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The company is best known for their Macintosh personal computer line, MAC SO X, extremely loyal user-base, tunes media application and the pod personal music player. The company headquarters is in Cupertino, California, CEO and co-founder is Steve Jobs and the company boasts 284 retail locations spanning 10 different countries. Apple I was the first product that Apple Inc. Produced. It was a personal computer with a MOSS 6502, CPU clocked at 1 Mesh and KGB memory. In 1977, Apple introduced Apple II, which became a very successful device. After that the company began to produce Apple II series.
Fast forward to 2012. When referring to the marketing successes of Apple, people tend to point to the company’s creative advertising campaigns, the fact that Steve Jobs was a charismatic CEO, or the diverse array of industry-changing products that have been conceptualized beginning with the mimic in 1998, followed by the pod in 2001, the unveiling of tunes in 2003, the phone in 2007, the launch of the App store in 2008, and the pad in 2010. But none of these observations consider the whole picture or driving force behind Apple’s strategic vision.
The popularity of Apple’s products is largely due to their simplicity and intuitiveness, making them accessible not only to tech-saws consumers, but also o kids and seniors. Steve was highly involved with the advertising and every detail of Apple’s business. But he was far from the mastermind behind the renowned launch spot. In fact, he was blatantly harsh on the commercial that would eventually play a pivotal role in helping Apple achieve one of the greatest corporate turnarounds in business history.
While several people played prominent parts in making it happen, the famous “Think Different” line and the brilliant concept of putting the line together with black and white photographs of time-honored visionaries was invented by an exceptionally creative persons. In terms of developing a strategic vision as it relates to marketing, the key takeaways to consider from Apple when formulating a long- term strategy for success are to identify trends by recognizing such trends as digital consumerism and that the PC industry was becoming highly commoditized, Jobs was able to visualize a strategy for a product that met consumer needs.
To uncover such insights, it’s important to look across industries, strategic groups, buyer groups, the scope of a product or service, the functional-emotional orientation of an industry, and mime. Analyze competitors when research pointed to the fact that Apple was losing market share and cannibalizing sales due to their strict licensing policy, Jobs ventured out to contract with Microsoft to develop core products, while at the same time making the decision to utilize Intel chips in their computers, enabling Apple to build laptops that were both faster and less power hungry.
By thoroughly understanding his competition, he was able to partner with competitors in ways that were not only mutually beneficial, but downright advantageous. Innovate by following Centenarians model of creative destruction and focusing on the needs and wants of the consumers rather than how to Just improve upon an existing product, Apple was able to continuously re-think its product line and invent new products that re- defined the traditional boundaries of the market. Innovation allows for companies to capitalize on the “first mover advantage,” resulting in the realization of high up-front market share and profit margins.
Position your product because many computer systems and related products can be easily replicated, finding ways to extend the life f a product through complementary offerings is almost as important as re-invention. For example, the App Store served as a complement to the phone which resulted in $1 billion in annual profits. And upon the launch of the tunes store, an exponential demand for pods was created. Build brand awareness through utilizing creative campaigns and non-traditional advertising channels for the Mac brand, Apple embarked on a truly unique differentiation strategy, which helped grow brand awareness.
Optimize distribution; Apple revamped its distribution system to move room smaller outlets to national chains. They also opened their own retail stores in which now account for 16% of Apple’s total revenue. The retail stores were a success because they provided users with an opportunity to learn about, experiment with, and test drive products. Not forgetting your customers; Apple is known for superior customer service. In fact, Just the other day I corresponded with a customer service representative though their online chat function and received a thorough answer to my inquiry.
By creating and sustaining a superior customer service model, nominative advantage can be easily achieved. Steve Jobs thought about the customer experience more deeply than the customer could. Jobs once said, “One of the keys to Apple is that we build products that really turn us on. ” Lucky for customers, this often means products are exactly what they want because Apple employees are so deeply obsessed and committed to the Apple brand. In conclusion Apple has manage to become a creative iconic with revolutionary marketing strategies and simple designs. With its billions of dollars annual revenue it hard to argue it has succeed on it goals.