Apple Smartphone Brand Integrated Marketing Communication Mix Strategies - Essay Example

Report on integrated marketing communications mix strategies of Apple Apple Smartphone brand Integrated marketing communication mix strategies report Executive summary: The report highlights that Apple Smartphone brand has attained high growth in UK due to the innovative and stylish nature of the product. The UK Smartphone market is experiencing stiff competition due decline in average selling prices and entry of small players. The company can utilise integrated marketing communications mix in order to attain a competitive edge. Apple Smartphone brand integrated marketing communications strategy should be aligned with the branding and positioning concepts. The company should combine various media channels and communication mix that aim at informing, reminding and persuading the customers to purchase the brand. Apple should ensure consistency in the messages and slogans should focus on the unique selling points or the differentiated benefits. Apple should segment its market and select an appropriate media channel for each target audience in order to improve the effectiveness of marketing communication. The company must position the brand as innovative and premium brand that delivers added customer value. Table of contents page number 1.0 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………… 4 2.0 Literature review……………………………………………………………………….4 3.0 UK smartphone environment review………………………………………………....7 4.0 Apple smartphone brand integrated marketing communication strategies………11 4.1 Target audience……………………………………………………………………11 4.2 Brand positioning………………………………………………………………….12 4.3 Media selection and communication mix management………………………....12 5.0 Recommendations……………………………………………………………………..14 6.0 Bibliography………………………………………………………………………….. 16 1.0 Introduction Apple Incorporation is a multinational company that designs, creates and sells consumer electronics, personal computers, computer software and smart phones (Arthur 2014). The company has attained consistent market growth and profitability due to its culture of product innovation that ensures that the company anticipates and meets the changing customer product requirements (Arthur 2014). Some of the innovative products that have attained global customer loyalty include the iPhone, iPad and iPod products that revolutionalised the technology industry (Arthur 2014). The mission of Apple is to bring the best personal experience to students, creative professionals, educators and consumers across the world through offering them with innovative hardware software and internet products (Arthur 2014). The report will analyse Apple Smartphone brand integrated marketing communication strategies with a focus on how branding and positioning strategies can facilitate the design and implementation of integrated marketing communications mix. The next part of the report will be an analysis of the Smartphone market in UK including the key competitors, market trends and environment factors that have influence on the strategic decisions. The report will also discuss the strategies implemented by Apple including the target audience, brand positioning, media selection and communication mix management. The last part of the report will be a recommendation that explains how Apple Inc can make the IMC strategies more effective and competitive. 2.0 Literature review Marketing communications refers to the coordinate promotional messages that aim at informing, reminding and persuading the customers to purchase the company products. A integrated marketing communication approach requires the use of various promotional channels such as advertisements, personal selling, public relations, direct marketing, product packaging, outdoor displays, point-of purchase materials and sponsorships (Tuckwell 2013). The integrated marketing communications are driven by the desire to build relationships and synergy since customers are considered as partners in the long-term business relationships. The public relations team will communicate with the general public, the marketers will design the advertisements while the sales team will resonate with potential customers’ perceived brand attributes (Smith and Taylor 2004). Marketing communication is critical to the attainment of the corporate mission since all marketing mix elements in the marketing communication are targeted to particular customer segments and aim at positioning the brand as being distinctive and superior that those offered by competitors (Percy 2013). Integrated marketing communication strategy ensures consistent brand messages across various communication channels and promotional methods. According to Saxena (2005), the growth in use of integrated approach to marketing communications is attributed to the decline in costs of customer databases, the increase in global marketing, the increased media fragmentation, the high competition, the decline in message impact and the need to differentiate the product through branding approach. Integrated marketing communication allows a company to build brand awareness and recognition through affecting the target audience behaviour. Marketing communications is critical since it enables a company to maintain the current customer base through reinforcing the brand attributes and benefits. Indeed, companies use marketing communication to establish and maintain relationships with prospects, supply chain partners and other stakeholders (Tuckwell 2013). According to Sengupta (2005), branding and positioning facilitates the design and implementation of integrated marketing communications mix. Brand is the distinctive association and picture in the minds of the consumers and enables customers to distinguish the product from a variety of offerings. Branding enables companies attain customer loyalty since integrated communication mix strategies will focus on the