Analysis of Apple's Marketing Strategies and Fundamentals Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Apple's marketing strategies and fundamentals. It begins with an introduction to marketing, emphasizing its role in delivering goods and services to customers and achieving profit with maximum customer satisfaction. The report then delves into the marketing process, including opportunity analysis, target market selection, and the development of the marketing mix (product, price, place, and promotion). It also explores the stages of marketing, such as production, product, sales, and marketing orientation. Furthermore, the report examines the role of the marketing mix in creating value for customers, highlighting the importance of product quality, pricing strategies, distribution channels, and promotional activities. The report also explores the role of marketing in creating customer value, identifying customer needs, fostering innovation, reaching target customers, and offering practices that increase customer value. Overall, the report offers valuable insights into Apple's marketing approach and its success in the competitive tech industry.

MARKETING
FUNDAMENTALS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Task 1 A...........................................................................................................................................1
Marketing process.......................................................................................................................1
Stages of Marketing....................................................................................................................2
Role Of Marketing Mix...............................................................................................................3
Stakeholder engagement and their impact on marketing activities of an organization...............5
TASK 1B.........................................................................................................................................7
Tactical communication tools for generating awareness and interest in the project,..................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Marketing is a management process that is concerned with the process of manufacturing of
goods and services to delivering them to the customer. Its basically all the activities like
identification of customer needs and wants, manufacturing of goods and services, price
determination, selecting an appropriate distribution channel and promotion of goods and
services (Rowles, 2017). The main objective of marketing is to achieve profit with maximum
customer satisfaction. Marketing fundamentals are the marketing essentials that are necessary in
order to make a marketing strategy effective. Apple is one of the largest tech companies in the
world by market size and revenue. Headquartered in California, United States, Apple company
was founded by Steve Jobs in the year 1976. Apple serves worldwide and has over more than
130000 employees. In 2018, Apple was recognized as the most valuable company in the world.
Marketing has played a significant role in Apple's success. The current report will focus on
different stages in marketing mix, role of Apple's marketing in creating value for its customers
and stakeholders engagement and their impact on the marketing activities.
Task 1 A
Marketing means activities which are done by the company to promote goods and services. It
include various activities done by the company like selling, advertising and more. People
working in corporate mainly focus on advertising to market their goods to the target audience.
Corporate generally include celebrity endorsement, good phrases and many social media tools.
Marketing process
Analysis of opportunities available in the market: The first thing that the company
should start with is analysing the opportunities that are available in the market. It is related to the
need & wants of the customer. There is always a need of a better product in the market which
can fulfil the demand. A new company should always focus on those opportunities which are
beneficial in the long run for the organisation. The company can take help from marketing
information system which is MIS. It plays a significant role in providing useful information
about the market. The company does effective research to find the information about
competitors, trends in the market, customers etc. which is useful for the company. Apple does
various research in the market to find the demand of the customer. The demands are always
changing and so company should also make appropriate change in the product with time.
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Selection of the Target Market: This is a very important process in marketing as there
is selection of the market. No company can target the whole market so the market is divided into
different segments and the best segment should be chosen to meets its strength and opportunities.
There are certain categories in which market is divided which include market segmentation
which means the whole market is divided into different customers with each having same wants,
characteristics and which need different marketing mix and strategies. Target marketing means
that two or more segments should be selected and they should be targeted. It is very difficult for
a company to target the whole market and so after succeeding in these market it should target
other ones. Third category include market positioning which means that positioning the product
of the company in the minds of the customers as compared to the goods of competitors. The
company tries to offer a competitive edge of its product in compared to the product of the
competitor so that his product can have good image. Apple has always offer a competitive edge
of its product in compared to other brands. Its products are costly but then also are purchased by
many people(Zhao and Balagué, 2015).
Development of marketing Mix: After making the strategy of the marketing, the
company is ready for panning of marketing mix. Marketing mix consist of various variables
mixed by company to get desired results. The marketing mix consist of four P's which are
Product, Price ,Place and Promotion. Product means the goods which are made by the company
for the market. Price means the amount or money paid by the customer to purchase it. Place
means the production plant should be situated at a place which ensures minimum cost of labour
and various factors like easy transportation, availability of raw material. Promotion means the
increase in sale of good to customers by providing better information to the customer about the
product. Product of Apple is very good but the price is high in comparison to other brands but
the promotion of the product and marketing of Apple is very high.
