Marketing Plan for Apple: Reviving Market Dominance

This marketing plan for Apple aims to revive its market dominance and have a competitive edge against its biggest competitor IBM. It includes a situation analysis, reasons for failure, marketing strategy, market segmentation, advertising campaign, and marketing mix.

Running Head: Marketing Management
Apple
Marketing Management
Marketing Plan
Table of Content

Marketing Management P a g e | 1
Brief Background...................................................................................................................................2
Situation Analysis..................................................................................................................................3
Reasons for Failure................................................................................................................................3
Marketing Strategy of Apple..................................................................................................................4
Market Segmentation........................................................................................................................4
Advertising Campaign for Apple............................................................................................................5
Marketing Mix.......................................................................................................................................6
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................7
References.............................................................................................................................................8

Marketing Management P a g e | 2
Brief Background
Apple incorporation was founded in the year 1977 by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniac at the
back of a garage. Ever since, in the last 42 years that company has grown from 2 member company
to 123,000 people company spawning a revenue of USD 229.34 Billion in the year 2017(Laszlo,
2017). Apple success mantra is guided by constant product and business innovation, the company
has been riding high on the success due to its persistent innovation and its ability to always exceed
the customer expectations (Wagner & Hollenbeck, 2014). The company however during 70s and
early 80s was not doing well as was expected from it, John Sculley, then CEO of Apple was not
comfortable working with the founder Steve Jobs, and hence the board throw Jobs out of the
company in 1985. Further, Steve Jobs went ahead with his quest for technology by inventing a
company called next and creating 1st animated film, Apple continued to fall beyond control. In the
year 1997, the Prodigal son, Steve Jobs was hired back and the Tech enthusiast made Apple as the
world’s biggest technology company (West, Ford & Ibrahim, 2015).
The purpose of the assignment here is to create a marketing plan for Apple to revive its
market dominance and have a competitive edge against its biggest competitor IBM.

Marketing Management P a g e | 3
Situation Analysis
Apple was doing phenomenal due to the sales of its Apple 2 product, riding high on the
success, Steve jobs decided to introduce a far superior Personal computer in the market. Macintosh
was expected to change the personal computing ecosystem across the world, the product was highly
appreciated by the critics and tech zealots, but the product failed to impress its customers due to its
high pricing and inability of people to understand the utility of such high priced device (Bicen &
Johnson, 2016). The situation in Apple way back in 1985 was not favourable, there were constant
power struggle, and the employees working directly under Steve jobs were unsatisfied because of
his unorthodox leadership style. Thus, Steve job was thrown out of his own company in
1985(Rothaermel, 2016).
Reasons for Failure
Apple failed during the period of 1977 and 1985 due to the following reasons:
Steve Jobs wanted Apple to be at the helm of technological revolution, he was determined that
the company can reach its goal by persistent innovation in its products. Steve Jobs was focussed
highly on beating IBM out of the competition and coming up with its own software which would put
Microsoft and IBM gives a run for their money (Yoffie & Cusumano, 2015). In this consistent fight,
Apple and Steve jobs made quite a few mistakes which lead to company’s failure, some of the
biggest mistakes were:
 Steve Jobs created his own team to design Macintosh; it was like a company inside a
company. This did not go down well with the board of Apple; Steve Jobs was recklessly
pushing its employees to work on the deadline which lead to employee dissatisfaction
eventually leading to high turnover rates for Apple (Laamanen, Lamberg & Vaara, 2016).
 High marketing, engineering and production cost was eating up the revenues of Apple (Shin,
Park & Lee, 2015).
 John Sculley and Steve Jobs were at loggerheads because of constant power tussle and lack
of same technological insight for the company (Saxena, 2014).

Marketing Management P a g e | 4
 Apple was so much busy in defeating IMB that it lost its product and marketing strategy
(Northouse, 2018).
 People were highly confused regarding the functionalities of the product and according to
their perception it was not value for money product (Kane, 2015).
 Macintosh got into the market with some great reviews but disappointing sales lead to the
company eating away the profits of Apple 1 and 2.
 Failed advertising strategy.
 Product cannibalization
 Criticism for unethical business practices
 Dubious tax tactics
 Insufficient data securities
All these failures point that Apple was not focussed and failed at understanding the PC market.
Marketing Strategy of Apple
Before creating a marketing plan it is essential to understand the marketing demographics
for Apple and PC market. People who are the potential buyers of Apple product form its target
group.
Market Segmentation
The process of segmentation is dividing the population into group according to their
characteristic behaviour as a strategy to sell the products. The set of characteristic identified for
Apple product are:
 People who appreciate superior quality design.
 People appreciating the high performance from a PC
 People who prefer value for money (Its earlier strategy was services over price, but
Macintosh failure proved it wrong)
Based on Apple’s highly innovative product, the company’s positioning is that of a premium
brand providing superior quality products at a premium. Based on the above understanding the
Segmentation, targeting and Positioning of Apple can be drawn as:

