becoming part of a cloud-based solution in 2015. Similarly, all the other Adobe software followed a similar evolution, with integration into cloud-based solutions starting from 2012.
Adobe Experience Cloud is a subscription plan that includes solutions for customer journey management, data analytics, content personalization, commerce, and marketing workflows.
The Adobe Marketing Cloud collection was launched in October 2012, following the acquisition of Omniture, an online marketing and web analytics company. In 2013, Adobe introduced mobile features and in 2018 it acquired Magento and Marketo to add further commerce and marketing automation features to its product. This collection was then rebranded as “Adobe Experience Cloud”.
Price
Before the introduction of a subscription model in 2012, individual licenses of Adobe software could be purchased. As mentioned, today Adobe offers cloud-based subscriptions that include one or more software, depending on its audience needs.
Being a market leader, its pricing strategy is set at a premium level Adobe follows a pricing strategy set at a premium level, which includes bundle and customized pricing for the Creative Cloud. For the Document and Experience Cloud, Adobe offers licensing plans tailored to specific business needs.
Additionally, Adobe employs a geographic pricing strategy, resulting in relevant differences between countries in terms of prices and discounts.
Place
After the 2008 recession, which resulted in revenue losses of 20% and layoffs for 8% of the workforce, Adobe realized that Salesforce, a young but promising company with an innovative distribution model, was among the few companies that had weathered the crisis. Salesforce was a pioneer in the software as a service (SaaS) model, which Adobe also decided to adopt.
Today, Adobe sells its software on its official website, offering well-structured subscription plans, as previously mentioned.
The company also distributes its software through a widespread network of retailers and solution integrators, who sell its products on local markets around the world.
Over the last 40 years, the relationship between Apple and Adobe has been marked by strong disputes and profitable agreements. One of the best deals between the two companies has been the development of Adobe apps specifically designed for iPhone and iPad, with Apple as exclusive reseller.
Promotion
Adobe utilizes various levers of the marketing communication mix, including advertising, direct marketing, social media, sales promotions, events and experiences, and public relations.
The official site plays a significant role as one of the main promotional tools, offering users access to numerous contents such as articles, ebooks, events, tutorials, videos, webinars, and more. Besides, Adobe employs accurate SEO and SEM practices to enhance its online presence and visibility.
However, the most impactful lever of Adobe’s promotional strategy revolves around creative communities.
In fact, the company leverages a global community of creatives to showcase artwork created with Creative Cloud tools. This user-generated content serves as a phenomenal promotional tool for Adobe as it powerfully illustrates the potential of its software. Apart from the corporate social profile, Adobe maintains official pages dedicated to individual products, and on YouTube, countless users spontaneously offer tutorials about the brand’s software.
As part of its inbound and content marketing strategy, Adobe acquired the Behance platform in 2012. This platform enables creative professionals (many of whom are Adobe users) to create portfolios and showcase their work online.
Over the past decade, official events have been another notable promotional lever.
Since 2013, Adobe has been holding two major events every year: Adobe Summit and Adobe Max. Adobe Summit is a virtual and in-person convention dedicated to Adobe customers and prospects, featuring inspiring keynotes, hands-on labs, networking opportunities. Adobe Max is a virtual and in-person “creativity conference”, that showcases the newest products and services available to creatives, along with the latest design trends and tools.
Lastly, it’s essential to mention the large amount of content that Adobe publishes on its official website, on topics like advertising, artificial intelligence, content management, marketing automation, digital trends, work management and much more. By doing so, Adobe positions itself as an authoritative and reliable voice on customer experience issues.
These contents play a significant role in their inbound marketing strategy aimed at prospects and their retention strategy for existing customers.
People
For many consecutive years, Adobe has been winning “Great place to work®” awards, especially thanks to competitive salaries, numerous benefits and incentives, properly paid internships, remote work policies, diversity & equity programs, an inclusive culture and strong opportunities for professional growth.
Speaking of inclusive culture, Adobe is an Equal Opportunity Employer: the company publicly committed to complying with laws that protect diversity in the workplace. This commitment extends to factors such as gender, race or color, ethnicity or national origin, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, and veteran status.
