 Brand Positioning

The real magic behind the company’s strong valuation is not in Apple’s fancy product line but its
the positioning of the brand that has helped apple achieve enviable sales figures and strong
customer loyalty.But what really is this Positioning that Apple has and reaps its benefits till
today.As fancy, the term may sound – The real and simple definition is “IMAGE”,
“PERCEPTION” – and it’s not inside-out and mostly outside – in ( what customer feels about a
brand).

Let’s see what is the Brand Positioning of Apple

This is what Apple stood by all these years and defined its positioning around three core tenets:
Simplicity, Creativity, and Humanity. Apple communicated this positioning through one of its
most successful marketing campaigns till date:

Think Different

The act of thinking differently represents; smart, innovative, clever, and creative.

The company has lived up to the claim of ‘thinking differently’ by actually ‘acting differently’
by going against the norm – always asking the question; “what’s different about this?”

Its this attitude of thinking diferent, what made Apple one of the most valuable tech companies
of today’s time.But all this strategy wont have been possible without Apple’s razer sharp
execution.Like a famous saying “Vision without execution is a delusion“Let’s have a look at
how Apple has translated “Think Different” into all its brand touch-points.

PRODUCT DESIGN:
“Simple is different” – Apple has always lived by this motto and have never attempted to
overdo things in its product design.

From colorful iMac’s to iPods, iPhones, and iPads – Apple has always added elegance to
simplicity and this is what has been liked by the customers and has worked wonders for the
brand.

INTERFACE DESIGN:
Right from its birth, Apple has laid special emphasis on its interface design. The brand has made
sure that its interface is simple and easy for its each and every customer, irrespective of what
walk of life he belongs to.With an aim to improve the customer experience, off late Apple has
started following Human Interface, that enables them to make application interfaces more
intuitive, learnable, and consistent.
OFFLINE STORES:
Not just the digital touch points, Apple lays special emphasis on its offline stores as well
( considering they are the hubs where customers get to experience Apple products).

Again, Apple does not attempt too hard in designing its stores and prefers to keep it simple and
minimalistic. Apples retail stores basically visualizes brings a creative lifestyle to life through a
combination of product and retail design.

Products aren’t sorted by type and stocked in shelves in Apple stores, but are rather displayed
together on tables for customers to walk through and experience

PRICE:

If you are paying a premium price, you expect an unmatched product quality.And this is what is
expected from Apple as a brand.“YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR”

Apple enjoys one of the highest price points in the industry, to the envy of it’s competitors, who
all bang on about ‘value for money’.

 Brand Elements:

The name element. It is Apple and it is a surprise to all of us. I was a child when I heard it and
thought it was fun. Steve Jobs once told the secret behind the name, he said that once he was
coming back from an Apple garden and thought that it could be the brand name as it is “Fun,
spirited and not intimidated”. And the rest is history. The name brought success to the company
and everybody was happy with it. Another great name combination was the “I” abbreviation on
their products. The iMac, iPhone, and other great I-s. The genius naming tactics made people
love even more the great brand.
The logo element. Everybody is aware of the logo element of Apple. the bitten Apple. It is not
just an apple but it is bitten which is very surprising. One can look at it for a long time and try to
understand what is the secret beneath the perfection of the logo. Nobody has done something like
this before. IN their first logo we could see Isaac Newton who was sitting under a tree then the
story developed and new versions of the logo were born. Then Steve Jobs hired a graphic
designer whose name was Rob Janoff, who created the new classic and famous logo, the bitten
apple. Why is it a bitten apple? Just because the primary version of apple was very similar to a
cherry. So they created a distinct design so that everybody could acknowledge the picture of
Apple.

The slogan element. “Think different” Just 2 words and the game has been changed. Every
Apple user began to think differently. Why the slogan was so successful? Just like other Steve
Jobs inventions, the slogan was a revolutionary. It made people unique and different. Not
everybody can be different, so Apple allowed them to be different w their products. Now
whoever has Apple, he/she belongs to a top community of Apple owners. So be different, but at
first “think different”.

The color element. I just visited their website to understand clearly what type of coloring Apple
mainly uses.

There are 4 main colors. The white, the black, the grey, and of course the blue. This is e solid
and classical direction that Apple has adopted, a little cold style makes people fall in lo e with
the design of the website.

