An Analysis of Apple iPhone's Strategic Marketing Process Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Apple's iPhone marketing strategies. It begins with an introduction to the strategic marketing planning process and its importance for achieving organizational success. The report then focuses on Apple and its iPhone product line, examining three key components of the strategic marketing process: situational analysis, selection of the target market, and development of marketing strategies. The situational analysis explores the external business environment, including political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental factors, and its impact on Apple's brand success. The selection of the target market examines Apple's approach to identifying and targeting specific customer segments. Finally, the development of marketing strategies analyzes Apple's tactics for reaching its target market and maintaining product exclusivity. The report highlights the positive impacts of each component on Apple's overall performance, emphasizing the importance of strategic marketing for long-term success. The report concludes by summarizing the key findings and reiterating the significance of the strategic marketing process in the context of the Apple iPhone.

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

1STRATEGIC MARKETING
Introduction
The strategic marketing planning process can be stated to be the process using
which a company can successfully engage in the analysis of various marketing
opportunities and ensuring that they are able to come up with an offering through which
the firm will be able to engage in profitability (McDonald 2016). The report aims to
identify three such components of the strategic marketing planning process which shall go
a long way in ensuring that the organization is able to achieve long term success. The
paper will follow a simple format whereby the background of the company selected,
Apple and the product range selected, iPhone shall be followed by the components
analysis and their plausible impact on the success of the firm. The report aims to uplift the
importance of the strategic marketing process and seeks to understand the manner in
which the particular component can be improved at large so that the overall impact of the
organization increases.
About the company
The Apple Inc. company has been chosen for the purpose of the given assignment.
The company is a global firm with its presence all around the globe. The product line of
iPhones has been chosen for the assignment. The iPhones is considered to be one of the
most popular products in the 21st century and since its inception various versions of the
phone have been taken out. These different versions have been iPhone 1-Iphone Xs max
at the latest (Apple.com. 2018).
The Strategic Marketing Process
The Strategic Marketing Process can be described to be the procedure through
which the strategic marketing can be carried out. The process becomes essential for the
firm to understand and highlight as it assists in ensuring that the company`s objectives as
well as goals are achieved at large (Spanjol et al. 2015). The central objective of any
company lies in ensuring that the needs of the customer are achieved successfully,
however, according to Payne and Frow (2014), it lies the goal of the organization to uplift
the demands of the customers and present them with products and services beyond their
expectation. The Strategic Marketing Process comprises of three different phases which

2STRATEGIC MARKETING
are the planning, implementation and the evaluation phase. For the purpose of the report,
the three components of the marketing strategic process which will be chosen for the
Apple iPhones are the Situational analysis, selection of the target market and the
development of the marketing strategies.
The Analysis of the three components of the Strategic Marketing Process
Situational Analysis
The situational analysis can be rightfully stated to be an analysis of the external
business environment which can go a long way in ensuring the overall success of the firm
and can also ensure towards seeing to it that the objectives of the firm are achieved. It
comprises of the analysis of the factors which lie in the particular external environment
which might have an impact on the firm. These factors are usually the Political,
Economic, and Social, Cultural, Technological, Legal and the Environmental factors. The
job of a situational analysis lies in ensuring that the organization`s strengths as well as the
weaknesses are identified, the public`s perception of the organization is well understood
and that the plans to re-energize the firm can be successfully formed (Dawar 2013,p.
108). Hence, with respect to the Apple organization, their marketing team engages in
ensuring that they engage in successful situational analysis whereby the different
competitors, their features, the external governmental rules, advanced technology is taken
care of. The Apple Company ensures that the needs of the customer are met with along
with ensuring that they are surprised by the features of the product. This can be rightfully
witnessed in their improvised versions of the iPhones and how with every version, the
firm aims to ensure that they can further excite the customers. The positive impact of this
on Apple can be given as follows:
Apple has been able to build the world`s most successful brand
The brand name of Apple is extremely successful and this can be rightfully
contributed towards ensuring that the phones of the brand are widely popular and largely
available in the given market (Forbes.com 2018).
Apple has been able to crush all its rivals

3STRATEGIC MARKETING
Apple has been relatively successful in ensuring that the firm is able to crush all
its rival in terms of the purchases being made or the other relevant features of the product
at large (Impactbnd.com 2018).
Selection of the Target Market
The selection of the correct target market is another feature which holds utmost
importance in the marketing process which is essentially strategic in nature. Target
market can be stated to be the selected group of customers which the particular company
aims to target. The identification of the target market helps the company in developing an
effective communication strategy because based on their needs, the company aims to
design the products in the particular manner (Proctor 2014). Moreover, the target market
which is to be selected needs to ensure that that it has similar needs and characteristics
which will make it easy for the firm to serve these customers (Forbes.com 2018). The
main aim of the selection of the right kind of a target market is to ensure that the company
is successfully able to craft the right message for the audience which shall convince them
at focus on aspects which influence customer decision making. In addition to this, it helps
on just focusing on the potential customers because, it is not possible for the firm to target
all the customers at once. Through the focus on a specific target market, the firm can limit
the population funnels and concentrate on the customers with the highest potential for a
purchase. Lastly, through the selection of the Target market, it helps in mixing the right
media strategy (Dawar 2013, p. 107). This is because, the firm is aware of the kind of
audience which makes the specific purchasing decision for the firm. The main aspect
which Apple iphone segment looks out for in its customers are as follows:
 Users with a good income of $100k above in one year
 Users who like to believe in creativity as well as simplicity
 High end buyers who are segmented on the basis of their luxurious lifestyle
The selection and formation of the Target market group has had a positive impact
on the overall performance of the firm. This means that, since Apple has specified a
designated target market for itself, it has been able to benefit in the following manner:
It has been able to become a consumer favourite brand

