IndexSummaryIntroductionUnderstanding Customers and MarketsImproving Product and Brand ImagePositive Brand and Product ImageAppleUnderstanding Customers and MarketsBig DataMarketing AnalyticsConclusionReference ListExecutive SummaryThis report focuses on the applicability of the concept Apple Inc.'s marketing strategy The report critically analyzes how Apple Inc. achieves its business objectives by meeting and exceeding customer needs and expectations better than its competitors. One of the main reasons for Apple's success is its ability to effectively achieve customer satisfaction better than the competition. Furthermore, the report analyzes the aspect of customer and market understanding. Through surveys, Apple obtains feedback from existing and potential customers and uses this information to create products that meet market needs. I also evaluated the aspect of enhancing the product and the brand image. Customers have been found to have a positive attitude towards Apple products and brands. The company is associated with quality. All these factors have led to the high profits that Apple enjoys. I recommend the company to invest more to achieve 100% customer satisfaction because the gap with the competition is very small. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay I also critically evaluated the role that technological advances have played in helping Apple develop new product offerings and understanding customers and markets. Big data and marketing analytics have been used by Apple to improve manufacturing and market understanding. By understanding market behavior and trends, Apple was able to develop improved products. I recommend the company invest more in big data because of the future opportunities this technology offers. Introduction This report therefore critically evaluates the applicability of Apple's marketing disdain. The marketing concept is a marketing management philosophy that has been effectively applied by Apple, allowing the company to become a leading global technology giant. Apple Inc. focuses all its efforts on satisfying its customers around the world and at the same time making a profit. This report focuses on covering marketing concepts in various aspects. First, it will critically evaluate how the company has achieved and is achieving its business objectives through meeting, as well as the needs and expectations of its customers better than the competition. Secondly, the report discusses the role of marketing concepts in understanding customers and markets. Third, the report discusses Apple's product and brand image. Furthermore, when we talk about technological progress, Apple and its products come to mind. Apple together with Facebook, Google and Amazon is the largest technology company in the world. Technological progress facilitates the operations of these companies. This report, therefore, will focus on identifying how Apple uses technology to understand its customers and markets. Additionally, the report will analyze how the advancement of technology is helping Apple develop new product offerings. Achievement of company objectives by respecting the needs and expectations of its customers better than competitors. To achieve its business goals, Apple focuses on meeting and exceeding its customers' needs and expectations better than its competitors. Achieving customer satisfaction is one of the strategieskey used by Apple to achieve its business objectives. Data from the University of Michigan's American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) has shown that Apple products have achieved the highest customer satisfaction scores for many years. Mac and iPad have been found to have the highest customer satisfaction scores of any product made by Apple's competitors. In both 2018 and 2019 it earned an ACSI score of 83, the highest according to Appliances and Electronics Reports. Overall, Apple has had higher ACSI scores than all of its competitors for over 15 years. This explains why Apple is the most profitable company in America, with revenue of $59.53 billion in the 2018 financial year. In the world, it is second as the most profitable company, second only to Saudi Aramco of Saudi Arabia, which in 2018 it earned $111 billion. According to the marketing concept, Apple determines the needs and wants in its target market in the technology market and offers more satisfaction. effectively compared to Amazon, HP, Samsung and many other competitors. Rahman and Safeena, the customer needs a reason why they should buy from a company and not its competitors. This is called a unique selling proposition and gives the company a competitive advantage. With this knowledge, Apple has invested in providing something extra to customers in order to keep them satisfied, earn their loyalty and be able to attract new customers. The Apple company makes products that first meet customer needs and at the same time inspire customers and this forms the basis of marketing efforts. The company applies an approach known as “start with why” which has allowed it to connect well with customers. The company understands people's everyday needs and has created an ecosystem of complementary products that make life fun and easier in many ways. Understanding Customers and Markets Understanding customers and markets is an important aspect of the marketing concept. Understanding the customer and the market helps in creating the appropriate products and also helps in creating effective sales and marketing initiatives. To understand customers and markets, a company must ask itself several questions. For example, to understand your customers you need to evaluate several factors. They include: who the customers are, what products or services they buy, and why they buy these products or services. Understanding the hows and whys of the customer helps the company develop better products and services and improve the customer experience. Customer needs and the market is very dynamic. One of the key tools for understanding customers and markets is market research. It helps the company determine changes in the market, improve market awareness and understand customer needs and expectations. Furthermore, marketing research reduces risks and uncertainty, helps predict the future, and helps the organization make the right marketing decisions. In a patent case against Samsung (in which year) the court clearly documents that Apple conducts market research. The research aimed to understand the purchasing behavior of Apple customers at that time and what motivated them to choose the company's products. Additionally, in 2011, it conducted iPhone user surveys to understand customers and markets in different countries. It has been established, for example, that iPhone users in China were encouraged by Apple's branding and design to purchase the company's products rather than software and apps. The survey found that 67% of Chinese customers were motivated by physical features and design. The survey found that trust in the brand was high in the United States and Chinadetermining factor among buyers. The