Term Paper on "Building Effective Customer Relationships Apple, Inc"

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Term Paper 10 pages (3072 words) Sources: 12 Style: Harvard

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Building effective customer relationships- Apple Inc.

Interactive Marketing and Customer Relationships Management at Apple Inc.

The Interactive Marketing represents a wide set of strategies to be implemented in order to increase the amount of information about a company's customers, in order to use this information to the benefit of the company (better satisfy the needs of customers and implicitly increase the company's profits). A most common practical application of Interactive Marketing is revealed by the Customer Relationship Management, yet another tool used to gather information and offer information to and from clients.

The it industry has been among the most responsive ones to the development and implementation of the Interactive Marketing and CRM and proof of it stand international corporations such as Dell, Hewlett-Packard or Sony. The Apple Company has also implemented some features of customer relationship management, but they still encounter difficulties at properly and adequately communicating with customers. Further implementation of Interactive Marketing could solve their problems.

2. Interactive Marketing

The Interactive Marketing is a relatively new concept of the marketing domain and it implies good and continuous communications with the customers. The general perception is that Interactive Marketing refers to web-based marketing and implements strategies addressed to the virtual consumer. But online marketing is only a feature of Interactive Marketing.

The basic application of Interactive Marketing is given by its unique approach to customers, which are permanently

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consulted in order to offer and retrieve feedback relative to a company's products and services. This doesn't necessarily mean that the organization will develop and implement numerous strategies to manage their customers, but they will implement a business philosophy to learn more about customers, such as behaviors and needs, in order to develop better and stronger relations with them - Customer Relationship Management, or simply CRM (Business Link).

This particular application of marketing strategies is highly efficient as it manages to involve the customers into the company's operations. "There is general agreement among researchers that people have short-term attention spans of about 20% of what they hear, 40% of what they see and hear, and 75% of what they see, hear, and do.... By stimulating multiple senses, and getting people more involved, it allows them to enhance their retention of information. Interactive programs fall into the 75% category because prospects hear music, sound effects, and verbal directions; they see text, graphics, and animations; and most importantly, they press buttons, calculate data, and type in information" (Lyons, 1993).

2.1 General Issues first major issue with Interactive Marketing is identifying the need for it. As such, what are the features or shortages of the current marketing system which bring about the need for Interactive Marketing and Customer Relationship Management? Then, the company has to identify the internal and external forces which might influence its implementation of Interactive Marketing. Will they be able to implement it by themselves or will request the services of a specialized firm, such as Dell did with WPP? And what proves that the implementation was successful?

Another issue to be considered when implementing Interactive Marketing and Customer Relationship Management is the company's capability to integrate it. In other words, will they be able to integrate the new strategies to meet the company's overall goals and established culture?

Furthermore, how exactly will the Interactive Marketing procedures be implemented? They must be developed in a unique manner as to attract the attention of the audience. A good example of a well developed and innovative campaign is offered by Sony.

2.2 Interactive Marketing within Industry

An industry which quickly embraced Interactive Marketing and Customer Relationship Management was Information Technology. Companies manufacturing both hardware as well as software applications soon adopted the strategies. They did this moreover since they were more adaptable and found it easier to implement CRM than other companies in different industries.

Dell Inc.

Dell was among the first companies to consider the implementation of Interactive Marketing and by doing so, they once again recognized the true importance of customers and marketing strategies. Furthermore, to make sure the programs were well developed and accordingly implemented, Dell developed a strategic partnership with WPP and the new company was aimed at serving the Interactive Marketing needs of Dell.

The need to implement Interactive Marketing came from the inefficient operations of Dells' over 800 marketing agencies (including communications, marketing, vendors or sales support). This inefficiency materialized in opposite results retrieved from the agencies, despite the fact that they were all analyzing the same data. Given that they work with so much information and they are a data intensive company, Dell constantly communicates with their customers. Dell has 5 million conversations with customers per day, over one billion per year and they state to be the company which possess the most information about their customers' needs and wants that any other company on the globe (Interactive Marketing Trends, 2007).

Furthermore, the fact that they are open-minded, flexible and good listeners also contributed to the success of their implemented Interactive Marketing Strategies. The company, however hired an outsider to handle the implementation of the Interactive Marketing, managed to perfectly integrate it within the already established corporate goals and culture. Proof of Dell's successful implementation of the Interactive Marketing and Customer Relationship Management stand the large numbers of satisfied customers, which are constantly contacted and kept informed by Dell's Marketing Services.

Hewlett-Packard Company

Hewlett-Packard's need for Interactive Marketing rose from the company's desire to increase the efficiency of their marketing operations as well as increase the corporation's creativity. In implementing the strategies, HP requested assistance from San Francisco's Goodby, Silverstein and Partners. The collaboration of the two organizations proved its worth through the development of a strong advertising campaign. The marketing company's efforts were recognized by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, which awarded Goodby, Silverstein and Partners the MIXX Award for the best campaign in show. It was called the Computer is Personal Again and it reached its purpose of increased creativity and efficiency (Interactive Advertising Bureau, 2007)

The Interactive Marketing procedures, alongside with the strategies of Customer Relationship Management were successfully integrated within the other strategies at Hewlett and Packard. Otherwise said, the new strategies came to complete and expand the already existent ones as to increase the company's chances of achieving their corporate goals. Goodby, Silverstein and Partners worked together with HP's Imaging and Printing Group (IPG) and their mission was to "provide leadership, drive integration, and establish standards across IPG globally in traditional advertising and Interactive marketing. Areas of focus interactive include, Search Marketing, (SEM & SEO), Social Media, & cross media effectiveness for IPG" (Personal Life Media, 2007-2008)

