Keynows

Rodrikus.Dunn

Apple Inc.

Institutional Affiliation

April 13, 2021

Abstract

In the paper, a brief introduction about the Apple brand is given. The brand positioning and brand concept are discussed, and further exploration is done on the industry's strategic brand promotional mix. All aspects of brand promotion are considered traditional to new media by giving conventional advertising and new media promotion.  At the later of the paper, a summary is developed with a conclusion.

  

Introduction

Apple Inc. is an industry that deals with information technology by providing a wide range of products ranging from personal computers, television products, cellphones, tablets, and wearable devices. Apple is producing aesthetic and quality products since it exists in 1976 as a hardware and software company. Currently, Apple provides its customer a good experience by making the products highly competitive ahead of the market's competitors. In this paper, measuring and interpreting brand performance is done by looking at brand positioning and concept. Also, analysis of strategic brand promotion mix is discussed considering traditional and new media.

Industry Analysis

Industry analysis is used to help the Apple company to understand the position it covers relative to its competitors. (Cheng et al 2017). Three major elements are used to analyze the industry. These are the workforces that underlie the company, the attractiveness of the company, and the factors which determine the success of the company. According to Porter's 5 forces model, five keys are examined as the key forces of competition. The first one is the industry level of completion, and the other is considered to be impacting the level of completion and these include threats of new entrants, the threat of consumers, threat of substitute products, and bargaining power of suppliers.

Apple's success is brought by its ability to do innovation of bringing new products. Five forces analysis portrays Apple's completion and buyers' bargaining power as the strongest forces which bring great profitability to apple. The weaker part of the industry is contributed by the threat of new products, the threat of substitute products, and the threat of bargaining power of suppliers. It is fact that Apple has been dominant in the industry since its establishment, but because of unpredictable future challenges which may come up, the company is required to continue building quality products through innovation.

                                                                                   Competition of the industry

There is a high competition that Apple is facing in the market. The competition has created an influence on each other with direct competitors such as Samsung, Amazon, Google, and the Hewlett-companies. all of these companies Apple being among them spend a lot of capital on including marketing market research and development so this means that the force of completion is strong within the market. (Lockamy III ,2017). The low switching cost is making high completion in the industry. There is no substantial requirement of capital for a customer to ditch a product from Apple to Samsung. For example, iPhone to a Samsung Galaxy S7. Competitiveness has been the key industry of Apple and it has been dealing with it since in product development and provision of a unique product which brings the market share strength. Apple is concentrating on completion based on the price by keeping away from products that have a low end in the market. Apple has been able to position itself in the mind of the consumer by providing unique and quality products.

Bargaining Power of the Buyer

A discussed in the previous part, there is the existence of low switching costs in the industry for the customers. This brings the strength of the consumer's bargaining buyer and it is the key element which apple put into consideration during decision making. However, there are two types of consumer bargaining power in the market which include the collective consumer bargaining buyer and individual consumer bargaining power. bargaining power for an individual is considered low because losing a single customer to a company is close to nothing considering the loss of revenue when compared to the bargaining power of a collection of buyers. Their bargaining power becomes high and losing them will be detrimental to the revenue of the company because the buyer land in the hands of the competitors. Apple is continuously working on this force by investing its capital in the development and research of new products such as Apple pay and watch. The switching cost of some of the Apple products has been increasing through the keeping of feature in those products to be same all across the Apple brand like Pages, iPhoto, iMovie, and calendars.

Bargaining Power of supplier

Suppliers' bargaining power is considered to be low in the industry. There are a variety of suppliers which Apple choose from therefore their bargaining power is lowered. Apple has a low switching cost when moving across all the suppliers and the requirement of more products gives it power over its suppliers. Because of the large volume of Apple products, Apple makes a great customer to its suppliers so they fight to ensure that apple remains as their customer in the business. Apple designing the chip product internally, so the chip suppliers have been reduced. Also, some of the part components are being manufactured by Apple so that they can be used only by the apple product hence giving a challenge to the competitors.

The threat of substitute and new products

The threat of substitute products and new products is moderated in the industry. These products do not include the qualities which can serve the same satisfaction. Always Apple is ahead in producing products that replace existing products before it is done elsewhere. It is expensive for companies to establish replaceable products over Apple which has already gain trust in the industry.