Management of marketing efforts: It is the critical phase of development of marketing
strategies. Market analysis should be done to identify the strength and weakness of market. There
should be market planning so that all the objectives are achieved. Last is marketing
Implementation in which developed plans and strategies are properly implemented in the market.
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Stages of Marketing
Production Orientation: This stage is related to increasing production of the company
and reducing the cost of goods so that the profits of the company can be increased.
Product Orientation: This stage concentrates on providing good quality products to the
customers and increasing the quality of the goods so that more profits can be earned by the
company by quality products(Kotler and et.al., 2017).
Sales Orientation: Sales orientation means increasing the profits of the company by
clearing the stocks and doing excessive sales and promotion.
Marketing Orientation: This stage focuses on producing those goods which satisfy the
needs and wants of customers. Whole organisation should be customer oriented, not only
marketing department, is the aim of marketing orientation. Apple is a good example of
Marketing orientation.
Role Of Marketing Mix
Marketing Mix play a very important role in the company. If the company does not attend any
one then the whole mix will be upside down. Marketing mix include four P's which are Product ,
Price, Place and Promotion. A company depends on these four P's to be successful in the market.
Product plays the very important role in the company. If the product of Apple is not good
then the other three P's are of no use. Customers will not purchase the product if there is more
deficiency in it. The company should first concentrate on product if it wants to sustain in the
market. Market today is changing and Apple mostly deals in mobile phones so it needs to bring
new innovation in the product from time to time if it wants to remain in the market against all the
competition.
The role of price also affect the profits of the company. If the price of the product is very
high then many people will not buy the product and its sales will decrease. The company should
include all the cost in price with its profit margin and then fix the price of the product. Apple
products are of good quality and so are costlier then other products. But due to its high price, the
sale of Apple products has been reduced.
Place of company is very important for a product to gain the market. If the production
house is very far then the company will have high expenditure on transportation and so the price
will increase. Various factors should be seen before fixing a place for production of a good.
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These factors are Availability of raw material, distance between various production house,
availability of labours etc. Apple has gained benefit from the place as it situated at a place where
most of the factors are in favour.
Promotion of company is very important because many companies have succeeded today
just because of good marketing of its product and services. Apple invested a lot of funds in
marketing of its product and this has shown an increase in the profits of the company. Promotion
does not include only advertising but it also include the packaging of product, its labels and
more.
Role of marketing in creating value for customers.
Customer value defines the meaning for what a product is worth to its customers. It means the
benefits achieved by the customers while purchasing the product. Customer value not only
increases their satisfaction but also improves their experience as a customer. This leads to
increasing loyalty of customers and also improving the brand image of the company (Babiuk,
Braun and Campbell, 2015).
The main objective of marketing is to provide maximum satisfaction to its customers.
Customer satisfaction can be created only by identifying their need and wants and then develop a
product or service accordingly. Customer is the king of the market and if a company wishes to
succeed then it is imperative for them to identify the problems face by customer and find a
suitable solution accordingly. Apple company stands for innovation and creativity. The company
has always followed the policy of bringing something new to the table by performing market
research and then developing a product accordingly. Apple company follows the marketing
functions that begins with identification of customer needs and wants, marketing planning,
product\service development, standardizing and grading, packaging and labelling, branding,
customer service, pricing, promotion and transportation followed by warehousing. This is how
the company creates value for its customers (Ottman, 2017).
Marketing also promotes education by creating a new product and then educating their
customers about the potential benefits and usefulness of the product or service. Every year,
Apple introduces a new piece of technology, be it Iphone, Mac-book or Ipad. It then introduces
its target customers to these products and explain the innovation and creativity behind them and
how they can improve their lives and solve their problems. This is a successful marketing
technique adopted by Apple and it is done before launching the product. This creates excitement
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within the customers prior to the launching of the product. Apple has created value for its
customers by providing them with innovative technology that makes customers life easy in some
way or the other.