We see here interesting variations of famous colors like red, yellow or green. People want
something new and a new color iPhone is what we search for as technology is very advanced and
almost no novelties are left, so Apple put the spell on colorful branding.

The website: Here is a stripe of the Apple website. They advertise a lot their latest products,
whether it is AirPods or the brand new iPhone. Here we see a stripe is divided into 2 parts,
Airpods, and Apple Tv. Also, we notice here that the texts are as short as we can not imagine.
This is a famine of texts and they did so in purpose, maybe Apple does not need to be introduced
with great paragraphs

The packaging. Their packaging is so similar to their product appearances. So simple made, no
complications. They tried hard to do everything simply and here is their packaging example.
iPhone was the first smartphone that had that kind of small and easy packaging style. And of
course, the color is always white, this is how we differentiate them in the huge market.

 Use of Secondary Association

Country of Origin

With 80% of Brand Perception, Apple are the leading brand in gadget and technology. Apple
originated in USA specifically in the Silicon Valley, which is home to many of the world’s
largest technology corporations as well as thousands of small startups. Silicon Valley continues
to be the leading hub for high-tech innovation and development to date. Silicon Valley
companies are always under development and face unpredictable competition, which resulted in
companies always innovating and developing new product. In short, Silicon Valley = technology
& innovation.

Now, what if somebody ask you: “What is the first things come into mind if you hear the word
Apple?”

Most people will think: Innovative, expensive ($668.4), technology, fashionable, convenient,
adorable, interesting when they asked about Apple Brand. In summary, Apple brand and its
product could be associated as follows:
Consumers think that Apple brand reflect innovation, convenience (user-friendliness),
fashionable design, and with premium price. Apple product (iPads, iPhones, iMacs, MacBooks,
etc.. ) are user-friendly, exclusive, and eye-catching. Most of its consumers really satisfied
because Apple devices are simple to use and make the user life more productive and efficient.
More importantly, Apple users felt to be more confident in using Apple’s product and thinks it is
superior compared to its competitor. This is the cause of high (88%) consumer loyalty. So
judging from the companies, countries of origin, and channel of distribution; they don’t need any
leveraging from those part.Let’s look to the its people and channels.

Retail Stores and Customer Services

Apple limits their distribution channel to only premium reseller. Apple has more than 300 outlets
worldwide, and Apple have their way to attract consumer to their retail store. Apple trains its
retail staff to be consumer oriented and are passionate fans of its product. Apple Premium
Reseller store interior incorporate an open, clean, and spacious concept in order to make its
customer feels special and comfortable.
Endorsers and Events

Apple might not frequently use celebrity endorsers, but when they do, they choose influential
celebrities such as Oprah and Zooey Deschanel to promote their product. Apple typically lets the
products speak for its quality and the celebrity just emphasis its quality further as evidenced in
Oprah statement. Word cannot describe what I feel for this magnificent device”Thanks to
my iPad, I now read about four newspapers a day. I write my column for ‘O’ magazine on
the iPad way before the deadline because I love writing on it so much.”

Apple always held events when they want to introduce new product, and a lot of Apple fans are
excited to attend Apple events because of Steve Jobs and his “Stevenote”. Apple strong
association with Steve Jobs mainly because he is the founder, CEO, and the ‘showman’ of Apple
Inc. with his “Stevenote” at events such as the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) and
previously the Macworld and Apple Expos. Those video are proof that he could capture the
audience heart. His presentation is charismatic, passionate, and some say has “reality distortion
field”, which can convince others to believe almost anything with a mix of charm, charisma,
bravado, hyperbole, marketing, appeasement and persistence. He is an expert in understanding
customers and what they want, even if they don’t know it yet. Unfortunately for Apple, their
current association with Steve Jobs could present some trouble because Steve Jobs has passed
away and if consumer always associate Apple with Steve they could come up thinking: “Apple is
not Apple anymore without Steve Jobs.” and some poll conducted by phonearena.com in 29 Nov
2012 is pessimistic about Apple. (69.62% of 2989 voters) says Apple will lose smartphone wars,
while 22.48% says its too early for conclusion and 7.9% still optimistic about Apple performance

Conclusion

Other than their product, Apple secondary sources of brand knowledge are good and support
their brand image. Their association with its country of origin, and distribution channel transfer
the right information that Apple want to deliver to us. Apple country of origin USA is known for
its product quality and rather expensive product, plus Apple come from Silicon Valley that is
known for its technology and innovation just as Apple want to be associated with (expensive,
exclusive, technology and innovation).