Brand Strategic Plan

Vision 

The vision of the ability is found on its website. it states that "Apple is committed to bringing the best personal computing experience to students, educators, creative professionals and consumers around the world through its innovative hardware, software, and Internet offerings"

Mission

Apple aims at designing Macs, which are the best and leading personal computers in the world, with the use of iLife, OS X, professional software, and work. Apple is leading in the revolution of digital music with the aid of online iTunes and iPods stores. There are reinventions of smartphones including the iPhone and its App Store. (Engel ,2018). Apple Inc. is continuing to define the mobile device's future with the use of iPad values.

Strategy

According to the Apple company, it has a defined strategy which is always stated on their report. The brand strategy is as follows: The Company is aiming to bring out the best experience from the consumers by providing innovations on the soft wares, peripheral devices, and hardware services. (Payne ,2017).The brand strategy brings uniqueness in designing and developing operating systems, soft wares, hardwires, and other services. It provides the customers with quality products that possess the ease of use superiority, seamless integrations, and innovations in the designs. The company work toward continuous investment in product development, research, advertising, and marketing which contributes to the critical part of product innovation. Another strategy is the continuous expansion of platforms that can be used by third parties to deliver content that has been discovered through the online iTunes store. this iTunes store is associated with the iBook Store and App Store that gives the consumer ability to download discovered applications for Windows, Mac, or IOS devices. Mac device user, the Appstore was discovered by Apple company so that they can install the application on their own. The company has Apple Inc.4 community which provides support to third-party developers on hardware and software products complementing the Apple company. There is an expansion of distribution networks that are used to reach end-users and provide quality products and services including user experience support. The use of the company's vision mission and strategy helps in defining daily operation workflow.

Target Customer Segmentation Analysis*

The target market for Apple is focused on customers who have few characteristics. Apple chooses the middle class as the main target because they have the potential of paying high prices on Apple products. This class considers the quality of the product and is willing to increase little amounts because their income allows them to do so. Another target market for Apple is the Millennials. They have been hooked to the changing technology when compared to the other generation. Also, they have an influx amount of money which they can spend. According to statistic in every one out of four people interviewed aged above 35 they are planning to have Apple product for those who don't have shortly. Those who love music are also the main target for Apple company. This is because the iTunes Store is providing a variety of applications that can be downloaded to be used in music. The "music lovers" are drawn to products from Apple because they are provided a platform for storing and purchasing music. Apple products have unique features which make design and media professional to use their products than other devices.

Customer Insight

When a successful innovation is brought into the market it affects it affects the economy because it has forced other products to drop in their grip. When Apple introduced the iPhone in the market Nokia phones which have been in the market lead started declining/. Apple technology brought changes in people's views. (Mandal ,2017). Currently, Apple has got many products driven by innovation which has made its brand to be well known. It is import5ant to have customer information because it helps in developing products that meet the customer's needs. The reason why Apple has remained as the top marketer in the industry is that it has focused enough on customer experience. The everyday undertaking of Apple is based on the customer experience. Also, Apple is focusing on innovations that bring secure and seamless infrastructure.

Apple always inspires its customers to be creative and do things in their unique way. They provide classes for the young generation so that they can capture their imagination in the future. It organizes its marketing basing on the targeted audience, not its products. it targets the government, SME Enterprises, and education. When organizing the salesperson, the customers to be served are prioritized over the products to be sold. App le find less to focus on using pricing to win its customers but instead it provides an outstanding experience so that its customers remain loyal.

Brand Essence

Brand essence is about the feeling that a customer gets when they first interact with the product. Apple focuses on three ideas mainly simplicity, difference, and innovation. Apple is among the top organization which is leading in information technology. It has been able to set a difference between other competitors through the standards of the brand essence. Apple has been investing in the latest innovation in technology for example use of facial recognition and AI. However, it has been able to maintain its simplicity by making sure that customers can be able to use them. By designing unique products, it has position itself in a different position.

Branding essence has made customers look for Apple products day and night. A branding strategy that Apple uses deals with emotion. Through the branding essence, Apple has been able to appeal to the customers thus affecting their emotions and experience toward the products. These daily experiences make the customers turn into product ambassadors because of the internal desire of a customer in determining the purchasing power. This is because one of the driving forces that Apple Company has is improving the experience of the customer.

