Unit 19 Marketing Planning Assignment - Apple

Intoduction

With the verification of various aspects information was gathered in relation with the importance of marketing in the organisation with the effect of which the report is prepared in concentration with marketing planning. Marketing Planning will include information regarding Apple in which marketing planning is required so as to sustain in the competitive market. To provide effective set of information proper research will be done on the requirement of marketing planning in the organisation. This marketing analysis  will include a marketing plan for Apple, SWOT analysis of the marketing plan and organisation will be provided. Information regarding the all the ethical aspects attached with the organisation will be presented in this report so as to provide appropriate and effective set of information to the organisation. This will help the organisation in moving on the verge of success and sustainability.

Task 1

AC 1.1 In the form of a report, review the changing perspectives in marketing planning.

Marketing is a very broad terms which requires and is a very important aspect attached with the organisation. Marketing planning provides blueprint to the organisation which gives an assurance that the organisation will be able to attract sufficient number towards its products and services. Market is unpredictable and fluctuating therefore, to ensure sustainability organisation has to assure that it should plan all the aspects of marketing well in advance form. Marketing planning reduces the risk of uncertainties and helps the organisation in providing the assurance that it will attain competitive advantage in the market. Preparing for the change is one of the most important factors attached with marketing planning (Gupta, et. al., 2016). Every organisation indulged in a competitive market should remain prepared for the change. Requirements of the people present in the market changes with time therefore to fulfil these requirements organisation also has to bring some or the other changes and have to present the changes in the market which could be done with the help of marketing planning. There are various changes in the perspective in marketing planning which are:

Technological Aspects: Technological change is one of the factors which bring a hue change in the whole process of the business and so in the marketing planning of the business. In present scenario frequent changes could be seen in the technological aspects, these frequent changes affects the planning done by the organisation in past. Therefore, organisations will have to assure that they should have N plan for marketing so that they could sustain in the market and could attract more and more people towards the products and services they are providing to the ultimate targets (Valentine, et. al., 2011). For example marketing on internet sites is influencing people and is attracting effective number of people towards the products and services, therefore, planning to do marketing on internet will help the organisation to spread effective set of information in the market.

Marketing Aspects: Competition in the market is another aspect. In present time competition is increasing day by day in the market. Therefore organisation will not only have focus on promoting the product. It will have to do the marketing according to the strategies of competitors so that people could make effective set of decision in relation with the product they should choose (Valentine, et. al., 2011). For example Competition for Apple Phones is increasing in the market therefore it will have to do the marketing according to the competition so that more people could get attracted towards the products of Apple.

Political Aspects: Political policies should be kept in mind by the organisation while doing marketing planning so that plan should be formulated according to the changing requirements of political aspects. For Example: it is necessary that Apple Phones should make changes in the marketing policies according to the requirements of political parties coming into existence after every election (Toledo, et. al., 2014).

Task 2

AC 1.2 Evaluate your chosen organization’s capability for planning its future marketing activity.

Apple is a well know brand in the market which makes it necessary that it should evaluate the capability for planning its future marketing activities. Indulging in such type of activity will provide direction to the organisation that where it stands, what are the requirements of the markets that are to be fulfilled. This type of activity will help Apple to fulfil all the loops and breaches that could affect the marketing planning of the organisation for future (Taghian, 2010).

• Various Core competencies of Apple
• Apple focuses upon the quality of the product it is providing the market which helps in attracting the people.
• People have varieties of options available as there is a chain of apple products that are provided to the target people.
• Teamwork is focused upon by Apple as it believes that people working in a team could produce more and could provide more quality to the product it is supplying in the market (Salmani, et. al., 2014).
• Positive aspects of Apple
• Products of apple are unique which helps in providing a unique identity to the products of Apple
• Providing quality product is main focus of Apple which helps in building trust among the people using the products of Apple or willing to use the product (Salmani, et. al., 2014).

Online marketing and marketing on the television has helped Apple in increasing its sale and it has a future planning to provide online stores which will guarantee fare price to the customer. This marketing planning of Apple for future will help it in attracting more customers and will help in increasing its sale in the market.

• Negative aspects attached with Apple
• Apple products cannot be afforded by everyone as its products are very expensive.
• There are many competitors of Apple available in the market which is affecting its sales (Taghian, 2010)

Task 3

AC 1.3 Examine the techniques for organisational auditing and for analysing external factors that affect marketing planning.

