Advertising, Public Relations and Sales Promotion

From its earliest years, Apple has become one of the most well-known companies for its advertising, and although their sales techniques are not as aggressive as from there competitors, they still manage to be a popular and successful company, till this day.

Apple's most significant ad commercial and campaigns, that put them in the position they are in today, include the "1984" Super Bowl commercial, which mimicked imagery from Gorge Orwell's 1984, and the "Think Different" campaign during the 1990's, which linked apple to famous social figures, such as the artist John Lennon and freedom fighter Mahatma Gandhi. Another famous ad campaign was the "iPod people" during the early 2000's.

The campaign ad that I remember and enjoyed watching was the "Get a Mac" commercials, which basically showed viewers that a Macintosh computer was better than the PC by comparing both on there capabilities and specifications

Today Apple ads are focused less on technical details and specifications, but more on the impact they have in the lives of millions of users, such as the TV ad on the right

Not only does Apple use advertisement to catch the public's attention, but it also uses its public relations to reach out to the public or to consumers/customers. For example, when Apple announces the launch of new product, it builds some sort of an excitement and eagerness among the public especially among loyal customers, and leaves them waiting until they actually reveal the product through a live video that can be viewed from anyone and anywhere through a personal computer.

Apple also uses Sales promotion as way to target the different kinds of consumers, for example Apple offers discounted products to only those who qualify as a college student. Another thing is with the iPhone 5 and 5s, Apple has discounted the prices of previous models, such as the 4 and 4s which the main target for that may be lower income consumers.

Marketing Channels and Retailing

Based on a the chart on the left, most consumers/customers have come across an Apple product through these retailers,which are also referred to as Apple's marketing channels, which links producers to buyers, perform sales, advertising and promotion, and influences a firms pricing strategy. Apple also distributes there products through online websites such as Apple.com, and other websites that are not owned by Apple, such as Amazon and eBay. Another thing is, most of there marketing channels have there own website, therefore there products will also be displayed on there website as well. So not only, does Apple distribute there products through Apple stores and other retailers, but it also distributes through online retailers globally, which because of this Apple is ranked as the 1# best global brand in the world which leads me to my next topic, Retailing.

  For many firms, there goal is to make money, but for Apple, making money is the result of the firm's actions not the goal. There goal, which is uncommon for a firm who create superior products and sell them in there specialty stores, is to delight customers. Because they strongly believe in there goal, Apple teaches its employees not to sell but rather to help customer's solves problems. In there training manual, it even says "Your job is to understand all of your customers' needs, some of which they may not even realize". By doing exactly that, every employee needs start off with the steps of service which are found in the acronym APPLE

Approach customers with a personalized warm welcome
Probe politely to understand all the customer’s need
Present a solution for the customer to take home today
Listen for and resolve any issues or concerns
End with a fond farewell and an invitation to return

By following these steps, Apple creates a nice conformable atmosphere for all customers and conforms to there goal of delighting customers. But delighting consumers not only require a positive customer experience, it also requires continuous innovation, in which Apple is mostly known for that. The results of this and there goal of delighting customers/consumers has contributed to Apple's success in retailing and has isolated them from most retailers today.        

Consumer Decision Making

         For all types of consumers, purchasing an apple product, such as the Mac, may be a difficult task especially when when there are other options, such as the PC. Even though Apple is known for there superior products, most consumers take other non-apple products into consideration. But once consumers go through the Consumer decision-making process it makes there decision much easier and simpler.
         The first step in the consumer decision-making process is need recognition. As mentioned in the book, Need recognition is triggered by an Internal or an External stimuli. In this case, an example of an Internal stimuli can be a bad experience with a PC virus, which may lean a consumer towards buying a Mac over a PC and an example of an external stimuli can be from an Apple commercial comparing a Mac to a PC.
         The second step is Information search, the Apple website, which is an example of an external information search, is the perfect source for searching information on the different types of mac, apple has to offer. Another way consumers search for information is through internal information search, which may be from a past experience the consumer had with a apple product. The most loyal apple consumers are the ones who buy the latest and newest apple products based only on internal information.
         The third step is Evaluation of alternatives, which help the consumer make a decision. This is usually done by evaluating and comparing alternatives based on the consumer's internal and external information either from stored memory or from outside sources.

         Once all three steps are carefully thought out, it is time for the consumer to Purchase. Before the purchase the consumer must decide whether to buy, when to buy, what to buy, where to buy, and how to pay. But because Apple products have always been good at exceeding expectations, it shouldn't be difficult for the consumer to decide.

          Finally, when buying a products, consumers expect certain outcomes from the purchase. How well these expectations are met determines whether the consumer is satisfied or dissatisfied with the purchase. These determination is called Post purchase behavior.

Developing a Global Vision

  Last year, Coca-cola was the #1 Best Global Brand in the world. Today, Coca-cola places in third with Google in second and Apple at first. The way they determined this was by financial performance of there products and services, the role the brand plays in influencing consumer choice, and the strength the brand has to command a premium price in which Apple fulfills all three. But Apple wasn't always globally known in markets. Apple first hit the charts in 2000, with the release of the iPod which really put Apple in Worldwide markets for personal electronics devices. The iPod, which replaced CD players or any type of audio playing device at the time, is a personal music player that is capable of storing hundreds of CD's. Unlike it's release of its first personal computer, the Macintosh, Apple decided to take this product and make it known, rather than keeping it to itself and it did. Apple later launched the iTunes Music store in 2003 in the U.S, and 2004 in Europe and with those two product and service Apple started expanding. Also, another way they started becoming global is when they started manufacturing its products in Chine due to lower costs and because most of the products needed for manufacturing were made in china. Because of this, Apple gained access to China's Markets, in which China has the biggest population in the world and a very strong and stable economy then from there they started spreading there products.