7 Key Strategies That You Must Learn From Apples Marketing

Coming off the heels of yet another successful Apple launch debut, its increasingly clear that Apple is on top of their game in a way like no other. Which other company could turn an ordinary press conference into a live global event? The secret lies beyond their product line and design standards; it lies beyond even Steve Jobs emphatic adherence to Apples core philosophy, which is that the user doesnt always know what they want.

Looking at the companys latest product lines and revenue models, Id be a fool to call them anything less than what they are, which is: A design firm A media platform A publishing company A software powerhouse A computer builder A movement Break down each of these bullets individually and youll find a company at the top of their respective industry, but combine them

into a single entity and youve got the recipe for building one of the most influential businesses of all time.

So how did they do it?

Rather than tell you how I think they did it, I thought instead Id turn to their fans on Twitter, who helped me uncover 7 of the greatest marketing lessons that Apple brings to the table.

1. Ignore Your Critics

As an entrepreneur, youll hear a lot of people tell you that you need to reach out and figure out what people want, which means listening to your critics, often times more patiently than youd like. Apple decides to flip the script and instead focus on building what they want to build, no matter the perceived cost. When Steve Jobs debuted the iPad, the critics stood in line, throwing every insult they could muster. The critics said that the iPad would fail. The numbers say otherwise. Each and every time Apple decided to innovate, they were laughed at. They prevailed anyway. Great ideas often receive violent opposition from mediocre minds. - Albert Einstein

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2. Turn the Ordinary into Something Beautiful

For quite some time, PC fans enjoyed the work of buying their own parts and building their own tower systems. At the same time, PC makers were building standard hardware for standard applications. Apple would have none of that. Theyve been pioneering not only the features of standard operating systems and computer systems, but simultaneously reinventing the design standards as well. As a result, we have the gorgeous iMac, the beautiful new Macbook Air, and who could forget, the amazing iPhone 4. Where others focus on one aspect of the equation, Apple focuses on the entire product, and it shows.

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3. Justify Your Price

Were in a time when pricing strategies are all over the place. People dont know what to charge, and in many cases, prefer to race to the bottom instead of pricing strategically to a market that can bear the cost. Once more, Apple ignores the standard by not only pricing their technology more than 2x what their competitors charge, but doing so without blinking. How can they get away with it? Well, the answer is twofold: 1. They build beautiful products for an audience that loves them passionately. 2. They justify their price with features and benefits that cant be matched. Since weve already hit point 1, lets work on #2. No other computer can match the display of a 27 iMacit simply cant be done. No other software can match what iTunes brings to the table. No laptop is as thin as the Macbook Air. No software is more intuitive, no product more valuable than the Apple product. Any other smartphone looks like it was developed by rookies when compared to an iPhone 4. You simply cannot compare the two. Critics will play on the fact that the core features are the same, and they might be, but thats not the point. The point is that Apple is the Rolls Royce of the technology and design world, and their customers will gladly pay a premium because of it.

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4. Communicate in the Language of Your Audience

It makes no sense to talk about things like megabytes, gigahertz, and processing power to customers that simply dont care about technical jargon. Take a look at any Apple product page and youll find that though they do discuss product specifications and technical information, its hidden behind the benefits that their audience is truly after. Instead of display resolution, youll see phrases like edge to edge glass, retina display, and LED backlighting. Sure, the jargon is there for those that need it, but its presented in a way that makes you want to learn about megapixels, rather than shy away from them. The art is in the copy, not in the features.

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5. Extend the Experience

Have you ever heard of an unboxing? I hadnt either until recently, when I learned that not only was I not the only one keeping Apple packaging post-sale, but that there are legions of people that record the actual process of unwrapping their newly purchased Apple products.

