Customer Persona and Marketing Mix for Apple iPhone

This paper discusses the customer persona of the recommended target customers for Apple iPhone and presents recommendations regarding the revised marketing mix of the company in alignment with the target market. The paper concludes by summarizing the deduced customer persona of the target market of Apple.

Running head: MARKETING MANAGEMENT
MARKETING MANAGEMENT
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Response to Question:
Introduction
The semi-functional depiction of ideal customers on the basis of extracted data from
market and information regarding the existing consumers. The construction of customer or
buyer persona depends on the behaviour, motivation, goal, patterns and demographics of the
customers (Armstrong et al. 2018). The constituents that helps in the identification process
are segmentation, buying behaviour (Baker 2016). Customer persona helps in the
development of understanding regarding the traits and characteristics of the homogenous
groups (Camilleri 2018). The elements of buyer persona may include, communication
preferability, brand value and motivating factors. The purpose of this paper is to develop an
understanding regarding customer personas of the recommended target customers from the
first assignment. The paper will present a detailed information regarding customer or buyer
persona depending on the existing and proposed set of target customer. The paper will also
present recommendation regarding the revised marketing mix of the company Apple in
alignment with the target market. The paper will be concluded by a summary of the deduced
customer persona of the target market of Apple.
Discussion
Target market of Apple iPhone:
The target market identified for the Apple iPhone are based on various segments including,
geographic, demographic, behavioural and psychographic. The geographic segment for Apple
iPhone is comprised of the national and international regions reflecting the global reach
(Andaleeb 2016). The demographic segment reflects the age group between 19-65 including
female and male as the users of Apple. Another targeted segment for Apple iPhone are
middle and higher income groups, who can be young bachelor and/or newly married couple.
The occupation group that is the existing target market for Apple iPhone are executives,

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leaders and professionals. The targeted consumers from behavioural segment includes, people
who reflects loyalty, customer group who seeks value for price and the group with the affinity
for innovation and premiumness. The psychographic segment that is targeted by Apple
iPhone is based on lifestyle and social class of maintaining the standards of middle and
higher class people.
The main target audience of Apple iPhone identified in the previous assignment is
upper class (rich) and executive class. The demographic segment includes the homogenous
groups including gender, age, income and socio-economic status. The division of market in
small homogenous categories by identifying the values of the constituents (Quelch 2017).
The demographic segmentation develops the understanding of consumer behaviour of the
target segment. The socio-economic status segment of Apple iPhone represents the upper
middle and upper class groups, which high income and affinity towards premium product or
service offerings.
The other target segments of Apple iPhone are people with the inclination towards
maximum value in the product and service offerings, moderate and high loyalty towards a
brand and customer group that utilizes the aspect of premiumness for reflecting the user
status. The people who are considered as mainstreamers and values premiumness and
innovation are usually targeted for the new product launches of Apple iPhone. The premium
price structure and looks of the iPhones are generally utilized as a medium of reflecting
status.
Analysis of the existing target segments for Apple iPhone:
 Geographic: The market segmentation approach based on the classified elements like,
cities, states, countries, urban, climatic conditions and density of the population. The
origin and manufacturing of Apple iPhone software is executed in United States of
America. The manufacturing units of the actual built up is in China. The reach of

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Apple iPhone is not restricted to the two regions but is sold globally without any
geographical barriers. The geographical density that is being targeted by the company
for the product segment, iPhone is semi urban and/or urban population. The
geography associated with the target or potential buyers majorly depends on the
trends, availability and economic growth of that particular region or density group.
 Demographics: The market segmentation procedure which is concentrated on age,
income, gender, life-cycle and occupation of the homogenous groups. The
demography of the segment reflects the understanding of the actual potential buyer.
The personal dynamics of the consumers are assessed by developing the interests of
the consumers regarding a specific buying decision. Personal interests of the
consumers are impacted by numerous variables of the customer demographics
including the income level. Income level plays a major role in shaping the affinity and
interests of the buyers or consumers for Apple iPhone due to its premiumness from
the pricing and innovation aspect. The age of consumers also plays a major role in the
determining the associated interest for a specific product offering. The customer
persona of stimulating interest for Apple iPhone is also determined by the life-cycle
stage of the consumers, including newly married couples and bachelors (Simkin
2016). Occupational classification is also a significant category for the stimulation of
customer persona. The understanding regarding the professional background and role
of the target audience can build the category of customer persona.
 Psychographic segment: Apple iPhone have segmented the population based on
various segments including, social class and lifestyle. The population group with
lifestyle of a mainstreamer (being part of the Apple ecosystem) is influenced by the
features and innovative upgradation of the iPhone category of Apple. The company
targets the middle and upper class group of the society for creating the feeling of
association with the premium offering and brand value of the company.

