Chapter 16- Advertising, Public Relations and Sales Promotion


Advertising is a one way mass communication about a product or organization. Apple advertises in many ways. Some ways are televisions, phone companies, newspapers and online. Since Apple already has a name, and is a very popular company, they use Product Advertising. Product Advertising is a form of advertising that uses the benefits of a specific product or service. Apple is known worldwide. They show consumers how the product can benefit to the consumers. Apple uses the slogan "Think Different" to show consumers that their products and different from the other current or upcoming products. 
Public relations is the element in the promotional mix that evaluates public attitudes, identifies issues that may answer public concerns, and executes programs to gain public understanding and acceptance. Apple is always trying to fix any arising problems. For example when a new phone comes out, if any bugs occur with the new phones, you can take it to the Apple store and they will replace your phone. They want to make sure that their consumers are always a 100% satisfied with their products and/or service.  

Chapter 14- Marketing Channels and Retailing

A marketing channel, also known as a channel of distribution, is a business structure of interdependent organizations that reaches from the point of production to the consumers and facilities the downstream physical movements of goods through the supply chain. Apple uses dual distribution in order to distribute the same product to target market. Dual distribution is when a producer selects two or more channels to distribute the same product to the consumers. Apple uses direct channel by selling their products directly to the consumers in stores and also online at their website. Apple also uses retailer channel. A retailer channel is when the retailer is larger and can buy in large quantities directly from the manufacturer. Apple gives their products to Best Buy, Target, and also Walmart in order for those stores to be able to sell them. Using a direct channel, can be useful because they can profit more. Intensive distribution is used in the Apple company. This is a form of distribution aimed at maximum market coverage. Apple uses this form of distribution by putting their products in different stores in order for potential consumers to buy it. Apple also uses two types of retailing stores in order to put their products out there. Apple uses department stores that sell everything including electronics and they also use specialty store which is their store personally. Marketing channel can be viewed as a way for which products, their ownership, communication, financing and payment, and accompanying risk flow to the consumer. 

Chapter 6- Consumer Decision Making



It is important to know how consumers behave and make decisions. Consumer behavior describes how consumers make purchase decisions and how they use and dispose of the purchased good or services. Consumers usually follow a 5 step process called Consumer Decision Making Process when determining what to buy, and whether they should purchase it or not. The 5 steps in this process are (1) need recognition, (2) information search, (3) evaluation of alternatives,(4) purchases and (5) post-purchase behavior. 

The first step is need recognition, electronic devices aren't a need, more as a want that people feel the need to have. Apple is a largely known company and many external stimuli affect this company. Some are recommendations from others that already have the phones, some are the new design and colors that comes with the phones and also advertisements all of social media impact the company's sales. 

After recognizing the needs and wants, consumers search for information about the product. There are two different types of ways to research information. Internal information search is information stored in the memory. This information is stored from previous experience with the product. For exampling researching Apple phones is considered internal if the person already has an Apple phone or has dealt with Apple products before. External information is information in the outside environment. There are two types of external information sources which are nonmarketing-controlled and marketing-controlled. A nonmarketing controlled information source are not associated with marketers promoting a product. This would include trying a product for the first time, getting recommendations from a personal source or reading reviews from a source. A marketing-controlled information source is based on the product with marketers promoting. This includes sales promotion, salespeople and the internet. 

After getting information, the consumer is ready to make a decision.To make that decision consumers may evaluation alternatives. With Apple products especially the phones since they are a big hit, most people wouldn't really recommend an alternative. But there are some people, that will think about other phones including the Samsung Galaxy or even the LG phones. They both can compare to the Apple phones, all of them include touchscreen and they all have large screens now. 

Purchase is the next step in the process, people are purchasing a lot of Apple products especially their phone since a new one comes out every year and many people want to have the newest phone. In the first 3 days alone, the iPhone 6 / iPhone 6 Plus sold around 10 million devices. 

Post-purchase behavior is how well these expectations are met determines whether the consumer is satisfied or dissatisfied with the purchase. Most Apple consumer are satisfied with their products especially their phones since so many people purchase their phones yearly. 