Do a search on YouTube and youll find hundreds of Apple unboxings, each from different users from across the globe. Its pretty crazy right? No one tells these people to video their experience, but they do it because the process is so Zen that you cant help not to. Apple does this by making sure that the experience doesnt end at the cash register. They take great care in designing a user experience from browsing to unwrapping, which relies on incredible packaging and installation procedures. By reducing installation to the lowest common denominator, they make buying new products a snap, and by spending as much time on designing packaging as they do on the products themselves, theyve ensured that the box matches whats inside. As a result, theyve built an experience that is nearly impossible to match.

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6. Build a Tribe
Its no secret that Apple has built one of the most hardcore fan bases of any product and of any time. Theres a reason theyre called fanboys.

But who cares, right? Most of the chatter is out of jealousy more than anything, but Apple doesnt really care. They know that they serve an elite audience, and rather than back away from that fact, they embrace it.

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7. Become The Name

You dont buy tissues, you buy Kleenex. You dont buy MP3 players, you buy an iPod. You dont buy a smartphone, you buy an iPhone. Have you noticed what theyre doing here? Apple isnt content with being a leader in sales alone, they want to own the market itself, which explains why theyve engineered iTunes as the major music

provider that it is, and why the iPad, having the luxury of being the first, has now set the trend for future tablet devices. From here on out, everything will be compared to the iPad, iPhone, iPod, and iTunes. Sadly, this sort of thing is tough to duplicate, but its not impossible. You need to have one of two things: 1. A clear head start in terms of being first to market. 2. A USP that differentiates your product in a way that makes people wish it were first. The iPhone wasnt the first phone, but they engineered it to be so unique that you couldnt help but think it was. The iMac isnt the first all in one, but it became the only one that mattered.

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Join the conversation Its not so much the marketing angle that matters as it is the way that people identify with that angle. Take a look at any Steve Jobs product release and youll watch as he tells you why every other product in the market pales in comparison to what hes created.

Nokia
Regaining Strategic Agility Success and market leadership often turn strategic agility into strategic rigidity. Cognitive Broadening Through the 1990s and into the early 2000s, Nokia was characterized by a tension between the focused cognition on operational success in the core business and the broadened cognition of planting seeds of renewal. The narrow focus jeopardized strategic sensitivity, while the broadened focus fostered strategic sensitivity. Corporate ventures, and their informal equivalent within NMP, allowed experiential learning around, and away from, the core businesses. Some of these ventures were positioned, and justified, as fitting with the core 3G trajectory of Nokias development. They obtained commitment and resources, but in fact were used to explore new growth avenues.23 By giving enough independence to Through the 1990s and into the early 2000s, Nokia was characterized by a tension between the focused cognition on operational success in the core business and the broadened cognition of planting seeds of renewal. The narrow focus jeopardized strategic sensitivity, while the broadened focus fostered strategic sensitivity. The relative informality of the process and the variety and number of ventures launched over a relatively short time frame called for intense discussions. The structuring of these discussions around the forums described earlier allowed for a richer strategic dialogue among a wider group of executives and professionals than just top management or a separate venture group. In the NMP process, the dialogue was even more direct and intense as the innovative efforts were run informally within the same organization as the core business, under the sponsorship of the executive also leading Sales and Marketing for Europe (Nokias core region at that time). The ongoing strategic dialogue around ventures maintained a level of strategic sensitivity across a broad cadre of people who might otherwise have been fully absorbed with operational concerns.