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 Behavioural segment: The technology-based company Apple categorize the
population based on the buying behaviour of the potential customers. The potential
customers that are inclined towards receiving maximum values for the premium price
are influenced by the brand communication and continual upgraded features of Apple
iPhone. The degree of loyalty is majorly associated in the brand persona of the Apple
iPhone as the company have created a brand loyalty for the target consumers by
building the concept of Apple ecosystem, which reflects the alignment of every Apple
product for the consumers. The Apple brands are considered as a status symbol for the
potential customers, creating a high degree of loyalty for the product. The personality
traits that gets influenced by the features, premiumness and brand communication are
usually easy-going, carefree and carries a status symbol in the community.
Customer Persona
The procedure of forming customer persona requires the aspect of dividing the market
in homogenous segment to group the behavioural traits, factors influencing buying decision
and the preferability of the consumers. The values of customer persona presents the insight
for the thinking process of the target customers and their prioritizing criteria for the available
options which has the ability of responding to specific problems. In other words, buyer
persona reflects the attitude, criteria and concerns that leads to a buying decision of the target
customer (Gadiyar et al. 2017).
Customer personas can majorly help Apple and its customers by developing an
understanding regarding the needs and preferability of the target market. The understanding
can act as a base for the product development process in many cases through the
incorporation of desired features in the offering (Tomlin, W.C., 2018). The customer persona
can help Apple in prioritizing different forms of promotional activities, initiatives and

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campaigns. Apple can ensure a customer-centric mission and objectives through the
implication of the concept of customer persona.
The customer or buyer persona for Apple iPhone can be explained based on the segmented
groups for target market:
 Geographic segment: Apple iPhone is preferred by people living in any country.
Population living in urban and semi-urban regions reflects inclination towards the
decision of buying an iPhone.
 Demographic segment: Both female and male are target customer of Apple. It has
been deduced from various research papers that female are more attracted towards
buying iPhone than male. Female buyers with high income tends to be inclined
towards the security of iOS and male population are also influenced by the gaming
and multitasking features of android phones. The education level of the iPhone users
are high as approximately 27 percent of the graduates or PhDs and around 33 percent
of high school students are iPhone users (Forbes.com 2019). Apple iPhone users tends
to be affluent with around 11 percent of household income more than 75,000 dollars
and approximately 30 percent of the population with greater than 1,00,000 dollars
household income (Nielsen 2019). The upper middle class population are also a
significant part of the Apple consumer group. The age group from 19 years up to 65
years tends to buy Apple iPhone (Forbes.com 2019). Customer buying iPhone are
majorly concentrated in the occupation as business professionals (Cruz and Karatzas
2016). Around 38 percent of the professionals or managerial positions prefers iPhone
and approximately, 31 percent of population working in sales and operations profile
prefers iPhone. Population group with leadership position also tends to be influenced
by the features and offerings of Apple iPhone (Lynda.com 2019).
 Behavioural segment: The Apple iPhone buyers are always up to date with the news
regarding new inventions, innovative applications and security up gradation in the

