Introduction
Most companies in the world of capitalism always want more. They want more profit, more shareholder value, and more market share, among others. The realizations of these objectives have been attained through the successful initiation, development and management of marketing in most instances. Indeed, the effective development and management of marketing has become a major priority for all organizations of all sizes in the different industries and markets. The reasons for this are certainly clear; strong marketing initiatives are positively correlated with customer loyalty and profits. However, the efficient marketing management can present challenges, especially in the case where managers are unable to accurately evaluate and assess their brands particular strengths and weaknesses objectively (Farquhar, 11).
Product Description
Apple iPhone 3GS is an innovative smart phone with only “three buttons on the exterior and a glossy, piano-black back plate and stainless steel trim around its 3.5-inch display” ref in addition to that above, its design is one of the most fragile in the Smartphone market. Apple iPhone 3GS combines both media and web and a combination of new features such as camera, digital compass, video mode and vice control. This innovative tool is equipped with 3 megapixels camera that includes white balance, autofocus and color levels that is far advanced than previous models. According to Blokdijk (13) and McFedries and Pabian (42) “video capture is included on the iPhone 3GS, shooting videos in VGA quality at 30 frames per second; if you’re not happy with the video you’ve shot, you can trim the start and end of the clip.”
Furthermore, the Apple iPhone 3GS is installed with a compass chip that tells you where you are pointing at. Google maps can use the compass to show the direction the user is facing. However, the most innovative application on the Apple iPhone 3GS is the voice control that allows the user to give instructions by simply asking the iPhone nicely to do so. “The voice chip is also used to respond, so it can read back your selection, or tell you which song ID playing without you having to open the iPod” McFedries and Pabian (41), this garget goes further in that it is fitted with a new accessibility options for people with impairments. It can read messages, emails and carry out a number of functions and commands from the voice chips.
Apple iPhone 3GS combines high levels of performances to deliver value to customers. One of the most important characteristic of a top brand is its ability to deliver the benefits that customers truly desire. According to Keller (24), Karger, and Murdick (13), “the reason why customers prefer a certain brand as opposed to another is because the collection of attributes, brand image, services, and the many other tangible and intangible factors create an attractive whole that customers truly desire and identify with.” Another attribute is the relevance of the brands. In strong brands, brand equity is tied both to the actual quality of the product or service and to the various intangible factors. These are factors that have been exploited in the production of Apple iPhone 3GS to deliver higher benefits to customers. These attributes may encompass “the user imagery, usage imagery, the type of personality the brand portrays, the feeling the brand tries to elicit in customers and the type of relationship it seeks to build in its customers” (Keller, 20 and Lane, 18). One aspect of Apple iPhone 3GS brand that enables it deliver the best to the customer is its performance. This product delivers quality service to the user through extra speed in executing applications. The time it takes to execute applications in Apple iPhone 3GS is so fast especially in the third party applications such as games.
Pricing
The pricing strategy is the next important attribute and should ideally be focused on the pursuit of a strategy that is based on customers’ perception of value. As has been noted in both academic and empirical literature, majority of organizations are faced with the problems of finding the right blends between the attributes of products quality, design, features, costs and prices. As noted by Armstrong, Harker, Kotler, and Brennan (14) and Baker, Marn and Zawada (38), many managers are usually averse to how price can and should relate to what customers thinks of a product and therefore either charge too much or too little for a product. The pricing strategy of Apple iPhone 3GS has been instituted and well positioned within the tenets of occupying particular niches in the customer’s minds. At a price of $1,100, this product comes along with a number of added values geared towards customer satisfaction. Apple iPhone 3GS as a successful brand has kept up with competitors by creating points of parity in those areas where competitors are tying to find an advantage while at the same time creating points of difference to achieve advantages over competitors in some other areas.
Product Promotion
Apple iPhone 3GS as a selling brand has been promoted in consistency and while ate the same time striking a balance between continuity in marketing activities and the kind of change needed to stay relevant. In this regard, Apple iPhone 3GS brand’s image has never been lost within the cacophony of marketing efforts that confuse customers through conflicting messages. The brand portfolio and hierarchy also makes sense given that most Apple iPhone 3GS producer has several and different brand segments. Through the maintenance of sound boundaries, the challenges of overlapping two brands have been smoked away. Equity as a brand aspect and entails the need for use of and coordination of a full repertoire of marketing activities in order to build the brand equity (Faas, 27) has been fully exploited in the promotion of Apple iPhone 3GS. This is because strong brand mixes and matches helps perform a number of brand related functions, including but not limited to the enhancement or reinforcement of consumers awareness of brands and its image, or even the legal and competitive protection of a brand.
Place of the product
According to Fukuda (144), “brands succeed because they are positioned to capitalize on their unique characteristics which, in one or more aspects, their rivals find hard to emulate and hence their competitive advantages.” This competitive advantage gives it a basis for outperforming competitors because of the value that firms are able to present to the customers. The positioning of Apple iPhone 3GS have been placed in strategic shopping locations such as Kmart store in Australia. This is to increase the levels of customer access to the product and thus smoke away competition. It can be adjudged that organizations can adopt two broad strategies by either focusing on costs driven or value added strategies in their branding initiatives. The positioning of Apple iPhone 3GS has strived to achieve both strategies.
Conclusion
It can be discerned from the above discussion that the producers of Apple iPhone 3GS that have made applications of a cocktail of strong marketing initiatives to win customer loyalty and business success. This has also been achieved through strategic product promotion, pricing and the development of a product that achieves value to customers. Through branding enhances the reinforcement of consumer awareness and its image, Apple iPhone 3GS has cut a niche in the mobile telephony market.
Works Cited
Armstrong, Gary., Harker, Michael., Kotler, Philip and Brennan, Ross. Marketing: An Introduction. New York: Financial Times Prentice Hall, 2009.
Baker, Walter., Marn, Michael and Zawada, Craig. The Price Advantage. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 2010.
Blokdijk, Gerard. iPhone 100 Need to Know Time Savers. Washington: Lulu.com, 2008.
Faas, Ryan. IPhone for Work: Increasing Productivity for Busy Professionals. London: Apress, 2009.
Farquhar, Patric. Managing Brand Equity. Marketing Research, (1991). 24- 33.
Fukuda, Kennedy. Effects of Brand Awareness on Choice for a Common, Repeat- Purchase Product. Journal of Consumer Research, (2003). 17: 141- 148.
Karger, Delmar and Murdick, Robert. New product venture management. Washington: Taylor & Francis, 1972.
Keller, Kennedy. Conceptualizing, Measuring, and Managing Customer-Based Brand Equity. Journal of Marketing, (1993): 57, 1-22.
McFedries, Paul and Pabian, David. IPhone 3G Portable Genius. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2008.
Lane, Paul. Measuring Customer-based Brand Equity. Journal of Consumer Marketing. (1990).12 (4), 11- 19.