Marketing Management P a g e | 5
Type of Segmentation Segmentation Criteria Target customer segment
Geographic Region US and International
Density Urban
Demographic Age 20-45
Gender Male & Female
Life cycle stage Bachelor, Newly married
Income High to upper middle class
earners
Occupation Professional and executives
Behaviour Degree of loyalty Hard core loyal and switchers
Benefits Sought Sense of achievement and
belonging, Self-expression
Personality Determined and ambitious
User Status Non user and potential users
Psychographic Social Class Middle and upper class
Lifestyle Resigned, Aspirer, Succeeder,
Explorer
Advertising Campaign for Apple
Back in 1970 to 1997, digital revolution has not kicked in; it was the traditional media which
was supremely responsible for higher sales of product. Apple, marketing strategy was quite
distorted, the new advertising plan of Apple could have been:
Newspaper Articles- Apple can use the power of newspapers to increase the awareness and
penetration of its Apple 2 and Macintosh products. The products were differentiated in the mind of
Apple designed but for the general public, they appeared quite the same. Apple thus, by publishing
paid articles can create differentiation and utility of each device separately to cater to different
market segments.
Magazines- A number of magazines such as Time, Forbes and Fortune were dominating the
business world. Apple strategy could have been to leverage these high profile magazine publications
to lure its customer audience. The people who were subscribers of such magazines were big time
influencers and business people, these people could easily became brand advocate of Apple’s
product and increased its sales.
Radio Ads- Promotion of Apple’s product on radio, highlighting the USP would have been
very useful.
TV advertisement- Apple has been known to create great advertisement for its consumer
audience. The company can promote the product in line with its technical offering and superiority

Marketing Management P a g e | 6
with its competitors. Creation of ads showcasing the personal computer being used in families and
offices citing all the useful features would settle down in the minds of its customers.
Personal Selling- The target audience of Apple products were tech enthusiasts and people
who are looking for high performance and superior quality in the product as value proposition. The
same can be ensured by personal selling of device to big corporates and individuals through its
stores.
Billboards- Billboards are costly, but good placement of bill boards can help the company in
achieving envisioned results. Apple can use the high rise building, Wall Street and big streets to place
its billboards across the states. It leads to high brand awareness and constant product reminder,
which can help in increasing the sales of Apple product
Marketing Mix
Marketing mix can be understood as a fundamental tool which helps the firm to pursue its
marketing objectives in the targeting market. The 4P of marketing is called as the marketing mix
which helps in determining the strategic direction for the company.
Marketing Mix Dimension Implication
Product Macintosh, Apple 2 and Newton are the product
offering of Apple. The product is superior in
technology and quality in comparison to the
products of IBM and even Microsoft as a matter
of fact. The operating system is highly
competent to support multiple functionalities,
thus reinstating the high performance and
superiority of the product
Price Macintosh was priced higher initially due to high
engineering and marketing cost. The products
though should have been priced according to its
perceived value and focus of cost based pricing.
The pricing had to be skimming for few months
to churn the initial profit, and later penetration
pricing to do a mass penetration of the products.
Place US and International markets like Europe and
Russia
Promotion Usage of mass advertising tools such as
Newspaper Ads, TV ads, magazines, billboard
and Radio Ads.

Marketing Management P a g e | 7
The marketing mix would ensure that the company’s strategic direction is not only to make
profits, but to take the company to the path of consistent innovation to improve the lives of its
customers.
Conclusion
Apple was founded in the year 1976 by Steve Jobs, the company was on a mission to
dethrone the existing industry leaders and create products which are highly beneficial to the
customers. Steve jobs was thrown out of his own company due to a power tussle with the
management and other such issues. The company completely lost the track of its progress and hit a
grey ground. Understanding the target market, their aspiration and change in the pricing strategy
could have helped the company in preventing the failure. The company should have focussed on
differentiating its product from the market and creating utility of the product in the mind-set of
consumers to reverse its already written fate.

Marketing Management P a g e | 8
References
Bicen, P. and Johnson, W.H., 2016. Competitive Advantage: Relevancy to the Malaysian
Economy. Rethinking Innovation: Global Perspectives, 22.
Kane, Y. I. (2015). Haunted Empire: Apple After Steve Jobs. Harper Business.
Laamanen, T., Lamberg, J. A., & Vaara, E. (2016). Explanations of success and failure in management
learning: What can we learn from Nokia’s rise and fall?. Academy of Management Learning
& Education, 15(1), 2-25.
Laszlo, C (2017). Embedded sustainability: The next big competitive advantage. Routledge.
Northouse, P. G. (2018). Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage publications.
Rothaermel, F. T. (2016). Competitive advantage in technology intensive industries. In Technological
innovation: Generating economic results (pp. 233-256). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
Saxena, S. (2014). What Would Steve Jobs Do?-How the Steve Jobs Way Can Inspire Anyone to Think
Differently and Win. South Asian Journal of Management, 21(1), 181.
Shin, J., Park, Y., & Lee, D. (2015). Google TV or Apple TV?—The Reasons for Smart TV Failure and a
User-Centered Strategy for the Success of Smart TV. Sustainability, 7(12), 15955-15966.
Wagner J. A., & Hollenbeck, J. R. (2014). Organizational behavior: Securing competitive advantage.
Routledge.
West, D. C., Ford, J., & Ibrahim, E. (2015). Strategic marketing: creating competitive advantage.
Oxford University Press, USA.
Yoffie, D.B. and Cusumano, M.A., 2015. Strategy Rules: Five Timeless Lessons from Bill Gates, Andy
Grove, and Steve Jobs. HarperBusiness.

Marketing Management P a g e | 9