4STRATEGIC MARKETING
The brand has become one of the most consumer favourite brands
(Impactbnd.com 2018). In regard to this, it can be stated that the company has been able
to build up this reputation due to its ability of selecting the right kind of target market for
itself and identifying their specific needs so that the company is successfully able to serve
the customers in the right manner so as to ensure long term relationships with them.
Saves cost
The selection of the right kind of target market for the company also goes a long
way in ensuring that the company is able to save considerable costs (Forbes.com 2018).
The costs savings in which the company occurs is due to the fact that the company will
not be wasting its efforts in attracting the different customers but just concentrate on the
ones who are showing an interest in the purchase of the product.
Development of the Marketing Strategies
The development of the Marketing strategies also form an essential part of the
Marketing process and assists the company in devising tactics which will assist it in
approaching the designated target market. The marketing strategy also forms an essential
part of the business marketing plan which outlines the overall action plan which the
company will carry out (Dawar 2013, p. 105). The primary objective of forming a
marketing strategy is to maintain the existing customers along with wooing new ones.
The marketing strategy of any company is designed very carefully and covers various
aspects of the firm like the value proposition which the firm offers. The key marketing
message which a firm wants to give out to the different customers, the information about
the target market and other related aspects about the market offerings (Chernev 2018).
The Apple company follows a customized marketing strategy for its targeted segment and
works on the tagline that `Its different` The phones offered by the brand are well designed
and sleek which makes it stand apart from its customers. The phones follow an exclusive
distribution strategy whereby the availability of the phones is restricted to a certain outlets
and mediums. In addition to this, Apple iPhones also follows a unique pricing strategy
with respect to the competition of the product whereby it sets the price of the product
relatively higher than its competitors and in the same manner it ensures that the products

5STRATEGIC MARKETING
have a luxurious respective to themselves (Foxall 2014). This component of the
marketing strategy assists the company in the following manner and the impact on Apple
is as follows:
It helps in maintaining exclusivity of the product
Through its unique marketing strategy and the product design which goes beyond
the expectations of the customers, Apple iPhones is successfully able to ensure that it is
able to maintain the exclusivity of the product and ensure that it stays within the luxurious
brand (Banerjee 2017).
Helps in generating higher sales
This exclusive marketing strategy tends to have a strong impact on the sales of the
Apple Company as well and ensures that the company is able to maintain its positioning
in the market (Impactbnd.com 2018).
Hence from the given analysis, it can be rightfully stated that the Strategic
Marketing Process is a critical marketing process which goes a long way in ensuring the
future of a particular product or brand in the market at large (West, Ford & Ibrahim
2015). The report analysed the meaning of the process which was followed by an analysis
of the Apple iPhones and the manner in which its strategic marketing process has had a
good impact on the product. The three components of the process namely the Situational
analysis, the Marketing strategy of the product and the selection of the target market. The
impact of the importance on the Apple firm has been discussed.

6STRATEGIC MARKETING
References
Apple.com. 2018. Apple Inc. [online]. Available at: https://www.apple.com// (Retrieved
on: 20 Nov. 2018).
Banerjee, S.B., 2017. Corporate environmentalism & the greening of strategic marketing:
Implications for marketing theory & practice. In Greener Marketing (pp. 16-40).
Routledge.
Chernev, A., 2018. Strategic marketing management. Cerebellum Press.
Dawar, N., 2013. When marketing is strategy. Harvard business review, 91(12), pp.100-
108.
Forbes.com 2018. Apple [online]. Available at:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/christinemoorman/2018/01/12/why-apple-is-still-a-
great-marketer-and-what-you-can-learn/ (Retrieved on: 20 Nov. 2018).
Foxall, G., 2014. Strategic Marketing Management (RLE Marketing). Routledge.
Impactbnd.com 2018. Apple [online]. Available at:
https://www.impactbnd.com/blog/things-learn-from-apple-marketing (Retrieved
on: 20 Nov. 2018).
McDONALD, M.A.L.C.O.L.M., 2016. Strategic marketing planning: theory & practice.
In The marketing book (pp. 108-142). Routledge.
Payne, A. & Frow, P., 2014. Developing superior value propositions: a strategic
marketing imperative. Journal of Service Management, 25(2), pp.213-227.
Proctor, T., 2014. Strategic marketing: an introduction. Routledge.
Spanjol, J., Tam, L., Qualls, W.J. & Bohlmann, J.D., 2015. Enacting Change in Strategic
Marketing Decisions: The Role of Regulatory Focus in Teams. In Marketing in
Transition: Scarcity, Globalism, & Sustainability (pp. 37-37). Springer, Cham.
West, D.C., Ford, J. & Ibrahim, E., 2015. Strategic marketing: creating competitive
advantage. Oxford University Press, USA.

7STRATEGIC MARKETING