Apple Inc. Global Marketing Strategy

Research have been carried out regarding the global marketing and communication strategies of Apple Inc. The company’s consistent promotion and marketing superiority is structured on some key disciplines in which the domestic consumer marketers can gain from learning as well as applying them. The report has been structure into two main point which will discuss Apple’s global, local and glocal strategies in the promotion of its products and how it identifies its target market. The domestic consumer marketers that aspire to reach Apple’s levels should look closely at the discussed factors behind the company’s consistent reign at the top.

Name

Abstract

Marketing is a tool that is continuously employed in the corporate world. The tool makes it possible for consumers to acquaint themselves with the goods they are purchasing or are interested in buying or the services they are being given. Businesses invest millions of dollars every year to promote and market their products to hopefully appeal to buyers. This report presents a comprehensive but concise discussion of how Apple has successfully integrated its promotional strategies to market its products and how it has maintained its customer loyalty and brand image. The objective of this report is to provide an overview of Apple’s global, local and glocal strategies in the promotion of its products and how it identifies its target market. The company often markets their business as those who “think different”, but remarkably the organization’s investment on advertising and marketing is relatively low in comparison with its amount of product sales and the size of the corporation. The company has the ability to keep the cost low as a result of excellent strategies for marketing in both global and the local markets. Marketing has the capacity to have product of a specific business or company praised upon or ruined by customers, and what establishes that is a strategic plan for marketing.

Key words: global marketing, local marketing, glocal strategies, marketing report, Apple

Table of Contents

Introduction. 5

Apple’s Promotion and Product strategy in the Global Market 5

Apple’s Promotion and Product strategy in the Local Market 7

Apple’s Promotion and Product Glocal Market 8

Apple’s Target Market 9

Demographical bases (occupation, life cycle, family size, age) 10

Psychographic bases (personality, values, lifestyle) 10

Behavior bases (responses, attitudes, usage and product knowledge,) 11

Geographical bases (countries, regions, states) 11

Conclusion. 11

Communicating Global Brands to Global Markets

Introduction

International Marketing refers to the employment of marketing concepts to meet the assorted wants and needs of different customers residing throughout the national borders. With the evolving technological innovation at high-speed. Apple Inc., whose products have fascinated a lot of customer’s attention across the globe and have occupied significant market share in international range, is among the most prosperous international corporation at the moment due to its superior international and local marketing strategies.

Apple’s Promotion and Product Strategy in the Global Market

In the global market, Apple utilizes a proactive and retroactive strategy within its product strategy. In essence, the organization improves its products depending on the current products of competitors, and it enhances them through eliminating unwanted features as well as including distinguishing attributes. The outcomes are products which appear innovative and new but remain recognizable or familiar.

The approach Apple employs is to develop the ideal product that creates a greater user experience following every new launch, that is the underlying factor as to why the firm’s concentration is not on creating items that their consumers need, but instead, they create products the customers desire. ”Intuitiveness” along with ”simplicity” is the two key qualities associated with its products. The company’s first launch was the Mac PC, which was then deemed expensive and thought to be targeting only a niche sector (Khan, Alam, and Alam, 2015). The corporation outclassed their competitors in the market for the first time following the launch of the iPod. The other gadgets by the organization particularly the Apple TV iPad, as well as iPhone furthermore reinforced the stability of the corporation and aided in establishing its brand image (Khan, Alam, and Alam, 2015).

Although the company’s administration claims that its product as well as promotional strategy centers around their customer’s sense of pride and excitement they experience whenever they own Apple items, there exist criticisms regarding its approach, directed specifically at the Apple Watch. Pundits believe that the firm has lost its concentration following this release since watches do not have anything related to the tablet or smartphone sector (Hallbäck & Gabrielsson, 2013). However, enthusiasts of the Apple Watch believe it is an excellent revolutionary move, in which the concept associated smartwatches are going to be presented in the mass market. Additionally, it is regarded as great for software designers that can develop innovative applications by utilizing it.

