Marketing Blogs

(Mukherjee, 2018)

Can you believe it? Apple Inc has been around for decades but today it has become the world’s leading technology company. They have continued to remain consistent with providing a wide range of electronics include iPod, iPad, iPhone, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV.

Out of all those products, Apple is known primarily known for its iPhones which have taken over the world. In the year, 2007, Steve Jobs announced the most popular invention of the world which is known as the first iPhone into the market (Pierce and Gogde, 2018). iPhones are a line of smartphone devices that combines a computer, iPod, digital camera and cellular phone into one device for its customers (Rouse, 2019). Apple has innovated numerous versions of iPhone models into the market; each of them has different screen sizes, features, and unique specifications. (Pierce and Gogde, 2018).

Mission Statement 

“to bringing the best user experience to its customers through its innovative hardware, software, and services.” 

(Mission Statement Academy, 2019)

Every year Apple releases a new iPhone into the market, which requires to use social media outlets and advertising efforts to ensure existing and potential customers to choose the new iPhone rather than a phone from its competitors. To have a successful launch of an iPhone, Apple uses the help of the following techniques; goals, and objectives. Goals can be anything that a company hopes to achieve in the near future, for example, Apple will generate a detailed plan of marketing activities intended to move forward towards the goal. While objective can be defined as goals set by a company when promoting its products or services to potential consumers that should be reached within a specific time period.

Here is an example

Apple has a set goal to increase the number of customers who buy an iPhone by 10% within the next four months after it has released into the market. To achieve this specific goal, the company will have to post frequently on its social media platforms by posting at least three times a week to boost the awareness of the new iPhone. Apple will show the different features, specifications, and benefits of an iPhone in a more appealing manner through creative photos and videos. These marketing activates will assist Apple to reach the overall goal of attracting more customers into buying a phone from their company rather than from its competitors, Samsung and Google Pixel after four months. 

In the consideration of legal and ethical issues in the development of objectives, I would like to share an incident that occurred a few years ago in regard to iPhones. In 2017, the customers of Apple started to complain about the new IOS update and how the software only caused issues rather than improve the system. After the customers installed IOS 11 into their iPhones, as a result, it slowed down the performance of the old iPhone to not function well. Then they allegedly accused Apple to prompt its customers to replace their defective iPhone earlier than necessary which results in growth in demand for new iPhone models. Consequently, the customers feel the need to rush to the Apple store to buy a new workable iPhone to replace their slowed-down phone (Tibken, 2017). I think this whole mess could have been prevented earlier in the year rather than in December. You may ask, how? Well, Apple should have had a detailed plan of objectives telling what can be done to fix the IOS software update issue that was affecting their brand name. Some of the objectives could be the following options; provide a replacement battery to those with old iPhone models for $20, testing the IOS update before it is released to iPhone users and even compensate a certain amount of money to the customers for the inconvenience caused to them.  

 

Reference 

Mission Statement Academy. (2019). Apple Mission Statement 2020 | Apple Mission & Vision Analysis. [online] Available at: https://mission-statement.com/apple/.

Mukherjee, W. (2018). Indians may find Apple’s new crop of iPhones hard to digest. from https://m.economictimes.com/tech/hardware/indians-may-find-apples-new-crop-of-iphones-hard-to-digest/articleshow/65802823.cms

Pierce, D. and Gogde, L. (2018). The Complete History of the iPhone—and What’s Coming Next. [online] Wired. Available at: https://www.wired.com/story/guide-iphone/

 

Tibken, S. (2017). Apple’s iPhone slowdown: Your questions answered., from https://www.cnet.com/news/apple-is-slowing-down-older-iphones-batteries-faq/

Are you planning to start a marketing plan? If you have answered yes, then get ready to know what you need to do and the tools you need to know to become a successful marketer. In this blog, we will discuss the three key marketing tools to help identify your target audience that can lead us to the exact target market.

As a marker, you have to make sure all the boxes are checked off before you begin your marketing campaign. You have to dive into knowing your target audience like how old they are, where are they from, what are they like or dislike and other personal information. This is where market segmentation comes into play.

