Marketing Planning: Apple Case Study

This marketing report uses Apple Inc. as a case study to examine marketing planning. It reviews changing perspectives in marketing, evaluates Apple's ability to plan future marketing activities, and explores techniques for organizational auditing and external factor analysis (using PESTLE, Porter's Five Forces, and SWOT). The report identifies barriers to marketing planning (environmental, cultural, and cognitive) and suggests ways Apple can overcome them. A detailed marketing plan for the launch of a new product (Apple Watch) is presented, covering market research, competitor analysis, and implementation stages. The importance of marketing planning in Apple's strategic planning process is discussed, along with techniques for new product development (surveys and experimentation). Recommendations for pricing, distribution, and communication mix are provided, considering factors affecting implementation. Finally, the report examines how ethical issues influence marketing planning, Apple's response to ethical concerns, and the impact of consumer ethics on marketing decisions.

MARKETING PLANNING

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Reviewing the changing perspective in marketing planning.................................................1
1.2 Evaluating Apple’s ability for planning its future marketing activity...................................2
1.3 Techniques for organizational auditing and for analyzing the external factors affecting
marketing planning in Apple.......................................................................................................2
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................4
2.1 Main barriers to marketing planning.....................................................................................4
2.2 Way in which Apple may overcome the barriers to marketing planning..............................4
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................4
3.1 Marketing plan for the launch of a new product for Apple...................................................4
3.2 Importance of marketing planning in the strategic planning process for Apple....................6
3.3 Techniques for new product development.............................................................................6
3.4 Recommendations for pricing policy, distribution and communication mix for the new
product.........................................................................................................................................7
3.5 Factors affecting effective implementation of marketing plan..............................................7
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................8
4.1 Way in which ethical issues influence the marketing planning.............................................8
4.2 Response of organization to ethical issues............................................................................8
4.3 Example of consumer ethics and their effect on marketing planning in Apple.....................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Marketing planning is a process by which a plan is developed and implemented by a firm
for the purpose of identifying, anticipating and satisfying the needs and demand of consumers to
earn higher profits. This plan involves two main elements, that is, to assess the exact
requirements of target customers and to plan an appropriate marketing mix for meeting these
needs of people (Duermyer, 2014). In the present report, a case study of Apple is taken according
to which its planning of future marketing activities will be stated. There will be discussion on
barriers to marketing planning and ways in which Apple Inc. may overcome those barriers.
Marketing plan for the new product launch of Apple Inc. along with the importance of strategic
planning process for the firm will be focused as well. Apart from that, discussion on ethical
issues and consumer ethics that Apple has to keep in mind will be done.
TASK 1
1.1 Reviewing the changing perspective in marketing planning
In the present scenario, market is dynamic in which tastes and preferences of customers
keep on changing. This is the reason, there needs to make changes time to time in the marketing
plan. This changing perspective can be handled as follows:
 Market-led strategy – This strategy highlights the changing needs and demands of
customers according to which plan of action can be made. This strategy helps in
attracting more customers towards the firm as company fulfill their desires and offer
them the products and services that they want (He and Cai, 2012).
 Customer’s perception – Customer’s perception towards an organization plays a crucial
role as if they perceive a positive image of the firm then it will prove to be helpful for the
firm so as to retain the customers in the long run. However, if their perception is negative
then if will lead to turnover of the customers that will be a loss for the enterprise.
 Marketing mix – Product, price, place and promotion are those elements without focusing
on which company cannot run their business (Caemmerer, 2009). It is necessary for the
firms to manufacture such a product that would be according to the exact requirements of
customers as well as its price must be affordable for the chosen target market. In addition
to this, its needs to be available at the location which should be easily in reach of
customers. In order to make the customers aware about product, company should use
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appropriate promotional techniques by which maximum people can be attracted with a
positive perception.
1.2 Evaluating Apple’s ability for planning its future marketing activity
It is important for Apple to plan its future marketing activities in such a way that it can
beat the present competitors who are making high efforts to grab its market like Sony, HTC,
Amazon and Microsoft. These firms are launching new products that can sufficiently compete
with the features and design of products offered by Apple Inc (Dibb and et.al., 2001). Instead of
so many issues like some rumors occurred that fake products of Apple are there in the market,
firm is running its business being optimistic and facing all challenges. For increasing its scope,
company is growing its international presence all over the world and opening many new stores in
different nations. It is delivering the products and services with keeping its promise of high
quality and gaining the advantage of loyalty of its customers (Drummond, Ensor and Ashford,
2010).