Various techniques are available which can help in auditing of Apple. These techniques could also help in analysing the external factors that can affect or are affecting the marketing planning of Apple. It is necessary that audit should be done on regular basis on Apple, this kind of activity helps in managing all the aspects of the organisation and helps in removing the vulnerabilities. Therefore, for auditing it is necessary that the organisation should apply certain set of technologies which could help in bringing effective set of results as an outcome. Hence, various techniques are:

SWOT Analysis: With the help of SWOT analysis organisation will be able to gather the information regarding the areas of strengths it has, areas of weaknesses, opportunities and threat that can affect the organisation in market (Toledo, et. al., 2014). SWOT analysis will provide a blue print to the auditor which will help in bringing out the areas that need the focus of the organisation or the areas which are required to be improved. An effective set of information regarding the internal process of the company could be gained by the auditor with the help of SWOT analysis.

PESTEL Analysis: PESTEL analysis stands for the analysis of political, economical, social, technological, environmental and legal contract attached with the organisation. These are the external factors that could affect the processing of the organisation. Gaining information regarding all these aspects will help the auditor in making effective set of decisions regarding the policies and procedures of the company. Auditor of Apple will be able to bring out necessary changes required in the organisation by examining these external factors (Valos, et. al., 2016).

Porter’s Five Forces: According the Michel Porter there are five external forces that can affect the organisation. Auditor of Apple will have to analyse all the forces are somewhere all these forces are related with the stakeholders of the company. Therefore, gaining information regarding the external forces of the company auditor will be able to share effective set of information with the company and will be able to help the company in decision making aspects.

There are several other techniques also that could be used by the auditor for auditing purpose like posting verification, extension verification, vouching verification, confirmation, physical examination reconciliation and testing (Gupta, et. al., 2016).

Task 4

3.3 Your company is interested in growing their business by developing products and markets. As a result, they have asked you to examine techniques for new product development.

Growth is the necessity of any organisation. Every organisation should work on the factors that could help it in growing in the market because growth will help the organisation to sustain in the competitive market. Product development and market development are the two aspects that help in the growth of organisations present in the market (Munir, et. al., 2011). With the help of Ansoff Matrix a better understanding could be developed with the fact that why product development and market development Apple could grow in the competitive market. 

According to Ansoff Matrix there are four options available with the organisation to grow in the market, which is market penetration, market development, product development and diversification (Radulescu, 2012). Therefore, most appropriate options available with Apple are market development and product development that will help it out in sustaining in the market. Developing the market will help the organisation in attracting more customers with the product it is providing. This is the aspect which helps in enhancing the market value in the mind of the customers. Targeting the new market with the existing product will help in attracting new people which will lead to increase the sale of the product in that particular market.

Another aspect is product development, with the help of product development organisation could increase its brand value in the market. In present scenario people are running towards the new technology and likes up-graded gadgets, therefore this will help Apple in attracting more people towards its product and will help in attaining competitive advantage from the market (Salmani, et. al., 2014).

• Techniques that could be used by Apple for product development are:
• It can upgrade the software of the mobile phone
• Could launch an upgraded series having more features
• Could launch the product in android that could attract most of the people who are present into the market

Task 5

LO3 Be able to formulate a marketing plan for a product or service

3.1 write a marketing plan for a product or a service.

The future of an organization is totally dependent upon a clear and appropriate marketing plan without making an apparent marketing plan organization cannot be able to achieve the desired outcome. Apple needs to develop an effective marketing plan by which all the activities of an organization could be managed systematically and the important information could be viral into the desired market regarding the new products which are to be launched.

Marketing paln:

TASK	STATUS	START DATE	DEADLINE
To selecting the Mission	Accomplished	1 August 2016	15 August 2016
Setting up organizational Objectives	Accomplished	8 August 2016	20 August 2016
Market Analysis	Accomplished	20 August 2016	31 August 2016
SWOT Analysis	Accomplished	1 September 2016	10 September 2016
Marketing Hypothesis	In Progress	1 September 2016	10 October 2016
Marketing strategy and Objectives	In Progress	1 September 2016	21 October2016
Business Forecasting	Accomplished	1 September 2016	21 September 2016
Alternate Plan	In Progress (Target Basis)	1 September 2016	25 October 2016
Budgeting Alternate Plan	Completed	25 August 2016	1 September 2016
Plan Implementation	In Progress	1 September 2016	31 October 2016
To collect the Feedback	To be done	15 October 2016	10 November 2016

In the above marketing plan the activities which are in progress and which have been completed shown. On the basis of above marketing plan Apple would be able to supervise the ongoing activities and manage them accordingly (Salmani, et. al., 2014). It is essential for an organization to develop an efficient marketing plan and implement it according to the priorities in order to get the desired outcome and to be famous into the present market. Supervising and implementing an appropriate marketing plan will lead to the success and to be helpful at the same time for the smooth running of the business.