Apple furthermore employs its concept involving simplicity within its promotion strategy, since it is convinced that flashy messages, offering a lot of details are very mainstream and not valued by the customers. For that reason, the company opts for a basic white background within its advertisements with catchy music and lights. The messages of communication revolve around the feelings aroused by the brand; such as a person’s dreams and desire, expectations for the future as well as the need to become socially superior (Constantinides, 2014). During the period when iPod was released, Steve Jobs realized that a traditional way of promotion was necessary to convey to the buyers regarding its capabilities. The approach revolved around the social acceptability principle of the brand, where users would feel a sense of pride in possessing this kind of gadget. However, the company’s marketing alliance in Germany and the United Kingdom was significantly criticized with claims that it had possibly lost other methods of advertising (Hallbäck & Gabrielsson, 2013).

Apple’s Promotion and Product Strategy in the Local Market

The corporation’s promotion and pricing strategies have been known to be very high in the local market. The organization uses a differentiation approach and concentrates more on quality and innovation. Apple Store is a subordinate company of Apple Inc., which operates physical stores that market and promote the products of the corporation, in addition to related items from different companies. For instance, the stores sell MacBook devices, along with peripheral gadgets from all their competitors.

Additionally, buyers can purchase products through the firm’s website as well as online suppliers for mobile and desktop. Applications, movies, music, along with other electronic content material can be obtained through online retailers for mobile and desktop, for example, the iTunes Store and the AppStore. Within this element of the promotional mix, the addition of these on the web channels of distribution facilitates the optimization of both local and global market reach. Moreover, Apple Inc. involves locally certified vendors and retailers within the local promotional approach. These retailers run stores in numerous strategic places, which include shopping malls and departmental places in various niche categories across the nation. The vendors consist of large retail companies such as Best Buy and Walmart. A few certified resellers market by means of their own shops along with their retailer accounts on Amazon.com. Furthermore, the corporation has contracts with different telecommunications organizations, such as sprint, AT&T, as well as Verizon that offer iPhone devices integrated into their service packages of telecommunications accessible to customers in the regional or local target areas. Therefore, Apple’s local promotion and product strategy are all-inclusive in gaining from online and non-online channels of distribution. Additionally, the company’s products produce a halo effect in the local market due to the fact that every single product complements another item, local buyers typically decide to continue using the Apple brand as opposed to purchasing different items from other producers and generate a hodgepodge of varied consumer and product experience.

Given that the organization possesses a significant pool of loyal customers in the local market, they have a tendency to purchase all items bearing the Apple logo (Todor, 2014). This halo effect along with strong brand loyalty supplements the product sales performance associated with every product created by the company. The advancement, as well as promotion of complimentary services and products, are indisputably part of the promotion strategy of the firm. With renowned as well as pertinent products along with market tenure and recognized branding, the corporation at this point relishes legions of loyal customers in the local market (Todor, 2014).

Apple’s Promotion and Product Glocal Market

In the glocal market, Apple uses a strategic approach in reaching its clients such as the Apple event which offers designs of products both locally and globally based on iTunes and software in particularly all languages. The firm invested in games as well as software applications for a range of developers in 40 languages. Therefore, through this approach, the firm targets local niche categories as well as successful international zones.

Apple is focusing on a different location around the globe, the organization exists naturally in a few regions of stores, for example the United States, Australia, North America (Canada), Asia (Hong Kong, Japan, China), Europe (Sweden, Netherlands, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Switzerland, Spain), these are the regions people including the Apple physically provides items in all parts of the globe. Apple is the first firm to produce the products in the American states, but in the past few decades, the corporation has been outsourcing manufacturing to parts of Asia, where they assemble products and deliver them to different parts of the world to reach a higher number of consumers and satisfy the increased demand. Different locations may have different approaches, such as promotion, financing, recruiting, legal elements, but ultimately, these techniques are developed to suit the general goals of the organization.

Apple’s Target Market

Apple has been a distinctive organization, which does not only target an existing customer sector; they generate as well as broaden their clientele market. The firm’s target market is not a distinct segment of customers. Apples’ buyers are exclusive since they are enthusiasts of technology and enjoy innovative approaches to their digital demands. The company, considering that it began to establish a brand name, has constantly developed distinctive products. The promotion strategy associated with the organization is always exceptional too. For instance, most often, its products compete with one another as opposed to with other organization’s goods. The firm has a well-defined target market centering on customer long-term value (Weinstein, 2013). This target market is not a distinct segment, but exceptional users from diverse segments. These exclusive customers are loyal to the brand, and may not easily become drawn by other organizations.

