Marketing Report: Apple, NHS, and the Impact of Marketing Strategies

This report provides an in-depth analysis of marketing strategies employed by Apple and the National Health Service (NHS). It begins by examining marketing techniques such as branding, relationship marketing, and the Ansoff matrix, comparing their application in both organizations. The report then delves into the limitations and constraints of marketing, including consumer laws like the Sale of Goods Act and Consumer Protection regulations. Furthermore, it explores the role of marketing research, discussing primary and secondary research methods, qualitative and quantitative approaches, and the application of SWOT analysis in marketing planning. The report concludes with an evaluation of marketing research's contribution to the development of effective marketing plans, highlighting the importance of understanding market needs and adapting strategies accordingly. This document is a valuable resource for understanding the intricacies of marketing within diverse organizational contexts, with examples from Apple and NHS.

INTRODUCTION TO
MARKETING

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1 Marketing techniques are used to market products in two organisations..............................1
P2 Limitations and constraints of marketing..............................................................................3
M1...............................................................................................................................................4
D1................................................................................................................................................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................4
P3 Marketing research to contribute to the development of its marketing plans........................4
M2...............................................................................................................................................5
P4 Marketing research for marketing planning...........................................................................6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................7
P5 Groups of customers are targeted for selected products........................................................7
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................8
P6 Coherent marketing mix for a new product or service..........................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Marketing is a process of management with the help of this products and services can
move to the consumers. It includes determination and selection of goods, identify the price,
choose appropriate distribution method and also implementation of appropriate strategy. It is
essential to identify the customer’s need and wants so that company can fulfil themit and provide
them satisfaction. If they do that then organisation can enhance their profits as well as compete
their competitors. It is like an art and science. Apple’s having a main aim is to reach or attract
maximumattract maximum consumers towards their products and services. They make various
plans for this purpose by using tools and techniques (Anda and Temmen, 2014). The Ccompany
conduct research to determine the needs of people so that they can satisfy the demand of them
within time.
TASK 1
P1 Marketing techniques are used to market products in two organisations
Apple is an American company that sells phones, laptops, computers and iPods. They are
a business that works in the private sector, they have no government input. Apple designs and
makes their own products which include iPhone, mac-book pro's etc. They created completely
touch screen phones.
The NHS is the National health service which isservices which are publicly funded
healthcare system for England. They provide free healthcare and treatments to the UK. The NHS
is a public sector business. They provide people with operations, treatment and medicine.
Ansoff matrix: It is a strategic marketing planning tool that businesses use to link their
marketing strategy with their general strategic direction. It has four sections:
 Market Penetration- tThe firm seeks to achieve growth with existing products in their
current market segments, aiming to increase its market share (Bhattacharya, 2010).
 Market Development- tThe firm seeks growth by targeting its existing products to new
market segments.
 Product Development- Tthe firms develops new products targeted to its existing market
segments.
 Diversification- Tthe firm grows by diversifying into new businesses by developing new
products for new markets.
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Branding: It consults of a brand name, a logo and a slogan. Most branding that is used by a
business would be trademarked to prevent competitors from using similar name. A brand can be
powerful selling tool and can help achieve marketing objectives such as gaining market
leadership and raising customer awareness.
Apple uses branding by making their products scarce,scarce; it means that it makes their
goods really popular that they can sell out in hours. They also use it in their adverts,adverts; they
have simple adverts that only showcasessimple adverts that only showcase their products, not
listing all of its features.
NHS uses branding to show their customers the services they provide. Examples:
treatments, surgeries, medicines etc. they also use it to make people aware of them and the
services that they provide (Hallahan, Kauffman and Pullen, 2011).
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Illustration 1: Apple's ansoff matrix

Relationship marketing: It is where the business focuses on the long term value of a customer.
It is like a marketing activities that are aimed at developing and managing trust with customers.
With the help of this company can also maintain long term relationship with their customers.
Apple uses this to communicate with their customers and to build trust with them. A way
that apple builds a relationship with their customer is by offering service that helps their
customers with any problems with their products and genius bar.
The NHS uses it by building trust and loyalty regarding their services between customers.
They also use marketing tools such as posters, leaflets etc.
P2 Limitations and constraints of marketing
Consumer laws are rules that must be adhered to. Companies must make sure that they
comply with consumer law itthis means that they are legally obliged to keep up to date with
them. These include:
Sale of goods act, 1979: It requires to sellselling goods as described and of a satisfactory
quality. Example: a business cannot sell 11-inch laptop as a 15-inch laptop and the laptop itself
must be new and undamaged if advertised in this way. It is required to ensure tha t business
people to not 'rip off' consumers. Businesses can comply with the terms by ensuring they don't
lie about the products they are selling (Malhotra, 2012).
Consumer protection from selling unfair trading regulations 2008: It means that business cannot
use contentious selling techniques which could be perceived as aggressive and obtrusive. They
cannot be dishonest behind the causes of them doing certain activities, such as they cannot have
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Illustration 2: NHS's ansoff matrix

