Marketing Essentials at Apple Inc.: Roles, Mix, and Plan Analysis

This report analyzes the marketing essentials of Apple Inc., examining the roles and responsibilities of the marketing function, its relationship with other departments, and a comparison of its marketing mix with Samsung. The report also includes a basic marketing plan for Apple Inc., incorporating PESTEL and SWOT analyses, competitive analysis using Porter's five forces, and outlining marketing objectives, strategies, and STP (Segmentation, Targeting, Positioning). The report highlights the importance of marketing in achieving business objectives, emphasizing customer-centric approaches and the significance of the extended marketing mix (7Ps). Furthermore, the report underscores the need for Apple Inc. to carefully consider its operating environment and stakeholder needs in order to develop effective marketing plans.

MARKETING ESSENTIALS AT APPLE INC.

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................................................1
TASK – 1.................................................................................................................................................1
Introduction..........................................................................................................................................1
P1 Roles and responsibilities of marketing function...........................................................................1
P2 Marketing function’s relationship with other functions of Apple Inc............................................2
Conclusion & Recommendation..........................................................................................................3
TASK – 2.................................................................................................................................................3
Introduction..........................................................................................................................................3
P3 Comparison of marketing mix of Apple Inc. and Samsung and its application in achieving the
business objectives...............................................................................................................................3
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................................5
TASK – 3.................................................................................................................................................6
P4 Basic marketing plan for Apple Inc................................................................................................6
Executive summary..............................................................................................................................6
PESTEL analysis (External analysis)..................................................................................................6
SWOT analysis (Internal analysis)......................................................................................................7
Competitive analysis (Porter’s five force)...........................................................................................8
Marketing objectives............................................................................................................................8
Marketing strategies.............................................................................................................................8
STP.......................................................................................................................................................9
Market control......................................................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION........................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES......................................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
In the modern business organizations, marketing is the vital tool. It basically
encompasses comprehension of market place, building profitable relations, demands of the
consumers, customer driven market strategy and offering quality to the clients (Lilly, 2014).
The present research project will also depict a business organisation named Apple Inc. being
known for its innovative ability to attain competitive advantage was founded by Steven Jobs
in the year 1976. The report will pay attention on the marketing essentials in Apple Inc.
which belongs to the modern era of globalization. It will throw light on roles of marketing,
marketing functions and there inter-relationship with other functions of the business. In
addition to this, it will also make comparison of marketing mix in the firm to accomplish the
objectives with other firm. The final part of the report will develop and analyse basic
marketing plan for Apple Inc.
TASK – 1
Introduction
As a marketing Assistant at Apple Inc. explanation of the role of marketing and its inter-
relationship with other marketing functions of the business organization will be undertaken in
this present task.
P1 Roles and responsibilities of marketing function
According to the AMA (American Marketing Association), marketing is being
referred as a procedure that supports the business organization to diffuse ultimate products to
its final consumer. It is related with the product distribution activity and significantly rejects
marketing research as well as market segmentation. Due to changes in the market conditions
and international upcoming trends in the market, American Marketing Association makes
essential alterations in the definition of marketing (Brassington and Pettitt, 2012). In the
current time, patrons are the sovereigns and when it is related to retail business their
significance rises leaps and bounds. Organizations in this present times want to please their
valuable customers rather than just selling their products. It is the marketing functions that
helps the firm in catering with the needs of the diverse customers other than just offering
products and services to them. The success of Apple Inc. is significantly dependent on the
strategies, tactics and policies being adopted by them. Their main goal is to provide quality
products and services, simple to use, stylish, accessible and innovative products to the
patrons.
1