Apple distribution channel are limited to licensed premium retail store but they are placed
worldwide. Most people who live in urban environment definitely know Apple brand; its brand
awareness is great. Furthermore, Apple retail stores feature superb customer services that are
dedicated to make their customer happy, not just repairing broken product. So, Apple association
with its distribution channels and employees are also good. Apple association with its
distribution channel supports the exclusivity of Apple brand image, but they’re also placed
worldwide to ensure that worldwide population aware of the brand and could get the product
easily. Influential and famous celebrity endorse Apple product to attract many potential
consumers. Apple also had their own ‘celebrity’ Steve Jobs for event like WWDC and
introduction of new product. Unfortunately Apple has lost its famous showman: Steve Jobs.
Many people felt less excited to attend Apple event after Steve Jobs death and some people view
this is a symptom to be the beginning of Apple decline.So, do Apple need more leveraging for its
brand? In my opinion no, they don’t need more leverage but it helps to have a ‘showman’ for
Apple events. Some people said that Tim Cook have learned the secrets of Steve Jobs
presentation and modified it to match his own. Although Cook can’t engage people heart like
Jobs, he is a capable presenter and many believe that he will improve his skill from time to time.
Poll conducted by thestreet.com (above picture) mostly says Tim Cook is doing a great job to be
CEO at Apple. 74.16% says he is doing a great job and only 2.44% says he is disappointment.

Brand extension:-
A brand extension is when a company uses one of its established brand names on a new product
or new product category. It's sometimes known as brand stretching. The strategy behind a brand
extension is to use the company's already established brand equity to help it launch its newest
product. The company relies on the brand loyalty of its current customers, which it hopes will
make them more receptive to new offerings from the same brand. If successful, a brand
extension can help a company reach new demographics, expand its customer base, increase sales,
and boost overall profit margins.

Apple is an example of a company that has a history of effectively using a brand extension
strategy to propel growth. Starting with its popular Mac computers, the company has leveraged
its brand to sell products in new categories, as can be seen with the iPod, the iPad, and the
iPhone.

Apple smartly use its brand name into new product launch and as we know Apple is know for
quality of the product so the brand help in their new product launch and customer are loyal
towards the brand.

Brand architecture and hierarchy:-

Simply put, brand architecture is the relationship between brands within an organization and how
they interact with one another.
As organizations grow and appeal to different audiences through different product lines or
company acquisitions, brand architecture is the key organizational system that makes sure each
type of product or company is intuitively linked with the right audience.

We can distinguish three different way to organize brands within a company.

Types of brand architecture:-

1. Monolithic

2. Endorsed

3. Pluralistic

4. Hybrid

Apple is an example of endorsed brand architectures.

This type of brand architecture simply contains independent brands which are endorsed by an
organizational brand.

Benefits of using endorsed brand architecture:-

1. The endorsement adds credibility to the sun-brand.

2. The new brand is linked to the positive equity from the existing brand.

3. Allows competing in the market without alienating the existing audience.

The differences to monolithic branding are that endorsed branding will use a parent brand that
can sometimes be hidden.

However in general we all know the master brand but it famous brands that use endorsed brand
architecture.

In apple iPay, iPad, iPhone and so on.

EVALUATION OF APPLE’S PRODUCT & BRAND STRATEGY BY

USING DIFFERENT TOOLS: -
The Apple Customer Experience

The huge promise of the Apple brand, of course presents Apple with an enormous challenge to
live up to. The innovative, beautifully-designed, highly ergonomic, and technology-leading
products which Apple delivers are not only designed to match the brand promise, but are
fundamental to keeping it.
Apple fully understands that all aspects of the customer experience are important and that all
brand touch-points must reinforce the Apple brand.

Apple has expanded and improved its distribution capabilities by opening hundreds of its own
retail stores in key cities around the world, usually in up-market, quality shopping venues.

As it developed the iPhone business, Apple hugely increased its retail reach through the retail
outlets of the telco companies.  Apple has also increased the accessibility of iPads and iPods
through various resellers that do not normally sell computers, and has increased the reach of its
online stores.

