IMC and Customer Satisfaction

The advertising strategy adopted by iPhone involves exploiting consumer media consumption traits. This is by intensely making use of all the media that the target consumers are exposed to. The target group for iPhone is the working population. This is because most of the iPhone features suit their corporate needs. These features satisfy the constant communication that is there between corporate and business partners. At the same time, it seeks to target the secondary market of high school and college students by incorporating better entertainment features. These features will suit their entertainment and internet social messaging. All these features are designed to attract new clients every time a new product is launched.

The marketing communications media that the company has decided to employ is the use of television, the internet and their physical stores. Through running the television adverts the company will reach a wider market even where apple stores are not yet available. They will also be able to reach the whole of their target market and, even meet their objective of attracting new clients to expand their client base. In their physical stores clients will have the opportunity to interact with the phone and also with the store representatives. This will ensure that they are able to get answers on any of their enquiries about the phones. This will also be employed on their website through engaging clients in chats. Both the online store and the physical store will also present clients with an opportunity to view the wide range of phones available and also their accessories in terms of applications and enhancements. By advertising at the store a month earlier before the launch and doing the same on television ensure that the product gains popularity even before it is launched (Saxena, 2009).

There will be a constant design that will be used for the purposes of advertising. The design will involve a plain background, the apple logo and the phone itself. This simplicity is so as to avoid the client from being distracted and rather concentrating on the features of the phone. Another strategy the company employed is the use of catchy phrases to articulate the quality of their phones. They will also be advertising the phones applications concurrently with the physical design. This is so as to show why the phone is different from all other phones through expressing the quality of their applications. By advertising the applications together with the phone is so as to enable those who already have the phones but would wish to add a new application to purchase it. Another method employed to increase on their sales due to the phone and also its applications. The company will also employ the print media to avail the news of their phones to their clients. Through magazines, the clients will be informed of any updates, new releases of applications, and also how to make maximum use of your iPhone.

The design of the adverts will be similar in all the media. This will ensure that the phone is identified with a brand. The history of apple products that are sleek in design is emphasized by not including a lot of graphics. By attracting the clients to the phones appearance only creates a bigger impression of the product. Thus, clients will only see one consistent form of designs and immediately distance it from the competitors. By creating this uniqueness, they will be able to make for themselves in the smart phone market (Wooldridge & Schneider, 2011).

Measuring the Effectiveness of Advertising

The achievements that will be made through this advertising means will be measured by how many phones have been sold by a given target. This is because marketing is expensive to a company and thus, the company may go at loses if it does not make its intended sales. The phone has set deadlines for three months by which it should already have sold one million handsets. Thus, if by the end of the three months the target is not met then the advertising is not delivering its intended purposes. Therefore, this will call for the company to deliberate on the changes that should be done on the adverts. But if the targets are met then the adverts will have served their purpose. In addition, we will be trying to monitor the number of potential clients of the phone or those that have made enquiries to see how many have already been introduced to our phones’ through the adverts (Burrow, 2008).

Promotional Strategies

Before every iPhone model is launched, the company runs television adverts for a whole month. This is so as to attract the numbers of waiting clients and hence, record high entry sales. The new products are also expected to be displayed for a whole month in the apple stores so that consumers can have a real life interaction with the product. By experiencing the product in a real life situation will also make the consumers await its launch eagerly. This will also aid in recording high entry sales.

Due to the expected high sales, the product will be launched with an initial high price. This will be so as to record high sales profit since there will be already a high number of waiting consumers. The price will be reduced after three months to make it affordable for both the primary and secondary market targets. This is because the client base would reduce drastically since not many mobile phone users would have the ability to purchase the phone. This will ensure the product continues to be bought by consumers and thus, maintaining the high sales. The initial launch price will be $599 and then reduced to $399 after three months. This move is aimed at seeing that the company sells its targeted number of phones it intends to have sold by a certain date (Hughes, 2011).

The distribution method that the company will employ is direct distribution. The company will make use of its own resources to avail the products to their clients. These will include using their employed sales persons to market the product, availing the products in all the company’s physical and online stores. Other reputable distribution methods they have employed are using accomplished online retailers and cellular phone service providers. This is to ensure that the product is availed everywhere.

Marketing Research Approach to Measure Customer Satisfaction

The marketing research that will be used is collecting customer feedback and complaints through our website and physical store. The information that will be collected from the customers will help to understand the perceptions of the clients to the product.          

Measuring Customer Satisfaction and Addressing Gaps in Customer Expectations and Experiences

By the use of their website, they will be able to market their products online. This will ensure that even when the stores are not accessible clients can still get to their products. This is also to ensure that clients can get any answers they may require pertaining to their phones. Since their clients are expected to be internet users, the company will also ensure that it uses numerous sites to enhance their online advertising. This will enable the customers to stay constantly in touch with their clients and also reach their intended market targets easier. It also ensures that they reach a larger target of their future customers.

Through keeping records of the feedback from our clients we will be able to rate the levels of customer satisfaction. Using this information, we will be able to understand what changes or adjustments will be required to be made either on the phones or the phones’ applications. We will also provide the clients with free updates on their phones’ applications to ensure that they continue enjoying the phones services for longer and better. This will make the customers always like the experiences due to more and more things that are provided to make their interaction with the phone better.