Businesses are interested in the most effective outcomes of their operations and desire to receive recognition and popularity on the market. For this reason, they learn to apply the concept of marketing and hire educated professionals who help them on this matter. Marketing is one of the most essential topics in the contemporary business industry. It usually refers to a specific set of activities and processes of developing, delivering, communicating, and exchanging ideas that offer value to individual clients, organizations, and society as a whole (Cateora et al., 2020). It is necessary to mention that different businesses have to implement different marketing strategies based on their products’ characteristics and their audience’s preferences (Cateora et al., 2020). For instance, the Apple company uses transparency to deliver the most effective message to their customers. The following paper will assess the Apple iPhone marketing from a perspective of a business owner by discussing the typical consumer, their purchase decision, ethical principles, and privacy policies.
Product Selection and Its Typical Consumer
Apple is one of the most popular and luxurious companies in the sphere of technology. It is demanded on the market by people of different gender, age, and income groups due to its simplicity, convenience, usefulness, and elegant design. Because of the mentioned reasons, Apple iPhone is the most researched and analyzed device in the contemporary business world. Specialists try to understand what it is about iPhone that it remains popular since the release of its first model in 2007. Every year a new version with updated designs and characteristics is announced to the general public beforehand to save some time for resellers to prepare for the new product (Saengchote & Nakavachara, 2018). While the phone catches the attention of consumers by its luxurious design, distinctive feature, and everyday benefits, the Apple company carefully researches its market to implement the most efficient marketing techniques.
As previously mentioned, Apple iPhone is popular among various individuals and finds its customers all around the world. However, like every product, it has a typical client with specific characteristics, preferences, needs, and occupations. As mentioned by Saengchote and Nakavachara (2018), those people who prefer Apple iPhone over other cellphones in the market usually tend to strive for convenience and efficiency. It can be stated that a typical customer of iPhone is a young individual who wants to purchase a gadget that has the most advanced characteristics for the purpose of quick and effective work with various applications and platforms. In addition, this person wants to buy a phone that would match their lifestyle, status, and personality, meaning that the phone should be professionally designed and contain features useful in daily life. Therefore, a typical customer of Apple iPhone is a representative of the young generation who wants to receive a stylish product as well as ensure its usefulness.
Consumer Purchase Decision
The consumer purchase decision of an Apple iPhone can be defined with the help of the second conception of a consumer. This element considers a particular client to form a contractual side. This view means that, while engaging in a purchase, a client and a business do not only pass goods one way and money the other but also agree to enter a relationship based on a specific contract (“Chapter 12,” 2012). This communication between the company and the person purchasing its services or goods should be based on three principles, such as freedom, information, and honesty (“Chapter 12,” 2012). In case all these elements are followed by both sides, they start a committed and long-term relationship with each other. While it is a common knowledge that iPhone users are faithful and regular customers of Apple, their purchase decision is established on a certain contract they “signed” when buying their first product. Thus, people trust the Apple company since it ensures transparency and freedom, meaning that their decision to purchase a new iPhone or not depends on the second conception of a consumer.
In addition, another element from the five protections that is used by individuals when purchasing Apple iPhone is capability. Customers that use this feature play their role in the marketplace effectively (“Chapter 12,” 2012). Their main purpose is to purchase products that are of a high quality while ignoring those businesses that produce and distribute inferior goods (“Chapter 12,” 2012). The main characteristic of these customers is that they are well informed about the distinguishing features and benefits of the products (“Chapter 12,” 2012). Furthermore, their choices are always based on rational thinking and sophisticated decision-making since they possess a significant amount of knowledge about the features and history of the good (“Chapter 12.” 2012). Apple iPhone consumers also base their decisions on expertise and logic. One of the distinguishing features of the company is that it is clear and transparent with its customers. It announces and delivers information about its new product beforehand to not only prepare the resellers and stores but also immerse its clients into the advantages of the new product. Hence, while being well-informed about the innovations of iPhone, clients base their decisions on capability.