(Dreamstime, 2020)

You may ask, what is market segregation? Well, it is is a process that lets a market break down a market of potential customers into smaller groups based on different kinds of characteristics such as age, gender, and others. The most important tools for a marketing plan are demographics, psychographics, and geographic market segmentation. They can all change the marketing game in many ways, particularly the decisions in regard to the elements of the marketing plan.

Marketers can understand the ins and outs of the marketing plan to reach an accurate target audience through these tools. The demographic segmentation gives direct access to learn more about the target audience in terms of age, sex, gender, religion, income, and education. While psychographic segmentation reveals more details related to customers’ lifestyle including purchase behavior, hobbies, spending habits, interests, and values. This information offers a better insight into customers’ lives that can allow them to accurately know which marketing methods should be performed and how a marketer can use their personal information in these methods to reach the right target market. Lastly, the marketer can use geographic segmentation to divide potential customers into smaller units by grouping people by country, state, city, region and even neighborhood. This segmentation lets the marketer know where the targeted customers are located which ensures to create better marketing strategies for places where their majority of the customer base is (Customer Monitor, 2018).

To have an effective marketing plan, marketers must define their target audience by using three types of market segmentation; demographic, psychographic, and geographic. Each of them can provide useful information about customers that can be applied to the decisions of marketing tactics and strategies. Suppose Starbucks hired a new marketer who will be fully responsible to promote their beverages and services to the direct target audience. This new marketer will need to know their age group, whether they are female or male and even how much income they have to spend. Then, they will have to find out where do they regularly buy their coffee from, how much do they spend on their coffee order and even whether they even like coffee. The marketer will end their investigation by researching where the majority of the customer base is located and if there is a Starbucks joint in the area he or she lives in.

When creating a marketing plan, these three tools can help a marketer know the answers to these following questions,

1. Who are your customers?
2. Where is the majority of the target audience live?
3. What marketing activities should be used?
4. What do they like or dislike?
5. How old are they?
6. Are they female or male?

In conclusion, it is important for marketers to apply the market segmentations in a marketing plan to define the target market after it has been narrowed down from a big population of the target audience. This useful information provided by the demographic, psychographic and geographic research allows marketers to know exactly what needs to be done to entice the target market into buying the product or service which is being sold.

Reference

Customer Monitor. (2018). Everything you need to know about the 4 types of market segmentation. [online] Available at: https://www.customermonitor.com/blog/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-4-types-of-market-segmentation

Dreamstime. (2020). Market segmentation Types. [online] Available at: https://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-images-market-segmentation-types-image28845369

 

 

Photo by Laisinghani, P. (2018)

As the holiday season approaches into our lives, we tend to appreciate our loved ones even more. This is the time when families and friends come together to celebrate the jolliest holidays. Some people get together with their families and friends to watch classic Christmas movies while others go on shopping sprees.

The holiday season is known as the busiest time of the year for companies when compared to the rest of the year. Many companies utilize the holiday season as an advantage to grow their business and increase their profits as well. These companies use the help of planning techniques in order to achieve the ultimate business success. The effective techniques include goals, tactics, and strategies. Goals can be anything that a company hopes to achieve in the near future. To accomplish these goals, a company generates a detailed plan of strategies intended to move forward towards the goal. In other words, it is similar to a game plan that tells a sports team what tactics should be performed to win a game. Tactics are the day to day actions taken to support the strategies to achieve the set goals.

 

 

 

Photo by Harmon, C. (2017) – Photo by Product Clipart Starbucks. (2018)

Here’s an example: 

Starbucks has a set goal to increase the number of customers who buy their coffee by 3% within the next month. The company incorporates day to day marketing tactics to post creative Instagram pictures and videos on their page. These posts will assist to reach the overall strategy of attracting more customers into buying their coffee from Starbucks.

During the holiday times, many companies tend to incorporate smart goals into their marketing campaigns to attract customers into buying their products. You may ask ‘what are smart goals?’ Smart goals are used to help guide goal setting for a business. Smart is an acronym that stands for: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timely.