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field of technology. The degree of loyalty can be understood from two criteria,
information regarding the rate of addiction and loyalty for owning every new iPhone
launch in the lifetime. Apple buyers are observed to be addicted to digital devices
more than the android users (Gamble 2018). The concept of Apple ecosystem creates
a sense of loyalty by the function of collaborative network of the various forms of
apple devices. Apple iPhone buyers are inclined towards the need or preference of
being a part of the Apple ecosystem or ‘family’. Customers of Apple iPhone with the
propensity of getting influenced by premiumness and luxury products.
 Psychographic segment: Apple customers usually portray luxurious lifestyle with the
affinity towards innovative and premium products that can reflects their upper class in
the society. The upper middle class are also reflecting a major affinity towards the
new launches of Apple iPhone (Kotler et al. 2015).
Recommendations regarding Marketing Mix:
The marketing mix was originally designed in the form of 4ps for differentiating the
elements of product offerings. In the past, the only concept practiced by organizations were
selling products to the customers in the form or goods. With the development of marketing
concepts, the organizations started offering service assistance to the target customer
separately or in association of the product. The addition of three more elements for the
associated services with the product was proposed by Booms and Bitner. The set of
marketing tactics that can be utilized for shaping the customer satisfaction strategy of
organizations is 7 Ps. 7 Ps are also known as tactical marketing mix. The 7 Ps of marketing
mix includes, product, price, promotion, place, processes, physical evidence and people. The
recommendations regarding the 7 Ps of marketing mix in accordance with the proposed and
existing target market (customer persona) of Apple are presented below:

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 Product: Product of a company depicts the offerings in the form of product and/or
services. The features, applications, advantages and associated values of the product
collaboratively constructs the product offerings (Pride and Ferrell 2016). The goods
and services of Apple involves the dominant application of information technology.
The company has also incorporated non-IT application in its product offerings. Main
product range of the company includes, Mac, iPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch,
AirPods Digital content, Apple Television, Apple accessories, software and cloud
services. One of the major segments of the Apple ecosystem is Apple iPhone that
includes, original iPhone, iPhone 3g, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4s, iPhone 5,
iPhone 5c, iPhone 5s, iPhone SE, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6, iPhone 6S Plus, iPhone 6S,
iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 7, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone 8 and the latest iPhone X. The target
market of Apple belongs to the upper class/ upper income group but iPhone is
becoming accessible to the upper middle class of the population. The upper and upper
middle class group/income groups are less concerned regarding the pricing of iPhone
models. However, the brand loyalty for the product offerings can only be maintained
with the implication of innovative features, applications on a continual basis (Castro
2016). The increasing competition in the smartphone category can lead to the
phenomenon of brand switching. Retaining the target customers for the existent and
future iPhone launches will require the company to focus on the operation of
attaching more values (Santolalla 2019). The values of the offerings can be in the
form of improved features, applications, diverse usage and workplace applicability
(Haider et al. 2019). Another form of values can be associated in the form of services,
enhanced cloud services, improved security of the software. The values can also be
the addition of complementary products like, accessories, AirPods. Introduction of
improved VR (Virtual Realty) and AI (Artificial Intelligence) features in the iPhones

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with wide marketing communication can attract and retain the target customer
personas.
 Place: The point of distribution for goods offerings are the ‘place’ where goods are
sold, made and/or distributed is known as the Place of marketing mix. Place reflects
the accessibility of offerings to the customers. Apple sells or distributes its products
through various channels, which can be self-owned and can be authorized by Apple.
The distribution channels of Apple iPhones includes, Apple stores, Authorized sellers,
Apple website, online shopping sites like, Amazon and Flipkart. The subsidiary of
Apple Inc., Apple stores are in the form of brick-and-mortar store which directly sells
products to the consumers. Apple website act as a medium of information for the
locations of Apple stores, authorized sellers/resellers and service centres as well as the
website is also a medium for selecting products (Apple.com 2019). The offerings like,
music, applications and digital content are available through online medium. For
wider reach, Apple authorized sellers are located in tech market, shopping malls. Few
of the sellers are BestBuy and Walmart. Amazon.com is also a major distribution
channel or reseller. One of the most significant recommendation for Apple can be
increasing the self-owned store of Apple. Apple iPhone from self-owned stores
creates a sense of exclusivity and offers wider range of products and services. The
target customers or the customer persona for Apple iPhone prefers the values
stimulated from exclusivity, premiumness and luxury. Apple self-owned store with
the company trained workforce can create a major impact in influencing and retaining
the buying decision or preferences of potential iPhone buyers. Currently the
application of website is limited to communicating locations and for selecting-paying
for products. However, for responding to the luxury or premiumness of the products,
Apple can also add to the aspect of convenience by incorporating the delivery service
rather the only option of collecting from nearest stores.

