Apple Inc

Apple Inc

Apple Inc. is a known brand that designs and markets consumers’ electronics, personal computers, and software. The bran is multinational and operates in most of the countries around the world. The power of Apple’s brand is what keeps the company moving, and it is the key success of the Company. The paper focuses on the Apple Inc. brand analysis, which includes mode of operations, marketing environment, band positioning, the 4Ps, target market, and launch of a new product line.

How the Apple Inc. brand operates

Apple Inc. brand operates by the product concept, marketing, and societal concept. The brand follows the above orientations when marketing its products, to achieve the brand goals and knowing the needs and wants of the target market, and delivering desired products. Apple Inc. brand uses the marketing concept because its products are wildly successful; therefore, it must be satisfying the needs of its customers (Greenspan, 2019). In the product concept, Apple Inc. brand focuses on the products that offer high quality and performance with innovative features. The brand concentrates on developing superior products and improving them over time depending on the changing needs in the market. The societal concept of market orientation plays a big role in Apple’s Inc. brand through the organization of tasks to determine the needs, interests, and wants of its customers (Greenspan, 2019). The brand uses the societal concept to deliver the desired products more effectively and efficiently than the competitors in a manner, that will preserve and enhance the well-being of the society. by developing highly innovative and quality products.

Marketing environment for Apple Inc. brand

The high performance of Apple Inc. brand can be linked to its effectiveness in addressing the micro and macro environment factors. The success of the brand is as a result of the strategic management that exploits available opportunities and protects the brand from threats in the technology industry.

Macro-environment marketing for the brandMacro-environment of the Apple Inc. brand shows the value of the strategic management and the strategic planning in managing the external factors of the brand. PESTEL analysis serves as the guide in analyzing the Apple Inc. brand macro-environment in the formulation of processes that address external issues that the band is experiencing.

Political factors

Political factors in the Apple Inc. brand mainly present market opportunities. Some of the political external factors that affect the marketing environment of the brand include opportunities for improved free trade policies, stable policies in developed nations, and threats of trade disputes especially between the US and China (Hasan, 2013). The growing tension between the US and China could lead to high tariffs on imported products from the Apple Inc. brand.

Economic factors

Most of the economic factors in Apple Inc. brand creates opportunities. Some of the economic factors that affect the marketing environment of Apple brand include stable economies of developed nations, increased growth of developed counties, and increasing disposable incomes among the target customers. Stable economies and increased growth create opportunities for the expansion of the Apple Inc. brand (Hasan, 2013). An increase in disposable income creates an opportunity to increase the price of the brand in the market, which increases the company’s revenue.

Sociocultural factors

Apple Inc.’s brand is subject to the effects of socio-cultural trends in the market. Some of the important sociocultural factors for the Apple brand-marketing environment include increased use of mobile access, high dependence on digital systems, and the intentional anti-Apple brand sentiments. The increased use of mobile technology is an opportunity for Apple Inc. brand, which will help its revenue to grow (Hasan, 2013). Besides, the increased dependence of digital technology creates an opportunity for the band to sell more of the products based on the increased demand. However, the band faces a social threat of opposition against its operations, which is evidenced by anti-Apple sentiments such as lawsuits against third-party service providers that can destroy the brand image in the market.

Technological factors

Some of the technological factors that are significant to the Apple Inc. brand include increasing demand for cloud computing, high technological integration in business, high growth of the mobile market, and the growing capabilities of competitors. The demand for cloud computing, integration of technology in businesses and increase mobile market have created an opportunity for market growth of the Apple Inc. brand (Hasan, 2013). However, the technological advancement of other firms is a big threat to the band because other firms may enter the market to increase competition.

Environmental factors

The environmental factors that are significant to the Apple brand marketing environment include business sustainability and energy efficiency. The sustainability trend will enable the band to adopt sustainable practices based on environmental concerns. The sustainability trend of Apple Inc. brand strengthens its corporate brand in the market (Hasan, 2013). The energy-efficient tend enables the Apple Inc. brand to improve its cost of operations by offering attractive products to environmentally aware customers.

Microenvironment factors

The main microeconomic marketing environment factor that influences the Apple brand are the competitors. The main competitors of Apple Inc. brands include companies such as Dell and HP that produces technological products. These competitors have been influencing the decision-making process of the Apple Inc. brand. For instance, Apple Inc. is known for producing MacBook Pro. However, the Dell XPS and the HP Spectre laptops have been giving Apple Inc. brand a hard time in decision-making (Khan, Alam & Alam, 2015). Apple Inc.’s brand has been focusing on improving its products depending on the changing trends of customers’ interests and needs to sustain its competitiveness in the market.

Apple Inc. brand enjoys a bold image of innovator, big investor in research, and development, which helps the band maintain a high customer base in the market. Along with customer retention, Apple Inc. brand has been successful in switching competitors’ customers towards Apple’s products. Besides, the Apple Inc. brand has well-diversified supplier numbers; the company does not manufacture all products from one supplier from one place (Khan, Alam & Alam, 2015). The Apple Inc. band buys in large quantities, which gives it a high power of bargaining.

How Apple Inc. brand is positioned in relation to its competitors

Apple Inc. brand encompasses a set of the value proposition that makes the band remain recognized among consumes all over the world. The three basic value propositions of Apple Inc. brand include the motto “Think different”, a tech that works, and your privacy is safe with us (Payne, 2017).