late Steve Jobs' decision to declare that Apple does not conduct market research was a strategy to prevent its competitors from understanding how Apple understands its customers and its markets. To deliver the desired satisfaction effectively compared to competitors, Apple forced Apple to treat market research as a trade secret. Apple conducts different types of surveys and analyzes to better understand customers. Improve product and brand image Product and brand image are crucial factors of brand value. Brand value is the overall perception of the customer and it influences customer behavior. The central objective of marketing activities in any organization is to influence customer perception and their opinion about the brand. These activities also aim to establish the brand image in the customer's mind, stimulating the customer's actual purchasing behavior towards a product and brand and as a result, sales increase, market share is maximized and brand value develops. Studies have revealed that product and brand image have a positive impact on customer satisfaction and increases loyalty. The positive image of the Apple product and brand When the word Apple is mentioned, what comes to mind is an innovative company. People see technology as playing a central role in their lifestyle, passion and imagination. The presence of services such as Apple Music and Apple Store has improved the product branding and brand image of iPhone and Apple Inc. in general. Apple has a brand that has humanized technology by creating a positive attitude towards customers. The company's products have an elegant design that together with the software (iOS) and applications. Furthermore, Apple products are associated with high quality and this has increased customer loyalty. Apple Inc.'s positive product and brand image has enabled the company to build a loyal customer base and command the largest market share. Whenever the company launches a new product, long queues are the order of the day at Apple stores. The company's market position is facilitated by customer loyalty which gives Apple a competitive advantage over other companies. Critical Analysis of How Technological Advances Have Helped Apple Inc. Improve: Developing New Product Offerings Big Data and Marketing Analytics Big Data helps provide businesses with better resource utilization as well as storage. It is also useful for reducing calculation time and making the right decisions in business. Using big data to make a business decision is crucial in a competitive market. It enables the company to make smarter and more useful decisions in the future. Big data helps companies like Apple understand and extract meaning from the full range of information available around the world. The Apple company, for example, uses big data to facilitate broader, deeper and more precise insight, thus improving its decisions. The company gains accurate knowledge of the market and customers and can therefore provide tailor-made products more accurately. Using big data, the company can determine the best way to approach a new product. Apple uses big data to understand how people use mobile applications, and new designs are modified to adapt to customer behavior. Additionally, big data is used by Apple to determine how customers use the company's products such as iPhone, iPod, iPad, Mac, and MacBook. This information is used to develop new products and improve new versions of current products. Big data has beenused by Apple to venture into wearable technology, digital health, entertainment (e.g. Apple Music), and cloud storage. Big data also continues to revolutionize these technologies by improving the customer experience. Through marketing analytics, the company can create and use quantitative data to gain consumer insights and be able to make the right decisions when creating new products. Understanding Customers and Markets Big Data Approximately 180 billion apps have been downloaded from the company's Apple Store. This provides a huge amount of data about customers and markets. Analyzing this data obtained from the application is crucial to understanding the company's customers and the market. The company uses technologies such as Hadoop, understands the needs of its customers and, as mentioned above, uses this information to develop new products. Most of the products and services offered by Apple may collect customer data. This data is used to understand the attitude customers have towards Apple. Furthermore, the company gained a better understanding of the market, thus discovering new opportunities. By using data with the company and from outside, Apple can understand the needs and wants of the market and also discover opportunities that exist in the market. Big data has also improved how Apple understands the customer decision journey. With this understanding, the company was able to increase customer loyalty and attract more potential customers. Apple is now a leading brand globally and its success across the world is due to the fact that it now understands local and global market trends using big data. Its effective marketing technologies have also been improved by big data processing. Marketing Analytics Marketing analytics is important to Apple's strategy to remain a competitive brand. In order to remain competitive, a company must understand its customers and the market very well. The company needs to understand why a customer makes certain decisions, customers' opinions about those decisions, and customers' experiences while interacting with the company. With accurate understanding, the company is able to predict customer behavior, thereby improving the customer experience. Using big data, Apple was able to understand its customers and thus improve the customer experience. This is one of the reasons why Apple has achieved the highest customer satisfaction scores for many years in a row. Predictive analytics has been used by Apple to be able to predict what will happen next. Through customer purchasing behavior, Apple can understand future trends and create products that customers will need. Through Apple Music, for example, marketing analyzes are carried out to understand customers and the market. Apple Music apple is, therefore, able to suggest the music that customers would like to stream in the future because it understands the market well. Conclusion In conclusion, Apple is one of the companies that has determined the needs and wants of customers in the target market and use strives to satisfy those needs better than its competitors. Apple achieves its goals by meeting and exceeding the needs of its customers. Apple has received the highest American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) score for years. Additionally, Apple understands its customers first and aims to be able to provide products and services that meet the needs of its customers. The company conducts surveys and the feedback obtained from customers and markets is used to improve the products offered. Furthermore, increased customer loyalty and increased market share demonstrate, 3(1).