3.4 justify recommendations for pricing policy, distribution and communication mix.

Pricing policy: Apple's pricing policy lays emphasis on such customers who are ready to pay higher prices for the quality products. As some customers focus on the quality of product rather than price of product. Apple focuses on the product's quality which is one of the reasons for hike in price of Apple’s products brand image's criterion of Apple is met by products pricing (Toledo, et. al., 2014). Apple set the product's price in such a manner that leads for generation of high revenue.
For Example: market segmentation is usually done by Apple   that accord with the target customers. Therefore Apple lays emphasis on the products quality as well as products are also launched by the customers who are having high income series for the customers who have higher income.

Distribution: Apple has very effective distribution systems. Through effective distribution system Apple became able to acquire the target segment of market (OANA, 2014). In order to make the effective distribution system, Apple has laid emphasis on market survey through which demand and supply in the market can be ensured easily.
Distribution channel of Apple is given below:-

• Manufacturer (Apple manufactures the products and distribute to the wholesaler of different areas.)
• Wholesaler (products are given to the wholesalers in bulk (Valos, et. al., 2016). Wholesalers carry on the distribution channel by distributing the products further to the retailer's.)
• Retailer (they sell the products to the end consumers)

Communication Mix: Communication mix supports a company for effective marketing of the products or services, as through it right message can be delivered to the right person. Apple lays emphasis on the communication mix in order to influence the consumers to buy its product (Valentine, et. al., 2011). Number of techniques of communication is generally use by the Apple which not only helps in enhancing the sales but also provides competitive advantage.
Apple uses advertising technique in order to pass the information about products to the target customers. Advertisements are shown on television which displays huge information about the product. As well as the social networking sites are also used by Apple to advertise its products. This advertising technique helps Apple to approach large number of customers. One of the other techniques used by the Apple to communicate with the customers is public relation. Through this technique Apple has started helpline calling which provides solution to the queries of customers for 24*7. After sales services are also provided by the Apple in which servicing is done to the products. This technique is helpful in order to bind the customers with the company (McClaren, et. al., 2010). As when their query is solved properly or the product is being serviced after the sale then, they appreciate company's working procedure and become loyal customer.
Promotional techniques are also used by Apple which not only attracts the customer’s era to buy the products but also provide competitive advantage.

3.5 Explain how factors affecting the effective implementation of the marketing plan have been taken into account

Marketing plan's implementation can be affected by number of factors. These factors may act as barrier in implementing the marketing plan effectively. Some of the factors which can affect the marketing plan of Apple are discussed below with the solution which can be taken into account in order to remove the barriers so that Apple can effectively implement its marketing plan:

Lack of Coordination- when the team members of marketing or other departments are not coordinating with each other then it can affect the plan as due to lack of coordination many problems can be arise such as- false information, situation of conflict etc. In order to improve the coordination an effective leader should be appointed as a leader can coordinate the team members properly (McClaren, et. al., 2010).

Fund's Availability- another factor which can affect the implementation of plan is less availability of fund. Fund requires carrying out different tasks related to marketing. In order to overcome from this problem, Apple shall plan a budget and carry out its task as per the available funds.

Cultural Factors- one of the other factors which can affect marketing plan's implementation is cultural factor. There is huge difference between cultural factors of different-different people which can create obstacle in implementing the plan. Apple can overcome from this problem by ensuring that none of the Customer's cultural values shall be affected by the marketing process (Valentine, et. al., 2011).

1.4 Carry out organisational auditing and analysis of external factors that affect marketing planning in a given situation

In order to build up the intellectualism regarding the audits techniques it is essential to perform an audit in an organization because of that several factors in the external environment will be invented into the organization and that can be beneficial for the organization.

Apple’s SWOT Analysis:

STRENGTHS	WEAKNESSES
It has a very strong image and gives tough competition to the top brands. It provides excellent services to the customers. It continuously keeps focusing on the innovation, research and development. It robust financial performance.	It provides limited products to the customers that may not fulfil the needs of various customers. Whenever the new product launches into the market it loses the support of customers from the old products by switching to the new product (OANA, 2014). It has very high prices comparatively other top brands products.
OPPORTUNITY	THREATS
The market of tablets and mobiles phones is growing and that is big opportunity for the Apple.   Smooth integration of iCloud raises the demand of the other apple products (Gupta, et. al., 2016).	There are many new starts up introducing into the market that can affect the brand. There is huge competition into the market that can make impact on the company.

