Xiaomi initially started as a software company founded in April 2010 by ex-Kingsoft CEO Lei

Jun, creating a new custom ROM based on Google’s Android. MIUI, the ROM which the team
created, ramp the technology and achieved a huge success which was ported to many devices.
The founder and CEO, Jun Lei is nicknamed as “the Steve Jobs of China” and Xiaomi is also
called the “Apple of China”. In 2012, Xiaomi shipped a total of 7.2 million smartphones and in
2013 the number rose to 18.7 million. Also, in the first quarter of 2014, Xiaomi had shipped over
11million smartphones, which was more than they sold in the entire year 2012. Demand
continued to increase because of its low price and high specification hardware embedded.

Xiaomi had continued its expansion out of China with the high-profile hiring of Hugo Barra (ex-
Google android executive) whose job was to discover new markets for expansion. Sales had been
started in the overseas countries like Malaysia, Philippines, India, Indonesia, Thailand,
Vietnam, Russia, Turkey, Brazil and Mexico.

Marketing Strategy of Xiaomi

1. Create a brand proposition that resonates with your target market:
Xiaomi began trade with an idea: to offer high specs at low prices. They targeted
markets where technologically-savvy customers could not afford the top-of-the-line
Apple or Samsung smartphones but wished to own higher quality devices rather than
cheap knock-offs or copies of the costlier brands.
They’ve distinguished themselves by building a strong following around their custom
operating system, MIUI. The customers are eager for every update to their Mi phone’s
software for new, cutting-edge features that only Xiaomi offers.
Now, the customers seek them out not just because they are affordable, but because
they are different. The new generation that seeks something different to stand out of
the crowd.

2. Harness the power of social media with campaigns that build anticipation and
urgency:
Each Mi product range is heavily advertised on social media and has its own social hub
(the Mi Smartphone Hub has 11 million fans).CEO Lei Jun, who firmly believes word-
of-mouth is Xiaomi’s key marketing strategy, credits the micro-blogging platform for
helping to spread good reviews of its products.
Xiaomi popularized flash sales as a means of generating hype online. The anticipation
and urgency of the sales naturally drove curious and potential customers to share
news about these sales on social media.
By using word-of-mouth rather than just plain advertising, Xiaomi was able to grow
quickly and efficiently and built its brand image around its main mission of creating
high specs at low prices.

3. Customized products, and reaching out aggressively to the local market:

None of the marketing efforts would have been effective if Xiaomi had not
demonstrated a great deal of sincerity and transparency, while adapting to local
cultures.
For example, they understood the fact that Lei Jun would not enjoy as much celebrity
status outside of China. For this they engaged Hugo Barra as Xiaomi’s brand
 ambassador (having him deliver product keynotes in markets like India had a greater
impact).
Xiaomi has even built product features and marketing material around local issues,
such as their unique MIUI feature to navigate India’s Interactive Voice Response
systems.

4. Fan festivals and local meet-ups:

They organise fan festivals and local meet-ups, building rapport within the local
community and growing the fan base by encouraging fans to invite their friends along.
And Xiaomi rewards such passion: Hugo Barra regularly visits customers, and the
Xiaomi staff personally autographs thank you cards for the customers.
As a result, they have built a tribe as fiercely supportive as Apple supporters.

5. Combined forces with like-minded brands to generate hype and reach new potential
customers:
To continue growing, Xiaomi had to find new avenues of outreach. They found the
answer in strategic partnerships, which exploit the combined clout of both companies
to generate word-of-mouth.

For instance, the Redmi Note was launched exclusively on QQ Zone, one of China’s
largest social networks and comprised of a predominantly geeky audience. The
resulting PR coverage was a win-win for both parties.
Xiaomi employed this strategy to great effect again when launching the Mi Note. This
time, they partnered with Uber to deliver the phones to customers. Even non-tech
media covered this story, creating the kind of buzz only the combined forces of Xiaomi
and Uber could.

Over all they have used a mix of social media and word of mouth to market their
product. And they have not failed to deliver.
As for a country like India, where Chinese appliances are not trusted, Xiaomi has
already carved a niche market segment for itself. The company entered Indian market
in 2014. The quality of the product delivered combined with affordable price, is a
pretty nice positioning strategy in itself when the entire smartphone market was dull
with high priced and low priced smartphones but nothing in between that would give
the best service at an affordable price.
The most recent launch of Redmi 5A was advertised as ‘Desh ka smartphone’, which is
a commendable strategy to make Indian customers market believe that Redmi 5A
should be considered as an Indian product, it was strategically positioned in the minds
of the people that Redmi is Indian and not foreign.
What more can be done:
Xiaomi can further strengthen the positioning of the brand by advertising aggressively
on television as well, Indian T.V. market is huge and for expansion into the market
they need to invest more into the commercials. Since they have already built a market
they need to hold the fort by becoming a household name in the Indian market.
It is expected that the company should treat India as one of its biggest markets
(besides China), and even if the younger half of the country uses facebook and twitter
(which are xiaomi’s social media advertisement platforms) the other half still watches
the television. What is popular in tv usually becomes the household name.