Marketing in the Digital Age

The report focuses on constructing a new digital communication campaign for Apple based on the evaluation of its brand positioning. It discusses the current challenges faced by Apple in the market and formulates positioning objectives to address them. The report concludes with a summary of the objectives and recommendations.

Running head: MARKETING IN THE DIGITAL AGE
MARKETING IN THE DIGITAL AGE
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive Summary:
The purpose of the report is to construct a new digital communication campaign on the basis
of the evaluation of existent brand positioning. The brand selected for this report is Apple.
The paper presented current challenges and issues faced by Apple in regards with the current
market. In this paper, the responses for the current challenges were formulated by
constructing the positioning objectives. The paper concluded by presenting a summary of the
constructed objectives and recommendations.

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Table of Contents
Introduction:...............................................................................................................................3
Discussion..................................................................................................................................3
Company background:...........................................................................................................3
SWOT Analysis of Apple for UK market:.............................................................................4
Segmentation and Targeting:.................................................................................................5
Current brand positioning:.....................................................................................................6
Brand positioning objective:..................................................................................................8
Brand Communication objectives:.........................................................................................9
Digital campaign:.................................................................................................................10
Conclusion................................................................................................................................13

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Introduction:
Marketing is becoming complex by expanding the ability of facilitating customer
journey effectively. The marketers of brand are utilizing machine technology for the purpose
of building complex marketing programs and strategies which will be implemented
effectively for engaging and capturing customer interest. It is believed that 80 percent
customers’ interactions will be facilitated by the year 2020 without human effort (Palmatier
and Steinhoff, 2019, pp.13). The functions and theory of Marketing have evolved from
traditional word-of-mouth marketing to the concept of hand written to the print media and
finally transformed to existing digital as well as in electronic forms of media/channel
(Yasmin, Tasneem and Fatema, 2015, pp.69). The sole purpose of marketing is to be aligned
with the consumer requirements as well as motivations for the process of fostering
relationships (Ryan, 2016, pp.25). The main aim of the report is to construct a new digital
communication campaign on the basis of the evaluation of existent brand positioning. The
brand selected for this report is Apple. The paper will be presenting current challenges and
issues faced by Apple in regards with the current market. In this paper, the responses for the
current challenges will be formulated by constructing the positioning objectives. The paper
will be concluded by presenting a summary of the constructed objectives and
recommendations.
Discussion
Company background:
The American multinational company Apple Inc. specializes in constructing,
developing and selling consumer electronics, online services as well as computer software
and hardware products. The company was founded by Steve Jobs, Ronald Wayne and Steve
Wozinak in the year 1976 (Hsu et al., 2019, pp.323). The hardware products of Apple

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includes iPad tablet, iPhone smartphone, iPod portable media player, Apple TV, HomePod
and the Apple Watch (Gettemy et al., 2018, pp.879). The software includes operating systems
iOS, media player iTunes, macOS, Safari web browser and iWork creativity (apple.com,
2019). The brand reaches its customers from all around the world by its stores and brand
communication. It was reported that the first store in United Kingdom was started in 2009,
which was very profitable in consideration of the size.
SWOT Analysis of Apple for UK market:
Strengths-
 The brand value of Apple grew around 16 percent from 200 billion dollars to 214.5
billion dollars globally in the year 2018.
 The market share of Apple in the mobile phone category in United Kingdom is 51.46
percent (Khan, Alam and Alam, 2015, pp.955).
 Efficient supply chain network.
 Strong and effective marketing as well as the advertising capabilities (Hennessy and
Najjar, 2017, pp.7).
Weaknesses-
 Incompatibility of the products of Apple with the other services and products.
 The brand offers a higher price than the existing competitors in UK (Bird et al.,
2017).
Opportunities-
 Increased focus on Apple services segment
 Product diversification
 Improvement in product compatibility
 Construction of strategic alliances/partnerships in UK (Rogers and Lee, 2016, pp.40).

