In the world, competition has increased at vary faster rate. In such an environment, communicating with people about the business has become very important. Companies choose several methods for such type of communication (Chang, Koski & Pardehpoosh, 2012). They either choose to be global or they focus on market to market with their different communication plans so as to achieve success. Apple is one of the biggest manufacturer of electronic and software products. In this regards the very important role is played by the people that are sitting in the decision making body of the company. This company has its premium image and chooses different kinds of marketing strategies so as to look different from most of its competitors. Iphone 8 has been its one of the major product. Apple does not believe in promotions and generally chooses the promotional events like the launch event of Iphone 8 as their primary method. This report highlights the global and local marketing communication of Iphone 8 and the strategies that are used by the Apple for Iphone 8 success.
In the competitive environment that is present in various parts of the world, there are various local, glocal and global strategies used by the organisations so as to ensure that Iphone 8 is a success. In different areas the use of global, glocal and local strategies for communication changes as per the requirements. In the marketing of the premium product like Iphone 8, the use of price and promotion is very essential (Hitt, Ireland & Hoskisson, 2012). The communication strategies used by the Apple for promoting Iphone 8 are as follows:
Price: It is seen that for marketing, Apple takes use of its brand image. For maintaining such a premium image of their products, it is essential for the company to have pricing strategy that suggests having a higher product price. It believes in the prices have effect on the mind of the consumers. Prices of Apple 8 are slightly on the higher side as compared to the base price of its other products. Apple communicates its prices in such a manner that the impression of the Iphone 8 remains on the premium side. Their features are communicated more loudly as compared to prices (Rossigol, 2014).
In regards to pricing strategy Apple pushes for slightly higher prices. Higher anticipation of consumers was one of the major reasons for setting of this upper price range. Their price strategy is a reflection of the target segment which company has made for its Iphone 8. Companies need to make sure that they make strategies according to the specific market orientation.
In the case of Apple Iphone 8 they took use of the premium pricing strategy for both local and global markets. This can be concluded by the fact that their pricing strategy remains to be on the higher side irrespective of the area they are operating in India. For maintaining the image it has in the market, this is a very essential strategy (Heracleous, 2013). Their pricing strategy aims to influence the people who are interested in expensive items as well as wants services that are different from most of the phones in the market. In the market their biggest competitor is Samsung that is giving it a tough fight in terms of premium brand image. In the later stage of the product launch they have used skimming strategy. This strategy has helped them in managing the sale of the products. The skimming prices get effective when the upgraded version of the phone gets launched. For example, after the launch of Iphone X there was considerable decrease in the prices of Iphone 8. In the longer run it is seen that for sustainability of the products in the market this strategy is very effective.
Promotions: In the competitive business environment promotions have become an essential aspect. It is also the fact that there are many promotional campaigns that are run by the competitors compels the Apple to think differently. This has become essential in the modern day business as communicating the plans of the company to the consumers can help in increasing the sale of the company. But the approach of Apple is bit different as they do not invest on the promotional campaigns or any kind of traditional or modern mediums of advertisements. They have a global strategy of promotions which is different from most of their competitors as they take use of launch event for promoting the Iphone 8. This strategy is successful in the case of Iphone 8 because of the bigger brand name of Apple as well as previous success of other Iphones. The promotional event was telecasted live on various mediums like T.V. and other social media platforms. This helped them in reaching to the larger number of consumer base in various parts of the world. It is a strategy that has helped them in reaching to all the potential consumers with all the features that this phone has. Such events are wonderful place where the new features of the phones can be showcased to everyone (Khan, Alam & Alam, 2015). This also helps in targeting the local customer’s with the global approach. This is a highly effective strategy as they can reach to such a wide audience with very limited expenses. They believe in investing in the research and development rather than coming into the heavy marketing plan which requires high investments. They undertake many communicational strategies while promoting their products. This can be understood by the facts like they define their unique selling proposition, consistent in messaging, they select their right platforms for addressing their target market.
At the local levels stores do promotional show-ups of the new launches. This is not from the side of the Apple rather than from the side of the distributors themselves. Since they heavily rely on the innovation that they have made in the phone for their sale hence such promotional events can be helpful for illustrating these features in front of the people and their target consumers.
Unlike other companies the global and the local strategy related to the pricing and promotions of the company are moreover same. This is successful because of the huge fan base and the premium image of the company and the cited product in terms of the quality. They are not dependent on local markets and the factors existing in the local markets are not very much affecting the purchasing behaviour of their targeted consumers (Kraemer, Linden & Dedrick, 2011). Their global branding strategies and mouth to mouth advertisements do the work for it. In their expansion plan also their brand image plays a very major role. It can somehow also be said that they take use of Glocal strategies for managing their marketing campaign throughout the world.
Apple has a huge amount of consumer base. This has not only been possible due to the branding that they have done but was also the result of the target section that they have made using the segmentation strategy. They have done segmentation based on various variables but they wanted to maintain their premium brand image (Teng, Tai, Yu & Chen, 2018). They do heavy market research before bringing products in the market so as to ensure that maximum sale of the products could be achieved. They have made both primary and secondary target markets.