Photo by Smart Goals Clipart. (2018)

S: Specific The goal should be written clearly to define what you want to accomplish and how you are going to accomplish it. What do I want to accomplish? Why do I want to achieve this goal? Who is involved in the goal?

M: Measurable  To track the progress of a goal to know how far completion is from achieving the set goal. Can this goal be measured? How can I measure this goal?

A: Attainable Before you set a goal it is important to make sure that you can accomplish the goal efficiently and it is realistic enough to happen in the end. Is the goal truly achievable? How can I accomplish this goal? if you have the tools and skills needed for the goal to be completed?

R: Realistic The goal needs to relate to the company’s overall goal and consider the current trends in the industry. Is this right time for the goal? Why is it important? Does this align with other needs?

T: Timely The goal should have a set timeline to focus on to make sure it is completed by the deadline. When should the goal be completed by?  What can I do three months from now? What can I do today?

But how can companies apply smart goals into their holiday marketing campaigns?

 

 

 

Photo by Gekrabio. (2018) – Photo by Chen, M. (2018)

Here’s an example:

The Target Corporation offers their customers fun, trendy, and elegant clothing at a relatively cheaper price. Their motto is “Expect More, Pay Less” that allows its customers to expect more quality products at a more reasonable price. Recently, they have launched a holiday campaign “Gather Round” that highlights the amazing unbeatable value of products offered by Target to capture the spirit of togetherness with family and friends. 

Target has decided to a set goal to increase their brand awareness of their holiday campaign on Instagram before the end of 2018. They want to post more frequently on their Instagram page by posting three times a week to attract more customers into buying their holiday products. Target would measure the marketing metrics of their Instagram page every week to determine whether they are achieving their social media goal. A key performance indicator can be used to demonstrate how effectively Target performs on their social media goal. The social media team of Target would look weekly at the likes, comments, engagement, followers growth and other social media metrics of their posts. In addition, the social media department of Target would apply the existing resources and employment to be able to post three a week. Target would have to be realistic about the growth of their Instagram platform being accomplished within the next two months.

 

 

Reference: 

Chen, M. (2018, January 12). How to use Influencer Marketing to dominate Instagram. Retrieved from https://www.crowdbabble.com/blog/use-influencer-marketing-dominate-instagram/

Ennis-O’Connor, M. (2018, January 18). How To Set SMART Social Media Marketing Goals For Your Business. Retrieved from https://medium.com/@JBBC/how-to-set-smart-social-media-marketing-goals-for-2018-862d1002a172

Gather Round: Get Your First Look at Target’s Holiday Campaign. (2018, November 1). Retrieved from https://corporate.target.com/article/2018/11/holiday-marketing

Gekrabio. (2018, October 2). Christmas Decoration Stores Near Me. Retrieved from http://tifannyfrench.info/christmas-decoration-stores-near-me/

Harmon, C. (2017, June 1). Coffee shops and Social Media. Retrieved from https://cafespaces.wordpress.com/2017/06/01/coffee-shops-and-social-media/

Introduction to Key Performance Indicators Examples. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.klipfolio.com/resources/kpi-examples

Laisinghani, P. (2018, August 30). Market Segmentation – Holiday Marketing Campaign. Retrieved from https://msg91.com/blog/market-segmentation-holiday-marketing-campaign/

Product Clipart Starbucks. (2018). Retrieved from https://dumielauxepices.net/product-clipart/product-clipart-starbucks

Charliesaidthat. (2016, October 16). The Difference Between Marketing Strategy vs Tactics. Retrieved from http://charliesaidthat.com/digital/digital/difference-between-marketing-strategy-vs-tactics-an-example/

Smart Goals Clipart. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiU_6m8jOTeAhXMJt8KHZEuAnkQjRx6BAgBEAU&url=http%3A%2F%2Fworldartsme.com%2Fsmart-goals-clipart.html&psig=AOvVaw1ctZGwizgkHTkniq9_jraB&ust=1542841999672587

SMART GoalsHow to Make Your Goals Achievable. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/smart-goals.htm

Marketing platforms. (2018)

Are you planning to enter the marketing industry? If you have answered yes and are interested to learn more. Then get ready to know what you need to do and know to become a successful marketer! In this blog, we will discuss the various aspects of marketing when it comes to creating an integrated marketing campaign.

