Apple's Marketing Communications - Essay Example

MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS By: + Table of contents Executive Summary 3 Introduction 4 Literature Review 4 Smartphone market environment review: 6 Company strategies......................................................................................................,...................7 Target audience 8 Media selection 9 Brand Positioning Recommendations…………………………………………..……………………………………10 Summary……………………………………………………….…………………………..…….13 Executive summary The rate at which people in UK are acquiring and using Smartphones was analyzed in comparison to Apple’s current state. Again, the power of Integrated Marketing Communications was analysed. The problem this report seeks to solve is Apple’s seemingly dominance in the market, which is not reflected in the sales. This report found out that by 2018, over 77% of UK adults will be using Smartphones. Currently, 61% are using them and over 37% teenagers are users of the said gadget. The two groups do not use the gadget for the same purpose, as one was more active in socializing while the other focused mainly on communication and e-commerce. Furthermore, the report discovered that in 2011, most teens preferred the Blackberry gadget but a majority of adults used and preferred Apple’s products. Amazingly, the same teens who said their preferences lied in the Blackberry had problem being separated from Apple’s products. This is one of the problems the report analyses and intends to address. It will be reported that it is factual in stating that the Blackberry that the aforementioned group loved; on the contrary, there lacked provision of information and promotion of Apple’s product thus making this report a necessity. 1.0 introduction With the tremendous invention of the Smartphones and the subsequent tight competition, companies dealing with these gadgets are encountering a myriad of challenges. Mostly, the challenges are arising from the strategies with some competitors choosing and applying various tactics in trying to remain afloat in the market. This report was requested by a successful company, - Apple Inc. to be precise- with an aim to provide solutions concerning the Integrated marketing communications strategies. Contained herein are statistics on the usage of Smartphones in some countries as other strategies that Apple Inc. could employ in order to meet its goals. The findings of the UK’s smartphones market have been a result of extensive research conducted and gained from some of the most reliable sites. 2.0 Literature review Integrated marketing communication (IMC) has been defined in various ways but in all these variations, all agree that it involves the strategies developed in ensuring a product is sold in markets. Normally, a company will create these with a sole aim of ensuring that products sales have been boosted and various methods may be used. Some of these methods include public relations, advertising, promotions and in with the current invention, the social media. Different individual son the effectiveness of these strategies has conducted various research findings. Gromark and Melin (2013) reported that IMC has proved pretty effective especially when the right individuals have been assigned the job Others shared these sentiments reported that since IMC revolves around the customer and the information availed is factual it enable winning the credibility. That is to say a good IMC ought to be consistent with the communication it avails to the clientele to avoid mistrust. Additionally, it could have positive impact on the competitive advantage of a company. It was noted that companies that develop a strong IMC tend to have dominance in the market (“What is IMC?” 2014). Those having a weak product especially when it comes to communication with the client do struggle in the market. Similarly, IMC usually boosts sales because it incorporates various methods of promotion and advertisement. Whenever a company seeks to have IMC, one of the things it ought to do is ensure lack of contradictory information about a product. Having promotions that give differing data from others only makes clients suspicious (Meunier-FitzHugh and Piercy 2011). In fact, clients prefer to see the same data in various adverts and promotions failure to which the integrity of a company is usually jeopardized. Instead, a company’s IMC has to be consistent irrespective of the platform it is utilizing, social media included. In terms of the success that has been witnessed because of this approach, Microsoft Inc. was found to have increased its sales in the 2011. Surprisingly, it was reported that contrary to many people’s perception that the company’s large clientele was responsible for this, the company cited IMC (Madhavaram, Badrinarayanan and McDonald 2005). Often, the media and other publicists tend to err in attributing success to a particular factor as evidenced by this report. Evidently, the IMC is an imperative to every business; developing a better one would be better thus the need to develop one for the Apple Inc. The aforementioned sources are not the only ones that validate the assertions of having a strong IMC; Olof (2006) noted that a company’s performance in the market is determined greatly by this strategy. The interpretation if this assertion is that how the customer view a company is vitally important; a company is normally viewed as per its own presentation to the clients. Whenever a company fails a client or causes doubts in would-be clients, it has limited chances of success unless measures to redeem itself are devised promptly. 