Apple's promotional strategy and brand communication approach

Apple Promotional Strategy

Assessing Apple's Promotional Strategy

The intent of this analysis is to assess Apple's overall communications and promotion strategy, taking into account which mediums and platforms the company relies on to promote and strengthen its brand. Also included is an assessment of how Apple uses event marketing, which has grown to become a very significant part of their total operating budget (Apple Investor Relations, 2011). Apple doesn't do the normal trade shows that other computer companies do however. They are more focused on events that will further support and strengthen the core aspects of their brand from an emotional standpoint rather than just participating in them for publicity's sake (Mitchell, 2011). Personal selling and public relations is critically important to Apple, and quite successful too, as the sales per square foot of Apple stores clearly shows based on an analysis of their financial statements (Apple Investor Relations, 2011). Apple has been able to cultivate the most successful customer base in the history of technology by delivering more than they promise in their products (Cusumano, 2008), creating exceptional customer experiences (Mitchell, 2011), and architecting their brand to allow for the customers to own it and make it their own (Cuneo, 2003).

Auditing Apple's Communications and Promotions Strategy

At the center of Apple's strategic market planning, which serves as the basis of its communications and promotions strategy, is a complete commitment to create exceptionally designed products that deliver a unique, memorable experience to customers (Mitchell, 2011). Apple's communications and promotions strategy concentrates on the characteristics of its very loyal customer base which are explained in Figure 1 shown below.

Figure 1: Characteristics of Core Apple Customers

Sources: Cuneo (2003), Marketing Week (2004)

Apple doesn't rely on the traditional promotional mediums that its competitors do. Instead, Apple invests heavily in promoting the unique lifestyle and user experience aspects of its highly profitable iTunes, iTouch and iPad product lines (Mitchell, 2011). The user experience of these products is part of the overall branding strategy of the company (Cuneo, 2003). Apple also relies on its many websites that are translated into over 30 different languages, each with customized e-commerce engines, catalog and pricing management customized to the specific needs of a market (Apple Investor Relations, 2011). From and advertising management standpoint, Apple concentrates on narratives and "slice of life" vignettes rather than inundating prospects with pure technology. The advertising strategy at Apple seeks to connect the strong positive emotions of the brand with unique messages communicated in targeted television ads, YouTube videos and music soundtracks (Reppel, Szmigin, Gruber, 2006). Apple's iTunes ads have more views than many of the Nike ads on YouTube for example (Apple Investor Relations, 2011). Apple strives for a viral nature to every video content project they produce, to further support the core messages of their brand (Mitchell, 2011).

Trade Show Audits

Apple is very targeted and specific about the trade shows it participates in, choosing events that underscore an aspect of their brand or core vertical market messaging instead of just participating in very brad, unfocused events (Mitchell, 2011). Apple's trade show focus is on its core markets of science and research, education (which is nearly 30% of total laptop and PC sales) (Apple Investor Relations, 2011), enterprise, and the vast global home market (Mitchell, 2011). Apple is very selective about the trade shows it participates in based on these criterion of markets served and total available market available, and also uses a series of metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure performance (Mitchell, 2011). The effectiveness of this strategy has been quantified in the overall growth of each of Apple's core market segments over time (Cuneo, 2003).

Suggested Apple Promotional Strategies

Apple could increase the level of accessibility it provides to its senior executives through social media, which to date has been an area Apple has not placed an emphasis on (Mitchell, 2011). The promotional strategies around education could be more forward-thinking in terms of allowing students to beta-test next generation software and devices more extensively than before. Apple could also concentrate on using its technology to bridge the Digital Divide in the U.S., which is very significant. Doing well by doing good is a focus for the company going forward, which would further support the trust and intrinsic value of the brand.