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Threats-
 Pushing more expensive products with every product launch and declining the sale of
older products.
 Decreasing sales in UK.
Segmentation and Targeting:
Segmentation-
Segmentation depicts the division of population in various homogeneous groups
depending on specific demand and characteristics. The common characteristics which are
shared by the target market of Apple includes performance and quality, design and
technology as well as the segment of services in regards with the pricing structure.
The segmentation criteria of Apple Inc. can be divided in following bases:
Geographic segmentation-
 Region-The segmentation of the products are divided based on the needs in each
geographical region of United Kingdom. Like the demand of iTunes, iPad, operating
system iOS and Apple Watch (Al-Refaie and Bata, 2016, pp.1138).
 Density- Urban population (Al-Refaie and Bata, 2016, pp.1138).
Demographic segmentation-
The demographic segmentation of Apple can be divided on the basis of-
 Age- For devices like iPad, MacBook, iPhone and iPod the age group segment is 20
to 45, for services like iTunes, iCloud, Apple Pay and Mac App Store is around 18 to
30. For the software and operating system offerings like OSX, iOS, iLife and iWork,
the age group segment is 20 to 35. For the accessories like Apple Watch and Apple
TV, the age group segment is 20 to 50 years old (Heracleous and Papachroni, 2016).

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 Income- All the products and services of the brand will be targeted to the segment of
medium and high earning population.
 Occupation- The product and service variants of Apple Inc. are targeted on the basis
of functionality requirements of specific occupational groups like students, working
professionals, managers and executives.
 Family Size- The family size of UK will determine the kind of product offerings like
a play station PC set.
Psychographic-
 Social Class- The social class which is targeted by Apple Inc. are middle and upper
class social groups.
 Lifestyle- The population with the lifestyle choices of an aspirer and explorer.
Behavioural segmentation-
 Loyalty- The degree of loyalty for new product development as well as product
diversification (Burke et al., 2017, pp.77).
 Personality traits- Ambitious and Innovators as the company introduces new version
of iPhones and MacBook by restricting the development in the older models
(Hoangova, 2018).
Benefits sought- Efficiency, sense of achievement and self-expression.
The major target market of Apple Inc. in UK is based on the demographic and
psychographic segments.
Current brand positioning:
The brand strategy of Apple Inc. is about creating an experience. The brand adopted
an emotional branding approach. The positioning targets the core beliefs regarding design,
imagination and innovation (Dolata, 2017). The brand position of a company can be reflected

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by the strong and effective humanistic organizational culture as well as the ability to connect
with the audience. The functional and social status benefits of Apple products creates the
factor of brand loyalty.
The current brand position of Apple Inc. can be reflected from the financial status of
the company. In the year 2018, the revenue of Apple Inc. decreased to 84.32 billion dollars,
which is a 5 percent decrease. The net income before the extraordinary items reduced to 12
percent, amounting up to 19.97 billion dollars (Heding, Knudtzen and Bjerre, 2015). The
unfavourable market condition of United Kingdom resulted in the decrease of demand for
Apple products and services in 2018, in return reflecting the cause of decreasing revenue. Net
income reflects the corporate segment loss elevation by 20 percent, which is 5.4 billion
dollars (Heding, Knudtzen and Bjerre, 2015).
Challenges of Apple Inc.-
 Production cut of new iPhone cut: The Company experienced poor sales figures for
iPhone in the year 2018, which resulted in the decision of cutting back the supply
orders on the production of new handsets. Apple Inc. have strategically formed the
decision of cutting the production plan of new phones by approximately 10 percent
(Lockamy, 2017, pp.117).
 The transforming perception of the UK consumer market reflects the presumption that
Apple is attempting to hide the declining sales of the existing models (Ma et al., 2016,
pp.387).
 Increasing competition in the UK market for the mobile phone segment as well as in
the desktop category. Competitors like OnePlus 6T and Google Pixel 3 (Paugam et
al., 2016).
 The company had to respond to the increasing challenges by cutting the price of the
current iPhones, which might not be reflected in the final pricing structure of the