3.0 Smartphone market environment review: The UK is one of the areas that Smartphones are very popular among all age groups as evidenced by data collected in 2011. In the research, two out of six adults owned a Smartphone; additionally, 42% out the 58% total number of people owning Smartphones were male. Adults use Smartphones mainly for email and surfing the internet while teenagers for social networking, listening to music and playing games and videos. In fact, the findings revealed that 68% of the teenagers used for the purpose of visiting social media sites, 65% for listening to music and 50% playing the online games. Conversely, slightly above 40% was the number of adults using the gadget for socializing on the social media, 30% used it for music but surprisingly 50% used for playing games (BBC 2011). Survey on the teenagers aged between 12 and 15 revealed that Smartphones were very popular also in this group. Over 52% of the respondents were girls and used the gadget while close to 48% were boys who comfortably handled the gadget for the aforementioned purposes. When asked which gadget was popular, 32% of the adults surveyed said Apple’s iPhone was their favorite compared to the 37% of the teens who preferred Blackberry, however, 37% of the adult respondents felt Apple’s product had better features and a whopping 60% of teenagers “described themselves as ‘addicted’ to the device” (BBC 2011). Since then, the trend has taken yet another turn with Oxfam (2014) reporting that 51% of all adults in UK owned Smartphones in the first quarter of 2013. Interestingly, the figure had shot up to 61% in the first quarter in 2014. It has further been forecasted that by the year 2018 almost everyone- adults and teenagers to be precise- in UK will be having a Smartphone. As indicated earlier, the usage of Smartphones in UK vary with the age group where majority of teenagers hardly use it emailing services unlike their adults counterparts. Ironically, despite Apple’s iPhone brand being the most popular in the UK a larger number of teenagers preferred the Blackberry. From the above statistics, it is clear that the UK is one place Apple’s Smartphone could thrive if the right strategies are devised and implemented appropriately. Firstly, the Apple’s main competition is fronted by the Blackberry but the fact that the brand is the most popular mean there is a chance to capitalize on. The environmental factors that may significantly influence the strategic decisions include the major competitor as well as the entry Samsung in the market. Whereas there may be other factors, these are the areas necessitating focus. This is because Blackberry seems to be most preferred gadget while Samsung is a company whose selling prowess cannot be underestimated. 4.0 Company strategies 4.0.1Target audience The attitude displayed by most teens is that they have a preference of Blackberry but have an unquenched desire for Apple’s gadget. As reported, a majority sated that they were addicted to the gadget thus creating the impression that this gadget has some features that resonate well with this group. Therefore, judging from these behaviors it is evident that Apple’s has not been able to understand what the market has for the product. A customer is identified mainly from behavior (“What is IMC” 2014) but Apple has somehow failed to realize this. In essence it means there has been a disconnect between the company and the facts on the ground. If not so, the company has mainly targeted the adults evidenced by the number of adults whose preferences were on the Apple’s product. Secondly, it could be properly argued that the company’s representative have failed to investigate the rationale behind the teenager’s preference for Blackberry. It is amazing that a group can claim to have a preference on one gadget but still maintain relation with another they supposedly resent. From the results obtained in the findings, this is not hard to explain; the gadget is well developed but its features are not well elaborated. Surprisingly the teenagers have found some these features but there is not communication of the same from the company. Lifestyle shows that many UK residents prefer using these gadgets for either socializing or communication in the online businesses. Whereas the teenagers may not be doing anything useful with their gadgets, they nevertheless use for a long time. The adults’ lifestyle is that of communicating via email as opposed to phones. Again, it was predicted that more people in UK would be using the Smartphones by 2018. According to Oxfam (2014), the figure could hit 77% for adults alone. This therefore means that people in this country are moving away from the usage of computers to connect online. In fact, Oxfam found out that only 29% were using the laptops to surf the internet. 