Think different

Apple Inc. brand built a name for itself when the CEO releases the most famous advert of the company on “Think different”. During this time, the brand was only selling simple PCs. Through the band, the band positioned itself as an alternative status quo to competitors such as IBM (Payne, 2017). The slogan talks to people who want to think differently, and for years, the company has followed through the slogan of thinking differently.

Tech that works

The tipping point for the Apple Inc. brand was the release of the iPod and iPhone. The brand has positioned itself from appealing early adopters to addressing the needs and interests of the mass market. The recent mission statement of the Apple Inc. brand shows that it is committed to bringing a better user experience to the customers through innovative products (Dudovskiy, 2019). The value proposition of the brand is to provide seamless experience though a tech that works.

Your privacy is safe with us

In the last couple of years, Apple Inc.’s brand has increased knowledge of what happens to consumers’ data. The value proposition of the brand is to provide safer alternatives to consumers’ data (Payne, 2017). The recent value proposition of Apple Inc. brand is geared towards the privacy protection of consumers’ details and making them part of the safe system.

In my opinion, the value proposition of the Apple Inc. brand has been positioned appropriately based on the increased sales and market share in the US and the world market. The penetration of tablets, PCs and smartphone market has reached 54%, a growth of 37% since 2012, which is an indication that the value proposition is placed correctly (Jalkala & Keränen, 2014). The marketing message of the Apple brand makes sense to many consumers, which makes the market share of the band continue increasing. Currently, the iPad remains the number one selling tablet globally.

4Ps analysis of Apple Inc. brand

The marketing mix of the Apple Inc. brand analyzes the products, price, place, and promotion, which explains the marketing strategy of the brand. The 4Ps marketing strategy helps the brand to achieve its objectives.

Pricing Strategy

Apple Inc. brand uses a premium pricing strategy for its products. Due to the innovation and technology in the Apple Inc. brands, consumers are fine paying higher prices in comparison to their brands. Apple Inc. brand follows a premium pricing policy to delight its consumers (Haque, 2020). Most of the brand’s products are costly and come with a status symbol.

Product strategy

Apple Inc. brand has innovative products because they are designed after a comprehensive customer’s research. The brand has always developed products that have amazed consumers globally (Greenspan, 2019). Some of the brand’s popular products include Mac, iPhone, iPod, Apple Watch, Apple TV, and software.

Place/distribution strategy

Apple Inc. brand adopts an aggressive strategy to reach out their premium customers. The Apple Inc. brand provides a strict guideline on who should sell the products. In ensuring full control of the company products, only specific stores are authorized to sell their products. This strategy creates exclusivity, which might limit a broad customer’s reach, but it enforces the high-end image of the brand (Haque, 2020). Due to the exclusivity, the Apple Inc. brand has low distribution costs and can invest in other things such as product research.

Promotion strategy

Apple Inc. brand promotes products though commercial and print adverts that focus on shows how the products are distinct to that of its competitors. Commercial adverts of the Apple Inc. brand are run when new products are launched, and print media are run throughout the product cycle. The brand has entered into an agreement with prominent websites to run online adverts to promote its products (Greenspan, 2019). Personal selling is also used though store employees who provide specific information about the products to convince new and return visitors.

I would recommend the company to change or improve its pricing and distribution strategy to expand the customers’ base. The brand uses a premium pricing strategy, targeting high-end customers, which discriminates lower-income customers. The brand can lower the price of its products or develop less costly products to attract lower class customers, which can increase the market share and consumer base of the brand. The brand uses exclusivity distribution strategy, which limits its market share in the technology industry (Greenspan, 2019). The company can change the strategy by using an all-inclusive strategy to increase the number of distributors in the market, which will broaden the market and consumer base.

The primary Target market of the Apple Inc. brand

The ideal target market for the Apple Inc. brand is middle to upper-level income earners who are willing to pay more for innovative products for better user experience. The brand targets people who are technology savvy and those who like to have fun with technology. Based on the age of customers, Apple brand develops iPhone-targeting customers between 20-35 years who love music. Apple iPhone music is touch while driving which keeps one busy. Apple iPhone also targets professionals in the media and design industry. Based on sociocultural, Apple iPhone targets middle and upper class in the society who are focused on having a high-class lifestyle (Dudovskiy, 2019). On personality, Apple iPhone targets individuals who are determined, technologically savvy, and ambitious in exploring new things. Finally, the product targets customers who are hardcore loyal to the Apple Inc. brand.

How Apple Inc. brand might use exploratory, descriptive, and casual research in understanding the marketing mix for the new product line

In the consideration of developing the new product line, Apple Inc. brand needs to conduct a comprehensive research about the consumers and the market. In the research process, the brand will focus on the target market, competition, product design, and costs. The brand uses exploratory, descriptive, and causal research.

The exploratory research is used in conducting exploration to understand all that is needed in the new product line. The brand uses market researchers to find all clues and ventures in the new market to search for relevant information about the new product line. The focus of the Apple Inc. brand in exploratory research is to develop new ideas and insights (Pratap, 2018). The Apple Inc. brand uses descriptive research in launching the new product line to describe the new idea. The descriptive research is used in estimating the size of the market of the new product line and forecasting the sales and revenue of the new product. The descriptive research of the new product line used the cross-sectional studies to gather information about the new product line in the market. Finally, the Apple Inc. brand used the casual research in launching the new product line to identify if there is variation between the current products of the company and the new product line (Pratap, 2018). The brand used control procedures to test whether there was a causal relationship between the new product line and the existing products in the Apple Inc. brand. After establishing the product had distinctive features, the Apple Inc. brand decided to launch the new product line in the market.