The very successful Apple Retail stores give prospective customers direct experience of Apple's
brand values. Apple Retail visitors experience a stimulating, no-pressure environment where
they can discover more about the Apple family, try out the company's products, and get training
and practical help on Apple products at the shops' Guru Bars. Apple retail staff are helpful,
informative, and let their enthusiasm show without being brash or pushy.

The overall feeling is one of inclusiveness by a community that really understands what good
technology should look and feel like - and how it should fit into people's lives.

The Apple Brand Personality

Apple has a branding strategy that focuses on the emotions. The starting point is how an Apple
product experience makes you feel. The Apple brand personality is about lifestyle; imagination;
liberty regained; innovation; passion; hopes, dreams and aspirations; and power-to-the-people
through technology.

The Apple brand personality is also about simplicity and the removal of complexity from
people's lives; people-driven product design; and about being a really humanistic company with
a heartfelt connection with its customers. Through these qualities, Apple is positioned as being
extremely helpful to people (and businesses) as they strive to achieve their goals.

Apple Brand Equity and Apple's Customer Franchise

The Apple brand is not just intimate with its customers, it's loved, and there is a real sense of
community among users of its main product lines.

The brand equity and customer franchise which Apple embodies is extremely strong. The
preference for Apple products amongst the "Mac community", for instance, not only kept the
company alive for much of the 90's (when from a rational economic perspective it looked like a
dead duck) but it even enables the company to sustain pricing that is at a premium to its
competitors.

It is arguable that without the price-premium which the Apple brand sustains in many product
areas, the company would have exited the personal computer business decades ago. In recent
years, this strength in brand preference has flowed directly to Apple's profits - as the company
dramatically improved  its manufacturing costs, while still maintaining very strong brand equity.

Quality Product with Premium Offerings

The entrance of other players in the consumer electronics market meant that Apple is getting
stiffer competition, especially since these competitors are churning out smartphones and tablets
that are significantly lower in price. Apple CEO Tim Cook, however, is unfazed by this non-
threat, calling these lower-cost counterparts as the “junk market”. According to Cook, Apple is
not catering to this junk market, which is why it opts to stick to offering more expensive products
that have a lot more, and better, things to offer, than what these “junk markets” are currently
fielding to buying customers.

There is no denying, however, that the best product strategy that Apple employs is coming up
with very good products. They call it the “great product” strategy. By continuing to hold on to
high standards of quality, Apple refuses to get on the bandwagon that most other device makers
are using, where they pack their products chock-full of features that, while they may be
impressively advanced, actually end up making operating the device actually more complicated
and not at all user-friendly.

Packaging is certainly not an area where Apple is lacking. It is known for being a company that
provides clean and simple, yet functional packaging to its products. More than being flashy, it
tends to boast more of a utilitarian aesthetic, but without coming across as boring or plain.

The “great product” strategy also focuses on quality over quantity. While other manufacturers’
strategy entail churning out products one after another in a short span of time and having such a
diversified product mix, Apple preferred to stick to what it does best. This means that it focuses
on selected products and continues enhancing them, instead of branching out to create other
products within the same category.

If you look at the numbers, it is true that other companies, such as Samsung, are showing higher
figures when it comes to unit sales. They are starting to occupy a larger share of the market. But
this does not worry Apple. Instead, it continues to focus on its loyal customers and, despite
occupying a smaller percentage of the market, is able to position itself as a premium brand and a
maker and provider of top quality products.

As such, Samsung was able to eat up a huge chunk of the market because of its production of
cheap and low-end gadgets. That market is not really what Apple is aiming for, and it is
comfortable with the market it has right now.
New Updates, Not Necessarily New Products

Market trends are constantly changing, and demands are certainly increasing. Other companies’
response to these changes may be “give them new products”. What Apple does is to “improve
the products that it has”. This explains the product refreshes and updates that are released on a
schedule set by Apple. Thus, the tweaked or updated versions retain the best parts of the old
versions, with the “problematic” features corrected or improved. Clearly, this means that the
latest iPhone, the iPhone 6 Plus, is a much improved version of the first generation iPhone, or
even the previously released iPhone 6.

These changes put the Apple product development team in a good light, particularly in the eyes
of Apple users, since it implies a commitment on their part of seeking continuous improvement
for their product offerings. It also effectively attracts new users, thereby increasing the market
share of Apple.

