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Inbound Marketing Insights

3 Ways Martha Stewart Successfully Built Her Global Brand

Posted by Rich Meyer | 2 Minutes to Read

MarthaStewartBrandI had the opportunity to attend HubSpot’s INBOUND 2014 conference in Boston. What an amazing group of savvy marketers! During the conference, I attended Martha Stewart’s keynote on “The Art of Building a Brand" and got to meet her!

As a successful businesswoman, author, and media personality, Martha Stewart is one of America’s most trusted and valued lifestyle experts. Millions of people worldwide rely on Martha as a source of useful information for many aspects of everyday living, which include: cooking, entertaining, gardening, home renovating, and crafting. Her global company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, reaches approximately 60 million people in America (as of 2014) through different media, including magazines, bestselling books, and online media.

Her company also has a significant retail presence across several national retailers with various product lines: the Martha Stewart Home Collection in Macy's, the Martha Stewart Living Collection in Home Depot, and the Martha Stewart Pets Collection in PetSmart.

Martha Stewart is a true example of how to successfully "build a brand,” and here are three ways that she talked about how she has done this during her keynote presentation at INBOUND:

  1. Always Be Looking:  Martha and her team are constantly looking for new ideas and ways to help expand on her global brand. For example, based on the success of her product lines in the U.S., she has taken some of her publications overseas. She plans to launch her product lines into several international markets. Also, based on the success of her bestselling books, she just published a new book that focuses on personal health and “how to live the good, long life.”
  2. Embrace Social Media:  Like any celebrity, Martha understands the importance of building strong relationships with her fans. To help her accomplish this, her company has built a strong presence through many social media outlets. Martha and her team have used Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest to share pictures, recipes, products, and more, for all of her fans and loyal followers to enjoy. She mentioned during her keynote that her pictures on Pinterest are some of the most shared images around the world! Martha has also developed a lifestyle blog to give her fans an up-close and personal perspective of her life, tips, and secrets to be like Martha.
  3. Stay Consistent With Your Brand:  During her keynote, Martha was interviewed by a member of the Harvard Business Review. She asked Martha how she manages to not dilute her brand by having many product lines across different stores. Martha responded by saying that all of her products revolve around the home. She said that she would not introduce products unrelated to the home and her core business. In addition, Martha has been able to build an empire from the “how-to” concept because I believe she truly loves to help enhance people’s personal lives. She has a strong passion for everything she does. That’s what makes her product lines, books, and magazines so trusted and loved by consumers and keeps them returning to her brand name.

From her keynote, Martha Stewart taught me a few key things on how to build a successful brand. My key takeaways were to:

  • Seek new ideas and find new ways to constantly grow
  • Utilize new technologies to stay in touch with your audience
  • Stay consistent and passionate about what you do

FullSizeRenderMartha Stewart has taken the "how-to" concept for anything and everything around the home and successfully turned it into a multi-billion dollar global brand.  

Check out the picture from my meet and greet with Martha! If you're interested in more tips on building your brand, we invite you to read our blog on the five things to consider when building your branding strategy.


In addition, if you want to connect about how to build your brand and integrate your brand with your inbound marketing strategy, we invite you to schedule an
 inbound marketing consultation.

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Topics: Inbound Marketing, Traditional Marketing