1.3 Techniques for organizational auditing and for analyzing the external factors affecting
marketing planning in Apple
There are many techniques that can be used for performing organizational audit and to
analyze the external factors of marketing planning. These techniques are like PESTLE analysis,
SWOT analysis, Porter’s five forces model, etc. Pestle analysis stands for the political,
economical, social, technological, ethical and legal factors that play a vital role in marketing
planning. This tool helps in identifying all the external factors that affect the organization. It
refers to the environment in which company is operating and planning to launch its new product
(Nijssen and Frambach, 2001). For any industry, all these aspects of this technique are crucial;
however, the importance of each factor may be different for all sectors.
On the other hand, Porter’s Five Forces Model is that tool which depicts about the
intensity of rivalry that firm has from its competitors along with the bargaining power of buyers
and suppliers. Also, it says about the threats that company is having from other firms of the same
industry. This tool proves to be very helpful for the firm in order to make strategies by which
they can gain competitive advantage over others (Brooksbank, 2009). Porter’s five forces model
includes the value chain as well as the generic strategies which can be applied to diverse range of
problems and thus, help in formulating marketing plans.
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Apart from that, SWOT analysis is that tool which states the strengths and weaknesses of
the enterprise as well as makes it aware with the opportunities in market and threats from
competitors. For Apple Inc, this tool proves to be the best for making organizational audit and to
analyze the external factors that can affect its marketing planning. It can be described as follows:
Strengths
 Biggest reason behind the popularity of products of Apple is company’s pricing,
promotion and distribution strategies.
 Products are traditionally priced in comparison to competitors.
 High price of products are taken as an image of prestige (Cooper, 2008).
 Apple focuses on providing convenience to consumers along with innovative features.
 Company creates value for customers along with offering high quality.
Weaknesses Large number of competitors is present in the market that is offering substitute products. Rivalry firms are copying the features and design that Apple is providing. Using latest technologies provides innovation and but involves high cost.
Opportunities Company can expand in many more nations where still it is not operating. Apple can grab more market share by launching a new product for the first time in
market. By filling the leadership gap, it can gain the loyalty of customers (Huang and Sarigöllü,
2012).
Threats Having intense competition with Sony, HTC, Amazon and Microsoft as they are
continuously manufacturing the products that can easily compete with the products of
Apple in terms of features and design. Thus, company is hang major threat from these
firms.
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TASK 2
2.1 Main barriers to marketing planning
There are various barriers to marketing planning which firms generally face while
implementing the plan. Some of them are like:
Environmental barriers – At the time of executing marketing plan in the organization,
company gets affected through political, economical, social, technological, ethical and legal
environment as they impose restrictions and limitations by regulating corporate conduct.
Cultural barriers – Culture consists of beliefs, values, morals, custom, attitude and
capabilities that are shared by people of the firm. It serves as a barrier as every customer is
different from the other as per the culture to which they belong (Malcolm, 2010).
Cognitive barriers – Many a times, lack of knowledge and skill resulting in incompetence
results in the failure of marketing plan and becomes the main reason because of which marketers
become unsuccessful to understand the customers and competitors properly and make ineffective
or faulty marketing plans (Luther, 2011).
2.2 Way in which Apple may overcome the barriers to marketing planning
Apple can overcome these barriers to formulate and implement the marketing planning
successfully by giving due emphasis on the external factors like political, social, economical,
technological, ethical and legal. It is because; if these factors would be taken with care, it may
lead the firm to face severe consequences as these factors put some restrictions o the firm that
they have to consider while making the marketing plans. Along with that, before implementing
this plan, Apple Inc. needs to analyze the culture to which the target customers belong (Mothe
and Thi, 2010). With the help of this, chances of success of the plan will be high as target market
would accept the product without having any issues. Apart from that, it is important for
marketers to assess the target market first in terms of their culture, needs and the latest trends.
All these efforts will help Apple to overcome the barriers to marketing planning.
TASK 3
3.1 Marketing plan for the launch of a new product for Apple
Apple is about to launch a new product in the market, that is, the Apple Watch. In this
product, company need to offer new features which no other firm is providing in their watches.
