Marketing Fundamentals: A Case Study of Apple iPhone X

This essay explores the fundamental principles of marketing through a case study of Apple's iPhone X. It examines the marketing process, including the marketing mix, and analyzes how Apple leverages these elements to create value for customers. The essay also discusses the role of stakeholder engagement in Apple's marketing activities and reflects on the tactical communication tools used to promote the iPhone X.

Marketing Fundamentals
1

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Discussion........................................................................................................................................4
Task 1A............................................................................................................................................4
Task B............................................................................................................................................10
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................11
Reference List................................................................................................................................12
2

Introduction
Marketing is an essential part of every business. It is referred to the study of management and
exchange of business relationships (Lovelock and Patterson, 2015). It is used by the business
organizations for creating, maintaining and satisfying the customer pool. Considering its focus
on the customers, it has been revealed that the marketing activities undertaken by the
organization is selected in such a way that it could create value of the business for the customers.
Considering this, several theories and models are often used by the organizations to select the
most appropriate marketing tools. The marketing activities are associated with all the other
business activities, as it is focusing upon the key stakeholders, i.e. customers. Thus, considering
the fact the following essay would focus upon analysis of the role of marketing fundamentals in
business and in creating value for customers, with a key focus on the product Apple iPhone.
3

Discussion
Task 1A
Processes and stages of marketing including the role of the marketing mix
Marketing is all about making the products and services familiarize with the consumer pools.
The marketing process mainly involves setting goals and mission, analyzing the internal and
external environment, planning the product, implementation and control of the progress (Babin
and Zikmund, 2015). In this context, it has been revealed that there are six stages in marketing
process conducted in systematic way, which is demonstrated below.
Developing mission and vision
It explains why the brand is in the business and how it can offer benefits to the customers. The
mission and vision statements for the selected organization, Apple as follows:
Mission – Apple is dedicated to make innovative and high quality products. In the mission
statement of Apple, it has been claimed that the organization has reinvented the mobile phone
industry with its revolutionary products like iPhone and App Store, while defining the future
mobile media and computing devices with iPad. The new product iPhone X is defining the
revolutionary business approach to gain competitive advantage.
Vision – The vision of the Apple is to create “magic” with technology, so that everyone can use
the amazing innovations and modern devices. For decades, the organization’s vision was to
create an innovative mobile device that is all display and the product Apple’s iPhone X is the
realization of that vision.
Situational Analysis
The next stage in the marketing process is to analyze the key internal and external factors, which
can affect the business. Considering these factors would enable the market to plan and
implement the most effective marketing strategy for the business. This analysis can be done with
4

the help of several analytical theories and tools. Here, for Apple iPhone X, SWOT analysis is
done below.
Strength Weakness
 Unique capability of designing and
developing hardware, software,
application and service
 High brand image supported by
advertising and marketing capabilities
 Most loyal customer base in major
product markets (retaining 92% of its
customers)
 Its distribution channel is strong
 Its unique premium pricing strategy is
its strength
 Its high consumer focus is also a major
strength
 Several products of the brand are
incompatible with third party software
or accessories
 Apple’s range of products is less, it is
only relying upon 7 to 8 products in its
portfolio, if one product fails, it
undergoes 10% loss
 Matching customer’s high expectation
from this premium brand is also a
challenge
Opportunities Threats
 It has high opportunity to grab the
growing markets in developing
countries like India, with enhanced
consumption of premium brands
 Apple cars are visionary product, which
is being launching in 2020
 Technological advancement is always
an opportunity. Apple is utilizing it,
which is reflected through the latest
device iPhone X
 Iwatch and Apple TV can enhance the
brand share in market
 The market penetration by other brands
in smartphone market is a key threat to
the brand; for instance, Android is
currently having 47.5% market share
 Smartphones are also replacing iPod
5

Defining target market
Apple is targeting geographical market segments, while focusing upon customers with high
income, who are seeking to experience premium quality products and services, in exchange of
high price.
Developing Marketing strategy
Although it has been stated earlier that for marketing and publicity of Apple’s iPhone X, the
brand name is enough, the unconventional iPhone X marketing strategy is influencing customers
to buy one at any cost. In its marketing strategy, one key aspect is differentiation; within the
crowd of best premium smartphones available in the market including the Samsung Galaxy and
other premium smartphones, Apple has differentiated its product by remaining celebrity. This
strategy helps brand like Apple to gain competitive advantage. Differentiation of product can be
done based on quality, technology, price or marketing strategy (McDonald and Wilson, 2016). In
case of iPhone X, it is targeting the premium customers, who are searching for elegant products
offering advanced functionality along with enhanced customer experience. Besides its excellent
and unique features, iPhone X is designed in a way to give extraordinary convenience to the
customers. There are so many features in the mobile to differentiate it from others.
Further, in the digital era using digital channels for promoting products is the key marketing
strategy used by different organization. Apple is also utilizing the digital marketing strategy for
promoting the new product. The ‘meet iPhone X’ video on YouTube has already gained more
than 25 million views, whereas another video on face unlock on YouTube have gained more than
10 million views, indicating the role of social media in promoting the product. Apple is using
multi – pronged strategy for marketing, but publicity is crucial for marketing. Tim Cook has a
attended several events and campaigns for promoting Apple’s technology and the most special
product iPhone X (Huang and Sarigöllü, 2014). They are also using several blogs and websites,
which publicize the brands’ events and product features regularly, like Forbe’s.
Marketing Mix
Marketing mix is a crucial marketing tool used by the organizations to pursue its marketing
objectives in the target. It mainly includes four crucial elements, i.e. product, price, place and
6

