Marketing Strategy for Apple MacBook Pro

This report develops a marketing strategy for 13-inch Apple MacBook Pro. It discusses the targeting, positioning and marketing mix strategies. The report recommends the use of digital marketing, TV commercials, Sales Promotion and Billboard for promotion. The report also emphasizes on the importance of social responsibility for the society.

Running Head: FUNDAMENTALS OF MARKETING
Apple company
Fundamentals of marketing
Report
Student Name
10/28/2018

FUNDAMENTALS OF MARKETING 1
Executive summary
The main purpose of this report is to develop a marketing strategy for 13-inch Apple MacBook
Pro. In this report, three imperative strategies are discussed like Targeting, Positioning and the
Marketing Mix. Further, the targeting strategy could lead the firm to select a particular category
of people who will use product and services. It will also support the organization to make a
reliable decision in the context of a particular product. For this, the demographic factor is
selected by Apple to deliver their goods and service. In the demographic factor, higher classes of
people are selected because they are willing to pay higher for the specified product. Further, the
organization has selected a digital marketing strategy for making brand positing in the
marketplace. Moreover, the organization has used the marketing mix strategy to promote their
goods and services. The organization will use differentiation strategy to promote their goods and
services by making a unique image among consumers.

FUNDAMENTALS OF MARKETING 2
Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
1. Target segment........................................................................................................................................3
2. Branding positioning...............................................................................................................................8
Perceptual map........................................................................................................................................8
Perceptual map........................................................................................................................................9
3. Marketing mix (4p`s).............................................................................................................................10
3.1. Product lifecycle.............................................................................................................................11
3.2. Type of Consumer product.............................................................................................................12
Recommended a Marketing Mix...............................................................................................................12
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................14
References.................................................................................................................................................16

FUNDAMENTALS OF MARKETING 3
Introduction
The team of marketing consultants has been nominated by the marketing managers of Apple to
conduct an exploration on the 13-inch Apple MacBook Pro (Aladeojebi, 2013). This report will
help in finding out exact target for 13-inch Apple MacBook Pro by focusing and also help on
finding the exact way of creating brand positioning of the product on the minds of the target
audience. This report will focus on the data which will be collected with the help of secondary
sources (Bartlett, Ting, and Bingham, 2014). This report will help in forming a strong customer
base by offering an exact product which is already placed in the minds of these potential
customers.
1. Target segment
Target segment could be imperative for selecting a suitable method for delivering their goods
and services in the specified marketplace. The following table demonstrates the target segment
for Apple Inc.
Trend Reason of trend
(explanation)
What does this
mean for our
strategy?
Demographic
Increase
employment
healthcare
industries
6.6% of employed
women work in
hospitals, and there
has been a 2%
increase in industry
work from 2011 to
Promotes demand on
updated technology.
Can market that the
MacBook Pro with
touch bar can
improve the

FUNDAMENTALS OF MARKETING 4
2016 (Akaka and
Alden, 2010).
efficiency of work in
all industries.
Increase in
use in
education
The increase of
people enrolled in
schools, 30.8% of
people in Australia
attend an educational
institution. They will
need to buy more
learning equipment.
Canberra is investing
$42,000 on the
laptops for schools
program.
Growing demand on
computers for
students to benefit
their learning and
more efficiently
work (Chikweche
and Fletcher, 2012).
Promote the Apple
MacBook Pro with
touch bar.

FUNDAMENTALS OF MARKETING 5
Average
Family size
From 2011 to 2036
Australia’s
population is
projected to increase
by 45% (ABS, 2015)
from 22.3 million
people to 32.4
million people
This will cause more
demand in what
people consider a
‘need’ which is a
laptop.
Technologica
l
Change in
products
Technological
advances and new
innovations and
presented with the
Apple MacBook Pro
with touch bar.
New feature of this
product mandate the
consumers to
upgrade their latest
devise.
Technologica
l impacts on
our customer
Demand for online
shopping has
increased majorly
promoting
competition from
Open to a whole
different market
being the online
shopping market.