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The target market for this product will be office going people. The marketing plan for this
product is like:
Figure 1: Marketing plan for the new product
 Stage 1: For the launch of new product, at first, Apple has to conduct the market
research in which it needs to assess the exact requirements of customers according to
which the marketing plan will be developed.
 Stage 2: After that, competitors and their strategies will be assessed to make the plan
accordingly. Company has to offer those features which no other firm is offering so as to
grab the target market (Proctor, 2014).
 Stage 3: In this stage, finally Apple will formulate the plan and make strategies in such a
way that customer’s needs and desires will be fulfilled and they would get highly
satisfied.
 Stage 4: Specific time period is decided at this level within which the marketing plan
has to be accomplished.
 Stage 5: Last but not the least; plan will be implemented in which it is necessary for
Apple Inc. to regularly monitor that whether the plan is going in right direction or any
changes required (Babakus and et.al., 2004). If not, corrective actions need to be taken
on time.
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ConductingmarketresearchInvestigatingthecompetitionFormulatingthemarketstrategyDecidingthetimelimeImplementingtheplan

3.2 Importance of marketing planning in the strategic planning process for Apple
In the strategic planning process of Apple, marketing planning plays a significant role
and it is involved in the strategic planning at all the levels of organization. It is because; strategic
marketing are the activities that affect the entire corporate and its business. Strategic planning
involves internal and external factors that have their impact on the organization. Thus, in Apple,
marketing plan is very important in strategic planning process as it includes organizational
auditing as well as analysis of external factors that will help Apple Inc. to formulate the plans
accordingly (Christopher and Athanassiou, 2009). Strategic plan consists of goals, objectives,
strategies and tactics and in all these, marketing planning serves as the guide and integrates the
business. Therefore, it can be said that in Apple Inc, marketing plan is an essential portion of
overall business plan.
3.3 Techniques for new product development
For competing in today’s competitive market, it is necessary for Apple to manufacture
new products or to keep on adding new features in the existing product range. Also, company is
required to provide innovative features with using effective techniques for the new product
development. Various techniques are there, however, for Apple Inc, two methods are there which
proves to be highly effectual to develop the new product, Apple Watch. These are:
 Surveys – In order to assess whether the product is performing well in the market or not,
organization can do survey among the target customers (Wilson and Gilligan, 2012).
Through this, it can assess that whether the customers are satisfied with their offered
product or not. If not, what all changes are required, company will assess and make
modification accordingly.
 Experimentation – This is also one of the common and successful way by which Apple
can test if product is performing satisfactory in the market. In this, it can first test the
product by giving some samples in the market and taking reviews on them (Duermyer,
2014). If it would get positive results, Apple Inc. can manufacture the watches in bulk
and make it available in the market.
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3.4 Recommendations for pricing policy, distribution and communication mix for the new
product
In order to make the new product, Apple Watch a great success in the target market,
company has to focus on its pricing policy, distribution and communication mix. In order to see
the best results, company is required to set the penetration pricing strategy according to which, at
first, it will keep its prices low so as to attract maximum customers and after that, when customer
base will get increased, Apple Inc. would set its prices high (He and Cai, 2012). Reason behind
this is that the target market of this new product is office going people who can afford expensive
watches and it will work as their status symbol as well.
On the other hand, distribution also plays an equal important role as for increasing the
sale of watches. It is necessary to make the product available at the locations where customers
can easily reach. For this purpose, Apple Inc. will use intense distribution policy as initially,
people will purchase the product from retail outlet of company only (Caemmerer, 2009).
Apart from that, communication plays a crucial role in making the target customers aware
about the new launch. For this purpose, Apple will apply the following communication policies:
 Social media – Company can use the communication medium of social media by which it
can make the audience ware about the product, Apple Watch at a large level in a very
short period of time. Also, this method proves to be cost effective for the firm (Dibb and
et.al., 2001).
 Advertisement – With the help of this medium, organization can communicate with the
target market with explaining them the features and benefits of products in a very short
period of time. It is the fastest way of communication, however, involves high cost.
3.5 Factors affecting effective implementation of marketing plan
There are some factors that can affect the effective implementation of marketing plan like
demographics, current and projected economic conditions, size, growth potential and prosperity
of market, market potential, market share and present customer composition. The marketing
manager of Apple is required to assess all these factors before implementing the marketing plan
as execution of plan must be done after properly analyzing these factors (Drummond, Ensor and
Ashford, 2010). Reason behind this is that if these factors are not taken with care, they may lead
the plan to failure.