As a marker, you have to make sure all the boxes are checked off to present a successful campaign to the market. An integrated marketing campaign is an approach that companies perform to promote its brands and products to a wider audience through marketing tools. These tools include advertising, public relations, sales promotions, personal selling, and digital marketing.

When you are about to present the IMC of your products and services to the market, you have to be extra careful to avoid any ethical practices.

Statement of Ethics. (2018).

What are ethics?

Well, ethics are the moral principles of good and bad that are followed by companies to make sure they are accepted by individuals and society. The principles include culture, language, religion, society, nationality, and other ethnics.

In the role of a marketer, you have to make sure to check whether all the advertising approaches in the companies follow the ethical practices. You will have to apply the standards expressed by the American Marketing Association that tell what ethical norms and values need to be ensured in the integrated marketing campaign. These ethical practices include the following do no harm, trust the marketing systems, and embrace ethical values (American Marketing Association (AMA, 2018). Furthermore, the company would have to avoid deception in product design, pricing, communication, and delivery of distribution. The company also would have to confirm core values such as honesty, responsibility, fairness, and values. The most important thing to keep in mind when it comes to ethical practices in a marketing campaign is to make sure the customers will be satisfied with its products and services.

Starbucks. (2018).

Here’s an example:

Suppose you are a social media marketer of Starbucks, you would utilize the various aspects of marketing techniques to deliver messages related to its products and service such as beverages, food, and customer service. You would use social media platforms such as Instagram to take photos and videos of the Starbucks’ coffee and food that will entice the existing and potential customers to buy from the company rather than its competitors. In addition, you would have to be honest about what the drinks contain like the ingredients and the material used to make the food. If the ethical practice of honesty is not followed by Starbucks’ company about its products then the company could most likely experience false advertising lawsuits from customers and also being sued for misleading information.

 

 

 

Reference: 

Different Tools of Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC). (2018). Retrieved from https://www.mbaknol.com/marketing-management/different-tools-of-integrated-marketing-communications-imc/

Marketing platforms. (2018) Retrieved from https://comunidad.iebschool.com/marketingrss/files/2016/090cropped-inbound-marketing.png

Starbucks. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.pinterest.com/pin/393994667372984634/

Statement of Ethics. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.ama.org/AboutAMA/Pages/Statement-of-Ethics.aspx

What Are The Ethical Issues Within A Business?. (2018). Retrieved from https://blog.essaycorp.com/what-are-the-ethical-issues-within-a-business/

 

Photo by Laisinghani, P. (2018)

As the holiday season approaches into our lives, we tend to appreciate our loved ones even more. This is the time when families and friends come together to celebrate the jolliest holidays. Some people get together with their families and friends to watch classic Christmas movies while others go on shopping sprees.

The holiday season is known as the busiest time of the year for companies when compared to the rest of the year. Many companies utilize the holiday season as an advantage to grow their business and increase their profits as well. These companies use the help of planning techniques in order to achieve the ultimate business success. The effective techniques include goals, tactics, and strategies. Goals can be anything that a company hopes to achieve in the near future. To accomplish these goals, a company generates a detailed plan of strategies intended to move forward towards the goal. In other words, it is similar to a game plan that tells a sports team what tactics should be performed to win a game. Tactics are the day to day actions taken to support the strategies to achieve the set goals.

 

 

Photo by Harmon, C. (2017) – Photo by Product Clipart Starbucks. (2018)

Here’s an example: 

Starbucks has a set goal to increase the number of customers who buy their coffee by 3% within the next month. The company incorporates day to day marketing tactics to post creative Instagram pictures and videos on their page. These posts will assist to reach the overall strategy of attracting more customers into buying their coffee from Starbucks.

During the holiday times, many companies tend to incorporate smart goals into their marketing campaigns to attract customers into buying their products. You may ask ‘what are smart goals?’ Smart goals are used to help guide goal setting for a business. Smart is an acronym that stands for: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timely.