brand personality. Companies must establish the brand meaning in the industry through outlining the desired image and attributes that drive the customer purchase decision (Armstrong, Adam, Denize and Kotler 2014). In this case, the brand manager should be careful of the limits of brand relevance since extending the brand too far from the core meaning may lead to loss of credibility. Branding enhances product awareness and recognition since customers are able to recall the brand. Branding enables marketers to deliver their messages more clearly and confirm the company’s credibility (Baines and Fill 2014). Branding will strengthen customer loyalty since the customers can connect emotionally with the brand. For instance, Apple branding is about passion, aspirations, imagination, lifestyles and innovation. In this case, Apple brand personality is about making life easier through the customer-driven product designs. Apple has managed to build positive brand equity and customer are willing to pay premium prices due to the unique product features. Apple Smartphone models have an emotional appeal since the unique design elicits specific emotions thus ensuring high familiarity and memorability due to the unique styles and features. Brand positioning is another critical aspect that will enhance the effectiveness of the integrated market communication mix strategies. Positioning refers to the way the company expects the target consumers to perceive and feel about the brand and should emphasise on the distinctive differentiated attributes of the brand. Positioning creates mental image of the brand offerings and differentiated benefits of the brand in the minds of the target market (Dahlen, Lange and Smith 2010). Brand positioning facilitates the design and implementation of integrated marketing communications mix strategy since brand managers are able to understand the brand identity and expected social support of the brand in the market (Lamb, Hair and McDaniel 2011). The communication strategies aim at demonstrating the competitive edge of the firm by highlighting why customers must purchase the product. The messages must outline how the use of the product meets the customer needs or how the product is superior to those offered by the competitors (Yeshin 2012). The perceptions of target consumers are influenced by the marketing communications used to inform and persuade the customers to purchase the product and thus brand managers should emphasise on the perceived value and attributes when positioning their products in the market. The company should understand the customer segments, consumer buying behaviours, and benefits sought in order to design messages that will resonate with the customers’ expectations (Barker, Valos and Shimp 2012). (Integrated marketing communications mix) 3.0 UK Smartphone environment review Smartphone is a mobile phone, but includes added features that are similar to those offered by a personal digital assistant such as digital camera, internet connection capabilities, media player and GPS navigation systems. Smartphone allows for web browsing, use of third party applications, mobile payments and motion sensing. Smartphone brands that use android operating system account for about 75 percent of the UK market share while those that use iOS and other operating systems dominate about 25 percent of the UK market share (Arthur 2014). The United Kingdom market is the most advanced market in entire Europe and it is estimated that there are about 40 million Smartphone users in the country. The number of Smartphone users is expected to rise to 81 percent of all mobile phone users by 2017. According to research conducted in 2013, 84 percent of all mobile phone users aged 18-24 own Smartphone while females represent 58 percent of all Smartphone owners. The increased Smartphone penetration in UK is attributed to the high introduction of various innovative handsets such as Apple iPhone 6, Samsung Galaxy and HTC’s One series (Arthur 2014). According to customer user analysis, most customers spend at least two hours each on their Smartphone taking photos, taking videos, using social networks and applications, and sending emails. The other Smartphone activities that contribute to the high usage include product search, browsing the internet, reading magazines and news, watching television episodes online, downloading mobile data content, listening to music and making online transactions (Arthur 2014). The drastic increase in the number of mobile applications such as Apple’s App store and Google play have contributed to the high demand of smartphones in the UK. Smartphone users spend an estimated 10 billion pounds on mobile applications. Apple released the much publicised iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus and continues to experience sustained demand for the iPhone 5S and 5C models. Apple smartphone brand accounts for 39.5 of the entire UK market due to high number of loyal Apple users (Arthur 2014). Market trends The demand for low-end Smartphone is driving the increase in volume sales and reductions in average selling prices have led to migration from the feature phones to Smartphones. The company subsidies and operator branded Smartphone that retail in branded retail outlets are driving the growth of low-end segment while the data-driven centric due to availability of various mobile apps is driving growth in UK economy. The manufacturers face challenges associated with scale, costs, and ecosystem since many companies have not enhanced their software, content and services and low-market entry barriers has led to entry of small players in the market (Snickars and Vonderau 2013). Environmental factors There are various external environment variables that impact on the Smartphone industry in the UK. A PESTLE analysis will be useful in identifying the environmental factors that will affect the demand and competitiveness of the