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 Price: The pricing strategy adopted by Apple Inc. is premium pricing and freemium
pricing strategy. Apple iPhones and other products are offered at a premium rate. The
prices represents additional price over the common or typical pricing structure of
phones. The reason for the high price is the purpose of creating a sense of
premiumness for the target customers who are influenced by the state of luxury or
exclusivity. Another reason can be the cost of high quality and secure software
installation in each iPhone. Another strategy of Apple is freemium pricing strategy,
which represents free elements combined by premium features and branding. In Apple
iPhone, the company offers free software installation and default storage capacity, but
enhanced features or space will require ‘fee’ like for expanded iCloud storage,
expanded storage capacity and for software update. The pricing strategies of Apple is
also considered as a weakness by some marketers but with the incorporation of
premium branding and communication along with the base of continual innovation
practices can lead to retention of target customer personas, who solely believes in
value rather than price. The only recommendation for Apple’s pricing strategy is
maintaining the organizational culture of innovation and creativity as the high income
group and upper middle class population will be influenced with the upgradation of
features, applicability and software functionality for the high price. This can create
competitiveness and retain the existing loyal customer personas.
 Promotion: The Company Apple Inc. uses the medium of advertising, print ads,
online ads through website, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and bloggers (Serrat
2017). The advertising content of Apple are generally to the point and focussed
majorly on the key features of a specific iPhone model. The yearly keynote speeches
of Apple announces new product or service launch with the information regarding
upcoming innovations. The yearly speeches has become a form of ritual for
communicating and promoting product offerings (Andrews and Shimp 2017). News

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websites can also be considered as the medium for promoting Apple iPhone and other
products. Personal selling is another technique for promoting about the features and
launches of Apple through the efforts of in-store employees. Public relation is
executed by the method of press releases and exclusive interviews for positive
publicity. The collaboration with ConnectED in the form of corporate social
responsibility and stakeholder management efforts contributes in the improvement of
the formal education facilities for underserved students and indirectly contributes to
brand promotion. Along with the existing selection of promotional channels, Apple
can use the strategy of content co-creation by encouraging iPhone users, potential and
loyal customers to construct brand communication content for the posts in their
website. An option of customer message can be added demonstrating the ad content of
the customers (Chernev 2018). This technique of co-creation will create more value
for the selected or target customer personas.
 Physical evidence: The physical evidence of Apple iPhone includes, packaging,
interior design of Apple store and branding materials like information kit. The design
of the packaging, interior of store and the creativity on the information kit can be
structured depending on the look and feel of premiumness as the target customers are
majorly influenced by the premium look and feel for a product that costs a lot
(Elvekrog and Manoogian 2019).
 People: People can be considered as the ‘place’ for service delivery. The services
attached with an iPhone like, customer service, software installation and expansion
and servicing depends on the trained or authorized people of Apple Inc. Apple should
take the initiative of training the salespeople from the resellers and authorised sellers
for an assured quality service delivery.
 Process: The process of the company represents the manufacturing, software
construction and distribution network of the brand. iPhone and other Apple products

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are manufactured in China with the software manufacturing in USA. With the
expanding persona of Apple iPhone buyers and increasing customer base, Apple
should be planning for increasing or shifting its manufacturing Hub to other countries
like India for a better accessibility for resources.
Conclusion
Therefore, it can be concluded from the paper that Apple Inc. is successful business
for selling premium products and services. However, with the changing business
environment, increasing competition and expanding target customer base or customer
personas, the company should restructure their marketing mix for attracting more customer
personas and for retaining the brand loyalty of existing customers.

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