promotion, which help the organization to determine the feasibility of the products in the
business market.
For the selected product Apple iPhone X, the elements have been analyzed below.
Product – iPhone X is the latest product from the house of Apple, which is designed for offering
a unique and differentiated experience to the customers. Although there is a wide crowd of
smartphones in premium price and customers are spoilt for making their choice; Apple put
enough effort to differentiate its products from the others in market. One of the key attractive
features in this phone is its full 5.8 inch screen, which will fill the user’s hand and would dazzle
their eyes. Besides innovation related aspects, the organization has emphasized on the user
convenience in the device, by putting features with which one can reach home, without pressing
any key, but only through single swipe. Further, it is also good at multitasking (Khan, 2014). The
company has packed a range of technologies in a small and simple device. At the limited space at
the top, all the features including “the infrared camera to ambient light sensor and front camera
as well as speaker” have been arranged.
Price – Apple is operating its business in a highly competitive market. In this industry, most of
the brands are using wide range of pricing strategies for growing their sales. However, Apple is
using Premium pricing strategy and selling its products to customers, SMEs, education,
enterprise as well as government markets. Unlike most of the brands, it sets its product price high
with high quality features, to satisfy its high SES customer pool. The current product iPhone X is
the latest version of iPhone with range of high quality features, based on which its price has been
kept at $999, which would help the company to maintain its premium image (Andrews and
Shimp, 2017). Instead of raising price war in the industry, the brand has not changed its pricing
strategy; as they believe that premium image is maintained through unique experience of
customers provided through the device, for which customers would not mind to pay extra.
Place – Apple is a global brand with a wide distribution and sales channel. It is managing the
business through geographic segmentation. The key market segments for the products include
“Americas, Europe, Greater China, Japan and Rest of Asia Pacific”. The greater China operating
segment is incorporating China, Japan and Honkong; whereas, the Americas segment
incorporates North and South America; and the Europe is incorporating European Countries
7

along with Middle East, Africa and India (Strauss and Frost, 2016). The brand is selling its
products in this defined market directly to the customers through the retail, direct sales force as
well as online stores.
Promotion – Like its unique products, the marketing and promotional strategies are also unique
to the customers. Apple is the most influential as well as the most talked brand throughout the
world. Although for iPhone X, the brand name is enough for high publicity of the product, the
brand is using combination of online and offline promotional channels for promoting the
product. In addition, through its own website, Amazon as well as other e-retailers is using online
advertisements for marketing of the product. It is also using blogs and website based discussions
on the features and benefits of the products, to grab attention of customers (Strauss and Frost,
2016).
Implementation and Control
Finally, in this final stage, the plan is put into action. At this stage, the brand reaches out to
customers for informing and persuading them about the products and services. it this stage,
gathering resources, organizing staffs, creating calendars and managing all the details for each
goal is required. In case of Apple, each product complements the others, while working within
single ecosystem; as a result, the customers stay with the brand for longer period, creating loyal
customers (Akurke and Li, 2018). Both online and offline marketing tools are used by the brand.
In order to control the implementation and progress of marketing procedures, the brand has
developed benchmarks for each procedures along with the KPIs (Key performance indicators),
for indicating success of the product.
The role of marketing in creating value for customers
The key function of marketing is to bring value to customers. Prior creating anything of value,
first the organization must identify a need that should be addressed, along with the prospective
customers, who possess the need. In this context, Apple has found the high SES and high income
people are seeking unique products with premium quality, to experience unconventional
technology advancement. Next step is to build and implement strategies to satisfy these
customers through delivering a product or services addressing these needs, when they want it. the
key to customer satisfaction is ensuring everyone feels to be benefited from the exchange.
8