Control of Both Software and Hardware

Aside from producing the hardware – the smartphones and the tablets – Apple maintains total
control of its platform, which is not something that can be completely said of Apple’s main rival
platform, Android, which can be modified and tweaked by device manufacturers. Having total
control means that Apple users are guaranteed to have the latest version of the operating system,
with updates readily and immediately made available to Apple users.

Giving Meticulous Attention to Detail

The strategy employed by Apple in its product development largely depends on what the product
is. If we look into the key points in the strategy used by Apple for its flagship product, the
iPhone, we will find that there are four major factors involved: the competitors, a SWOT
analysis of your competitors’ product, the target market, and market survey pertaining to the
product.

1. Competitors

Compared to when Apple was founded and started its operations, there are now a lot more
consumer electronics companies and mobile phone manufacturers that are attempting to compete
with Apple. However, out of this sea of competitors, there are only a few companies that are
considered to be major threats or those that provide serious competition. These companies
include Samsung, Google, Blackberry, Nokia, HTC, and Sony, to name a few. Granted, some of
these companies do not really pose a serious threat to Apple, not like Samsung and Google.

Case in point: Google is seen as the biggest competitor of Apple when it comes to operating
systems and software development. Google has singlehandedly brought about the boom of the
Android market, and its app store, Google Play, is currently during it out with Apple’s App Store
for the top spot.
2. Product SWOT

Other companies focus on conducting SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats)

analysis of their products. Apple does, too, but it does not stop there. It also conducts SWOT
analysis of the products of its competitors.

Why is that?

Doing a product SWOT on your own products will not really give you the whole picture. It only
gives you one angle: yours. By checking out the competitor’s product, you will know exactly
what you are up against. What makes their product better? What makes yours the best? What are
the possible opportunities and threats that the competitor’s products are faced with, and how can
you take advantage of that?

This practice has certainly paid off for Apple, particularly when it was starting to release new
products into the market. They were able to come out with products that are unique and
innovative. For example, in the past, phones were bulky and on the heavy side. This was seen by
Apple as a weakness, so it zeroed in on that and developed sleeker, thinner, and lighter mobile
phone units.

3. Target Market

Usually, a business would study the market and identify the segments that it will specifically
target, and that will figure greatly in its overall product development and strategy. However,
Apple does things differently.

Apple is primarily product-driven in its approach, in that it develops the product first, and then
seeking out the market for it. This worked thanks, in large part, to the high quality and unique
products that Apple has churned out. It did not take long for Apple to become established as a
global market. That meant market segmentation is no longer a priority, because Apple’s target
market is now the global market.

Apple markets its products to cater to anyone and everyone who is looking for great value and
high quality – all over the world. You will find Apple stores and outlets in major areas of the
world, a sure sign that Apple is targeting customers globally.

4. Product Related Market Survey

As mentioned earlier, Apple adapts a product-driven attitude. When it creates products, it

automatically assumes that there is a market for it; it’s just that the customers are still unaware
that they need the product Apple is developing. It will now be up to Apple, once the product has
finished development, to make the market realize that it wants and needs the product that it has
to offer. After all, according to Steve Jobs, the customer does not know what he wants.
The updates and upgraded versions of products that Apple has been doing in recent years is the
result of market surveys that it conducted, asking customers what products they liked, or what
specific features they thought were excellent or outstanding.

Using the Music Business

The computing branch of Apple makes heavy use of the music industry to boost its presence and,
consequently, its sales. This has been described as the Halo Effect of the Apple brand, and a
good example would be with regards to iTunes.

It all started with the iPod, which started out as a simple music player. When the iPod hit the
ground running, along with iTunes, Apple made sure to capitalize on the tandem’s popularity to
lure other customers to make use of other Apple computing products. The features that users
loved using on iPod and iTunes were craftily integrated in other Apple products, so that others
who liked them would not hesitate to try other Apple products with similar offerings. The result
is a customer experience that has become common across different Apple products.

Use of Product Experience in Branding

We cannot discuss Apple’s product strategy without focusing on its branding. “Apple” has
become such a household name globally, and this is attributed to the company’s branding
strategy, which was primarily focused on human’s emotions.

