Apple Strategic Marketing Strategies

Apple tracks mostly in its strategic marketing a few tactics like ignore the criticism, turn the simple into something stylish, premium price, communicate in easy language that everyone understands, enhance customer experience, community building, and product become the brand. All above are the strategic marketing paths derived by Apple, however, among all premium price strategy is most critical. According to company the same strategy of premium price could be translated into that “Apple sale on value not on price”. 

As far as product development is concerned Apple seeks market opportunities but innovate for people who love it and that the reason company is on top among other PC, Tablets, and Smartphone companies. It does novelty all the time and simultaneously facilitates customers with lot of features. Still customers are annoyed from company due to the price fact. Premium price means Price setting of new products consists in set high initial prices to “skim” revenues layer-by-layer form the market. Company follows in main strategic approach brand loyalty of the customers to Apple.

Customer thinks that Apple should innovate its strategies overall like products. It should give tough time to its competitors. Among customer types only innovators and early-adapter customers were less price sensitive as compared to others and value brand empathy, status, and fashion. Customer perceived Apple currently innovative, expensive, and for elite class. It should apply justified pricing strategy. It will surely bring it a huge market share. Also help Apple in evaluating for the brand new market segments and product penetration and ultimately improve market share in the competitive market. 

Apple should be a little customer-centric from product-centric approach. It means it should listen to its customer feedback that is a key in relationship marketing. It should make niche segments and offer a product line to satisfy customer that Apple worth their customers. The process of relationship marketing required to do by the organizations in order to develop strong customer relationship. The process has four stages as: selection of key customers, study of expectations, formulation and implementation of strategies, and cooperation and feedback. 

Finally, it has a lot of opportunities in future regarding new market segments and product development for niche groups. Its potential customers believe that it should charge from customers the justified price and made innovative product to cater a particular segment need by providing a product line. Currently Apple is working on almost all these strategic marketing strategies to satisfy its customers.

ZMOT - Advance Branding Strategies’ Milestone

ZMOT stands for Zero Moment of Truth. It’s just like for customers FMOT – First Moment of Truth and SMOT – Second Moment of Truth. It is for help in decision making process while they are going to purchase a product or want to adopt a service. All of us no matters know marketing or not by their terminologies but its right that we have knowledge about marketplaces and markets. We precisely know what is going on all around us and why? Similarly, Zero Moment of Truth is a phase or step in buying decision making process. Entire world is busy in the ZMOT phase for large as well as small purchases. The essence of this branding strategy is it indicates to your potential customer about your brand’s customer satisfaction level and persuades them to follow your brand instead of competitors.

Google author “Jim Lecinski” defined this ZMOT as the Winning the Zero Moment of Truth. It is the stage when a company wins or loses a customer. In order to win customers, organization must adopt this advance branding milestone by providing and facilitating them with their brand information e.g. what is its positioning? What kind of people can use them? And In what situations it can be used? The story not ends here but it is a start to provoke customers that you are the best in a particular brand category. Try to be at the top in customer’s rating and positive reviews.

About 90% of customers are first go to the search pages in order to gulp all the information available for brand they want to buy before going to a store. Now it is not as simple as in early times. In old times TV advertisement, print Ads, and Radio Ads were play dual role as a stimulus and also as ZMOT for customers. However, recently scenarios are totally changed and internet is the major player of ZMOT among family and friend references. Internet branding related all tools are tools of ZMOT. It includes Social networks, Blogs, Ratings and Reviews Sites, Articles, and even email notifications.

In order to activate ZMOT for your brand start indulging your brand in all those activities. Avoid believing your target and potential customers that you are a new comer in a particular field than your competitors. Make your image sophisticated, and technologically modern than rest of the bodies present in the field. Make your giant presence over internet and win customer’s Zero Moment of Truth. From now and onward just design branding strategies with this goal and you will see the result in the form of winning in the entire business objectives. Start thinking about the crucial importance of it and when you are commencing ZMOT of your brand? Develop a track for it today as the battle is ON!

