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Apple
Apple’s target audience is not specified, but
it is considered to be teenagers as they are the consumers that use the widest
range of Apple’s products, i.e. iPhones, iPods, MacBooks etc. Whereas other age
groups may only use a limited collection of products (such as businessmen known
for using iPhones). However this is just an assumption as Apple do not produce
their products to be age range specific and nowhere do they state who they
originally aimed to target and instead focus more on attending the needs of the
general public.
It is common knowledge that Apple’s main
competitor is Android, and therefore this is whom they are commonly compared
to. It seems to be a constant battle of ‘Apple. vs. Android’ in the headlines
and this also applies to their market share too. In 2014, figures show that
Android held 80.2% of the market share, whilst Apple only maintained 14.8%, so
whilst Apple have held onto a sizable chunk of the market share, Android are
rapidly eating up the majority.
In 2015, between April and July, Apple was
leading in the increasing amount of people adopting Apple are their choice of
smartphone. Apple increased by 1.1%, compared to Samsung that resulted in a
loss of 1.3%. However It is listed that Apple’s main competitors, when
considering all products, not just the commonly thought of favourite ‘iPhone’;
when bearing in mind computers, laptops, tablets and iPods, the main
competitors are: Samsung, Google and Microsoft.
It is hard to fault Apple’s strategies when it
comes to advertising and being recognisable, as you would be hard pushed to
find someone that wouldn’t be able to identify an iPhone or name at least one
Apple product. In fact in this generation, it is hard enough to find someone
that doesn’t own at least one Apple product. However, although Apple remains
highly competitive and has made a definite name for themselves, the main thing
I would do differently is to expand their brand focus from one product to many.
Whenever you see an Apple ad or hear about the latest new Apple product, nine
times out of ten it will be about the latest iPhone, as this is admittedly
their best seller. When talking to someone about Apple, I guarantee that the
iPhone is the first product to pop into his or her mind. There are such a wide
range of Apple products available on the market that some consumers may not
even be aware of. I personally do not think there is enough emphasis on
advertising all the alternative Apple products offered. If focused on, this
would ultimately increase their market share, make them more competitive and
increase popularity with a new potential consumer market. This strategy can be
seen as effective in one of the most recent launches of a new product; the
Apple Watch. They launched this new product onto the market with a heavy
advertising campaign supporting it and with the high level of exposure and
effort behind promoting this new product, they were very successful.
· Paid – The direct email received from people
that own an Apple ID or are registered to receive latest news and updates. The
ads that are shown on TV and the ever-effective large banners showing the
‘latest model’ of an iPhone or iPad. · Owned – There is a slick and refined website that has been polished and has become uniquely recognisable in its own right for its appearance. Apple have been branded as ‘afraid of or allergic to social media’, but are now ‘getting over’ that by expanding into social media slowly. More than a decade after the creation of Facebook and more than eight years after the founding of Twitter, the world’s most valuable company and second-most valuable brand is an increasingly lonely social media holdout. Though it maintains accounts for iTunes and the App Store, Apple doesn’t have an official corporate Facebook page or Twitter profile. Nor does it have one on Instagram, Google+ or Pintrest (like many of its competitors).
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| A screenshot from the website. |
· Earned – Word of mouth is what I would say
leads their marketing strategy. Apple have cleverly collected a group of almost
‘fan like customers’ that have then in turn spread the word of Apple and have
built their reputation so strong, with minimal effort from Apple themselves.
With subtle presence on social media, it is easy to argue that it would have
been hard to get to where they have today, but Apple have tactically avoided
social media and have gone around it in a unique but effective and strategically
way, which has evidently worked in their favour.