Focusing towards marketing function, it is being refereed as the roles of the firm
which supports in determining and sourcing potentially successful products for market and
further, helps in their promotion too. It encompasses research of the market, planning
product, development process, promotion, customer service, finance, human resource
department and many more. Further, the marketing function also comprise of different
responsibilities of the business which are liable for the growth of the organization. All these
marketing functions have various roles that helps in promoting the growth in the firm
(McDaniel and Gates, 2014). Thus, the main responsibility of marketing function is to
distribute, communicate, developing product, conducting market research, promotion and
selling. Marketing function plays a crucial role in Apple Inc. The universal function of
marketing in Apple Inc. include buying, selling, storing, transporting, market information,
risk taking, financing, standardizing and grading. There is a close connection amid marketing
function with other functions of Apple Inc.
P2 Marketing function’s relationship with other functions of Apple Inc.
There is an existence of strong inter-relationship between marketing function and
other functions of Apple Inc. the company needs to undertake various functions and each and
every function has been categorized into varied departments in order to achieve efficacy and
efficiency. Heading forward, every department have developed their own direction of
carrying out work activities. However, all the operations are being directed on the way of
accomplishment of common objectives and aims (Groucutt and Hopkins, 2015). Uncountable
people work in Apple Inc. for carrying out daily transactions within different departments and
it is quite obvious that at some stages the attitude as well as self-esteem will clash and
conflicts are more likely to happen. Consequently, it becomes quite essential to analyse the
relationship of different functions of Apple Inc. and marketing function.
Marketing functions are being required for back up by the other operational
department of Apple Inc. and at the same for carrying out activities effectively too. If the firm
is required to plan and execute a marketing plan than they will need help from financial
department of the firm. In addition to this, they will also need supportive hands from human
resource departments, sales and production department as well. Moreover, if the marketing
team of Apple Inc. desires to provide a discount offer on the bulk purchase of the product by
applying different schemes than they will significantly needs marketing team to communicate
with the production as well as finance department of the firm at the initial levels. The
marketing functions are being regarded as a separate entities in the business corporation.
2

However, each and every function in the company is linked and connected with each other
that in turn increase the profitability of the business concern (Oliver, 2009). Furthermore, the
main function of marketing is to raise the profitability level of the firm through augmenting
the sales of the products and services of Apple Inc. This function can be achieved only with
the active participation of all the different departments of the company consecutively. The
finance department of the business concern are responsible to offer suitable budget to the
marketing department for the purpose of planning as well as execution of marketing plan.
The manufacturing department on the other hand, converse with the logistics department for
the purpose of fulfilling the demands and supply of products and services. Other than this, the
human resource policies and procedures are being generated as per the trends in the market,
target customers and sales. Therefore, all the functional units of Apple Inc. are correlated
with each other so as to bring a successful marketing plan among the company (Jobber and
Chadwick, 2012).
Conclusion & Recommendation
Thus, it is quite obvious that marketing function of Apple Inc. and many other firms
have attained growth as well as popularity. In the present scenario, there is rise in the
competition and upcoming trends. This has made the firm to shift their focus and are now
paying attention on providing products and services that significantly adds value to the
customers and other vita stakeholders of the firm. Therefore, it is highly recommended to
Apple Inc. to take into consideration the environment in which they carry out their operations
by carefully evaluating every minute activity. It is also vital to develop marketing plan
cautiously considering every little need of the stakeholders of the firm so that they feel
contended.
TASK – 2
Introduction
As a marketing Assistant at Apple Inc. the main role here is to produce a detailed
report on effectiveness of marketing mix in achieving the business objectives of the company.
It is the responsibility of the manager to oversee as well as manage business operations of the
company.
3

P3 Comparison of marketing mix of Apple Inc. and Samsung and its application in achieving
the business objectives
For the purpose of achieving the objectives of the organization, marketing mix is
being applied in the marketing planning process. The business organizations makes use of
different methods in order to apply marketing mix between their firms. Majorly it is on the
basis of market demographics, market and company size and products and services of the
organization. Apple Inc.is a big multi-national firm and with the customer focused efforts
they have evolved and made its impression in the national as well as international market in
the initial years (Campbell and LaPastina, 2010). This was mainly because of the extended
marketing mix by the firm and customer centric approach. Furthermore, the application of
marketing mix in a marketing planning process is mainly emphasized over the product
dimension, pricing structure, place of selling the products and promotional activities.
However, the extended marketing mix makes use of significance of offering physical
evidence and delivery process to the customers and most importantly focused over people.
Marketing mix
elements Samsung Apple
Product
Samsung has many products in
the basket such as tablets,
mobile phones, LEDs, TV,
SMART TV, Refrigerators, Air
conditioners, washing machine
and microwave ovens etc.
(Bhasin, 2016)
The company has wide range of
products such as iPod, IPad, Mac
Computers, Iphone and many
more. The IPhone range of Apple
Inc. is of higher quality and serves
as a symbol of status for customers
(Brassington and Pettitt, 2007)
Price
The firm makes use of
skimming as well as
competitive pricing strategies
for their products in the
market.
The firm make use of premium
pricing policy. The products of the
company are expensive and thus,
people think that they are of high
quality which results in high
amount of profits.
Place
Channel marketing concept is
used by Samsung where there
are three main segments i.e.
modern retailers, sales and
For reaching the market, holistic
approach of distribution has been
adopted by the firm. Further, they
selects selective distribution
4