 

Brand positioning

Apple Inc.'s real magic on its valuation is not about the line of fancy products but product positioning. ( Payne, 2017). It has brought achievable and enviable figures of sales from loyal and robust customers. Apple has produced a lifestyle brand rather than a functional brand, thus building a sub-conscious mind of Apple as a superior and creative class. Apple uses a well-known saying of "simple is stylish," and the tenets used are creativity, simplicity, and humanity. Emotional value Apple Company goes after its branding based on something customers can feel in mind and their heart. The core beliefs that A[pple has about its product is imagination, design, and innovation, which are promoted and reflected via advertising of products and customer experiences.

There are factors in which Apple has been position in the market. The first one is a brand identity where all the brand's assets, such as brand color, employees, tone of voice, brand values, and other elements, have contributed to the position of the apple brand by forming specific perceptions in the customer's mind. Apple products and design are quality, and this has been its epitome since the establishment. For example, Macintosh was an Apple product as a personal computer with a user graphical interface and mouse. Innovative technology helps improve the products' design, thus giving Apple a competitive advantage in the market with premium prices. The medium which Apple has been using to promote their messaging is straight and clear. The philosophy of "The Less, the Better" has been followed, and it contributed a role in Apple's positioning. Apple emphasizes the online points and the maximization of an offline store because there are customers get there to have Apple products experience.

Brand concept

Apple Inc. uses the Apple brand as a tool for competitions across the global market. The Apple brand evolution has expanded the range of services and products. (Kumar et al., 2017). It started with Desktops and computers 1n the 1970s, followed by laptops in 1990s, and from there l20 years later the company expanded to IPod 2001, then iPhone followed by IPad and currently A the Apple Watch Apple Pay. Apple branding has been focusing over decades on individuality, needs, and styles for ordinary people rather than the standard mandates that conform to a big business. However, how Apple's brand position has evolved, it is still consistent carrying the early promises. Its core branding competence remains on customer experience special delivery which is the branding strategy of the company.

The branding strategy of Apple is focused on customer's emotions. It is how the product from Apple Inc. makes the customers feel. Brand personality for Apple is about removing complexities from people's lives, thus creating the value of simplicity. It also brings lifestyle such as innovation, passions, aspirations, dreams, hopes, imagination, and liberty regains to the customers' lives. Apple has been able to embody substantial equity of brand and customer franchise. The preference of considering Apple products kept the brand alive, and it enabled premium pricing of products to be sustained. Strengths in appreciation of the brand have contributed to the company's high profits while the equity in the brand is maintained.

The company has maintained a culture of producing beautifully designed, innovative, and ergonomic products, which are fundamental in keeping. Apple understands customer experience aspects as essential and that the brand must be reinforced with all the touchpoints. Distribution of the products has been improved and expanded through the capabilities of opening retail stores worldwide. Various resellers have contributed to IPad and iPod accessibility, thus increasing online outreach. Apple brand values are given to the customers as direct experience prospects.

Apple has excellent brand power, which has brought business sustainability to the market. The logo is differentiable from competitors and carries the perception of high quality. According to the Forbes annual study, Apple has been at the top with the valuable brand in the world. The brand is still in the market because Apple creates a strong relationship with its customers. If it was not the connection it had with the people, the business could have exited in the 1990s. A brand becomes powerful and can be compelling more than religion. Commerce is transcended when there is a connection with customers.

These three essential brand strategies have placed the Apple brand in a competitive position since its existence. The company is portraying corporate ethics powerfully, involving the community, depicting corporate culture to humans, and supporting good causes. The second is about product design and advertisement where verbal vocabulary and unique visuals are expressed. So, Apple products are distinguishable. Lastly, heartfelt connections have been created by the company by developing trust in the product to the community. Apple branding stands for humanity since the Steve Jobs magnetism to the love for technology concepts on products' creation. 