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products as the cuts will be implemented distributor prices (Blenko et al., 2016,
pp.15).
Fig. Apple Inc. Net Income
(Source: Blenko et al., 2016, pp.15)
Brand positioning objective:
The conceptual position a brand thrives to own in the minds of the target market is
known as brand positioning. The brand positioning communicate the benefits and
characteristics which a brand needs the potential customers to perceive. The construction of
an effective strategy of brand positioning will contribute towards maximizing consumer
relevancy as well as towards maximizing the brand value.
The brand positioning strategy of Apple Inc. should change in the next 12 months for
responding to the increasing challenges of the brands. The new brand positioning objective of
Apple Inc. can be:

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 The brand positioning of Apple Inc. can be focused on the service offerings of the
brand to maintain a balance between the product losses.
 Another objective of the company can be a changed customer perception about the
new product, which is to be launched in the UK markets.
 The brand positioning objective can be the communication of the value addition
through improved versions of products and services.
 Improvement in the mobile segment by differentiating the value offerings in
comparison with the existing competitors, which can be achieved by the incorporation
of innovative measures as it will result in the improvement of revenue rates.
The current brand positioning of Apple Inc. is focused on the purpose of building
experience for the target consumers but the new brand position objective requires the need for
incorporating positioning communication depicting the value additions and characteristics of
the new product and service development. The company can incorporate effective
repositioning communication strategy by the means of various mediums, which can respond
to the increasing loss of iPhone segment. The brand positioning strategies of Apple Inc.
Brand Communication objectives:
The most important tool which helps in informing, persuading, teaching, reminding
and enriching the preference and knowledge of the potential customers/stakeholders about a
specific brand is known as brand communication. The communication content and media
covers the values, offerings and strength of the services and product. The key components of
brand communication strategy are audiences, creative practices/approach, brand message as
well as the effectiveness of media, which will implement the brand communication strategy
in the selected platforms.
The brand communication plan can be implemented by following the underlined steps:

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 The initiation of the implementation will include understanding the buyer persona of
UK target population.
 The next step can be the understanding of the Apple features and benefits which needs
to be communicated to the consumers.
 The reflection of the brand personality of Apple is very important for effective brand
communication.
 Restructuring the elements of the marketing mix is another step for implementing
brand communication strategies.
S-Specific To increase the reach and stimulating
demand for the new product
development by 5 percent in every
month up to 12th month and restructuring
of brand positioning for changing the
existing brand perception.
M-Measurable The goal of changing the perception of
customers and increasing sales for the
new is 110 percent. The reach will
increase by 20 percent.
A-Achievable By the implementation of brand
communication strategies in selected
media channels by changing the content
in content in every 2 months will
contribute towards the achievement of
the goal.
R-Relevant Increasing the sales and changing the

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perception of the potential consumers in
UK will contribute towards the increase
in revenue of Apple Inc.
T-Time bound The objective will be strategically
facilitated in the time period of 12
months.
Digital campaign:
The digital campaign which can be recommended to Apple is Social media marketing:
Social media marketing helps in facilitating the Internet marketing by utilizing social
networking websites as the tool for marketing communication. The main objective of the
social media marketing is to change the depleting brand perception of Apple and in return
increase the sales volume of existing as well as the future product development (Luxton, Reid
and Mavondo, 2015, pp.37).
The social media marketing campaign of Apple Inc. will contribute towards-
 Increasing brand awareness for the new product launches: Social media campaign for
Apple Inc. will contribute towards spreading awareness for the features and added
values in the new product launches by the use of imageries and video content (Kumar
et al., 2016, pp.9).
 Improving the conversion rates: The conversion rates from the potential consumer
market will increase due to the implementation of interactive media content through
social media sites.

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 Effective customer satisfaction: The presence of interactive content in the campaign
will help in responding the concerns and assumed perception of the marketing
decisions of Apple Inc.
 Improved brand authority: The attraction and persuasion of the potential customers by
reflecting the product and service benefits in a highly followed social media page will
contribute towards the brand authority of Apple Inc. (Ichaand Agwu, 2015, pp.52).
 Cost effectiveness: The cost effectiveness of the social media page as well as the
content design will help the brand to receive higher rates of investment for facilitating
brand communication message (Allagui and Breslow, 2016, pp.20).
 Improved brand loyalty: Designing social media campaigns which can involve
potential customers in the process of co-creation of a product or service idea can
develop a sense of brand loyalty in the potential customers (Allagui and Breslow,
2016, pp.20).
 Brand communication strategies helps with the factor of product and services
differentiation (Allagui and Breslow, 2016, pp.20).
 Brand communication strategies work towards developing the market (Allagui and
Breslow, 2016, pp.20).
The social media campaign will be targeted specifically for the audience of 16 to 25
years of males and females. Apple products have already penetrated the developed areas but
yet there are few areas that remains unserved because of the unavailability of stores and
brand awareness in those areas. The product has been very famous and familiar in the areas
where there are schools, colleges and offices nearby. So the current aim now is to increase the
revenue by getting access into the remote areas as well. Almost all the people are having a
smart phone with internet access now. So social media marketing will be helpful for reaching