industry in the future. The political environment in UK is stable, but the UK government requires schools to implement policies that will safeguard students from cyber-bullying. UK government promotes fair trading policies and encourages trade liberalisation thus Apple Inc will enjoy a favourable political environment (Arthur 2014). The UK economic environment is favourable for expansion of Smartphone usage since the country recorded positive GDP growth and consumer incomes are high. The unemployment rate has declined below 10 percent and interest rates are stable. The country has low inflation rates and fiscal policies aim at enhancing technology investments (Snickars and Vonderau 2013). The social-cultural environment will facilitate the penetration of smartphones in UK. The current lifestyle trends indicate the mobile phone users prefer Smartphone due to their high number of functionalities and convenience in accessing information in the internet. The number of educated and young people who use smartphones to read news and magazines or access apps is currently increasing and thus the demand for Apple Smartphone brand will increase in the future. The UK citizens have favourable opinions and attitudes towards US companies and individuals select communication devices that exemplify their lifestyles and status in the society (Snickars and Vonderau 2013). The technological environment is ideal for the Smartphone industry since technological innovations will facilitate the design of smartphones with advanced and exciting features. Companies such as Samsung and Apple have dedicated significant budget towards research and development activities that aim at designing new mobile applications and mobile operating systems. Apple iOS is the favourite for the business-oriented consumers since it offers various apps while the improved iCloud Drive of the Smartphone enhances the ability to store, access and manage files across different platforms. Apple Smartphone offer new features such as state-of the art camera and ultra power saving and consumers associate the brand with high performance and higher quality. iPhone was the first Smartphone to use the 64-bit processor and added features such as accelerometer and fingerprint sensor enhances the security of the product. Apple offers extended warranty and products are manufactured in different colours such as silver, pink, yellow, blue, black and green in order to enhance the emotional appeal to customers (Snickars and Vonderau 2013). The legal environment in the Smartphone industry is challenging since companies must comply with various legislation on product health and safety. The ecological environment in the industry is characterised by increased demands for reduction in the amount of emissions, recycling of the obsolete Smartphone and efficient use of natural resources (Arthur 2014). Apple should encourage safe disposal of the Smartphone scrape metals since they can cause radiation and cancer diseases if not disposed in the right manner. The company should use renewable energy sources in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (Arthur 2014). The degree of rivalry in the Smartphone industry in UK is high due to the high economies of scale enjoyed by the leading players and relative size of the main competitors. Although the size of Smartphones continues to expand, the dominant players such as Apple are losing market share to other companies such as Huawei, Lenovo, LG, ZTE, Xiaomi and Sony that concentrate on low-priced products. According to 2012 statistics, Apple accounts for 29 percent of all Smaartphones sold in the UK while Samsung accounts for 20 percent of the market. Blackberry holds 17 percent of the market while HTC controls 16 percent of the market. However, the recent launch of iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus has increased Apple’s market share to 34 percent of the UK market (Arthur 2014). (Source: market analytics) 4.0 Apple Smartphone brand integrated marketing communication strategies Apple integrated marketing communication strategies are aimed at different demographic and geographic target audiences. Majority of Apple Smartphone users are middle –class income individuals, students and people living in cities in the UK. 4.1Target audience Apple Smartphone target audience is segmented according to demographic characteristics, lifestyles, income status and values. Apple marketing communications target the urban and sophisticated customers who seek various benefits other than communication especially the working class and business class. The company targets young consumers aged 18-24 years and communication messages portray the lifestyle aspects of the brand such as the ability to listen to music, stream videos and exchange messages with friends using a single device (Arthur 2014). 4.2 Brand positioning Apple Inc has positioned its Smartphone brand as an innovative and premium brand that meets all the communication and entertainment needs of the users. The Smartphone brand has a positive brand image since UK customers associated it with quality, convenience, status and reliability. Apple Inc is positioned as a technologically excellent firm that is committed to meeting the changing needs of consumers (Sminia 2014). 