FUNDAMENTALS OF MARKETING 6
online retailers
(Bartlett, Ting, and
Bingham, 2014)
Disruptive
technology
Reliance on
companies’
incremental
innovation sustains
their approach in the
marketplace, this
leads to competition
improving products
regularly and
continuously
competing with other
companies (Legal
2017).
Apple can continue
to make
modifications to
their already
established products,
knowing they
already have a client
base that owns older
versions of the
MacBook Pro but
now can be the first
out of their
competitors to add in
the touch bar feature
Fuchs and
Diamantopoulos,
2010)
Increase in
the use of
social media
Businesses are
growing needed
social media for
Can now reach a
wider market as 79%
of Australians use

FUNDAMENTALS OF MARKETING 7
advertisement
(Today at Apple,
2017).
People are wanting
to stay more
connected and
communicate on an
online platform
social media.
Can frequently
advertise to like 89%
of 18 to 29-year-olds
check social media
at least once a day.
Cultural
values
Social factors and
cultural values
influence the way
people buy their
products. Hence,
marketers could
consider such factors
to increase profit of
the firm (Today at
Apple, 2017).
Apple can
incorporate people’s
values and beliefs
into the product
creating a need for
the laptop in their
everyday life.
Component
Lifestyle
The continuous
adaptation of society
constantly demands
new products to
enter along with new
Apple will always
concentrate on
current lifestyle and
trends of the
consumers to

FUNDAMENTALS OF MARKETING 8
lifestyle traditions
(Tate, Ellram, and
Kirchoff, 2010).
improve their
performance and
make reliable
decision (Supplier
Responsibility,
2017).
2. Branding positioning
As the selected target is the education sector, the Apple Company can position their
MacBook pro in the form of technology need which has the desire of every learning person
in this sector. As the brand awareness of Apple is already very high in the business world,
so the company has to just alter the content for the promotion related to the students
specifically in the form of some scholarships or some student discount relate to MacBook
Pro (Akaka and Alden, 2010). The company can make use of digital sources like media to
generate a unique image in the minds of these potential clients just like in many
advertisements it has been seen that Apple Company usually display luxury life-related
things and try to connect it with the personality of wealthy people (Environment, 2017).
Similarly, way the company can make uses of advertisement related to only student needs
and can position them with the help of digital media tools because in present time digital
media is known as the fastest mode of promoting things with a wide reach (Truong,
McColl and Kitchen, 2009).
Perceptual map
High Price
Ver high
Apple MacBook
1. HP Spectre X360.

FUNDAMENTALS OF MARKETING 9
Perceptual map
Good Image
Low Price
Fair Image
ThinkPad X1
Carbon.
Good quality
Low
satisfaction
High
satisfaction
Ver high
Fair quality
ThinkPad X1
Carbon.
Apple MacBook
Pro
2. HP Spectre X360.
Dell XPS 13

FUNDAMENTALS OF MARKETING 10
3. Marketing mix (4p`s)
Product
The product strategy facilitates the organization to determine the features, color, and size of their
products and services. The company will provide cloud software as complementary features in
their MacBook pro which can provide the user with a free cloud service in their product. It would
lead to differentiating the products and services of the organization in the marketplace (Khan,
2013).
Price
Apple Inc. uses premium pricing strategy for their consumers to deliver their goods and services
at a higher price with premium quality. Pricing strategy could be effective in influencing a huge
number of consumers in the least time (Pomering, Noble and Johnson, 2011).
Place
The company will become support partner with the community which will promote free
education for the poor segment of the population so that they will feel that there is someone who
cares about this population segment (Sirianni, et al., 2013).
Promotion
This is the most important aspect in term of increasing customers reach and creates a unique
image in the minds of potential customers for their product. Here the company will make use of
digital marketing as the source or mode of promoting this product (Munusamy and Wong, 2008).
Apple Macbook Pro could be prompted by considering the TV commercial, a Sales Promotion
and a Billboard. It could be effective for directly communicating with their consumers.
TV commercial

