Posted: June 27th, 2015

Apple Inc. has grown over the years to become one of the most recognized brands in the world

Introduction

Marketing can be defined as the process of making goods and service available to customers. Marketing helps to communicate ones’ product to the potential customers and it incorporates selling them and promoting them through advertising. Marketing is geared towards satisfying customer needs and through the sale where the marketers earn revenue.

Analysis

Apple Inc. was established in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. Ronald Wayne later sold his shares to the other two partners and ceased to be a partner. During the foundation of the company Mark Markkula provided with funds and expertise. The headquarters of the company is based in Cupertino, California. The company manufactures computer software, electronics and commercial servers. The software manufactured by the company includes Mac OS X operating system, iTunes, iLife, iWork, Aperture, Final Cut Studio, and Logic Studio. The computer hardware manufactured by the company includes iPod, iPhone, iPad and the Macintosh computers. Steve Jobs was the former CEO of the company but died in 2011. The company is managed by a board of directors who are the supreme decision makers. There are committees elected to conduct projects by the company. The culture of entrepreneurship has been successfully practiced within the company. Steve Jobs as an entrepreneur had created great success story to the company. Most of the activities are based on risk taking. The establishment of the various products is based on risk taking by the organization and this has made the company more successful compared to other competitors in the market. Entrepreneurship can be traced back when the company was being established. Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne took the greatest risk to establish the company. They had inadequate funds and they underwent challenging moments to generate enough capital to establish the business. Entrepreneurial aspects are also evident in the current activities of the organization (Gay, Charlesworth & Esen 2006, p.95).

Apple Inc. has established a research and development department to find out the product and market trends. The research and development department researches on the technologies which will enable the workers produce competitive products. The company does market research to establish the needs of the customers so that the production department can design products which match the market demand. This strategy has created a competitive advantage to the company and more market share has been obtained. For example, the iMovie products have been successful in the market due to the high demand of the music industry. Apple has made more sales of its products and the customers are satisfied by the products (Forester 1987, P. 126).

The company got its name from Steve Jobs who was a fruitarian and the love the apple very much and so he thought the name Apple would be appropriate fun and spirited. The company markets its product under the logo of an apple with a bite mark to try and distinguish it from a cherry. The logo has had three dimension changes since the company was incorporated in 1976. The first logo depicted Sir Isaac Newton sited under an apple tree but it later changed to the second logo depicting an apple with a rainbow theme. The second logo ran from the year 1976 to 1998 till it was changed and the current theme installed depicting an apple with a monochromatic theme and black in colour. Over the years customers and employees have been able to associate with the apple product and the brand name. The company has over the years derived different slogans for the company products. Some include among the first slogan ‘Byte into an Apple’ which was coined in the 70s. It later changed to ‘Think Different’ from the year 1997 to 2002 which was used in campaigning and advertisement materials. Apple has been able to derive new slogans for tits diversified product lines. An example is an advertisement for iMac in 1998 which read as ‘iThink, therefore iMac’. The iPhone uses the following slogan in advertising ‘Say hello to iPhone’. All these slogans have been used to market the different brands of Apple all over the world and customers have been able to associate with this strong brand in the market (VIARDOT 2004, P. 58).

Source: Apple

The sales of Apple product in the world has been on a steady rise over the years and thus resulting in high profits made by the company where some of the revenue is used to invest in new technology and innovation. The company uses a lot of funds in marketing its products all over the world. According to Forbes magazine the company is the most recognised brand in the world as of 2011. For a company to have such a status it must have committed a lot of finances to marketing its brands all over the world.

Findings                                                                                                                                                                                                 Apple Inc. has grown over the years to become one of the most recognized brands in the world. This can be attributed to its clear marketing and promotion strategy that has won the hearts of millions of people all over the world. A business enterprise is usually started to make profit and manufacture competent products that help to offer maximum satisfaction to the customers. The Apple corporation strategy to market its products has been instrumental for its million dollars profit margin when compared with other technology companies. It has been able to set a good working and innovation culture which was initiated by Steve jobs to always remain on the top edge over other companies. The culture of innovation has provided employees with strategies to manufacture competitive products. The employees of the company have been very innovative and they have established many differentiated products. The innovations of the company have placed the company at an advantage over other competitors in the market. The company has established innovative products in the market and customers appreciate these products. The innovative products have been differentiated to provide a competitive edge to the company in the global markets. Through differentiation, Apple has managed to succeed in the market by competing with larger companies like Microsoft, IBM among others. Some of the differentiated products are the iTunes, iPhone, and others (PLUNKETT 2008, p.67).                                                                             Apple has managed to capture customer loyalty in the market. Most of the customers of the company like the products to their unique features as well as the innovativeness of the company. The brands of the company are easily identifiable in the market and many people are willing to re-buy from the company. Apple has the highest level of customer loyalty in the industry compared to any other company according to Fortunes magazine. This aspect has increased the sales volume of the company since more customers are purchasing from the company. Due to the ever changing technological world the company has been able to remain on the top edge due to its innovation and advancement in investing in new talents. The company has been on the fore front in contributing to modern technology with its on top of the world products that have won accolades over the world due to the best features and unique innovation charted only to Apple corporation (PLUNKETT 2008, p.98).                                                                                                                                                         Good customer relationship has attracted a large customer base to the company. The management of the company encourages the employees to create a good relationship with the customers. The company has been able to achieve customer loyalty through good relationship the employees have with the customers. E-business activities within Apple include the use of online management of the activities as well as the online retailing. The online management system is used by the managers to control all the activities of the organization. The managers monitor the customers, employees, and all the activities of the company. The trends in the market are monitored through the use of the online system. The sales made in the market can be determined by the system and this is used as a basis for deciding the best products to manufacture. Most of the management decisions are made using the online management system. The e-business is enhanced through internet, intranets and extranets. All the departments are connected to the network connection where the management can access all the individuals within the organization (Mohr, Sengupta & SlateR 2010, p.223).

