Evolving Marketing Strategies of Apple

Apple has been notoriously silent about upcoming products and specially about new product categories.

It was even silent about beta software testing, as only the developers or people with the paid developer accounts could get access to the early software. As with hardware testing, it was only tested with closed circle of testers and behind closed doors at testing facilities even only a select few at Apple could had access.

It helped Apple keep the WOW factor of new products, and people were fascinated to see a fully working product rather than a mere prototype for years. This kept Apple keep momentum for a long time.

It was good for the early years of Apple under Steve Jobs. There was a magical touch to an unveiling of a product partly because of the presentation skills of Steve Jobs himself, but the product being a complete and ready to buy was equally responsible for the explosive growth of the markets Apple "re-invented".

But later on, with the boom of the internet accessibility to everyone everywhere - the very world which Apple itself helped build, early prototypes and parts were starting to find it's way in to the public eye before it was announced.

This wasn't helping Apple's old marketing strategies, and people will refrain from buying the current product in anticipation of the newer product launching later on.

And there was no wow factor when unveiling a new technology or a feature as the feature has already been rumoured and leaked.

And most of all, in the run the be the first to the market, many competitors are using the leaks to anticipate what will the new technologies Apple will be working on, and then create something similar to that.

These types of scenarios are not good for product marketing, and the old strategy will not work in an environment like this.

So Apple is changing its strategies accordingly.

They tend to make light hearted jokes on leaking information and unannounced products are kept in tighter conditions.

But in a surprising move, Apple is opening up it's doors to some extent to see what is happening inside the company - in order to be transparent.

When an issue came up with iPhone's durability - the "#bendgate" - Apple invited some of the press to come and see it's testing facilities and procedures, in order to give a glimpse of how much of testing a product goes through before it comes out to the market.

And then there is the beta testing program for Mac OS X Yosemite. It is a fantastic opportunity for the average user to get their hands on the latest software from the Cupertino company.

On the other side Apple is asking a million more general users to use the software and report any bugs, and areas of improvement.

Although this comes as a bit of a surprise to the general public, it is more of a moving with time sort of approach from Apple.

As the general user becomes more tech-savvy, the demand for features from a system increases. And the best approach to test them is by giving it to the general user who will eventually use it.

It's a win-win situation.

And the other huge different marketing approach for Apple is for the Apple Watch. It is a very good example of the new Apple marketing strategy. They are introducing it after a lot of hype, but the product will not ship until next year.

But in an interesting move by Apple, the Apple Watch made a surprise appearance at the Paris Fashion Week last week. Displaying in a shop where an exclusive group of people - fashionistas of the world - got a sneak preview of the device.

This new type of marketing efforts by Apple are paying off hugely, partly because of the strength of the brand that Apple has built so far.

And moving with the times, Apple is doing a great job of staying in the top of the game.

We will see what other interesting moves Apple has up it's sleeves.

Our new website!

We are excited to announce the launch of our new website : www.seoprojects.lk

Go check it out and let us know what you think. 

Infotel Sri Lanka: INFOTEL 2014 - 'For a Smarter Tomorrow'

Infotel Sri Lanka: INFOTEL 2014 - 'For a Smarter Tomorrow': INFOTEL, the national ICT exhibition organized by the Federation of IT Industry Sri Lanka (FITIS) will have its 2014 edition under the theme...

Survive / Thrive

In order for a business to continue in the long run it needs to survive or thrive.

For that the most basic need is to get customers and the other most important thing is to keep them. And to keep them an individual or a company needs to build relationships with customers.


Getting Customers + Keeping Them

The Exchange Process

At it's most basic point Marketing is an exchange based process.

You or a company will sell a product and get money in return.

With regards to this diagram:

from a seller's (or company's) point of view the cost of the product should be less than what the customer will pay which will ultimately result in a profit = P<Q

and from a customer's point of view the cost of the product should be higher than the amount the customer is paying which will result in the value of the product going up = P>Q

Needs, Wants, and Demands

Am i kidding?

This is marketing, right?

Why do we need to know primary school word definitions in order to learn Marketing?

This was the obvious question that came to my mind when going through learning meterials. I did some digging and found out why do we need to know exactly that!

The times are changing rapidly and so is the way people are thinking. Therefore in order to survive those changes marketing has to be evolved accordingly with that.

The old definition of marketing was "making a sale - or telling and selling".

But the new refined definition of marketing is "satisfying customer needs".

Moving forward with the new definition, in order to understand Customer Needs we need to know the definitions of the words Needs, Wants, and Demands. Because although they sound similar at a glance there are very different.

So what do you mean by a need?

This is what you get when you Google it!

"require (something) because it is essential or very important rather than just desirable."

So a person actually requires it for a core function to work.

For example food. - Without food you cannot live therefore it is a basic requirement or a need.

There are several types of needs and they are,

• Physical Needs - food, clothing, water, etc.
• Social Needs - belonging, affection
• Induvidual Needs - learning, knowledge, self-expression

Then there are wants, and what a Want is the way a need is formed for an individual person or a culture.

For example clothing is a basic need, and fashionable clothing is a want derived out of that basic need.

Marketing Definition - Extended!

I'm back after my first day at CIM - Marketing Essentials class!

And I did get to know about some interesting definitions of Marketing as well as the most basic one.

This is the CIM definition of Marketing:

"Marketing is the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customers' requirements profitably."

And the definition of Philip Kotler and Gary Armstrong

"Marketing is the process by which companies create value for customers and build strong relationships in order to capture value from customers in return."