Customers become happy with the value they get for what they are paying (Lassen et al., 2014).
In case of Apple, through the launch of Apple iPhone X, the company is offering the highest
innovation in the technologically advanced mobile device, which enough to amaze the customer,
once he takes the product in his hand; as a result, customers feels satisfied with the value they get
for their premium payment. The value is being increased through the online and offline
promotions of the product, which is further modifying the purchase behavior of the customers
towards the expensive product. Effective marketing does not end here, but it also includes
strategies for retention. In case of Apple, it is offering loyalty schemes, great bonuses and other
related offers to enhance of value for customer’s money.
Stakeholder engagement and their impact on the marketing activities of an organization
Stakeholder engagement is a process through which the organization involves people a1ffected
by the business decision or influences the implementation of its decisions. Marketing helps to
create value for its stakeholders to catalyze collaborative relationships within company and
stakeholders. Marketing is engaging the key stakeholders of Apple Inc. through promoting
effective communication. Marketing activities are helping to meet the business objectives, which
cannot be done without stakeholder engagement. Being a customer oriented company, customers
are the key stakeholders of Apple and the organization is putting best effort to communicate with
the customer’s needs and engage them in the corporate activities. Through its own website, along
with other social media like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, the marketing activities are
communicating and through market research, the key needs are identified (Spence, 2018). In
addition, Apple is engaging suppliers through firm expectations. It is putting high effort for
turning it all around after experiencing harsh criticism upon labor conditions at Chinese factories,
for assembling iPhones and iPads, while making a wide pace towards greener procurement
services. The impact is high customer pool, high customer retention and leading position in the
market.
9

Task B
Reflection on the tactical communication tool
I have always been interested towards the technological advancement and evolution. The use of
technological advancement in each and every field has further grown my interest towards this
topic, during my business studies. The technological tools are highly used nowadays in everyday
life. Thus, the mobile industry is utilizing the advantage of technological advancement for
improving the product features. However, from my study notes, I have gained enough knowledge
about the role of marketing in the business. In addition, I have also identified the diverse role of
marketing in business through searching over internet. I have revealed that marketing is an
essential part of business, which is responsible for determining the success of a business strategy
as well as collaborates with the sales department to enhance sales and profit margin, upon
meeting the business goals and objectives. Further, my interest towards the particular product by
Apple, i.e. Apple iPhone X and reviewing its marketing activities have been grown by reading a
blog by Spence (2018), where the blogger revealed the design, looks and features of the newest
model of iphone launched by the company. In the blog, the author claimed that the triple lens
camera and ease of use features are making it classy along with its full display design. I am
always fond of Apple’s product, as it is the leading technology brand, grabbing a considerable
market share.
In this context, I have researched about the product, its unique features and value proposition
offered by the technology giant to meet customer’s expectations. However, reading the blog I
have been influenced further to analyze how marketing is helping the brand to promote this
classy product in its market. In this context, I have also realized through my research that the
organization is operating its business through a highly competitive market, where wide range of
customers are rushing towards the budget smartphones with high quality features, which are
offered by one of the major rival Samsung. However, overviewing the product features in the
blog, I realized that instead of the tough competition Apple has not changed its pricing strategy;
rather, it is trying to grab the customer’s attention through its premium quality and features in the
product. I have also undergone the review of the product on social media; where the users
claimed that it possess classiest features. Thus, I have selected this topic for the marketinessay.
10

Conclusion
Marketing can be defined as the tactics and activities used by the organizations related to buying
and selling products and services offered by the organization. Different types of tactics and tools
are used by different organizations, to meet the customer’s needs and satisfy them. It involves
advertising, selling and delivering products and services to the potential customers. However,
while deciding the marketing tools and tactics, considering the target customer group is crucial to
ensure the success of the marketing activities. Considering this, the above essay offered a
discussion on how marketing processes are undertaken in a company and its role in engaging
stakeholders.
11

Reference List
Akurke, S. and Li, Y., 2018, July. Neck Flexion Angle and User Experience Compared on
iPhone X and Samsung S8+. In International Conference on Applied Human Factors and
Ergonomics (pp. 244-250). Springer, Cham.
Andrews, J.C. and Shimp, T.A., 2017. Advertising, promotion, and other aspects of integrated
marketing communications. Nelson Education.
Babin, B.J. and Zikmund, W.G., 2015. Exploring marketing research. Cengage Learning.
Huang, R. and Sarigöllü, E., 2014. How brand awareness relates to market outcome, brand
equity, and the marketing mix. In Fashion Branding and Consumer Behaviors (pp. 113-132).
Springer, New York, NY.
Khan, M.T., 2014. The concept of'marketing mix'and its elements (a conceptual review
paper). International journal of information, business and management, 6(2), p.95.
Lassen, N.B., Madsen, R. and Vatrapu, R., 2014, September. Predicting iphone sales from
iphone tweets. In Enterprise Distributed Object Computing Conference (EDOC), 2014 IEEE
18th International (pp. 81-90). IEEE.
Lovelock, C. and Patterson, P., 2015. Services marketing. Pearson Australia.
McDonald, M. and Wilson, H., 2016. Marketing Plans: How to prepare them, how to profit from
them. John Wiley & Sons.
Spence, E. (2018). New iPhone X Design Reveals Apple's Triple Attack. [online] Forbes.com.
Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/ewanspence/2018/07/02/apple-iphone-x-plus-new-
iphone-specs-triple-lens-camera-release-date-price/#772cce8265dd [Accessed 27 Jul. 2018].
Strauss, J. and Frost, R.D., 2016. E-marketing: Instructor's Review Copy. Routledge.
12