4.3 Media selection and communication mix management Apple’s media selection and communication mix management aim at maintaining high brand awareness and targeting the brand to various customer segments. The communication mix management promotes Apple offering and include the traditional mass media communication channels such as billboards, outdoor advertisements, public relationships and emerging media channels such as online advertisements. Ferrell and Hartline (2012) assert that the selection of the media is influenced the target audience, geographical reach, nature of the consumer buying behaviour and effectiveness in delivering consistent and clear messages. Some of the message slogans that Apple has used in the past include ‘worlds thinnest Smartphone’, the biggest thing to happen to iPhone since iPhone’, ‘forward thinking’, ‘progress is a beautiful thing’ and the latest ‘bigger than bigger’ slogan (Arthur 2014). Apple uses advertisements that are channeled through the mass media communication such as use of television, radio, newspapers and billboards. The latest Apple Smartphone television advertisement ‘the parenthood’ commercial show how parents can use the iPhone to teach, play and communicate with their kids thus portraying iPhone as a partner in raising children. The advert is targeted to parents and shows ‘smart home’ apps such as HealthKit that profile the users’ health and Nick + app which mothers can use while jogging with child’s stroller (Arthur 2014). (Apple ‘parenthood’ advertisement photo: source, apple). Apple Smartphone brand utilises direct marketing since the company has an extensive database of past customers that has enabled the company maintain long-term relationships. The company sends emails to past customers with the objective of requesting the customers to try using an advanced model of the Smartphone (Yeshin 2012). Apple uses sales promotions in order to stimulate consumer action and create more brand awareness through influencing the attitudes of the consumers towards the brand. The sales promotions are directed to trade intermediaries or retailers and include price reductions for a certain period of time, contests and coupons (Sminia 2014). Apple creates Smartphone brand recognition through sponsoring various causes and sports. Another media channel is the public relations that aim at building positive brand image. The public relations team communicates the brand offerings through news items and editorial comments about the stylish nature of the products and press releases on new innovations and expected Smartphone mode launch (Yeshin 2012). Apple has branded stores where the signs and materials such as posters are placed in order to influence consumer buying behaviour. Apple has settled on the ‘bigger and bigger’ slogan its point of purchase materials in order to demonstrate the bigger display and higher contrast of new iPhone 6 Plus that is 7.1mm. The materials outline the innovations in dual-domain pixels and improvements in polarizer that have led to the most advanced multi-touch displays (Wilken and Goggin 2013). 5.0 Recommendations The integrated marketing communication strategies of Apple Smartphone brand should be distinctive and consistent with the corporate brand positioning. Apple should set brand goals and objectives of the integrated marketing communications. The advertisement, sales promotion teams and public relations team should integrate their messages in order to ensure consistency in communicating the brand values. The company should have clear brand position statement that outlines the perceived differentiated offerings in order to sustain the brand values and enhance relationships. Apple should enhance its Smartphone brand equity through communications that will build and maintain brand equity through consistently highlighting the positive associations of the brand with places, people and things. Apple Smartphone brand should be associated with superior and innovative technology that delivers enhanced customer experience, better performance, style, security, and customer convenience. The creation of messages for sales promotions, advertisements, and package designs should be based on the brand’s positioning strategy and aligned with the communication objectives of the target audience. Apple should build excellent customer databases that are essential in understanding the customer buying behaviour and changing needs. The selection of media should enhance effectiveness of the marketing communication and specific communication slogans and advertisements should target various customer segments such as young families, students, and high-end individuals. The company should use both traditional mass media in order to increase brand awareness and modern media channels such as digital advertisements in order to enhance the sales volumes. 6.0 Bibliography: Armstrong, G., Adam, S., Denize, S and Kotler, P. 2014. Principles of marketing. Sydney: Pearson. Arthur, C. 2014. Digital wars: Apple, Google, Microsoft and the battle for the internet. New York: Kogan Page Publishers. Baines, P and Fill, C. 2014. Marketing. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Barker, N., Valos, M and Shimp, T.A. 2012. Integrated marketing communications. New York: Cengage Learning. Bradley, F. 2003. Strategic marketing: in the customer driven organization. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Dahlen, M., Lange, F and Smith, T. 2010. Marketing communications: a brand narrative approach. New York: Cengage Learning. Ferrell, O.C and Hartline, M. 2012. Marketing strategy. New York: Cengage Learning. Lamb, C., Hair, J and McDaniel, C. 2011. Essentials of marketing. New York: Cengage Learning. Percy, L. 2013. Strategic integrated marketing communications. New York: Routledge. Saxena, R. 2005. Marketing management. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Education. Sengupta, S. 2005. Brand positioning: strategies for competitive advantage. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill education. Sminia, H. 2014. The strategic manager. New York: Routledge. Smith, P.R and Taylor, J. 2004. Marketing communications: an integrated approach. New York: Kogan Page Publishers. Snickars, P and Vonderau, P. 2013. Moving data: the iPhone and future of Media. Columbia: Columbia University Press. Tuckwell, K.J. 2013. Integrated marketing communications. Toronto: Pearson Education Canada. Wilken, R and Goggin, G. 2013. Mobile technology and place. New York: Routledge. Yeshin, T. 2012. Integrated marketing communications. New York: Routledge. Read More