The corporation’s positioning, targeting and segmentation represent the heart of its advertising initiatives. Segmentation consists of separating population into categories based on specific qualities while targeting appertains to selecting certain groups recognized as due to segmentation to sell as well as market goods (Weinstein, 2013). A typical set of features shared by Apple target client segment incorporate valuing design, performance, and quality of technology services and products over their price ranges. Positioning is concerned with the selection of the most appropriate marketing mix for the target clientele segment (Weinstein, 2013).

Apple utilizes a mono-segment form of positioning and creates a positive attractiveness towards a single consumer segment. The international technology organization positions itself as a high-quality manufacturer delivering services and products with superior capabilities and functions for extra charges. Accordingly, the company’s target consumer segment consists of wealthy individuals that are ready to pay extra for technological innovation services and products with highly developed design, capabilities as well as features. The market segmentation consists of:

demographical bases;

psychographic bases;

behavior bases;

geographical bases.

Demographical Bases (Occupation, Life Cycle, Family Size, Age)

Considering Apple company, the Demographical industry segment is prosperous since they are developing items on the occupation, family size, as well as age of the individuals. The firm is distributing its products into different locations, and the personal computers are classified based on family size and age, for instance, the company would have more entertainment as well as games in the computers for the children and a professional computer having all the most recent software.

Psychographic Bases (Personality, Values, Lifestyle)

The psychographic market segment of Apple is prosperous considering that they are creating products based on the standard of living of the customers. For example, Mac book for the more youthful generation. The company, having an excellent brand image, has great value for its items since they are unique and innovative. Considering the style (personality) segment, the firm creates their devices with various colors for individuals who prefer elegant colors.

Behavior Bases (Responses, Attitudes, Usage and Product Knowledge,)

Within this market segment, Apple provides outstanding product information to clients through advertising as well as marketing on search engines, televisions since they possess an excellent brand image. By using this brand image, the organization is constantly creating new products and ideas and bringing in more buyers. The company has got an exceptional response rate since most of the clients are trying to find new designs as well as innovative solutions that Apple is effectively providing.

Geographical Bases (Countries, Regions, States)

In the geographical bases, the company has set up its business across the world such as the United States, Japan, Europe, South America, as well as Australia. Recently the firm made a decision to put into action a vertical expansion strategy and started increasing their retail stores. Apple furthermore sells and markets its products or services through third-party retailers, or using the world wide web via their website or through the iTunes internet music stores.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Apple’s product development, as well as its comprehensive marketing, have led to the success of the company. As a principle element of the achievement, Apple is persistent in creating innovative products that have friendly user interface along with simple style and designs. Furthermore, top quality components built-into Apple’s products guarantee the stable performance. Additionally, coherent hardware and software associated with these items offer more convenience to customers. Apart from the excellent products, the promotional initiatives of Apple Inc. are extraordinary too since their customer’s daily lives are infiltrated by Rigorous advertising and marketing of the company’s products. Additionally, the firm’s style of communication has furthermore been accepted by customers within the global and local range. As a result of the accomplishments and success, Apple Inc. has guided a new style of fashion and transformed the habits of people in lots of fields. For that reason, it is reasonable to consider that the company is among the most outstanding as well as successful corporations across the globe at the moment.

References

Constantinides, E. (2014). Foundations of social media marketing. Procedia-Social and behavioral sciences, 148, 40-57.

Hallbäck, J., & Gabrielsson, P. (2013). Entrepreneurial marketing strategies during the growth of international new ventures originating in small and open economies. International Business Review, 22(6), 1008-1020.

Khan, U. A., Alam, M. N., & Alam, S. (2015). A critical analysis of the internal and external environment of Apple Inc. International Journal of Economics, Commerce and Management, 3(6), 955-961.

Todor, R. D. (2014). The importance of branding and rebranding for strategic marketing. Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Brasov. Economic Sciences. Series V, 7(2), 59.

Weinstein, A. (2013). Handbook of market segmentation: Strategic targeting for business and technology firms. New York, NY:Routledge.