Sony Corporation

Sony is yet another company which managed to successfully implement Interactive Marketing procedures and Customer Relationships Management. A most relevant fact about their interactive campaign was that they did not appeal to a marketing specialized company, but to search engine Google. "Sony Pictures partnered with Google last year for the theatrical release of the DaVinci Code to develop this promotion. Google created over 12,000 separate puzzles and players used Google Maps and search functions to find clues. Over 1 million unique users signed up to crack the code, well exceeding Sony's goal of 100,000, and they played 9 million puzzles" (Donna's Promo Talk, 2007). The campaign was filled with numerous prizes offered by the Sony corporation, including the company's products but also trips to international locations. Furthermore, the success of the campaign was due to the increased creativity of producers who managed to keep the audience interested by spreading the mystery up until the end. As a result of their great achievements and unique approach, Sony was granted the Best Interactive Marketing Campaign Award by the Interactive Promotion Summit.

All in all, the implementation of Interactive Marketing procedures has supported all three companies in further developing and improving their customer relationships. After airing their campaigns, the three companies were able to improve the quality of their CRM and managed to better communicate with the customers in order to identify and address their needs and wants.

3. CRM at Apple Inc.

Apple Incorporated is amongst the world most renowned corporations, with decades of history and strong international reputation, backed by an echoed brand. The organization activates in the it industry and among its most successful products are the old Macintosh or the newest iPod and iPhone. Apple is generally based on processing data, coming up with newer and better technologies to incorporate into the new products in order to make them satisfy as many needs as customers might have. But they must be able to properly communicate with the customers in order to identify their needs and wants.

The totality of procedures implemented to improve the quality of the communications and interactions with customers are organized into CRM, or Customer Relationship Management. A specific purpose of the CRM is to identify and serve clients' needs and then, those customers are expected to remain loyal to the organization. "The basic idea was to; find out what a client wants and needs, give it to… READ MORE

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Quoted Instructions for "Building Effective Customer Relationships Apple, Inc" Assignment:

“

*****˜Building effective customer relationships.*****

You are to imagine that you are the new marketing manager for a company of Apple Inc. You have been asked to examine more closely the way in which your organisation currently addresses issues of customer relationship building and management and to produce a report based on your findings. You will do this by collecting data from the company Website and any other material you can find to support your case (e.g. professional press). No marks, however, will be given for descriptive material or for reproducing Web pages. This report may focus on business-to-consumer or business-to-business relationships, depending on the company chosen.

Using your recently acquired knowledge about interactive marketing, you are to write a report to the Marketing Director addressing the way in which interactive marketing activities and thinking has featured within the company*****s marketing efforts in maintaining CRM. A framework for considering suitable issues can be found at http://www.qci.co.uk/public_face/ (you will need to follow links from here) which discusses a CMAT approach used by CRM consultants to an***** potential problems in CRM.

Your report should discuss in depth any issues you find relevant, and the Marketing Director will be particularly interested in how you support your discussion with relevant theory on the topic. You must also give the names of the three companies ( HP, Dell and Sony) your Marketing Director should investigate to benchmark your company*****s CRM activities against in specific CRM areas of your choice.

Assignment Structure

Your assignment should contain the following sections:

1. Executive Summary highlighting the key contributions your report makes to understanding interactive marketing issues faced by the firm, and your main recommendations for practice.

2. The top Interactive Marketing issues or trends facing your industry

3. Your assessment of the company*****s current interactive marketing activities. Summary and evaluation. analysing the key interactive marketing activities and thinking which are featured within the company*****s marketing efforts. You should also, based on your analysis, comment on some of the main CRM issues you have identified within the company, the problems and issues that your company may have, or should deal with, that would improve their customer relationship activities. This might include aspects of the value added by relationship building activities, costs involved, acquisition and retention strategies, data quality and privacy issues, exit strategies etc, as covered from your recently acquired learning. Your analysis should be supported by relevant theory to justify your conclusions.

4. Recommendations for practice: At the end of your report, you should make some recommendations about areas for improvement. These should reflect your evaluation developed in the main body of your report. These recommended actions must be presented under the following three headings:

*****¢ Within 6 months

*****¢ Within 1 year

*****¢ Within 3 years

5. Any appendices (optional).

6. Ensure that all material, quotes, etc. are referenced in the approved manner using the Harvard citation method. An explanation of the Harvard citation method is included at the end of this assignment handout.

7. Your report should also include a word count.

General guidance and marking criteria

You are required to be very familiar with the relevant theory relating to interactive marketing ( Essential Reading : Customer Relationship Management. Ed Peelen Prentice Hall 2005.). Wider reading in the subject area which goes beyond the core text (such as journal articles and specialist monographs) will be needed. It is important that you set out the relevant issues clearly; that you have a good coverage of the relevant theories and that you can apply them to the case company in a creative and critically evaluative manner. The arguments and conclusions you present should be clear and logical. In addition, your referencing should support your analysis and add weight to the points raised.

1. The primary aim of the report, and criteria for awarding marks, is in your ability to demonstrate that you understand the contribution that theory can make to marketing practice, and can apply it to a real situation.

2. Marks will not be awarded for assignments that merely describe what the company is doing. Remember, you were hired because of your strong understanding of interactive marketing.

Marking Criteria

Criterion 1 Evidence of student interacting with a wide academic literature (books and journals) in a critical fashion.

Criterion 2 Critical assessment of the CRM activities, with good coverage of the relevant theories and evidence to justify the inclusion of the different elements

Criterion 3 Use of evidence and examples to justify which elements are considered as most important and why.

Criterion 4 Recommendation of future actions or issues to be considered

Criterion 5 Clear and logical structure

Criterion 6 Sources clearly identified within the contents and appropriately referenced (Harvard style).

*****

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