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TASK 4
4.1 Way in which ethical issues influence the marketing planning
Ethical issues affect the marketing activities to a high extent and have a severe impact on
the activities of Apple Inc. Company needs to run all its operations in an ethical way as if these
norms are not fulfilled, firm would lead to face many consequences. Like, if Apple Inc. will give
false advertisement about its new product and customers would get to know about it, strict
actions against the firm will be taken that will hamper its image and company will have to pay a
very high cost for this (Ethical legal framework in marketing, 2015). This is the reason; ethical
aspects have to be in consideration for the market8ing manager while formulating and
implementing the marketing plan.
4.2 Response of organization to ethical issues
Being a reputed firm in the market and in other nations, Apple Inc. is not performing any
kind of unethical activity and running its business in a fair manner within keeping transparency
in its operations. Company knows that if it would even tried to do any unethical or illegal activity
in its business, it may lead to a disaster in which its brand image and goodwill will be destroyed
as well as for the firm, it would become impossible to attain the same position in the market
which presently it is leading (Nijssen and Frambach, 2001).
4.3 Example of consumer ethics and their effect on marketing planning in Apple
Consumer ethics influences the marketing planning to a high extent as consumers are
known as the king of market and of they are being cheated, they can spoil the business of
organization. This is the reason, Apple Inc. is selling its products through retail outlets as well
online in which it is maintaining transparency in all transactions (Brooksbank, 2009). Likewise,
it is the responsibility of customers as well that they would not take this service as an advantage
and also, if they would play any kind of prank with the service provider like giving wrong
address for delivering the product, it will be taken as an unethical activity. In this situation,
company has to bear increased cost which hampers its profits.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be concluded that for an organization, marketing planning
plays a significant role as success of its products and services depends on it to a very high extent.
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Firm should formulate the marketing plan according to the overall objectives that it wants to
achieve in future so that there will be maximum chances of attaining success. Apart from that, it
can be evaluated from the report that giving due consideration to ethical issues and consumer
ethics is important for the organization as if business would not run ethically and if consumers
would not be treated with honesty, to sustain and survive in the market for longer duration will
not be possible.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Babakus, E. and et.al., 2004. Reactions to unethical consumer behavior across six countries.
Journal of Consumer Marketing. 21(4). pp.254– 263.
Brooksbank, W. R., 2009. Marketing Planning: A Seven-stage Process. Marketing Intelligence &
Planning. 8(7). pp.21 – 28.
Caemmerer, B., 2009. The planning and implementation of integrated marketing
communications. Marketing Intelligence & Planning. 27(4). pp. 524–538.
Christopher, J. R., and Athanassiou, N., 2009. Exploring business ethics research in the context
of international business. Management Research News. 32(12). pp.1130-1146.
Cooper, G. L. 2008. Strategic Marketing Planning for Radically New Products. Journal of
Marketing. 64(1). pp.1-16.
Dibb, S. and et.al., 2001. The marketing planning experience: a UK and Portuguese comparison.
Marketing Intelligence & Planning. 19(6). pp. 409–417.
Drummond, G., Ensor, J. and Ashford, R., 2010. Strategic Marketing. Routledge
He, Y. and Cai, T., 2012. The ethics of employment relations in China: a meta-analysis. Chinese
Management Studies. 6 (2). pp.341–349.
Huang, R. and Sarigöllü, E., 2012. How brand awareness relates to market outcome, brand
equity, and the marketing mix. Journal of Business Research. 65(1). pp. 92-99.
Luther, W. M., 2011. The Marketing Plan: How to Prepare and Implement it. AMACOM Div
American Mgmt Assn.
Mothe, C. and Thi, U. N., 2010. The Link between non-technological innovation and
technological innovation. European Journal of innovation management. 13(3). pp. 114-
121.
Nijssen, E. J. and Frambach, R. T., 2001. Creating Customer Value Through Strategic Marketing
Planning: A Management Approach. Springer Science & Business Media.
Proctor, T., 2014. Strategic marketing: an introduction. Routledge.
Wilson, R. M. and Gilligan, C., 2012. Strategic marketing management. Routledge.
Online
Duermyer, R., 2014. Marketing plan. [Online]. Available through:
<http://homebusiness.about.com/od/homebusinessglossar1/g/marketing-plan.htm>.
[Accessed on 14th April 2016].
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