The Apple company itself also defines its customers as capable and bases its marketing strategy on this conception. As it was already mentioned, Apple informs people about the characteristics of the product in detail a few months before it is available for purchase. By doing that, the business desires to educate people about the advantages of using its cellphones (Bhasin, 2020). Moreover, the Apple website provides information about all the characteristics and distinguishing features of their products, teaches how to use them, and shows in what life situations these products are beneficial (Bhasin, 2020). Consequently, it can be stated that the main marketing strategy of Apple is to provide necessary knowledge to its customers so that they feel personal connection with the product and its features. This specific conception is discussed as a way to situate Apple iPhone on the market since it is largely used by the business.
Ethical Principles
It is not a secret that the company has to follow some ethical principles in order to ensure an effective delivery of its messages to the clients and their positive reactions to the provided services and goods. The primary principle that Apple uses and has to implement in its future operations is transparency. As indicated by Woolfe (2019), whenever an organization is marketing a specific product, it has to be as open as possible about the safety, usage, and its positive and negative sides. Transparency from the side of the business will help people feel secure and establish a strong personal relationship with the brand. In addition, the brand has to learn to respond effectively to consumer concerns and questions. This strategy will also benefit the interactions between the two sides since individuals will see that their consumer rights are respected, and issues are immediately addressed (Woolfe, 2019). By following these approaches, the brand can ensure ethical communication based on respect and trust.
Another important ethical principle that the Apple company has to consider is having a long-term positive influence on the customers. The business should aim at creating products and delivering messages that would encourage consumers to be loyal to the brand and continue to purchase its products in the future (Woolfe, 2019). At the same time, the customers should be informed that to have a trustful relationship with the brand, they should also be responsible for checking the quality of the product and informing Apple about that. This principle is referred to as caveat emptor and is one of the most essential for modern brands to consider.
The responsibility of a marketer in relation to the discussed ethical concepts is to ensure that they are all followed and effectively implemented. These professionals have to be able to conduct a detailed research of the brand and its audience in order to increase sales and profits (Phillips, 2018). After that, specialists have to develop a marketing strategy, and, in addition to creating various techniques essential for the growth of the brand, they need to ensure that the ethical principles are in place.
Privacy Policies
Besides various ethical strategies that should be included in marketing, a company also has to consider privacy policies. It is obvious that technology has a significant influence on gathering, storing, retrieving, and communicating messages to the customers; however, it also makes it easier to access and manipulate information (Britz, n.d.). For this reason, the company has to use specific techniques in advertising that would ensure social media and data privacy policies. It is important to establish official privacy standards and conduct employee training to manage inappropriate information on social media (Martin & Murphy, 2017). Even though most of the errors come from users, it is critical for the staff to understand how to handle complications and respond to challenges. Furthermore, security policies should not only be constantly implemented but also tested and corrected on time. Having reports about the outcomes of system operations can be beneficial in detecting problems and flaws in the established procedure (Martin & Murphy, 2017). Marketing should be managed from both the creative and technical side.
Conclusion
Overall, marketing is an essential concept for any organization that is interested in the most positive outcomes of its operations. However, it is not that easy to achieve effective marketing since it includes various characteristics and has to be implemented differently for certain products and audiences. The strategy for Apple iPhone focuses on a typical customer that is interested in an elegant and, at the same time, useful product. Based on the five conceptions of consumer, it can be stated that both the brand and its customers act according to transparency and capability. Therefore, the presented paper discussed the marketing of Apple iPhone and suggested some ethical principles and privacy policies that the company can take into consideration in order to achieve effective marketing.
References
Bhasin, H. (2020). Marketing strategy of Apple iPhone – Apple iPhone marketing strategy. Marketing91.
Britz, J. J. (n.d.). Technology as a threat to privacy: Ethical challenges to the information profession.
Cateora, P. R., Meyer, R. B. M. F., Gilly, M. C., & Graham, J. L. (2020). International marketing (18th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.
Chapter 12: The Selling Office: Advertising and Consumer Protection. (2012). The Business Ethics Workshop. The Saylor Foundation.
Martin, K. D., & Murphy, P. E. (2017). The role of data privacy in marketing. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 45(2), 135-155.
Phillips, A. (2018). Marketing duties & responsibilities. Career Trend.
Saengchote, K., & Nakavachara, V. (2018). Are consumers forward looking? Evidence from used iPhones. Applied Economics Letters, 25(13), 905-909.
Woolfe, F. (2019). 10 principles of ethical marketing. Figaro Digital.