Another important role of marketing is that it creates need for its customers. Apple
operates in a highly dynamic and competitive environment therefore if the company wants to
become a market leader then it has to do market research, identify the customers needs and wants
and finally develop a product accordingly. The company also spends a lot of money on research
and development so that it can surprise its customers every single time.
The main aim of marketing function is to reach its target customers. If the marketing
function is performed towards the wrong customer base then it can have adverse effects on the
smooth working of the company. Reaching the target customers is not an easy job to perform. It
is imperative for every company to identify the demographics of their customer base like age,
income level, socio-culture background and geographical area. Apple company has its products
priced on the higher end and the company has its separate target customers base (Kotler and
et.al., 2018).
In order to increase customer value, company can adopt certain practices or techniques
like offering a price that makes customers feels like they are receiving more than they are
offering or reducing the price of the products so that it gives the company a competitive
advantage or by improving company's after sales services. This will make customers feel more
valued (De Mooij, 2018).
It is imperative for Apple to understand the concept of creating real value. They need to
understand that value can be created only by satisfaction of consumer needs. Also, values are the
beliefs that a customer stands for. These beliefs can be honesty, integrity, ethical behaviour and
trust. It is essential that a company's values matches with their target customers values. Apart
from this, a company should follow basic business policies like maintaining the quality of the
product, after sales service and considering customers feedback (Tuten and Solomon, 2017).
Stakeholder engagement and their impact on marketing activities of an organization.
Stakeholders are the parties that are interested in company's day to day activities.
Stakeholder can be investors, shareholders, customers or general public. They are impacted
directly or indirectly by the performance of the company. They can have a positive or negative
impact towards the success of Apple company.
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Stakeholder engagement is concerned with interacting and convincing the project
stakeholders for the overall benefit of the project. The completion and success of any project
highly depends on how the stakeholders view it. Stakeholder engagement has the potential to
influence variety of decisions by communication, consultation and negotiation. It has helped
Apple company in deciding the group of people or other organizations that can be affected by the
company's decisions. It is very important for any company because it helps them in identifying
the concerned parties or group of people that will get affected by its decisions. It may be positive
or negative (Chaffey and Ellis-Chadwick, 2019). Also, it help the company to prepare strategies
that can give it competitive advantage. Adequate stakeholder also helps the company to reduce
the level of risk and increase profitability of the company.
Apple company has always given equal importance to its key stakeholders and
maintained good relationship with them. Stakeholder engagement also boosts company's
confidence with their response and valuable feedback. The major principle for stakeholder
engagement is to communicate with the clients and understand their needs and wants. The
interaction must be done on continuous basis and even after delivering the product.
Every company must remember that its employees are also its stakeholders and it is
important for the company to value them, understand them and fulfil their desires. Also, the
organization must train them well so that they can become a valuable asset for the company and
work with increases efficiency. Treating employees with dignity will definitely have a positive
impact on the working of the company (West, Ford and Ibrahim, 2015).
Customers and general public are the centre of influence for every company. It is very
important to respect and value them. CRM and after sales service are some tools and techniques
that enhance company's worth in the market. Customers are the key stakeholders because their
opinion means the most to any company. Their socio-cultural background, lifestyle, buying
habits are some factors that can affect the marketing of the company.
Government holds the power to influence company's marketing strategies. It can
influences the interest rates, impose new taxes or subsidies that can have both positive and
negative impacts on the smooth working of the company. Also, sometimes government impose
various bans on certain colours, product names, tag line or advertisements. This is one way in
government as stakeholders affect the marketing of the company (Burns, Mullet and Bryant,
2016).
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Investors inject the funds within the company. They affect the company's growth,
survival and potential future. If their Is continuous flow of funds within the company then it can
spend more on research and development and innovation or else the business would fail.
Shareholders are the owners of the company. It is important for any company to
maximise shareholders wealth. If their wealth is not maximized then it would hamper the growth
of the company in the long run. Also, shareholders have the right to vote and participate in the
meetings of the company. This is how they can affect and can get affected (Menon and et.al.,
2015).
