Sales Promotion and Personal Selling

Apple has a few sales promotion each year, the most known is for students. When you buy a laptop for college and show you I.D you get a percentage off and also you receive a free ipod touch. Now this promotion only last the month of Aug into sept. The student discount on laptops is all year round. Apple has not had too many coupouns but they do offer some mail- in rebates for some of there products.
Apple also samples there products, although it is not a take-home trial you can try out there products by just simply walking into there store and testing out the product and playing around with it to see its full potential. Through this method you can make referrals by telling friends and family etc, about the new product and to go check it out in one of the apple's million of locations. Apple is such a widely known brand as well that they do not always need to spend so much money on advertising and selling because everybody expects high quality advanced products from apple and most people will spend the few extra bucks just by the brand name.

Chapter 17 - Advertising and public relations

Apple is one of the worlds widely known brand. Apple shells out a ton of money for advertising. In 2009 apple spent $501 million, according to the 10-k file. All of this is money is very little compared to its competitors. Microsoft spent $1.4 Billion in 2009 and DELL spent $811 million on ads. For some reason though i can't remember most of these ad's. As Apple's advertisements are very creative and catchy and  you tend to not forget an ad.

1. The ads are memorable. Apple spends its money on creative, producing a few clever ads rather than a lot of forgettable ones. Those Get-a-Mac ads are marketing events in their own right, picked up on YouTube and re-played again and again at no extra cost to Apple.
2. The ads are well-placed. Apple pays a steep premium to be seen during the World Series or on the back of glossy magazines, but it stays away from the low-cost media where its competitors pour so many of their ad dollars, either directly or through co-op ads. You don't see AT&T  advertising the iPhone in newspaper fliers; Apple doesn't want anyone else promoting its products.
3. The Apple brand speaks for itself. Apple is the 20th most recognizable brand name in the world, up there with Coca Cola, IBM and McDonalds. "The Apple brand is the most supported within its industry," according to Interbrand, "and among the most iconic of relatively young brands in the world."
4. Apple Stores are their own best advertisement. 
5. Word of mouth.Apple users tend to be intensely loyal. If you buy one Apple product your most likely going to buy another one, and by you telling people about your satisfaction your basically helping out Apple Sales for free.

Week 7- retailing

Apple Inc. Has a chain of stores throughout the world. Many of those stores are located in New York. I had visited the apple store in staten island. Just the general appearance of the store makes you want to walk in and check it out. As soon as you walk into the apple store you are instantly greeted, although the store is usually always crowded with people checking out the technology they have on display, a sales person asks if you need help as soon as you are checking out there products. Apple also has big tables where there is enough room for the products and people who are looking at them to move around, without feeling congested
The apple store has a lot to offer, unlike many electronic stores Apple has every version,every color, every gigabyte of software etc.on working display for you to check out for yourself. In this particular apple store there is a couple of computers where kids of young ages could play games on the computer, this is very convenient for people who have young kids that get bored easily while there parents are trying to shop in the store.
With new technology there is no - more waiting on lines to Checkout the sales associate who is helping you has a device where you can pay cash credit or debit directly to them and walk out in no time.. The whole atmosphere and experience you get from Apple is just great and it really makes you want to return.

week 6 - consumer decision process

In today's society, majority of peoples' mind set is based on what they "need" or "want" and what is not a necessity. Apple in general markets themselves to meet society's needs. When you walk into a apple's store you are greeted almost instantly in most cases. A consumer that shops at apple could have all of there questions answered by just walking into the store or even an ad on TV or a subway could show how apple's technology works. The way the Iphone 4 is being marketed is towards mostly everyone in society especially with face time.  I personally, was so amazed when i saw the iPhone 4 face-time commercial; i love how it was being marketed towards people who are deaf and signing to each other. Also it was great to see that if you have a husband, friend, or dad oversees that you could visually see them, it puts so much emotional into a simple phone conversation.

 Also a consumer is going to ask family, friends, co-workers and anybody who has ever tried Apple, especially with the Iphone 4 before buying it. The consumer does research to see what it has to offer and if it was worth the money. There were so many decisions a consumer had to make between the Iphone 3 and Iphone 4. Is the service the same? What is so different? Am i getting the best that is out there? There are steps to purchasing a product as a consumer, first you need to recognize the product and if there are an problems with the product. Then you should research and evaluate and compare different products or store prices, then after the purchase you evaluate the product again to see if it is up to what it is made out to be.

Week 5- Global Marketing

Apple is one of the corporations that have made it into the global market.
Apple just last week had launched there iPhone 4 in Beijing, china and in 4 other stores in china. The apple iPhone was such a huge hit in china they sold out of all phones in the first week. Apple has also expanded to the middleeast and they are releasing there iPhone 4 there. Only thing different about the iPhone here and the one in India is that there will not be facetime on the phone will not exist. This is because facetime runs on wi-fi and in India wireless Internet is rare to none.