These acknowledgments project a positive image of the company and contribute to strengthening the brand’s reputation as well as attracting talent from all over the world.
Concerning direct interaction with customers, Adobe customer service is the primary contact channel with the brand. The Adobe Support Community serves as a platform for multilingual assistance on the various products, with responses provided by other customers and Adobe employees. Adobe Care offers support via Twitter.
However, when it comes to after-sales assistance, Adobe faces certain challenges, as we will soon discuss.
Process
Adobe provides a variety of resources to help users learn about their products: video tutorials, walkthroughs, 7-day trial versions of Creative Cloud apps and the option to request a demo for Adobe Document and Experience Cloud.
This extensive range of learning materials enables users to make informed decisions when considering the purchase of these products. Moreover, the purchase process is straightforward and offers a fluid user experience.
After the purchase, depending on the type of request, customers can refer to tools such as: the Adobe Support Community dedicated to the different products; Adobe Care i.e. assistance via Twitter; numerous tutorials in the Teams Learn and Support section.
On the front office side, Adobe’s official site employs a chatbot as the first line of communication for customer support. This approach has been increasingly adopted by many companies to screen and handle requests that can be efficiently managed by AI, leading to cost savings.
While engaging with a commercial agent is straightforward for prospects, existing customers might find receiving assistance to be a sometimes painful experience, as evidenced by poor ratings on Trustpilot.
This indicates that there might be room for improvement in the customer support experience for existing users.
Physical evidence
The exceptional design of Adobe’s offices worldwide reflects the cutting-edge nature of the brand. This architectural approach contributes to creating an inspiring work environment that aligns with Adobe’s identity and values.
Moreover, as a leader in the creative software market, Adobe projects an extremely captivating, innovative and pop image, evident in the spectacular staging of its flagship annual events, Adobe Summit and Adobe Max.
The official Adobe website itself is characterized by vibrant graphics and lively colors, effectively portraying the brand’s creative soul.
Originally published on Medium, August 11, 2023
REFERENCES
Fig. 1. Illustrator interface on iPad. [Online image]. Adobe.
Available at: https://www.adobe.com/products/illustrator/ipad.html [Accessed July 22, 2023]
Fig. 2. Adobe Document Cloud. [Online image]. Adobe.
Available at: https://www.adobe.com/acrobat/business.html [Accessed July 22, 2023]
Fig. 3. Adobe Experience Manager Sites, part of the Adobe Experience Cloud. [Online image]. Adobe.
Available at: https://business.adobe.com/products/experience-manager/sites/aem-sites.html [Accessed July 22, 2023]
Fig. 4. Creative Cloud plans and pricing available for school and universities, in the US market. [Web page]. Adobe.
Available at: https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/plans.html [Accessed July 23, 2023]
Fig. 5. Adobe apps for iPhone and iPad, for sale in the Apple store. [Web page]. Apple.
Available at: https://apps.apple.com/us/developer/adobe-inc/id331646274/ [Accessed July 23, 2023]
Fig. 6. Adobe (2023). Post showcasing an illustration created by an Adobe user. Instagram, 28th of May 2023. Available at: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cu-GloFLFBe/ [Accessed July 24, 2023]
Fig. 7. (2023). Adobe Summit 2023, Las Vegas. [Online image]. Munvo.
Available at: https://munvo.com/3-main-takeaways-from-the-2023-adobe-summit/ [Accessed July 24, 2023]
Fig. 8. The company’s inclusion page on Adobe’s website. [Online image]. Adobe. Available at: https://www.adobe.com/diversity/my-story.html [Accessed July 24, 2023]
Fig. 9. The “Help Center” on Adobe’s website. [Web page]. Adobe.
Available at https://helpx.adobe.com/support.html [Accessed July 24, 2023]
Fig. 10. (2012). The Adobe headquarters in Noida, India. [Online image].
Adobe. Available at: https://blog.adobe.com/en/publish/2021/12/02/adobe-indias-interns-making-connection-professionals-with-disabilities [Accessed July 25, 2023]
Eva De Crescenzo 