Photo by Smart Goals Clipart. (2018)

S: Specific The goal should be written clearly to define what you want to accomplish and how you are going to accomplish it. What do I want to accomplish? Why do I want to achieve this goal? Who is involved in the goal?

M: Measurable  To track the progress of a goal to know how far completion is from achieving the set goal. Can this goal be measured? How can I measure this goal?

A: Attainable Before you set a goal it is important to make sure that you can accomplish the goal efficiently and it is realistic enough to happen in the end. Is the goal truly achievable? How can I accomplish this goal? if you have the tools and skills needed for the goal to be completed?

R: Realistic The goal needs to relate to the company’s overall goal and consider the current trends in the industry. Is this right time for the goal? Why is it important? Does this align with other needs?

T: Timely The goal should have a set timeline to focus on to make sure it is completed by the deadline. When should the goal be completed by?  What can I do three months from now? What can I do today?

But how can companies apply smart goals into their holiday marketing campaigns?

 

 

Photo by Gekrabio. (2018) – Photo by Chen, M. (2018)

Here’s an example:

The Target Corporation offers their customers fun, trendy, and elegant clothing at a relatively cheaper price. Their motto is “Expect More, Pay Less” that allows its customers to expect more quality products at a more reasonable price. Recently, they have launched a holiday campaign “Gather Round” that highlights the amazing unbeatable value of products offered by Target to capture the spirit of togetherness with family and friends. 

Target has decided to a set goal to increase their brand awareness of their holiday campaign on Instagram before the end of 2018. They want to post more frequently on their Instagram page by posting three times a week to attract more customers into buying their holiday products. Target would measure the marketing metrics of their Instagram page every week to determine whether they are achieving their social media goal. A key performance indicator can be used to demonstrate how effectively Target performs on their social media goal. The social media team of Target would look weekly at the likes, comments, engagement, followers growth and other social media metrics of their posts. In addition, the social media department of Target would apply the existing resources and employment to be able to post three a week. Target would have to be realistic about the growth of their Instagram platform being accomplished within the next two months.

 

 

Reference: 

Chen, M. (2018, January 12). How to use Influencer Marketing to dominate Instagram. Retrieved from https://www.crowdbabble.com/blog/use-influencer-marketing-dominate-instagram/

Ennis-O’Connor, M. (2018, January 18). How To Set SMART Social Media Marketing Goals For Your Business. Retrieved from https://medium.com/@JBBC/how-to-set-smart-social-media-marketing-goals-for-2018-862d1002a172

Gather Round: Get Your First Look at Target’s Holiday Campaign. (2018, November 1). Retrieved from https://corporate.target.com/article/2018/11/holiday-marketing

Gekrabio. (2018, October 2). Christmas Decoration Stores Near Me. Retrieved from http://tifannyfrench.info/christmas-decoration-stores-near-me/

Harmon, C. (2017, June 1). Coffee shops and Social Media. Retrieved from https://cafespaces.wordpress.com/2017/06/01/coffee-shops-and-social-media/

Introduction to Key Performance Indicators Examples. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.klipfolio.com/resources/kpi-examples

Laisinghani, P. (2018, August 30). Market Segmentation – Holiday Marketing Campaign. Retrieved from https://msg91.com/blog/market-segmentation-holiday-marketing-campaign/

Product Clipart Starbucks. (2018). Retrieved from https://dumielauxepices.net/product-clipart/product-clipart-starbucks

Charliesaidthat. (2016, October 16). The Difference Between Marketing Strategy vs Tactics. Retrieved from http://charliesaidthat.com/digital/digital/difference-between-marketing-strategy-vs-tactics-an-example/

Smart Goals Clipart. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiU_6m8jOTeAhXMJt8KHZEuAnkQjRx6BAgBEAU&url=http%3A%2F%2Fworldartsme.com%2Fsmart-goals-clipart.html&psig=AOvVaw1ctZGwizgkHTkniq9_jraB&ust=1542841999672587

SMART GoalsHow to Make Your Goals Achievable. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/smart-goals.htm