a closing down sale if they are not actually closing. It is required so businesses do not push
people into spending money that they don't want to spend and the aim is to stop people from
being pressured into buying something or thinking that they are helping by spending money.
Businesses can comply by ensuring that their staff are trained so they know how to legally be a
sales person and by business always telling the truth about actions and promotions.
Consumer credit acts 1974 and 2006: Businesses must have a license if they want to sell
goods on credit or sell loans. The act sets out a list of requirements such as they must update
their customers on their accounts and if they fall behind on payments (McKenzie-Mohr, 2013).
This is to protect people from forgetting and then years later gathering a large bill from the
company and demanding to pay.
M1
Every company using various type of marketing techniques for their products and
services. Apple developdevelops new products for their customers so that they can satisfy their
needs and wants. They add new features into new versions. But NHS provided services to their
existing customers very well and they also want to attract more customers towards them.
D1
If Apple useuses various types of techniques for their products and services then they can easily
satisfy the needs and wants of customers which will help them to enhance their profits. These
techniques are very effective for the organisation. It will also help them to increase their
reputation in the marketplace. Customers will know about them through their brand.
TASK 2
P3 Marketing research to contribute to the development of its marketing plans
Marketing research helps a business to make decisions by understanding the changing of
the market that is sells products in. for example, apple in order to sell their products have to
know about their target audience, what people want to know about the product and what makes
their product stand out from others (Mentzer and Gundlach, 2010). They may also want to know
the best way for them to distribute the product.
Primary and secondary research
There are two different ways that apple can gather research, either primary or secondary.
Primary research is carried out by the organisation that the research is being done about,
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secondary research is gained by collecting data that has been previously collected. There are two
ways of primary research (internal and external), internal primary research is refers to data
collected by looking at the businesses internal database external primary research refers to data
that is collected by finding out opinion that have an out side view on the business. There are also
two type of secondary research (internal and external) which are almost the same asto primary
research except the research has been collected before.
BothyBoth primary and secondary researches have their uses and limitations. The researches can
be used to make sure that apple makes the right decision and to see how they are doing over a
certain amount of time. The limitations are a bit more complicated, cost effectiveness might be a
big one for a smaller company this is because the research may not tell them any more than they
already know .the date that is collected may not be reliable the research usually means the more
expensive it is because to make sure that data is reliable you have to repeat it numerous times.
The research needs to be valid also, it is more important for it to be valid than reliability does not
matter, valid data is a data that can be used for its intended purpose (Molesworth, Scullion and
Nixon, 2010).
Qualitative and quantitative research
Research can be qualitative, quantitative or both. Qualitative research involves an opinion
being expressed in a non numericalsnumerical method, the research is subjective and allows
companies to delve deeper into these opinion to understand them better quantitative research is
usually objective and is involves numbers and can establish relationship and causation,
quantitative research is a lot quicker to understand because all the research is measurable and
sticks to the intended purpose of the research.
Apple's market research
Apple's areis market orientated, meaning that they develop products based on the needs
and wants of the market. Apple's carriesy out market research so they can plan
ahead,meaningahead, they can look into what what products they should developing to fill
future needs. Carry out market research also means that apple's can attempts to strengthen their
product range to ensure that they beat competition.
M2
Every type of market plan has theirits own limitations regarding marketing research. If
Apple gogoes for primary research then it is more expensive as compare to secondary market
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research. They also need lots of sources for conducting the research of market. Primary method
is also very expensive as well as time consuming also (Palmer, 2012). Some data which areis not
authorised to use, company will never use them.
P4 Marketing research for marketing planning
Apple dodoes the SWOT analysis for this purpose which is described as below:
SWOT analysis:
Strength:
 They have lots of innovative products.
 Apple has leadership position in the marketplace.
 Theretheir brand equity is very high.
 Product design of Apple isd very unique as well as they use new technologies in their
goods. also.
 There distribution system is very effective and efficient.
 They focus on their customers demand while developing new product for them.
 No other company is quite like them.
 They never charge any extra amount from their customers.
 They have lots of customers world wide.
Weakness:
 People expect great things from apple year after year and maintaining these expectation
levels is not easy for anyone.
 A key issue in Apple as a company is that many of its products are incompatible with
third-party software / accessories. That makes a huge impact on consumer decision-
making (Papasolomou and Melanthiou, 2012).
 Apple has only 7-8 products in its portfolio in comparison to the various products
thatproducts that its closest competitors Microsoft and Google have. Hence the
dependency of Apple on each of its products is very high. If one product fails, then that is
a 10% loss to Apple.
Opportunities:
 Naturally, with Facebook expanding with Instagram, Occulus rift, WhatsAapp and others
and Google expanding in 10 different ways, Apple wantsed to find out some new