Apple’s PESTLE Analysis:

• Political factors – As it is known that the Apple is the US based company and it is performing its activity across the global market hence it has to face various political issues such as it has to pay huge tax as it generate large amount from the various countries (Srdjevic, et. al., 2012). Every country has its own political formalities and requirements that could affect the smooth running of the business. So it is important for the Apple to develop policies as feasible as it can adjust with every country.
• Economic factors – Each country globally has their norms of economic system that can make impact on the business of the organization. Some economic factors like interest rate, inflation rate, exchange rates etc affect the margin of profit of the organization.
• Social factors – Society is the group of people in which an organization performs so it is essential for an organization to perform its activities by keeping the norms of society into the mind and should be beneficial for them only then an organization can survive into the huge competitive market (Srdjevic, et. al., 2012).
• Legal factors – Every country has its legal norms and breaking these norms could prove risky for the organization. So before performing any activity into another country all their legal regulations should be kept in mind properly.
• Technology factors – Technology is considered as the impulsive in nature as it keeps changing perpetually. As it is known that the apple provides products which are related with the technology therefore it needs to be updated and upgraded in that same market in order to survive otherwise it will lose its positions (Gupta, et. al., 2016).
• Environmental factors - This factor should be kept on the top in the priority list that there should be no any activity performing by the organization that could affect or damage the environment otherwise legal action could be taken against the organization.

Task 6

You need to reflect on your group work in task02 and task 05, and assess your learning that you achieved in both. Also, state what contributions did you made to the group works.

With the help of the discussion help in task 2 and task 5 the learning that have developed is that Any organisation whether it is small or big doing business in the competitive market should make the judgement of what its capabilities are in that particular market. It could be understood that with the help of SWOT analysis organisation can gain information related with the internal environment and with the help of PESTLE analysis an organisation can gain effective set of information with the external environment of the organisation. These analyses will provide a direction to the organisation in preparing an effective marketing plan which will lead the organisation to move on the verge of success and sustainability. Plan is prepared by the organisation with the help of forecasting so that all the things related with the sustainability of the organisation should flow in the smooth manner. It is necessary that organisation should take under consideration all the legal aspects while preparing the plan and its competitors in mind while implementing that particular plan (OANA, 2014)

Preparing plan will provide a clear direction to the organisation with the effect of which organisation will be able to make decision of how it can attract effective amount of customers towards its products and services. Plan helps in removing all the future vulnerabilities with the effect of which an assurance could be made that the organisation will attain competitive advantage in the market.

Task 7

2.1 Assesses the main barriers to marketing planning

It is important for an organization to deliver the right message to the employees of the organization to fulfil a particular task but because of some barriers it is complicated. Barriers in the marketing planning develop anxiety and tension to the sales and marketing teams. But, in order to develop the products firstly, they need to know the demands and needs of the customers. Bad communication system surely will not help to make the proper interaction with the customers and that will affect the margin of profit of the organization (Srdjevic, et. al., 2012). But apart from that there are some other barriers that may affect the organizational marketing plan.

Demographical factors – Demographical factors includes growth rate of population, distribution of age etc. These factors affect the whole planning of an organization. People’s trends, thinking, work and living change very fast so marketing planning of an organization should be feasible in all types of changes (Kolios, et. al., 2013).

Economic factors – whether it is recession or boom it may influence the marketing planning of an organization because these all activities may make impact on the trends and behaviour of the customers. Economic trends influence the customer’s purchasing power that will further impact on the profit of the organization.

Cultural factor – the nature and behaviour of the people keeps changing and with that their tastes and lifestyle also change so that factor put a major impact on the organization’s sales and profit.

Technology - an organization must be upgraded with the latest technology to get work dome in an efficient manner (Valos, et. al., 2016).

Political factors – it includes legal issues, laws, policies, etc and they act as barriers to the organization.

2.2 Examines how organisations may overcome barriers to marketing planning

Marketing planning includes various events such as developing a marketing plan and its objective in order to achieve it.  In order to get the barriers to the marketing planning that could influence the organizational activities, marketing manager of the organization develops proper strategic planning by which it can achieve the best possible outcome and that is also easy to implanting (Munir, et. al., 2011). With the strategy planning a particular methodical system should also be prepared into it by which all the objectives and goals could be promoted and connected them.

Task 8

Report

Planning is a very crucial task which is influenced by various aspects and one of the aspects is ethical issues. Ethical issues influence planning in the organisation. Reason behind this is that doing business in the competitive market has become very tough due to the increase in competition and various political rules and regulations. In present scenario government is focusing on all the ethical aspects related with the market and keeps eye on the organisation violating the ethical aspects related with the business or the market (Taghian, 2010). Therefore, to ascertain that the organisation should not indulge in any unethical aspect they plan according to the policies and regulations prepared by the government present in the market.