TASK 1B
Tactical communication tools for generating awareness and interest in the project,
Communication is the integral reason for the success of any company. Internal and
external communication both are equally important for a company to succeed. Internal
communication means communication between the employees in an organization. There should
be free flow communication within the organization as it will lead to achievement of goals and
objectives effectively and efficiently.
External communication is concerned with communication with the outsiders like
customers, stakeholders and investors. It is important to communicate with customers in order to
receive their feedback and work on the products accordingly. Major tools used by Apple
company to communicate with its customers are social media, blog posts, advertisements and E-
mail. The Apple company uses traditional TV advertisements to market as well as to
communicate its products. Through advertisements, the company communicates its innovation,
creativity, features as well as its ideas (Meffert and et.al., 2018).
E-mails and calls are also a potential tool for communication. These are generally used
by the companies to issue newsletters and communicate new offers. Sometimes customers face
certain problems therefore they need to interact with the company in order to find a solution. E-
mail acts as an important tool for after sales service and repairs (Huotari and Hamari, 2017).
Apple has been an active user of social media to promote its hardware technology. The
company has around 17 million followers on Instagram and 2.2 million on twitter. The company
also stated that social media has helped them to not only communicate and interact with their
customers but also to boost their sales (Goldberg, Fishbein and Middlestadt, 2018).
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Apple also publishes blog posts on their website that provides solution to problems faced
by the consumer. Some blogs are also related with technical aspects of the smartphones and
laptops.
CONCLUSION
From the above study it can be concluded that marketing plays a significant role in the success of
any company. Marketing is the essence of any business. It starts from developing a concept to
actually delivering the final product to the customer. Marketing mix functions like product,
place, price and promotion have been extremely productive for the Apple company. They have
used these functions effectively and efficiently to create a different brand name for Apple. The
company has always given importance to creating values for the customers. They have always
delivered something new to the customers by using their innovation and creativity. Not only this,
Apple always made efforts towards satisfying their customers and the organization paid utmost
attention to their requirements and feedback. Communication tools like social media and E-mails
have actively contributed towards company's after sales services. Hence, it can be said that Apple
company effectively used marketing as a tool for its success.
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REFERENCES
Books&Journals
Babiuk, C., Braun, S. L. and Campbell, W., 2015. Fundamentals of Public Relations and
Marketing Communications in Canada. University of Alberta.
Burns, L. D., Mullet, K. K. and Bryant, N. O., 2016. The business of fashion: Designing,
manufacturing, and marketing. Bloomsbury Publishing USA.
Chaffey, D. and Ellis-Chadwick, F., 2019. Digital marketing. Pearson UK.
De Mooij, M., 2018. Global marketing and advertising: Understanding cultural paradoxes.
SAGE Publications Limited.
Goldberg, M. E., Fishbein, M. and Middlestadt, S. E., 2018. Social marketing: Theoretical and
practical perspectives. Psychology Press.
Huotari, K. and Hamari, J., 2017. A definition for gamification: anchoring gamification in the
service marketing literature. Electronic Markets. 27(1). pp.21-31.
Kotler, P. and et.al., 2017. Marketing for hospitality and tourism.
Kotler, P. and et.al., 2018. Marketing management: an Asian perspective. Pearson.
Meffert, H. and et.al., 2018. Marketing: Grundlagen marktorientierter Unternehmensführung
Konzepte–Instrumente–Praxisbeispiele. Springer-Verlag.
Menon, A. and et.al., 2015. Effective Marketing Strategy-Making: Antecedents and
Consequences. In Proceedings of the 1997 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS)
Annual Conference (pp. 224-224). Springer, Cham.
Ottman, J., 2017. The new rules of green marketing: Strategies, tools, and inspiration for
sustainable branding. Routledge.
Rowles, D., 2017. Mobile marketing: how mobile technology is revolutionizing marketing,
communications and advertising. Kogan Page Publishers.
Tuten, T. L. and Solomon, M. R., 2017. Social media marketing. Sage.
West, D. C., Ford, J. and Ibrahim, E., 2015. Strategic marketing: creating competitive
advantage. Oxford University Press, USA.
Zhao, Z. and Balagué, C., 2015. Designing branded mobile apps: Fundamentals and
recommendations. Business Horizons. 58(3). pp.305-315.
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