Company overview
Apple Company designs, manufactures and sells personal computers, mobile media and communication devices and digital music players. They also sell various related software, peripherals, networking solutions and services. It sells its products across the world using online stores, retail stores and sales forces (Dalgic, 2015). Apple was founded by Steve Jobs in 1976 and it has its headquarters in Cupertino.
Competition
Apple faces stiff competition in all its products. In the Smartphone market, the competition is stiff due to the numerous existing and emerging producers of Smartphone. In the iPhone 6 market, the main competitor is Samsung Note 4. The two products shares major similarities but iPhone 6 still has competitive edge because the features it offers and its durability are in another level (Smith & Taylor, 2014).
Research and the marketing strategy
Marketing research and the marketing strategy have the potential of improving company's brand. It also helps in targeted and optimizedmarketing that has a high possibility of increasing the results of the company. The marketing strategy is the foundation for the brand growth efforts. The strengths of Apple include innovation and the marketing capabilities. Theweaknesses include heir premium pricing. The opportunities include the growing demand for their product and a market share growth while the threats include competition and gross margin pressures.
The marketing mix objectives
The marketing mix objectives refersto the goals that the business sets when it is promotion its services or products t their potential consumers. The objectives should be reached in a specified time frame. The marketing strategies for Apple Companyincludeincreased product awareness among their target markets, reducing consumer resistance of the product purchase and communicating the features of the product(Dalgic, 2015).
Product positioning strategy
The product positioning strategy is positioned along the functional dimension of its products. Appledoes this by showing all the function or jobs that the customer will get done better when they use the device. The company is able to use emotion in its product positioning. It is able to enable customer perceive that the product's value is great. By positioning g its products around the functional benefits, Apple has been able to bring emotional appeal which is important in the positioning strategy.
Customer profile
Fiftypercent of households in the US haveat least on device form Apple (Ferrell, 2012). 30% of individuals also claim that they a regular users of the Apple devices. The students also make up a significant market for the Apple and especially the I-Phone 6. The customer profile also consists of educated people and people who are technologically savvy. 20% OF retired people also use the Apple products.
Marketing communications
Apple markets its devices in a manner that the customer is attracted to the product. They use visuals that are explained in words. They believe in the power of images and other visuals in their marketing and communication. Their advertisements are created with white space in them. This represents openness. Theyshift the focus on the product and on their words. They do not have distractions and they make it very easy to connect to the key message.
Distribution of the product
Apple is improving and ending its distribution capabilities. It does this by opening their own retail stores in major cities of the world in quality shopping venues and in up-market (Ferrell, 2012). Apple provides I-phone expert retail floors to sell the product. It also distributes using strategic alliances with different companies.