Task 9

3.2 As you are nearly at the end of your work placement, senior management would like you to explain why marketing planning is essential in the strategic planning process for an organisation

With the help of effective marketing planning an organization can achieve success in the present competitive scenario. Strategic planning of the activities is beneficial to ensure the path that needs to be followed by the organization to achieve the growth and sustainability. It can be beneficial for an organization in many ways. To make proper strategic planning is helpful to calculate the consumer’s demand in the present market scenario and that is to be fulfilled by providing enough supply and production of the specific products. With the help of proper strategic planning employees of the organization come to how what exactly they need to do and how they should do in the specific time slot. An organization can easily achieve its short as well as long term goals and objectives by using proper strategic planning. It seems to be helpful to reduce the loops and problems generating in between the processing of the activities and undergo the smooth running of the business (Radulescu, 2012). A set of priorities could be prepared by the help of strategic planning by which work would be done in an organized manner and to fulfil the priorities at first decreases the work pressure from the employees. If any business want to know its present position it should develop an appropriate strategic planning by which it can also get the desired objective and could achieve the top position into the market. Ethical aspects are related with each and every process and procedures of the organisation and for marketing organisation definitely have to ensure that all the ethical aspects of the organisation should be followed in a proper manner (Radulescu, 2012).   

There are several ethical issues which influence marketing planning of the organisation like:

Competition is one of the aspects that influence the organisation to develop marketing plans. To ensures that to attain competitive positioning organisations prepare the marketing plans and ensures that it should not contain any unethical competitive strategy. To attain competitive positioning in the market organisation should assure that marketing of its product should include the name of the competitors in any set of comparison. If it is being taken then the organisation should have the certificate of that blame that is being pointed on the competitor or on the competitor’s product. Organisation should focus on the customers. It is necessary that the organisation should provide what it is advertising to the customer (Salmani, et. al., 2014). Providing false statements to the customers and by making false statements in the advertisements regarding the products is also an unethical issue. For such kind of activity organisation should ensure that the quality product should be provided to ultimate targets Therefore, to ensure that the advertisement should be done in a proper manner an organisation will have to make a proper plan and then will have to advertise the product in front of the customers available in the market.

Marketing plan includes not only the market and people present in the market but also employees working in the organisation. It is necessary that the marketing plan should include employees working on the marketing project or the employees directly or indirectly attached with the marketing project of the company (Salmani, et. al., 2014). According to the ethical aspects it is necessary that the organisation should ensure that marketing of the product should not harm the employees working on that particular project. This is another ethical aspect that influence marketing planning of the organisation. Another ethical issue that influence marketing planning of the organisation is that the marketing plan of the organisation should provide any message that contains false information or any other information that could affect the values and beliefs of the people. Marketing of the product should not target the culture or ethics of the people present in the market. Therefore, with the help of marketing planning organisation will be able to assure that the feelings, values, and culture of the people should not get affected with any of the aspect of the marketing of the products and services it is delivering to the target people present in the market (Taghian, 2010).

For example: Apple will have to develop a plan to advertise the product in the market and plan should include all the ethical aspects in it so that correct information could be shared to the target customers and the information shared should not include any false statement. Planning all the aspects related with the advertisement will help the organisation to ensure that correct information could be shared to the target population and organisation should provide what it is showing to the ultimate targets. Another example is that Apple will have to make the list of all ethical aspects attached with the marketing of products and services in the market (Toledo, et. al., 2014). Then it will have to develop the marketing plan which should include all the ethical aspects and should provide the information which should share effective set of knowledge regarding the products and services it is offering to the customers present in the market. Therefore, it could be seen that following all the ethical and legal aspects is a necessity of every organisation present in the market. With the help of these aspects an organisation will be able to ensure that true and ethical marketing could be done in the market. Organisations should make a proper marketing plan so as to enhance the authenticity of the marketing of the product it is supplying in the market. These kinds of activities will help in adding value to the name of an organisation and will help in gaining customer support at the time of requirement (Kolios, et. al., 2013).

Conclusion

With the help of all the aspects indulge in the report it could be concluded that marketing planning is one of the most important aspect attached with any organisation. It is necessary that an organisation should make proper market research so that it could gain sufficient information regarding the needs and wants of the people present in the market. Proper planning will help the organisation in moving on the verge of sustainability and success and will help in ensuring that true and effective information should be shared in the market regarding the product. Marketing plan provided will help the organisation to sustain and will help it in attaining competitive advantage in the market. It is also necessary that organisation should include all the ethical aspects into consideration so that it could gain the trust of people present in the market and could attain competitive positioning in an ethical manner.

References

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