The co-existence within NMP of pressures for operational excellence and of seeds of renewal created a healthy tension. Although the belief in 3G primacy was strong and central, it was not totally overwhelming. Sometimes, as with WLAN, Nokia was too early, losing its interest to this technology for a while only to learn later that this was indeed an important area. Sometimes, as with the first communicator, products did not succeed commercially, but the learning and understanding they brought were acknowledged and used subsequently. Posted by Marketing - The new age trend at 2:07:00 am 2 comments Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to Facebook Nokia Supply chain Nokia Supply chain: For Nokia, the reality of a supply chain management is a fact; and the commercial organisation chosen and the levels of service displayed are proving it. Nokia doesnt sale its cell phones directly to individuals, they sale them through operators such (Bouygues, SFR, Maroc Telecom) and to distributors (Cora, Auchan, Carrefour) also to traders who are intermediate who are responsible for the marketing of Nokia products with the small distributors. The supply chain management of Nokia is very strategic because of the market expansion. Its a market who grows slowly, so they should optimize resources and the capacity of production. Another point that shows the importance of supply chain manager holds that the competition is exacerbated. One of the operators have manufactured in the Scandinavian countries, so Nokia has to take decisions to optimize the supply chain to counter their offer. As a big MNC, it should be much organised. In the beginning it plans forecast. Nokia looks to the market three years. Then, they make a forecast in their sales over 12 months. Every subsidiary develops previsions of their market. In their prevision of sale, things arent simple. It does not only make a historical observation and then have a prevision, no; it must be taken into account the rate of penetration in the country and its level of growth in the future. It looks the part of the market that needs improvement.

These 12 months forecast and the daily schedule in the very short term allows two things. It allows Nokia to know it needs for the next weeks and for the next months, per 14 country, per family products. Then Nokia will optimize the capacity of production which is then distributed. Each country will be given a part of production. Nokia is organised in the base of two teams. There is one team of prevision and sales planning (logistics team), working against a team to optimize the daily production capacity and supply (supply team). Posted by Marketing - The new age trend at 1:56:00 am 0 comments Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to Facebook Nokia features & four V's Features Quality: Nokia phones are solid. The quality of sound and the button make you feel ill at ease with the phone. Its materials and components are one of the most important factors that push the customers to buy it, the design too. Speed: A Nokia phone response and transfer quickly items for a phone to another. Also the short cut, easy, evident and simple to use. Dependability: Nokia phone will never let you down because of the high autonomy of the battery. In some phones, especially professional ones, they offer an extra battery to be always available. Flexibility: They produce cell phone suitable to every kind of person. They have a wide range of style, from the basic use to the professional one. Depending on the status, the softwares are not the same. The features of phones for young people are not the same as the professional one as they differ in the complexity of their systems. Cost: They produce a wide variety of products ranging from cheap to very expensive. Most of the people can buy a Nokia starting from 300 Dh, for e.g. Nokia 3310, to the expensive one like the Nokia Sapphire that cost around 14,000 Dh.

Nokias 4 Vs: Volume: Nokia has a medium to high volume because its produces a large quantity of cell phones but not everyday. People buy a cell phone once generally for a year or two. Variety: Nokia produces only cell phone and other software. The variety of the company is very low. Variation: The variation in demand is very high. Nokia attempts to meet the requirements of their customers both professional and ordinary ones. Volume: Nokia is located over 40 countries all over the world including shops. We can see the brand name everywhere and its much known. The company has a mass and cell production process. Its a mass because it produces a large quantity of cell phones and its a cell production because each cell phone is produced in a plant in China, Finland and Brazil. The manufacturing of each phone is done separately. Posted by Marketing - The new age trend at 1:50:00 am 0 comments Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to Facebook Mission & VIsion of Nokia Mission Statement: 1-To guide and focus decision making 2-To create a balance between the competing interest of various stakeholders 3-To motivate and inspire organizational members However, it is important to point out that mission statements do not always deliver the promised benefits. In reality, mission statements are often unreadable and uninspiring, and articulate values that are unrealistic or are not aligned with day-to-day organizational behaviour. Previous mission statement research focused primarily on the content of mission statements and/or on the managers perception