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the remote areas as well. Social sites like the Facebook and the Instagram has promotion
features. A very little amount of money is needed to be paid for such promotions and it
covers a wide area. In that kind of promotions there are options to customise the targets
(Allagui and Breslow, 2016, pp.20). The age group can be selected, the area can be selected
and the time frame for the promotion can also be selected. Once all the particulars are
selected and the amount has been paid, Facebook and Instagram automatically pops the
advertisement on the walls of the targeted audience. The company does not have to give any
physical effort, the social media automatically reaches the company message smoothly at a
very less time (Allagui and Breslow, 2016, pp.20). This will increase the brand awareness.
The other digital campaign that Apple can opt for is the Apple online application. Apple has
its own brick and mortar store but these stores are not found in all the required areas. Amazon
and Walmart now a days have a combination of online as well as brick and mortar stores.
Apple can also use the same concept. The company already has a well-designed website, but
the website alone cannot do anything. People using smartphones are generally flexible in
using applications on phone rather than accessing websites. Apple can customize an
application for listing its products and services in it. The people can access the application
from anywhere as well as can place their order as per needs. The supply chain of the
company needs to be strong in order to make this concept a success. The online application
can provide the customers with a variety of choices on the screen and they can be influenced
by the high quality pictures as well as contents of the product in the application. This will
help in boosting the sales of the company.
The cost of the campaign is needed to be ascertained at first. Investors are required to be
gathered. Sustainability has been a very famous concern in the recent days. The company can
therefore attract the customers in this campaign by adding a social responsibility view along
with the sales promotion objective. In order to increase mass participation of the campaign on
the social media, it has been decided that the company will be providing free education to

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two needy children with every 50 views of the campaign online. This will increase the
number of people viewing the online campaign. In order to make the visitors stay some
online interactions are also planned. All the viewers are provided with one question and one
game every two minutes that will enable them the chance to win exciting prices as well as
Apple models at huge discounts. The online campaign will be live only on Saturday and
Sunday for a month. Saturdays and Sundays will attract the maximum views as the corporate
sectors remain closed and people usually spend their leisure time surfing social sites and
posting pictures. The messages about the products and the services as well as the online
application where their products will be available just by a click should be made clear to the
audience.
Conclusion
Therefore, it can be concluded from the paper that Apple needs to restructure the
brand position strategy for responding to the increasing challenges in the UK and global
market. The brand is well-reputed for its global reach and innovative approach in the process
of new product development. The brand needs to align the marketing positioning strategies
with the restricted brand communication strategy. The new marketing objective of Apple is to
develop a strong communication channel which can change the assumed perception for the
price cut and new product development of Apple. The channel will have to be effective
enough to improve the current sales and revenue figures as well as will be able to reach and
persuade of targeted customers in United Kingdom. The digital media campaign which can
be advised for Apple Inc. is the social media campaign with the association of app building
practices/strategies. The social media campaign will be targeted specifically for the audience
of 16 to 25 years of males and females. Apple products have already penetrated the
developed areas but yet there are few areas that remains unserved because of the
unavailability of stores and brand awareness in those areas. The product has been very

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famous and familiar in the areas where there are schools, colleges and offices nearby.
Therefore, the current aim now is to increase the revenue by getting access into the remote
areas as well. Almost all the people are having a smart phone with internet access now. So
social media marketing will be helpful for reaching the remote areas as well. Social sites like
the Facebook and the Instagram has promotion features.
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