Anything that strikes a chord in one’s consciousness tends to make a lasting impression, and
that’s what Apple capitalized on when it put its brand out there. Customers these days are
smarter, looking at the overall experience a product gives them, instead of isolated moments and
fleeting flashes. Apple made its brand synonymous with technology playing a major role in one’s
lifestyle, innovation, passion, imagination, and human nature’s innate desire to have power or
even a small measure of control. Their products offer that sense of control, by integrating
concepts of simplicity and convenience.

Apple has successfully established a relationship with its customers that can best be described as
“intimate”. Take note of the long queues or lines of prospective Apple product buyers that reach
all the way down across the street, or the long lists of preorders, whenever a new Apple product
is due for release. It takes a lot of dedication and commitment to be one of those people lining
up, which is pretty much like being in an intimate relationship.

In the same way, the Apple brand also puts emphasis on customer experience by enhancing that
sense of community among Apple users. Apple users are inclined to be drawn towards other
Apple users, because they somehow get a sense of kinship just by becoming users of the same
product, or of different products but belonging within the same product line of the Apple brand.

Apple was smart enough to play on the strong brand preference that customers tend to develop
when they have tried and tested a specific product. Users will not mind developing an attachment
or loyalty to a brand or a product as long as it provides what they are looking for, and by
ensuring that this is the case, Apple is able to keep its customers, and keep them coming back.

This halo strategy is also seen in how Apple targets its markets. Apple started its computing
segment, focusing largely on corporate markets. It used to have a strong presence in business
environments. It wasn’t until the 1990s that it withdrew from corporate settings and focused on
the individual instead. But that did not last long, as Apple started to go back to the corporate
market and prove to be useful to business users. Apple is banking on the popularity of the
iPhone, as well as the iPad, to become business tools. Today, what used to be a personal tablet
can now be used in an office or workplace setting.

Considering how Cook is very vocal about large corporations and business companies buying
and using Apple products in the near future, there is no doubt that we will be seeing more of
Apple on those desks.

Getting Close to the Apple User

Apple is confident about having a very good – extraordinary, even – product that it can only
introduce once. Therefore, it is important to make the introduction have such an impact. Apple is
quite good at that, increasing customer anticipation before the release of a product. But what
about when the product has already been launched and introduced?

This is where Apple’s product strategy becomes more personal, in that it surrounds the product
with excellent service and support – before, during and after sale – as well as applications
software. Part of the product strategy of Apple is to ensure that the customer experience is
always highly positive. Its efforts to improve the Apple customer experience is apparent in how
its distribution channels are continuously expanding. Currently, the major and key cities all over
the world are not without an Apple retail store. It has even struck up partnerships with leading
telecommunication companies in different countries all over the world, so that the latter would
become retail outlets of Apple products. Resellers are also tapped into, both online and brick-
and-mortar stores.

Apple Competitive Strategy

Apple’s practices, procedures and policies reflect the differentiation strategy to target the wide
range of customers as the overall competitive strategy of the company. The company serves a
wide range of differentiated product to the customers ranging from the classy power user to the
new first time users. The differentiation is based on unique design, reliable quality and customer
services driven by high customer values.
The innovation strategy allows the improvements in new product development and development
in the existing products. The differentiation strategy provides such innovative products to a wider
range of customers. Through the integration of these strategies the company aims to meet the
demand evolving in the market. The implementation of unique designing and development of
operating system and software has been a source of strong competitive advantage.

The company has diversified its market to digital electronics and computer market in addition to
personal media player industry as the target market which proves that the strategies of the
company are still at evolving stage due to new diversified market. Apple’s has also entered to the
tablet industry through the products such as iPad and mobile industry through the products such
as iPhone.

Competitive strength assessment of the company reveals following factors as the strength of
the company:

Highly Differentiated Business Strategy:

The company provides highly differentiated product to its wide range of customer in highly
diversified market including personal computer, Tablets, mobile, portable media player industry.
It also provides highly innovative and new product integrating with its own hardware, software
and designs to solve the problems of the customers and meet their demands.

Diversified Product Offering:

Apple provides its various products in multiple market segments i.e. MP3 players market, PC
market, Tablet Market, and other wireless communications market within the digital and
consumer electronic industry. Apple is considered as the true innovator in the consumer
electronic industry and this has exposed the existing products to gigantic market opportunities.

Other strengths:

Other strengths of the company as per the advisors and critics are as follows:

Apple Hardware Design.

Apple Marketing.

Leadership.

Competitive Advantage.