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products which Apple could be launched. Apple is now fixated on Apple Car which is
supposed to be launched in 2020.
 In the technology industry, technological advancement is always an opportunity. And the
one brand we can expect to leverage technology to its best is Apple.
 Apple is a growing company in a growing market. Equally important to the company is
the rising GDP of developing countries, thereby increasing consumption of such premium
brands like Apple.
 Two products which can increase the presence even further are the iWatch and Apple
TV, both of whichthem are aimed at the future, for when the digital presence increases.
Apple iWatch already has a 50% market share of Smart watches in US (Peter and
Donnelly, 2011).
Threats:
 One of the key threats to Apple is the market penetration by other brands in the
Smartphone market. Android is eating market share like anything and currently has
47.5% of the market share whereas I phone is at 42% market share. Android is being used
by Samsung, HTC, Lenovo and practically everyone who wants to enter the smart phone
market.
 Mac-book is obviously the best there is. But so is Dell, and so is Sony and so is Lenovo.
The competition is ever-increasing in the laptop segments. Dell has introduced some
beautiful models over the years including the Alien-ware model.
TASK 3
P5 Groups of customers are targeted for selected products
Segment marketing is the where defining the businesses customers’ needs and wants by
ordering them in particular groups that receive different care and different levels of marketing.
Customers are segmented by a business can vary from business to business but generally include
areas such as, sex, regional location, income, socio economic factors, or previous buying.
Geographic - Geographic segmentation is an important process – mainly for a multi-national
and global businesses and brands. Many large businesses have regional and national marketing
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which change their products, advertising and promotion to meet the individual needs of
geographic section (Anda and Temmen, 2014).
 Regions: e.g. in the UK these might be England, Scotland, Wales Northern Ireland
 Countries: perhaps sorted by size, development
 City/Town size: e.g. population within ranges
 Population mass: e.g. suburban, urban, semi-rural, and rural
 Climate: e.g. Northern, Southern
Demographical: This segmentation contains of mixing the market into groups based on
variables such as sex, gender family, age, income, occupation, race, religion and nationality.
Business might expect, demographic segmentation variables are between the most popular
sources for segmenting customer groups. This is mainly because customer wants are closely
linked to variables such as income and age.
TASK 4
P6 Coherent marketing mix for a new product or service
The marketing mix
Marketing mix refers to the set of actions ,oractions, or tactics, that a company uses to
promote its brand or product in the market. The 4ps make up a typical marketing mix- price,
product, promotation and process and physical environment as vital mix elements (Bhattacharya,
2010).
The marketing mix is often referred as the seven “seven p' s”- since the most important
element of marketing are concerned with;
Price- this where business to decide how much customers should pay for a product. A
product is only worth what customers are prepared to pay for it. the priceThe price also needs to
be competitive, but this does not necessarily mean the cheapest; the small business may be able
to compete with larger rivals by adding services or details that will offer customers better value
for money.
Product- therehere is no point in developing a product or services that no one wants to buy,
yet many businesses decide what to offer first and hope to to find a market foe it afterwards. In
contracts, the successful company will find out what customers need or want and then develop
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the right product- with the right level of quality to meet those needs now an in the future
(Hallahan, Kauffman and Pullen, 2011).
 Promotion- Aall of the methods of communications that a marketersa marketer may use
to provide information to different parties about the product. Its include activities such as
branding, advertising, sales management, specials offers and exhibitions. Promotion must
gain attention, be appealing, tell a consistent message and above all else give a customer
a reason to choose your product rather than someone else's.
 Place- It refers to providing the product at a place which is convenient for consumer to
access .the product must be available in the right place, at the right time and in the right
quantity.
 People- Anyone who comes into contact with your customers will make an impression,
and that can have a profound effect on the customer. The reputation of your brand rest in
your employee. Therefore they they must be appropriately trained, well motivated and
have a right attitude towards the job and the customers.
 Process- The process of giving the services and the behaviour of those who deliver are
crucial to customer’s satisfaction. Issues such as the waiting times, the information given
to the customers and the helpfulness of the staff are all vital to keep customer happy.
 Physical environment- Facilities such as a clean tidy and well- decorated reception area
can help to reassure customers. Sometimes, services or product you provide can be
perceived as a risky business by your customer (Malhotra, 2012).
A successful marketing depends upon addressing these key issues listed above. All the
elements of the marketing mix influence each other . other. They make up the business plan for a
company and if handled right, can give it great success. But handled if wrong and the business
could take years to recover.
CONCLUSION
As per the above above mentioned report, it has been concluded that marketing is very
essential for any company because it helps to develop the demand of the products and services.
The Ccompany can also conduct research to know the needs and wants of customers. Apple also
useuses various types of techniques for marketing. It will help to enhance their profits as well as
increase the reputation in the marketplace. They can also compete their competitors in the
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market. While they develop new product for them they also make plan. They target each and
every type of market so that they can satisfy the demand of people.
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