Apple Corporation has an expanded market over the world and its products have preference more so in Europe. In Europe most of the apple products are sold in the United Kingdom. According to the marketing president of Apple Inc. over the last few months the sale of iPhones has more than double in UK. After the introduction of smartphones in the global market, the iPhone which is a product of Apple Company has taken the centre stage with a 42.8% of UK smartphone sales. This is a big market margin given the number of players in the smartphone industry. Such a huge sale has been attributed by the demand for the new iPhone 4s which was introduced in the market in October and due to its technological advancement, many customers want to own the handset. According to the guardian magazine more than 44.8% of the British population own a smartphone and it can be accounted to be mostly an Apple product. The iPhone has revolutionised the mobile industry due to its introduction of the android platform used by most smartphone manufacturers. IPhone 4s which proceeded the iPhone 4 has received a major boast from the campaign carried out by the marketing executives of the Apple brand and has resulted in very high sales all over the world (MOHR, SENGUPTA & SLATER 2010, p.41).

Some of the strategies that Apple Inc. has used to market its products include use of company owned retail outlets. Although the strategy is expensive to install it has worked wonders for the company mostly in Europe as the cost of hiring stores and employing sales agent is reduced in the long run. The company derived this strategy from IBM where it bought stores in the cities of Britain to offer direct channel for its sales. The stores are stocked from the main company in the United States and the strategy has worked over the years and much success of the company can be attributed to this strategy. New products are stocked daily at the store where delivery is quickened and thus improving on customer satisfaction. Extensive advertising through the mass media has taken place through use of product slogans that are unique and drive a lot of pride when one owns an Apple product.

Reliability of Apple product is another factor that has led to massive sale of the Apple brand over the years. Many customers feel proud to own a range of Apple product as they are more durable up to date over time through the extensive innovation being undertaken by Apple Tech engineers. Product diversification is one of the marketing strategies the company has applied for its European market where the customers have a range of products to choose from when one wants to purchase an Apple product. This strategy has influenced the sales volume of the company which is on the rise due to a single customer preference to purchase more than one Apple product may it be iMac computer to iPads and iPods readily available on the market (Forester 1987, P. 126).

Conclusion

Apple Inc. is among the most recognized brand in the world, its success story can be told from its founder who include Steve Jobs who has since passed but his legacy in leadership is being told worldwide. The company has been able to earn high profits due to its intensive marketing strategy that has led to enormous sales of its diversified products. The employees of the company have been very innovative and they have established many differentiated products. The innovations of the company have placed the company at an advantage over other competitors in the market. The company has established innovative products in the market and customers appreciate these products. The innovative products have been differentiated to provide a competitive edge to the company in the global markets. Through differentiation, Apple has managed to succeed in the market by competing with larger companies like Microsoft, IBM among others. Some of the differentiated products are the iTunes, iPhone, and others

References list

FORESTER, T. (1987). High-tech society: the story of the information technology revolution. Cambridge, Mass, MIT Press.

GAY, R., CHARLESWORTH, A., & ESEN, R. (2006). Online marketing: a customer-led approach. Oxford, Oxford University Press.

MOHR, J. J., SENGUPTA, S., & SLATER, S. F. (2010). Marketing of high-technology products and innovations. Upper Saddle River, NJ, Prentice Hall.

PLUNKETT, J. W. (2008). Plunkett’s retail industry almanac 2009 the only comprehensive guide to the retail industry. Houston, Tex, Plunkett Research Ltd.

PLUNKETT, J. W. (2008). The almanac of American employers 2009 the only guide to America’s hottest, fastest growing major corporations. Houston, Tex, Plunkett Research Ltd.

VIARDOT, E. (2004). Successful marketing strategy for high-tech firms. Boston, Mass. [u.a.], Artech House.