FUNDAMENTALS OF MARKETING 11
TV commercial is best way to promote products and services of the organization by television. It
could be effective for influencing a bulk of people in same time that could be significant for
obtaining higher competitive benefits.
Sales Promotion
Sales promotion is used to persuade potential consumers to purchase goods and services. It could
also be imperative for accomplishing the desire goal of the organization.
Billboard
In the current era, most of the consumers preferred to read magazines. Hence, organization
should consider this method and make reliable decision in the context of the current matter.
3.1. Product lifecycle
As we know that every product lifecycle has four life phases such as introduction, growth,
maturity, and decline. In introduction stage product just enters in to market, in growth
stage the product starts gaining brand awareness along with initial start of capturing
market, in maturity stage the product is in its full swing in the form of capturing major
market share and finally decline stage in which product start exiting from the captured
market (Sleeswijk et. al., 2008).

FUNDAMENTALS OF MARKETING 12
(Source: Sleeswijk et. al., 2008).
So according to the present situation, the product is under introduction stage of PLC because the
product is just made an entry in its new market and are in the continuous process of creating
brand awareness with the help of social media.
3.2. Type of Consumer product
MacBook Pro is a luxurious product hence organization has decided to provide this product and
services in higher prices with premium quality to the higher class consumers. This brand is
higher than other laptops of the Apple due to higher quality (Limand Bendle, 2012).
Recommended a Marketing Mix
The following table demonstrates many recommendations that could be imperative for declining
the specified issues in a systematic manner:
On the basis of
Marketing Mix
components
Current – what the
Brand and Sub-Brand
is doing now.
Recommendation Why is your
Recommendation
better? Explain how
MacBook

FUNDAMENTALS OF MARKETING 13
your Recommendation
will more-effectively
support and
communicate your
Brand Positioning.
Product Introducing new
features and varieties.
Introduce new features
which are helping the
education segment.
Learner related feature
will make the buyer
believe that this
product is for them
only.
Place Placing stores to near
busy streets.
Make presence near
education hub area.
Presence near
education hub will
make target segment
that we are special for
the company
(Accessibility, 2017)
Promotion Making use of TV ads
and newspapers.
Make more use of
digital media for
promotion (Pomering,
Noble, and Johnson,
2011).
Use of social media
will help the company
to increase its
customer reach within
optimum cost (Lim,
and Bendle, 2012)
Price Premium pricing. Provide a discount in
the form of student
It will help the
company to create a

FUNDAMENTALS OF MARKETING 14
discount coupons. unique identity in the
minds of students or
learners (Mac, 2017).
Conclusion
From the above discussion, it can be concluded that target segmentation could be imperative for
influencing a huge number of consumers. It can also illustrate that an organization has to
segment their market on the basis of demographic segmentation. It can also be summarized that
brand positioning strategy leads the firm to increase the awareness of goods and services in
limited time and cost. Moreover, the marketing mix strategies are practiced by the organization
to get higher competitive benefits from Apple MacBook Pro 13 inch. It can be concluded that an
organization should use the digital marketing strategy for directly communicating with their
consumers and understand their views and opinion to gain their satisfaction level and retain them
for long-term. It can also be summarized that Apple Macbook Pro could be prompted by
considering the TV commercial, a Sales Promotion and a Billboard. It could be effective for
directly communicating with their consumers. It can also be concluded that currently people are
more inclined towards social responsibilities for the society and also expect that members which
are directly or indirectly related to this society must do something for this society. From years
company is utilizing the resources of this society for their profit now it their turn to return the
favor. To fulfill this demand of the people, the company must associate themselves with the
society in which they are working by providing them the necessary support of all kind like
money, technical and moral. Organization also uses the triple bottom line strategy wherein

FUNDAMENTALS OF MARKETING 15
organization will concentrate on creation three factors like people, planet, and profit. It would
lead to get higher outcome.

FUNDAMENTALS OF MARKETING 16
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FUNDAMENTALS OF MARKETING 18
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