The major target market is the people that are having high income. The performance and pricing strategy has made the Iphone 8 as the phone that acts as a status symbol in the market. Such kind of image has made the company to make the segmentation in the mobile market throughout the world. In various parts of the world their primary target section has been teenagers. This is due to the fact that the innovation which this company brings in various products is specially designed for the teenagers. Apple’s biggest USP is the innovation that is done in their products. College and University level students are the part of this target segment (Watanabe, Moriya, Tou & Neittaanmäki, 2018). This also comprises of the students that are tech–lovers. This also attracts the people that are research oriented as Iphone 8 has many features that could help researchers.
Other than this their target section is also the people that are of the age group 15-55 years and is rich in terms of economic status. Rich adults are their primary target market. Business and corporate people have been their part of their target market. They have also targeted the urban areas for their major part of the sale (Brindha, 2014). The cities that are metropolitan are the major areas of focus for the company as most of their consumers come from this section of the market only. In the longer range they want to bind their potential and target market and hence they are producing the products that are best in the market. Men and Women both are their targeted market. In terms of region they have targeted both US and international market. In terms of degree of loyalty they have targeted both hard-core as well as Swithers. Apple’s Iphone has a huge amount of hardcore consumers that eagerly waits for the upcoming products of the company in this range. In terms of personality they have targeted both determined and ambitious people (Saberi, Hussain, Saberi & Chang, 2017). The people that are successful in their lives are also their target market. They communicate their plans with the help of events that are conducted at various platforms. Apart from this they also take use of their personal website for communicating the product’s features.
They have made this kind of target market for every part of the world irrespective of the country they are launching in. They make their target market based on various economic status rather than country to country. But the percentage of people that comes in their target section differs from nation to nation. This depends on the economic background of the nation. For example, in the country like America where the per-capita income is very high becomes its major market while their dream market India is having a relatively lower per-capita income (Ebrahimi & Walsh, 2018). But both the markets differ in terms of density in population. India is having a highly dense market having so many emerging cities and urban areas. This is their new target market where they want to capture the larger part of their market share. India is one of the biggest battle ground for the mobile companies in the world and every company is trying to capture different segments in the Indian market.
Iphone 8 has been relatively successful in the market as compared to other Iphones previously launched in the country. It’s not just India but all the Indian-subcontinent as well as many emerging countries are their target market. In recent time Apple has shifted its focus towards developing nations from developed nations. There are many people in these economic regions who could be their long time or base consumers (Giachetti, 2018). Even its prime target market like teenager is high in numbers in the Asian market. Communicating with young people is slightly easier as they are highly active on different internet mediums.
There are three types of target section first are the technology lovers, second are the status lovers and third are the innovation and research freaks. They want to stay ahead of their competitors both in terms of the technology that they use and the experience that they provide to their consumers. With the production unit in India Apple wants to be the for-runner in different market section (Camilleri, 2018). This also enables the company to make sure that they satisfy the global needs of various markets.
They have used their branding strategies effectively so as to target the consumers and convert them into potential consumers. With the launch of Iphone 8, there are many people that they want to reach at and hence they have added features that could pull them towards the new launch (Anzar, 2017). Communication pattern of the company has been designed in such a manner that they are able to influence the minds of the consumers deeply and hence making them purchase.
Conclusion
From the above based report it can be concluded that Iphone 8 has been a success in the market. Apple has been following slightly different kind of marketing strategies. Their global and local strategies for marketing communications have been only one. They have used premium and skimming pricing strategies for the awaited products like Iphone 8. This has helped them in managing their brand name in the market. Iphone 8 is marketed with the help of launch events that showcases various features of the phone. This is a powerful communication technique that helped them in reaching to maximum numbers of consumers with limited investment. They have taken many types of variables for making segmentation in the market which could be targeted with the launch of Iphone 8. Their prime target market has been the people who have status in the market as well as the teenagers that are tech-lovers. In this also they have adopted the global approach rather than local approach as their target market seems to be similar world-wide.
References
Anzar, K. (2017) Want to buy new iPhone 8 & iPhone 8 Plus? Here’s Apple’s India plan. Retrieved from: https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/apple-plans-huge-marketing-campaign-to-launch-iphones-in-india-know-more-117091800416_1.html
Camilleri, M. A. (2018) Market Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning. In Travel Marketing, Tourism Economics and the Airline Product (pp. 69-83). Springer, Cham.
Chang, K. N., Koski, D. A., & Pardehpoosh, P. R. (2012) U.S. Patent No. 8,275,666. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Ebrahimi, A., & Walsh, L. (2018) Improving Management Education Outcomes: Why Managers Need to Understand Information Technology in Today’s World. Ubiquitous Learning: An International Journal, 11(1).
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Khan, U. A., Alam, M. N., & Alam, S. (2015) A critical analysis of internal and external environment of Apple Inc. International Journal of Economics, Commerce and Management, 3(6), 955-961.
Kraemer, K. L., Linden, G., & Dedrick, J. (2011) Capturing value in Global Networks: Apple’s iPad and iPhone. University of California, Irvine, University of California, Berkeley, y Syracuse University, NY. https://pcic. merage. uci. edu/papers/2011/value_iPad_iPhone. pdf. Consultado el, 15.
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