of the mission statement. Meanwhile, the mission statement perception of individual organizational members received little attention. Vision Statement: Nokia wants to create a new world; to transform a big planet to a small village. Their vision is to create, build, and encourage people from all countries to communicate with each other in order to create a world where everybody is connected. Humans learn from people around them, but men also seem to forget that beliefs and thoughts differ from person to person. The way of thinking, experiences, believes are simultaneously related in a logic approach. Similarly, Nokia wants to create a world of creativity and experience, shared experiences. mill in Tammerkoski in southern Finland. Frederick Idestam then built another mill by the Nokiavirta River where he gave the name Nokia to the mill in 1871. Originally, the Nokianvirta River was named after a dark furry animal, locally known as the Nokia a type of marten. Following a major industrial force, the company merges with a cable company (founded by Eduard Polon) and a rubber firm (founded by Arvid Wickstrom) which sets Nokia on the new path of electronics. Nokias first electronic device was a pulse analyzer designed for use in nuclear power plants in 1962. Their interest in telecommunication systems began in 1963 when they started developing radio telephones for the army and the emergency services, prior to the manufacturing of televisions, radio phones, data transfer equipment, radio link, analyzers and digital telephone exchange. Nokia will change its production and focus on the telecommunication expertise until it becomes the core of its future work. To move to mobile: In 1979 Mobira Oy was the first phone maker. They begin life as a joint venture between Nokia and leading Finnish television Salora. The Mobile phone revolution started in 1981 with the launch of the first Nordic Mobile Telephone (NMT) service. The phone industry began to expand rapidly and Nokia introduces its first car phones followed by the portable in 1986.

Mobile revolution: In 1992, Nokia decides to focus on its telecommunications business. This happens when Jorma Ollila becomes CEO of Nokia and he chooses to concentrate on telecommunication industry. In the 1990s, the rubber, cable, and consumer electronics divisions, were therefore sold. Nokias only business turned towards the manufacturing of mobile phones and telecommunications systems. The strategy of Jorma Ollila was to create a new era of telecommunication on a long term vision. In 1992, the company launched its first GSM handset and then introduced their famous Nokia Tune in 1994. During that year, the worlds first satellite was made using a Nokia GSM handset. In 1997 the world famous mobile game Snake was presented in the Nokia 6110. Soon after, in 1998, the company became the world leader in mobile phones. Following a good deal of research, they launched the first mobile phone Nokia 7110 which included a WAP. Nokia Now: Presently, Nokia is creating more and more mobiles phones with differing functions. The company also makes sure into diversifying and segmenting its products. Their leading position pushed the company to go forward in their research. They came up with the first 3G Phone in 2002, and the multi-player Nokia N-Gage. In 2005, the N-series were born with their sophisticated mobile phones. In 2006, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo became the new CEO of Nokia and Jorma Ollila shifted to being the Chairman of Nokias board. At that time Nokia and Siemens announced plans for Nokia siemens network the leading operations of Nokia. In 2007, Nokia launched its new internet services brand. In order to achieve its goals, Nokia developed strategies. These strategies differ from country to another, from a culture to another. Companies are always creating a vision and a mission statement to make everything tacit. Evidently, Nokia has set up its specific missions and visions. Posted by Marketing - The new age trend at 1:46:00 am 0 comments

Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to Facebook Nokia at Present In 1992, the company launched its first GSM handset and then introduced their famous Nokia Tune in 1994. During that year, the worlds first satellite was made using a Nokia GSM handset. In 1997 the world famous mobile game Snake was presen ted in the Nokia 6110. Soon after, in 1998, the company became the world leader in mobile phones. Following a good deal of research, they launched the first mobile phone Nokia 7110 which included a WAP. Nokia Now: Presently, Nokia is creating more and more mobiles phones with differing functions. The company also makes sure into diversifying and segmenting its products. Their leading position pushed the company to go forward in their research. They came up with the first 3G Phone in 2002, and the multi-player Nokia N-Gage. In 2005, the N-series were born with their sophisticated mobile phones. In 2006, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo became the new CEO of Nokia and Jorma Ollila shifted to being the Chairman of Nokias board. At that time Nokia and Siemens announced plans for Nokia siemens network the leading operations of Nokia. In 2007, Nokia launched its new internet services brand. In order to achieve its goals, Nokia developed strategies. These strategies differ from country to another, from a culture to another. Companies are always creating a vision and a mission statement to make everything tacit. Evidently, Nokia has set up its specific missions and visions. Posted by Marketing - The new age trend at 1:41:00 am 0 comments Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to Facebook History of Nokia Nokias first century: The company was founded in 1865 by Frederick Idestam. The company began a paper mill in Tammerkoski in southern Finland. Frederick Idestam then built another mill by the Nokiavirta River where he gave the name Nokia to the mill in 1871. Originally, the Nokianvirta River was named after a dark furry animal, locally known as the Nokia a type of marten.