service dealers and distributors.
In addition, they have
numerous branches (Solis,
2011).
strategies which comprises of
Apple stores, telecom companies,
online stores and authorized
dealers.
Promotion
They also adopts multiple
forms of promotion advertising
and sales promotion.
Additionally, various
marketing vehicles has been
used for festive as well as non-
festive seasons.
Apple Inc. makes use of majorly
four strategies such as public
relations, personal selling,
advertising and promotion. They
also adopts sales promotion
techniques in the form of offering
discount on older pieces etc.
People
Samsung pays more attention
towards the training of their
staff to enhance their inter-
personal skills, problem
solving, schemes and various
other strategies.
People element in the marketing
mix encompasses all the members
who are related with the product.
Employee is the major element for
Apple Inc. They are the only
reason for the continuous
innovation as well as growth of the
firm (Lewis, 2013).
Process
They always takes into
consideration effective process
for their customers. For
example, they have a process
of reclaim warranty goods like
warrantied smart phones, TV
etc. within one week or two.
Apple Inc. is of the belief that
simplicity is the ultimate erudition.
Thus, they are quite popular for
their simplified process as well as
functions. They have numerous
factories all across the globe and
takes into account systematic
methods in all their processes.
Physical evidence
The physical evidence of the
products of Samsung is being
enhanced by adding colour,
technology and quality to
impress the customers (Lee and
et.al, 2016)
It is being referred as the logo of
the firm and the pleasant ambience
of the stores. Apple stores offers
exceptional experience to their
customers.
5

Conclusion
Thus, it can be attributed that marketing mix is a significant tool that supports the
marketer to comprehend the product. It takes into consideration execution of four P’s of
marketing i.e. price, place, product and promotion. Later, it has been extended to 7 P’s which
comprise three more P’s i.e. process, physical evidence and people. It has to be planned
properly for achieving the objectives of the firm.
TASK – 3
P4 Basic marketing plan for Apple Inc.
Executive summary
The current research report emphasize on analysis of marketing environment of the
firm popular renowned as Apple Inc. It is known for its innovative ability to attain
competitive advantage and was founded by Steven Jobs in the year 1976. For the purpose of
assessing the external environment, PESTEL analysis and porter’s five force will be adopted
and for internal analysis, SWOT approach will be used.
PESTEL analysis (External analysis)
Political
 Company is earning high revenue and thus calling high corporate
taxation in US
 Problems related to inequality
 It is dependent on Chinese manufacturing and thus there is more
vulnerable political unrest in that nation (Dockalikova and
Klozikova, 2014)
 Growing nationalism and anti-Americans in China
Economical
 Rising cost of labour in China and can take the cost advantage of the
firm
 Strong rate of Dollar can increase the exchange rates
 Because of stagnant middle class income, the market can shrink for
high end users
Social
 Increasing use of mobile access
 Rising utilization of social media
 Young population in US lacks the emotional connection to the
product of Apple that drives the sales (McDonald and Wilson, 2011)
6

Technological
 Increasing use of smart phones ad tablets will decrease the demand
of personal computers of Apple
 Growing cyber-crimes makes the system of apple less secure
 Samsung and google have copied the products and services of Apple
which means they are not now unique
Environmental
 Labour rights trends
 Trends related to business sustainability
 Problems related to disposal of used and non-working electrical
devices
 Climate change due to global warming can affect the supply chain
of Apple Inc.
Legal
 Increasing regulations related to privacy and telecommunications
 Increased level of litigation due to providing financial services by
the firm (Bernroider, 2002)
SWOT analysis (Internal analysis)
Strength
 Brand image of the firm is strong
 Effective and rapid innovation
process
 Apple has high margin of profits
Weakness
 The sales price is quite high
 Less distribution network
 The sales of the firm is dependent on
high end market segments
Opportunities
 Developing new product lines
 Expanding their network related to
distribution (Brooks, Heffner and
Henderson, 2014)
 High volume of sales on the basis of
rising demand
Threats
 Increasing prices of labour in many
nations
 Imitation from other companies
 Intense level of competition
7