Strategic Brand Promotional Mix

Promotion mix is one of the used by many organizations in marketing strategy to achieve business objectives. There are recognizable features that are used in the promotional process by Apple. The promotions and direct and straightforward, where most of the Apple advertisements come with an elegant background which can be black or white containing pictures of the products or service implementations. ( LI,2019). The observation is seen on Billboards or YouTube promotions. The Apple promotions are long-lasting. It ensures that the customers capture the ads on screen or the billboards while outside their homes. The products come with high prices compared with competitors. Its products have been following the trend of the latest release of a product is most expensive. The premium pricing strategy has successfully boosted steady sales regularly because the consumers are aware of the availability of the products that they need to purchase at a particular time. Apple does have to mention product prices either on screens or billboards. The strategic brand promotional mix is categorized into two philosophies, traditional promotion and new media promotion.

Traditional promotion

Extreme planning has enabled Apple Inc. to use traditional channels in promotions. Media that are known in detail are used to avoid areas where there is no confidence in promoting products. Word of mouth is a form of marketing that Apple has used, and it has generated a lot of publicity about the released product of Apple. Apple has used print media and television to do product marketing. Release of new development and launching is done on these traditional platforms.        Every channel becomes effective depending on how the information is communicated. Some posters are all over the place which reaches different kinds of people.

The advantages of this are the coverage, message control, and reputation will be protected by the company as messages are communicated effectively. ( Chatterjee et al.). The disadvantage leads to personification; it is one-way communication, reduced flexibility, and the inability to close sales. Personal selling is also promoted on the offline stores where customers are encouraged to visit and experience the products' quality. It is associated with customer attention; it is interactive, persuasion, relationship development with the customer, and ability to close a sale. Some other promotions which Apple implement are through teaching classes, gifts, trading off the new phone for new ones and product demonstration.    

Apple uses direct mails and text that notifies customers about upgrading their old products or getting new products. The company receives relative feedbacks, it is easy to customize the messages used in marketing, and success is easily measured.  Junk mails can make the management of databases expensive, and responses are becoming challenging to handle. The promotional strategy is measured as successful if the objectives of the company are achieved.

New media promotion

Large brands are using social media to achieve marketing and business objectives.

Marketing-related needs are solved through the use of social media accounts. It brings connection with customers through the running of campaigns and holding discussions. Apple is a large technology company, is the leading in surpassing market cap by two trillion dollars. The industry of technology has high competition, and the point of competition is about recognition of brands. Facebook networks bring advantages by giving good access to the customers globally. The features are used in creating connections as well as building long-lasting relationships.

Apple has deepened its reach to the customer through social media. It has gain popularity considering the number of its followers. Facebook is lading with popularity among other social media platforms. It has a social media experience in which Apple is engaging its customers. Apple has created several accounts running on this platform with about 11 million followers. Apple is only using the platform to touchpoint rather than promotion like what other brand does. Apple is avoiding overcrowding, and thus most of the rise is done on its blog and website because Facebook needs shrewd marketers. Else you can be brought down anytime.

Similarly, several Twitter accounts for Apple are dedicated to different products; Apple uses them mainly for education and awareness in the support account. Promotional activities on Twitter are active than Facebook accounts with Apple Inc. Also, Instagram shows a level of engagement which is high, with 24 million followers for Apple. It is already trending, with several thousands of likes in every post. The only challenging factor with the social media platform is that carefulness is required. If care is not taken into place, the brand reputation might be affected, and the image of the company will get spoiled unintentionally.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Apple has successfully had a solid brand name with solid competitors such as Google, Microsoft, and Samsung. Brand positioning has given Apple a good s competitive advantage over its competitors because of its quality and unique products. The promotional marketing strategy has enabled Apple to reach out to its customers and deliver information about new product releases.

                                                                                      Reference

Payne, B. (2017). Brand Positioning and its Usefulness for Brand Management: the Case of Apple Inc. Newcastle business school student journal, 1(1), 51-57.

 Kumar, S., & Patra, S. (2017). Does promotion mix help enhance brand equity: A literature review—Indian Journal of Commerce and Management Studies, 8(2), 80.

LI, J. (2019). AN IMPACT STUDY ON CONSUMER EXPERIENCE AND BUYING BEHAVIORS ON PURCHASING APPLE INC PRODUCTS (Doctoral dissertation, SIAM UNIVERSITY).

Chatterjee, N., Goswami, A., Fernandes, A., & Rojas, M. Comprehensive and conceptual analysis of revival of Apple Inc. in 1997.