Chapter 5- Developing a Global Vision


Global Marketing is marketing that target marks throughout the world. Apple leads the United States retail market. In 2014, Apple has 453 retail stores in 16 different counties and online store is available in 39 countries. Apple opened it's first store outside of the United States in 2003 in Japan. Apple also does business in China which has some of the highest growth rates and also have the worlds largest population. 

As of 2014, Apples annual revenue was $182,795 billion dollars. Also as of July of 2015, Apple has over 115,000 employees. 

Chapter 4- The Marketing Environment 


Apple sells their products to many different consumers, from teens to older people. Many different people walk around with Apple phones for many different reasons. Teens probably walk around with iphones to seem "cool". And older people walk around with iphones because it's very simple to use. Apple makes stylish, yet simple phones. Many different nationalities also use Apple phones. The most popular Iphones as of right now are the newest ones even though people are still using the older ones. 

Apple Phones & Samsung Galaxy Phones

Apples competition as of right now is Samsung Galaxy phones. They both come out with phones every year and they try making their phones better than the other. The newest phones that came out are the Apple Iphone 6s / Iphone 6s Plus and also the Samsung 6s / Samsung 6s Edge. 

Chapter 18- Social Media and Marketing 



Apple uses many different techniques to brand their company and market their products including social media. Social media is any tool or service that uses the Internet to facilitate conversations. When a new Apple product is announced or released, you hear about it everywhere. It's shown all over the news, in newspapers, on tv, and of course on Facebook and Twitter. Even though, social media is used greatly to promote the company, Apple doesn't have an official cooperate page. There is no official cooperate page on Facebook or Twitter, nor Instagram, Google+ or Pinterest. The only social media that Apple uses are LinkedIn and Youtube, which will be listed below.


Apple's LinkedIn Account : https://www.linkedin.com/company/apple 
Apple's Youtube Account :  https://www.youtube.com/user/Apple   


Apple's website also helps with marketing their products and services. On Apples website they have a section for each one of their products, which include but are not limited to, Mac, Ipad, Iphone, Watch and Tv. They also have a section for their Apple Music. I feel like the most helpful thing part of the website is the Support section though. Through the Support section, you can contact them via phone, chat or email. 

Chapter 2- Strategic Planning for Competitive Advantage 



Apple is actually a well known company that is very successful. In order for them to become so successful, they had to go through many trial and errors through strategic planning. According to the MKTG 8 book, Strategic planning is the managerial process of creating and maintaining a fit between the organization's objectives and resources and the evolving market opportunities. To get to the point that they are at now, Apple had goals. According to one of Apple's Senior Vice President of Design, Sir Jonathan Ive, he said that Apple's main goals isn't just about making money. Their goal is to make good products because if the products are good and the consumers are happy. If the consumers are happy, the customer satisfaction will go up and they'll make money regardless. 

According to the SWOT analysis in 2015, Apples strengths are they are one of the top selling phones in the world, and the customers are loyal. Nowadays customers have multiple Apple products. Also brand reputation fits in well, due to the fact that many new products are coming out, most people are part of Apple so when they hear a new product is coming out, they automatically look into it. The weaknesses are high prices. Even though when a new phone comes out, the older products prices drop, but no one is looking to get an older product. Everyone wants the most recent and without an upgrade a new apple product can be anywhere up to $1000, maybe even more. The opportunities are, that even though other products are being made, Apple still has an advantage because their name is out there already. So while upcoming phones are being made, Apple can simply improve their products and loyal customers would already be on their side. A threat to Apple though is other products are starting to have similar traits in them that Apple has but they are offering the products for less, so if consumers see that they can get the same exact thing just in a different product, they will obviously go with the lease expensive one. 

Apple comes out with new phones every year for people that want a new phone or want to upgrade their phone for better. But to keep other Apple users that are satisfied with their phones up to date, they come out with a different Ios every year. For example, next week, September 16th, Ios 9 is supposed to come out and it will support all the Apple products that are already out. But also the new Iphone 6s and Iphone 6s Plus are coming out.