Creative Advertisement: Branding Strategies

It is important to know for advertiser and marketer that buying begins in the customers’ minds before the actual transaction happened. So, the crucial element is capturing the mind of the customers for those products or services came in existence. There are too many advertising strategies that are in implementation phase currently all over the world but the fruitful are as following: 

• Use familiar objects with unfamiliar relationships: A man kissing a lion!
• Use people: people love to talk about other people! 
• Use Babies but be very careful: A symbol of trust, love, care, innocence, and beauty! 
• Use humorous image: grab fun to attract target audience! 
• Use sexy shoots: where it is suitable and possible too! 
• Use dangerous situations: As a tool of amaze and learning! 
• Use product or service itself: To highlight possibilities of its use! 
• Use celebrity along with product or service: For celebrity fan to follow it!
• Use people desires: It provokes them to utilize the product to fulfill them! 
• Use before and after pictures: To gain customer’s faith for product!

Remember that advertising is a tool and strategy to talk with the target audience and provide them an opportunity to find out solution of their problems. Hence, as a marketer it is one’s prime objective and duty to talk with buyers more about the product, its functionality, and additional or value added benefits other than fun, appealing, action etc. 

For any buyer the prime four reasons to buy a product is motivation to fulfill a need, want, desire and to overcome a fear. Advertising is a way to convince people about a particular product or service so that they should consider it seriously when a buying situation occurs, no matters where and when.

However, an advertising message should be attractive, unique, and must grab people attention so that they notice it. A message should be in the form of a small sentence so that they get it in just a glance over it. Moreover, it should be delivered in a most persuasive way so that buyers consider it seriously. And for that reason one can utilize the one among ten highlighted ways for it.

In epitome, one should not apply a strategy blindly as it required a deep understanding about the product and its functionality other than the problems for them, it is a remedy. Thus, it is better for one to hire a professional marketing expert to do branding for them likewise.

A Worthy Replacement of 4P’s to 4C’s in Marketing Strategies

The 4P's of marketing have replaced by the 4C's. Product by CONSUMER needs and wants, Price by COST to satisfy consumers, Place by CONVENIENCE to buy, and Promotion by COMMUNICATION. Hence, the roots of the 4C’s of marketing can be traced back to the classical 4P’s marketing mix. And in it the focus has shifted from a consumer transactional view-point to a consumer relationship viewpoint and very recently launched strategy “consumer engagement”. However, the fundamental strategies remain unchanged at its very core. 

A product is today no longer succeeding by making what one wants but instead of it on finding out what customers want. Focusing on Customer Value allows one to reset his perceptions around what it is one are creating and bringing to the market, be it a product, service or some other value. Everything begins and ends with customers. Value is what customer is concerned about, not about fabulous product. Value is how one does define marketing mix “products” and what one should seek to engage its customer with. It is the value one provides that defines one in the marketplace. 

Instead of thinking of price as something one charge, think of cost as something customers pay. This simple adjustment once again opens up a whole new way of thinking about marketing. When one define marketing mix cost tune into the customer dilemma of deciding “how to spend limited money to satisfy unlimited wants”. Is one providing enough capital to compete effectively? Motivation in going to market should not be to maximize one gain but to maximize customer value. Therefore, one should ask how one can provide more for the same cost to the customer instead of asking to make more profit from a product. 

Thinking about convenience not only allows one to open up to newer ways of connecting with customers and distributing products, but helps one shift into the mindset of providing an optimum overall experience for customers. To define marketing mix in terms of convenience reminds one that customers today are very busy and have many choices. It is no longer one right as a business owner but a privilege when customers choose one. Make it as easy as possible for them to do so. 

Promotion is for the days of mass marketing. Customers today seek to be engaged and have meaningful interactions with one product. One must therefore strive for two-way communication and building relationships.