Following a major industrial force, the company merges with a cable company (founded by Eduard Polon) and a rubber firm (founded by Arvid Wickstrom) which sets Nokia on the new path of electronics. Nokias first electronic device was a pulse analyzer designed for use in nuclear power plants in 1962. Their interest in telecommunication systems began in 1963 when they started developing radio telephones for the army and the emergency services, prior to the manufacturing of televisions, radio phones, data transfer equipment, radio link, analyzers and digital telephone exchange. Nokia will change its production and focus on the telecommunication expertise until it becomes the core of its future work. To move to mobile: In 1979 Mobira Oy was the first phone maker. They begin life as a joint venture between Nokia and leading Finnish television Salora. The Mobile phone revolution started in 1981 with the launch of the first Nordic Mobile Telephone (NMT) service. The phone industry began to expand rapidly and Nokia introduces its first car phones followed by the portable in 1986. Mobile revolution: In 1992, Nokia decides to focus on its telecommunications business. This happens when Jorma Ollila becomes CEO of Nokia and he chooses to concentrate on telecommunication industry. In the 1990s, the rubber, cable, and consumer electronics divisions, were therefore sold. Nokias only business turned towards the manufacturing of mobile phones and telecommunications systems. The strategy of Jorma Ollila was to create a new era of telecommunication on a long term vision. Posted by Marketing - The new age trend at 1:35:00 am 0 comments Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to Facebook Mktg plan of Nokia - Phase 2 (8) SIPOC Process There are five steps in the SIPOC process. They are Supplier, Inputs, Process, Output, and Customer. While considering the manufacturing of Nokia SIM cards in the market, Nokia needs to undergo through the SIPOC process. It will

help them to understand who would be the suppliers i.e. whether they will manufacture it or outsource. It will help them to understand what the necessary resources are in order to introduce Nokia SIM cards. The output will give them the idea what are the different SIM cards they going to introduce in the market. Customers will give them the idea who their target markets are and according provides service plans. And finally the process deals with customer service and the necessary strategies to be undertaken in order to gain market share. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS In order to diversify its business in to mobile network market, Nokia needs to make use of its leading mobile phones manufacturer image. As Nokia has build loyalty among its mobile phone users, it can use this for attracting customers towards its SIM cards and thereby gain market share. Also with its world class R & D department, it can offer many services to its customers which will help them to differentiate in their service offering from its competitors. For instance, video calling, free roaming, outgoing call restriction, etc. By focusing more on rural market which is untap to a certain extent, Nokia can satisfy its customers in rural areas which most of the existing players are not successful. Also by offering customize service plans to its customers such as offering SmS package, unlimited internet package, Free Hello tune, and so on with minimum price. Nokia can also make tie-ups with existing players such as Airtel, Vodafone, Aircel in order to gain larger market share. It can also offer better deals to customers who are buying Nokia handsets on its SIM cards which will increase its sales as well as customer base. This will help them to develop loyalty among its customers. In order to diversify in to SIM cards segment, Nokia needs to use mass marketing by implementing various promotion strategies such as Advertisements, Hoardings, Sponsoring events, canopies outside colleges and so on. Nokia also needs to plan its distribution strategy in order to reach to maximum people. They can also use their Connecting People tagline in its SIM card, thereby giving additional meaning to it. Thus, to diversify in to SIM card market is a better option for Nokia to increase its market share and revenue. Also this will help them to

build larger customer base which will ultimately result in one of the leading brands in the telecommunications industry.