4.1.1. Brand positioning The essence of this report is to ensure that IOS becomes a phenomenon not only in UK but also elsewhere. Apple initially developed this operating system for some of its gadgets, but later extends the use to other devices by the same company. As has been with many of its other products, the company made huge sales on its launching of this product. Currently, the IOS can be used on TVs, Smartphones, iPad and Tablets among others thus making it a brand that can be utilized even in a better way than before. In terms of competition, it is factual to state that Apple’s brand encountered aggressive competition from Google’s Android. Apple’s brand name has helped it withstand the competition, which came at a time when the company was still involved in a lawsuit with Samsung. Notwithstanding these hurdles, the company was able to make sales though not to its best hence the need to have these strategies developed without further procrastination. Apple’s products command quite a large following thus it is the preferred application save for the few who prefer the Android. Having said this, it is factual to state that recently many have focused on the Google’s android hence the need for these strategies to be implemented as soon as possible. 4.1.2. Media selection Currently, the Apple utilizes various media to spread or inform the public of its products including the websites, TV and Radios. Additionally, the print media- newspapers, magazines as advertisements are used. Individuals who want to purchase any product from Apple can use any of the said platforms. Whereas, much has been done to portray the company in good light, it is not enough and improving these strategies is vital. In case clients have complaints with any of the product the company sells, emails is the main platform Apple uses to communicate with its clients. 5.0 Recommendations Whereas it is commendable that Apple has taken the initiative to handle customers using these platforms, there are ways it can better them. Firstly, using the website require more than just providing the email address or the cell phone. In this century where clients want their concerns addressed in real-time, it would be beneficial to Apple if an operator answered questions from the clients on a one-on-one. That is to say, a client will not even have to write an email save for cases that are inevitable. Instead, every query is handled online. This IMC seeks to strategize in such a way that Apple customers who seek answers online will not have to write an email. It was earlier noted that majority of the UK residents use the Smartphones in emailing and doing business. Furthermore, the forecast indicted a mammoth of them will be having these gadgets by 2018 meaning their needs will increase. The implication here is that people’s behavior and lifestyles are changing from ones who wanted to wait for answers to ones whose thirst for instant answers has gone up. Customer identification is normally the first part in a successful IMC process and it is done by observing the results from collected data (“What is IMC” 2014). In that regard, it means that Apple has to be a bit analytical of the customers’ behavior in UK as provided by a reliable Oxfam and capitalize on these numbers. It could be that people are fond of Apple products but a little reserved about their customer service hence hold back. Apple does have some social sites where clients post their queries but there is still need for improvement. The great number of customers worldwide may not be sufficiently served by one or three social sites. Moreover, the fact that it may not be possible for a company to operate several social sites pages in one platform means there could be a bunch of customer queries which go unanswered or tediously. However, the same cannot be said if the company assigned several operators to handle the online concerns. This could be achieved by directing every question on the social media to several persons. The above steps are very important to every business as they are very important in the evaluation of customers. The valuation of customers or prospects comes as the second step and it is vital to every business since new customers could be lost because of a feedback submitted by one existing client. In this era, social media sites have become pretty powerful platforms in terms of marketing and attracting new customer. With the same token, it has become a platform where business could be lost due to a negative feedback offered by a dissatisfied customer (Madhavaram et al. 2005). Regarding the advertisement methods, the company needs to ensure explanation of variance in its products. Sometimes, it is quite normal for a company to sell a commodity differently in terms of pricing from the other. The reason for this disparity is the cost of doing business in certain countries. Picture for instance a person visiting London and realizes a product being sold at a different price from the one in another. Carrying a small disclaimer stating where the prices are applicable would ensure clients’ confidence is not lost. As noted earlier, customers tend to cast doubt on any information from one company if it is not consistent. Therefore, it is hereby recommended that Apple Inc. ensure a small part of most, if not all of its products indicate which prices apply where. Additionally, in this era of internet marketing and affiliation, Apple Inc. ought to have a system whereby companies or individuals owning high-traffic sites can be offered a commission. This would ensure that the visitors who may visit these web sites with little information on Apple Inc. have chance to see new products. Advertisement is imperative in the IMC and if possible, it is highly recommendable that incentives are included in the delivery of messages. Creating messages and delivering incentives is a step that many companies utilize