Any business wants to succeed and be valued by having more customers. For achieving spectacular results, business needs a plan. Integrated marketing communication is the process of planning the brand strategy and marketing of the company in a way that it is relevant and consistent with all of its audiences, the point of contacts and potential customers. The message is communicated through slogans, signs, promotions, colors, and innovative mediums. The integration of marketing communication and brand strategy gives a unified message to the target market not leaving room for any confusion (Percy, 2014).
Apple Inc is the company, which was founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, who wanted to change the vision of the people of looking at computers. They wanted to make it a consumer product and user-friendly. The company revolutionized by introducing color graphics in the computer industry. After some time, Steve Jobs also left the company. However, when the company started to move downwards, it called for Steve Jobs’ help who became an iCEO (interim CEO). The company started making revamped computers, iBook with its personal iOS. It further diversified into the music industry and branched into the iPod and iTunes. The company is now more popular for its iPhones which are most common in the US and the rest of the world as well (Terrell, 2008).
Apple Inc is operating in the manufacturing, design, and marketing of media devices, mobile devices, personal computers, and portable media players. The company is operating through its geographical segments of Europe, Greater China, America, Japan and Rest of Asia Pacific (CNN Business, 2018). Apple generic strategy is broad differentiation. The company’s intensive growth strategy is closely linked with the pricing and marketing areas. As being one of the most valuable companies in the world, Apple Inc generic strategy is a major determinant of its competitive strength against the other companies (Baker & Hart, 2016). With an emphasis on innovation, and excellence in the field of product design the company has succeeded in gaining premium pricing from its customers. The position of the company is strong because of the effective use of its generic strategy (Porter, 2008). The use of broad differentiation allows Apple to focus on the main features which make the company different from its competitors. The emphasis on design makes it stand out in the market (Henry, 2018).
Along with the high-end branding and user-friendliness of the operating system, it gets a much premium price for its products than its competitors. Even with all the complexity of innovation, uniqueness and high pricing, the company targets a broad market by using its highly effective, user-friendly operating system (Thompson & Martin, 2010). The most valuable company in the world is not shy to reveal how many of its products are currently being used by its customers. From tablets, smart watches, and computers to phones, over 1 billion products are being used of Apple products. However, this is not a very good estimate of its users. It has been found that about 558 million users are using Apple products, showing that each user owns about 1.7 products of Apple (Leswing, 2016).
Looking at the characteristics of the Apple users, it has been revealed that phone users are more educated, and their household income also tends to be more affluent. There is no specific age distribution which prefers the phone. The users of the iPhone are more professional and businessmen and women in managerial, professional, operational and sales positions. Furthermore, it has been found from the survey that I phone users tend to be more addicted to digital devices. The phone people are more of an upper society and exist on the upper economic scale with higher representation in professional and managerial positions with higher education. These are tech enthusiasts as consumers of technology (Hixon, 2014).
The marketers think that the users of Apple Inc are more educated than the other phone users, which is not right. Furthermore, iPhone users are also considered as being more dominant and leading personalities which are not proven yet (Hixon, 2014). The Apple brand positioning is all about the experience it provides (Riezebos & Grinten, 2012). Astuies have shown that the brand positioning of Apple is based on emotional branding as he brand can be felt in the heart and mind of its consumers. The brand of Apple is reflected in its beliefs of imagination, innovation, and design. The company has promoted its products via customer experience and advertising.
Apple branding strategy is a corporate branding strategy which revolves around the emotional experience of its consumers with its products. The company focuses on user experience and is focused on its emphasis on design. Being a corporate brand, the company has projected a strong humanistic culture and has unique verbal and visual vocabulary. Furthermore, it has also established a strong connection with the consumers through its product experience (Razak & Zawawi, 2017). The target market of Apple Inc is aged from 22 to 25 years, both male and female gender with medium to high-income individuals. The company exuberates as a symbol of the lifestyle of the young, modern and open to change. The customer of Apple is hardcore loyalists who are once becoming its user hardly changes their brand. The company can also be alternatively positioned as a unique and range brand.
The advertising of Apple Inc is built on simplicity (Segall, 2012). The products of Apple speak for themselves. The company has positioned its advertising by keeping its message simple with less visual (McGhie, 2012). The advertisement is not compact with features, pricing, and special effects. The company knows it will sell itself and relies on circumstances. With simple advertising and less content, the company is selling around more than 1.5 billion products. The simple logo of an apple with a chunk missing shows it all. Research studies have shown that the most effective way of selling products to the consumer is not via the use of complicated advertisements, hyper inflated advertisements, and flashy websites (Sengupta, 2005).
The company can be advertised effectively by simplifying the decision making of the consumers. The advertising of Apple is effective because it connects to its target market. Like the advertisement of the PC vs. Mac in which two men are standing against white background shows the simplicity and power of the advertisement (Biebrach, 2009). The likes, dislikes, the language they use, how they communicate, what they wear, what they think is communicated by Apple to its consumers. They trust their customers would learn about their product and they provide information about their products through ratings and reviews (DeMers, 2014). Alternatively, the company can use more aggressive advertising strategy by using more celebrity cameos for its Asia Pacific region.
In today’s globalized world, the organization has to make efforts in communicating a consistent and concise message across its several platforms and mediums. The integration of this message is the key to uniformity and continuity. Implementation of integrated marketing communication can aid in providing competitive advantage of the successful business. Apple Inc is working ahead of all companies in technology by emphasizing research and development and marketing communication strategies (Sinek, 2011).
Brand loyalty and focus on customer satisfaction is communicated via these methods. The company uses a minimalistic approach by making small teams and focusing on its brand design of the products and communicating the image. The focus on colors, typeface, updating product, constant improvement by simplifying than making it more complicated (Schneiders, 2011). The company uses step by step instructions for its users on the screen. The company teamwork approach by using “Geniuses” in stores method and its rigorous training of employees and how they interact with the customers (not being pushy, creativity, banned words and helping the consumers). Online shopping is easy as well. The company uses direct marketing (Updates, iTunes, App Store) and focuses on brand loyalty. Press releases and meetings for the new products create excitement for the products. The company, product placement by reducing the media with iTunes in Commercials, Billboards, Magazines, update apps, and use products allows it to strengthen its integrated marketing communication (Brindha, 2014).
Different situations have different effects on the message and its influence. The effect of the context of the message is very apparent and effective. The advertising of the company and the message it conveys is dependent on the environment in which it is displaced. For instance, the advertisement of the PC vs. Mac would not have been appropriate in an earlier period as the company advertisement would not have connected with the then generation as the message is designed as per this generation (Katie, 2013).
The objectives of the marketing of the company Apple Inc are Continued creation of groundbreaking products which exuberates innovation, creativity, and makes a name for it and identifies itself as the trendsetter, dictating the future technology movement, expansion of chains of Apple globally, sustaining premium pricing and increasing of profit margins
The company’s marketing communication has been effective as it is continually innovating and developing creative products like iPhone X. The company has strong brand recognition, which is a symbol of lifestyle, open-mindedness, and modernity. The company is always way ahead of its competitors regarding technology. The global expansion of Apple is also evident. Its strategies also sustain the premium pricing of the company. The profit margins have been witnessing an increase as well.
In the end, it can be concluded that it is evident that the company Apple Inc is following emotional branding and corporate branding for its marketing. The company attracts educated, young, modern and open-minded individuals. The premium pricing of the product is compelled by its high quality, innovative and user-friendly device. The company emphasizes product design to make it more attractive and identifies itself as the technology trendsetter. The branding of Apple has made it the symbol of a unique lifestyle.
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