The market analysis suggest that the Apple stands at 3rd position in the PC market with the
market share of 10.6 % while in the mobile market, it stands at second position with 24.2 % of
market share. The company holds the share of 78 % in the overall media player market. This
reveals that the market share of the company in this industry is much stronger than the personal
computer industry.

Apple has gained many advantages over its competitors:

 Products with higher technology – its only of software like OS, MacBook and IWatch
have leaded the market space.
 Brand Image – Apple is being on top years after years and well known for its brand
image.
 Profit gained over time – apple make high profits dues to its high profit margins.
 Research and Development – The biggest advantage that Apple has gained from
competitors is that spending of research and development keeps their eye on the future
instead of focusing on the present.
3. MANAGING ITSELF GLOBALLY

Maintain a consistent brand across cultures.

No matter what country you’re in, Apple’s products are the same. Their products, their
adverts and their website use the same clean, minimalist design the world over. Apple
iPhones all have the same features. The visuals on the website are the same no matter
what language option you choose.

We talk quite a bit about the importance of customising your marketing and your
website to account for different cultural preferences. But it’s also important that your
brand maintains an underlying consistency.

Apple is not known for catering to their customers. When you buy an Apple product,
you’re buying Apple’s vision. So, it makes sense that they would customise their content
and products less than other brands. 

Use localisation to support a consistent

brand and a consistent customer
experience.
Apple’s international marketing has been described as “one size fits all,” but that’s not
really accurate. Their brand depends on providing a consistent customer experience,
every time someone interacts with the company or with their marketing. No matter
where that person lives or what culture they’re from, they should come away with the
same impression of Apple and their products. Here’s the thing: There’s no way to
ensure that kind of consistent, high-quality experience across different languages and
cultures without localisation.
For example, consider Apple’s stores. Some elements remain the same, no matter
where in the world you are, like the Genius Bar, or the play areas for kids. However, the
store experience is specifically tailored to each region, in terms of architecture,
appearance, and customer service. By customising their stores to appeal to local tastes,
Apple avoids the type of missteps that doomed Walmart’s attempt to expand into
Germany.
On their website, Apple protects its customer service reputation by making it easy for
people to get help in their language, with local customer support phone numbers and
live chat for each country.
For more on the importance of speaking your customer’s language in customer service,
read 6 Truths About Multilingual Customer Service.

Use customised content to make customers

feel appreciated.
For many Western companies, the Chinese market is an especially hard nut to crack. 
That’s not true for Apple. In fact, a fifth of their revenue currently comes from China.

One way that Apple appeals to Chinese consumers is through customising content. For
example, when they updated their GarageBand music creation software to include
Chinese language support, they also added traditional Chinese instruments like the
erhu and the pipa.

According to Common Sense Advisory, “This striking act of “radical localization” projects
an image of China’s importance to Apple users elsewhere in the world and keeps
customers in Greater China happy.”

Transcreation is the cornerstone to a

successful international marketing strategy.
On the Apple website,  content in other languages is professionally translated or
transcreated by local copywriters. This ensures that it’s just as effective in the target
language as it was in the original English.

Not sure what transcreation is all about?

Apple also transcreates its TV advertisements. For example, take a look at this 2015
Christmas ad from Apple:

Now here’s the Chinese version:

As you can see, it’s the same basic storyline:  a young girl takes her grandmother’s
favourite song and remixes it, adding her own vocals and guitar.  But the details have
all been changed to make them congruent with Chinese culture. For instance, there
aren’t any visual references to Christmas in the Chinese version of the ad. The scenery
is different, the song is different. According to Fast Company, the Chinese version was
directed by Hong Kong director Ann Hui and Christopher Doyle, the cinematographer
of many of Wong Kar Wai’s films.
To make the transcreation process easier,
plan ahead.
According to Chief Marketer, Apple’s ads are made to be easy to translate and
transcreate, right from the start:
“In addition to choosing one image that can be nuanced worldwide, it employs a
minimum of text in the original English. So, even if there is a play on words that
must be transcreated to remain relevant in other markets, the phrase usually does
not require too many words in other languages to express a similar idea.”

This helps keep marketing costs down and ensures a more consistent final product.

Are you looking for help with marketing translation or transcreation? Our  expert team
of translators, marketers and local copywriters is ready to be your voice in another
language. Take a look at the services we offer, and feel free to contact us.  We’d love to
hear from you!