when developing an IMC (“What is IMC” 2014). Apple will not be exceptional concerning this step and any client purchasing the IOS and recommends another will be offered an incentive. Concerning the broader marketing part, Apple has to avail its gadgets to the young people, as it seems they are not targeted. It is sad that despite the yearning in the young people to have these gadgets it has not been done exhaustively by Apple Inc. In order to win this group, Smartphones installed with IOS shall be sold to the young people as well. To do this, this group shall be targeted using what was revealed most preference. Earlier, the findings revealed that the young people use the Smartphones for social media-related activities, listening to music and playing games. Apple’s innovation will be utilized to have several games applications added with a sole aim of targeting this group. Once developed, Apple’s games will be placed on the websites and its social sites pages where young people will be given a discount upon purchase of a device with IOS application. One ought to remember that the reason for doing all this is to increase profitability and the goal is increasing revenues. Therefore, before rushing to implement the next step of this strategy requires a closer and a careful assessment on the return one will get after investing these resources onto the customer (“What is IMC?” 2014). The staff who will be added in order to handle complaints or request will need to be paid meaning the prospect ought to be converted into a real client. The best method to approach this one is by firstly limiting the expenses and mixing the traditional ways of advertising. For instance, the promotions on TV are acceptable but not always a guarantee of profitability. The company could sponsor an event whereby the targeted group is welcomed upon a purchase of a company product. For instance, Apple ought to sponsor a debate session whereby young people converge and debate with the winner being awarded. For every person entering the venue, the requirement would be to purchase any Apple-affiliated product. Budgeting of these strategies is essential to curb any wastage and this step imperative as much the others are. Once a budget has been allocated for these strategies, the next step is to assess if the budget fits in and whether strategies are feasible. Recycling comes in handy once the strategies have been assessed and their efficiency proved (“What is IMC?” 2014). By having the company follow the recommended IMC process, there is no likelihood of wastage or missing out on the clients as Apple has been doing. 6.0 Summary To sum it up, Apple Inc. has an opportunity to assert its position in the UK market despite the few challenges encountered. Since the data has revealed UK to be a friendly environment for the company to thrive, the only step remaining is having a working strategy. The current stats may not be quite pleasant but this IMC will change things at Apple- UK if all the recommendations are implemented. Firstly, Apple can no longer ignore the teenage group, which has been found to be its would-be clients. The young people prefer using Blackberry but not because of its features. On the other hand, the same group claims Apple to be gadget they would love to have. In essence, the group is saying there is a need yet to be met. In order to meet this need, it is vital that Apple employs the said strategies in its operations by firstly looking at the data. The customer behavior exhibited by the majority of UK residents is that Smartphones are the only options and that in times to come, there would be no one using any other gadget except these ones. In light of this, it is a clear indication that the market is ready for Apple. The best approach is to win the confidence of these people even before everyone owns a Smartphone. To win this confidence, it is important that all the questions they may have regarding the same be handled satisfactorily. To do this, invest in having as many staff in the websites and social sites as possible. Finally, locate some of the most active web sites and place adverts showing Apple’s IOS there; on purchase and recommendation of another customer, let one client be offered an incentive. Bibliography BBC News, (2011). Third of adults use smartphone. [online] Available at: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-14397101 [Accessed 28 Nov. 2014].http://media.ofcom.org.uk/facts/ Gromark, J. And Melin, F. (2013). From Market Orientation To Brand Orientation In The Public Sector. Journal Of Marketing Management, 29(9-10), Pp.1099-1123. Le Meunier-Fitzhugh, K. And Piercy, N. (2011). Exploring The Relationship Between Market Orientation And Sales And Marketing Collaboration. Journal Of Personal Selling And Sales Management, 31(3), Pp.287-296. Madhavaram, S., Badrinarayanan, V. And Mcdonald, R. (2005). Integrated Marketing Communication (Imc) and Brand Identity as Critical Components Of Brand Equity Strategy: A Conceptual Framework And Research Propositions. Journal Of Advertising, 34(4), Pp.69-80. Olof Holm, (2006) "Integrated Marketing Communication: From Tactics To Strategy", Corporate Communications: An International Journal, Vol. 11 Iss: 1, Pp.23 - 33 Ofcom (2014). Ofcom | Facts & figures. [online] Available at: http://media.ofcom.org.uk/facts/ [Accessed 28 Nov. 2014]. What is IMC?". Journal of Integrated Marketing Communication. Retrieved 28 Nov. 2014 Read More