Competitive analysis (Porter’s five force)
 Threats from new entrants – There is a moderate force of threat of new entrants. It is
quite costly to develop a strong brand like Apple. However, there are strong
companies like Samsung and Google who have capabilities to compete directly.
 Bargaining power of buyers – Buyers have strong bargaining power because of low
switching costs. On contrary, each buyer’s purchase is quite small when compared
with Apple’s revenue, which makes the customer weak at the individual level
(Fleisher and Bensoussan, 2015).
 Bargaining power of suppliers – There is a weak force of suppliers, as there are large
number of suppliers. Additionally, there is high supply of components of Apple which
makes individual supplier weak.
 Competitive rivalry – There are many firms such as Samsung, Blackberry and LG that
are competing aggressively with Apple. Further, switching cost is also very low and
thus, customers can easily move towards other brand easily.
 Threats from substitute products – It is quite weak in impacting the business of Apple.
There are many substitutes available in the market such as digital camera, landline
phones but because of their lower performance they are not being used progressively.
Marketing objectives
 Increasing the base of customers
 Increasing the number of 4G users
 Improvement in the cross-functional communication (McDonald, 2013)
 Raising the amount of satisfied customers
Marketing strategies
For improving the base of the customers, Apple is required to expand their market
reach by introducing new stores. Further, there is problem related to cross-functional
communication in Apple Inc. which hinders the linkage between the marketing strategies and
objectives of the firm. Further, it was also analysed that customer satisfaction level is
decreasing and in turn influencing the growth of the firm. Thus, investment should be made
of customer service department. In addition, penetration pricing strategy should be used for
having more customer base. Finally, advertising as well as personal selling can be the best
strategy for attaining firm’s objectives.
8

STP
 Segmentation – It is being defined as the process of dividing the market based on the
common features. Apple segments their market on the basis of behavioural
segmentation such as degree of loyalty and status of users.
 Targeting – They want to target the group which are quite young and tech-savvy
generation, professional managers and high earners (Al-Refaie and Bata, 2016).
 Positioning – Apple Inc. is trying to position themselves in the market as a premium
brand which is offering advanced features and functions for additional costs
Market control
This is being regarded as the most important aspects of marketing plan, wherein
controlling is being performed by matching the marketing objectives with the outcomes.
Further, drafted activities are being taken into account so that they can be checked and
corrective actions can be done if any deviation is being found (Dibb and Simkin, 2013).
CONCLUSION
Consequently, it can be said that each and every firm has realized the significance of
customer relationship and they are making efforts in getting an innovative approach in
regards with the marketing strategy in business.
9

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Al-Refaie, A. and Bata, N., 2016. Market Segmentation and Conjoint Analysis for Apple
Family Design. World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology. International
Journal of Social, Behavioural, Educational, Economic, Business and Industrial
Engineering, 10(4), pp.1047-1051.
Bernroider, E., 2002. Factors in SWOT Analysis Applied to Micro, Small-to-Medium, and
Large Software Enterprises: An Austrian Study. European Management Journal, 20(5),
pp.562-573.
Brassington and Pettitt. 2007. Essentials of Marketing. 2nded. Prentice Hall.
Brassington, F. and Pettitt, S., 2012. Essentials of Marketing. 3rded. Harlow: Pearson.
Brooks, G., Heffner, A. and Henderson, D., 2014. A SWOT analysis of competitive
knowledge from social media for a small start-up business. The Review of Business
Information Systems (Online), 18(1), p.23.
Dibb, S. and Simkin, L., 2013. Marketing essentials. Cengage Learning.
Dockalikova, I. and Klozikova, J., 2014. MCDM Methods in Practice: Determining the
Significance of PESTEL Analysis Criteria. Academic Conferences International Limited.
Fleisher, C.S. and Bensoussan, B.E., 2015. Business and competitive analysis: effective
application of new and classic methods. FT Press.
Groucutt, J. and Hopkins, C., 2015. Marketing (Business Briefings). London: Palgrave
Macmillan.
Jobber, D. and Chadwick, F., 2012. Principles and Practice of Marketing. 7thed. Maidenhead:
McGraw-Hill.
Lee, Y.G., Yim, B.H., Jones, C.W. and Kim, B.G., 2016. The extended marketing mix in the
context of dance as a performing art. Social Behaviour and Personality: an international
journal, 44(6), pp.1043-1056.
Lewis, B.R., 2013. Customer care in service organisations. Marketing Intelligence &
Planning.
Lilly, M.C., 2014. Content Marketing Essentials for Small Business. Sage Publications.
McDaniel, C. and Gates, R., 2014. Marketing research. Wiley Global Education.
McDonald, M. and Wilson, H., 2011. Marketing Plans: How to Prepare Them, How to Use
Them. 7th ed. Chichester: John Riley and Sons.
10