Segmenting and Targeting Markets

You're The Target!!!!!!

     Apple is more than just a brand, its a lifestyle, part of growing culture of consumers who are artist, musicians, writers, photographers, and most of all innovators. The firm has positioned itself as a high end brand that offers beautiful hardware designs and also an amazing users experience. Apple targets a market that consist of people from their teens to their 40's that are interested in doing more with their technology than just the usual boring old stuff that other companies offer. Their product lines offer similar products that offer different benefits in order to prevent cannibalization. For example you can buy an 2GB iPod shuffle for $50 or an 160GB iPod Classic for $250; both mp3 players but they are design to satisfy different target markets. Apple has a multi-segment targeting strategy, meaning that they satisfy 2 or more different types of markets for example the young teen who likes to take pictures for fun to the professional photographer who takes pictures for a living. Both examples have one thing in common, the passion for creativity and art that makes the perfect mix with software like the Aperture 3 which offers the ultimate photographic experience.
     I think that Apple is be bringing back the mass marketing approach, they don't really concentrate their advertisements on certain groups of people, they try to include everybody. You can see all the iPod ads posted on the page that are meant to resemble you, see if you can find a silhouette that fits you. Apple is becoming a cult brand that has gained to respect of world wide users who share one thing in common, their love for Apple's innovation. And I say that Apple is going back to mass marketing because when you go in to an Apple retailer you can see people of all ages, cultures, social classes, and colors; like a small scale ethnic melting pot. The iPod has become a symbol of our modern digital music culture, and the iTunes store is now the 2nd largest music retailer in the U.S. Steve Jobs says that "if you make something great than anybody will want to use it", and that model has worked for them because they've never really invented anything but they made what some considered the best technology available; thus eliminating the need for an specific target market, because their products appeal to everyone.

    Apple offers amazing products that include hardware and software that just draw all different kinds of people into the market.( Their major hardware products are displayed in the page.) Software like the iLife '11 which allows you to manage your music, movies, and pictures, the Final Cut in case you want to make a whole length film, or the iWork, make you look at Apple products as essential to your life. Benefit segmentation works in 2 ways, first, it helps you segment your market and second, it advertises your product which makes people want to buy it; and s that's the point right? Apple in one of the most successful firms in the technology industry so however it is that they are segmenting the market , they are doing it right. (Look at the advertisement below)