The Importance Of Branding For Sales Volume: An Essay On Apple Plc.

The intense competition in the markets has made branding even more important for companies to sustain in the market. Effective branding strategies adopted by the organizations help them in grabbing the attention of the target audiences even more by creating personalized experience for them (Gupta et al 2020). The purpose of the project is to highlight the importance of branding for a successful organization like Apple Plc which helps it in increasing its sales volume.

Researches done in the field have revealed the fact that branding is closely attached with the competitive advantage of a company which ultimately aids in enhancing the sales volume of the organization (Guo et al 2020). Brand identity helps the customers in identifying the products of the company in a better manner by offering distinctiveness to the products and enhancing the awareness of the brand in the market.

For Apple Plc branding has been very much effective in raising the sales of its products as customers have developed trust over the brand and this is what the proposal aims at discussing here. Branding has helped Apple to create a distinct story of its own company and has also fetched huge goodwill for the company (Breton et al 2018). The brand story has got highlighted and reached the hearts of the customers which influence their purchase decisions for Apple products in the market.

Further evidences in the field have also revealed the fact that branding helps the companies in fetching new customers for the services and products. As the brand gains a positive image in the market, its reputation gets enhanced and its story automatically spreads from the existing customers to the new customers which ultimately fetch enhanced sales and revenue for the organization.

• In what ways branding impact the sales volume of a company?
• How the different strategies of branding get selected by Apple in order to enhance its sales volume?
• How different buying behaviors of the customers impact the branding strategy and sales volume of the companies?
• How branding helps in creating trust of the business in the market place and thereby result in increase in sales volume?

(Ilhan, Kübler and Pauwels 2018) assert to the fact that research involves finding solutions to the problems of an underlying research topic using analysis and situational factors so that the decision-making process turns simpler. The research project in this regard will aim towards answering the research questions under consideration through:

• Identifying and analyzing the critical issues
• Gathering information that is relevant using the correct methodological approaches and through literature review along with the several other factors of the external environment which impact on the businesses (Ilhan, Kübler and Pauwels 2018).
• Analyzing the quantitative and qualitative data which help in forming various cost models and aid in the process of decision-making.
• Recommendations on how companies can improve their branding strategies so as to enhance the experience of the customers further.

Apart from this, there will also be a log related to the lesson learned so that there can be reflection made through the research project (Bandy et al 2020). This step is of great importance so that the opportunity of success and failure of the project can be learned through reflection.

The research will be carried out in the most ethical manner keeping in mind the policies of the organization so that there is optimum protection of data. The ethical conduct of the research gets reflected by how the researchers behave while conducting the investigation and how the results of the research get interpreted by the research team in order to arrive at various alternative solutions.

Research Questions

The research is going to use both deductive and inductive methods in order to question the current processes and approaches and then form a hypothesis which gets tested in a logical manner so that the organized and gathered data can be best used to draw conclusions using them (Ansari et al 2019). The adoption of this approach in the research will help in arriving at clear and conclusive recommendations so that managerial decisions can be taken for the purpose of progress of the company towards the path of success.

This project will help Apple in further improving its branding strategies so that it can enhance its sales volume and cater to the interests of the customers even more (Anees-ur-Rehman et al 2018). This will also help in setting benchmarks for the competitors of the company who can get influenced by the moves taken by the well-known organization.

Scholars in the field have asserted to the fact that branding is the mechanism through which businesses not much create a memorable impression of their business on the customers but is also helps the consumers in knowing what they can actually expect from the organization. It is the perfect way in which Apple symbolizes the fact that its products and technological services are way better than its competitors like Samsung in the market making them a better choice for the customers (Pimonenko et al 2020). Branding is the real representation of the company, Apple Plc using which it shows the fact that how people must perceive them as a brand in the market.

The effective branding strategies adopted by Apple have helped it in enhancing its business value which automatically grabs the attention of the customers in the market towards its products (Janoskova and Kliestikova 2018). As the business value of the company gets enhanced, its reputation increases and thereby its gets more customers and sales for its business to flourish. For instance, Apple has always branded its iPhone products in the market as a celebrity technological device to be used by the customers. Their products reflect perfect status symbol and therefore attract the customers automatically to invest in the products of the company (Mao et al 2020).  

Several other studies in the field have revealed the fact that branding is closely connected with the satisfaction and pride of the employees associated with the company. When an employee understands the fact that he or she is attached and working for an established brand in the market, they automatically feel proud about the fact and can communicate about their services to several other people associated with them (Snyder 2019). This results in indirect publicity for the company which can fetch it with new customers and get the sales enhanced. When employees have good perception about the brand which they work for they can automatically influence the clients and customers also about the positive features of the products and services of the company which creates huge positive effect on the sales volume (Mohajan 2018).  

Personal Learning Objectives

Other reports analyzed in the field have given the outcomes that the brand reputation of Apple Plc has helped it in creating trust for their company in the market (Fazli-Salehi et al 2021). Customers have developed the perception that if they invest in the products of Apple, they can trust the longevity of the products as they have developed trust on the company. This reputation has been achieved by the company in the market by fulfilling the promises that they had made to the customers in the crowded markets. Other scholars and past researches done in the field have proved the fact that the branding strategy of Apple focuses on the emotions of the customers which influence their buying behaviors directly (Yun, Lee and Aoshima 2019). It is a brand that gets known in the market for its imagination, lifestyle, passion, innovation, dreams and hopes. This has helped the giant tech company in achieving huge sales as compared to its competitors in the market.

Another branding mechanism that has helped Apple succeed in increasing its sales volume is that the company thinks differently as compared to the other competitors in the market (Ilhan, Kübler and Pauwels 2018). Apple Plc is the leader in the technology industry as its customers think that whatever Apple makes is perfect and innovative which reflect their brand story in an ideal manner.

For the purpose of collection of primary data, a survey is going get designed having relevant questions on branding and its impact on sales volume and then sent out for response from the external customers (Pandey and Pandey 2021). These questions will help in getting better insights into branding and its impact from the customers so that companies can better implement the feedback received. The questionnaire would be sent to the participants electronically and they have to complete the entire process within the deadline been set (Bairagi and Munot 2019). Then the data collected would be analyzed, categorized and coded in order to understand the responses trends. In another way that the data will be collected is through interview in order to understand the personal perceptions of the customers on branding.

For this purpose, research articles on branding and its impact on sales volume for the company, Apple Plc will be studied and analyzed. The existing feedback and satisfaction level of the customers associated with the well-known brands will also be studied to collect the secondary data (Newman and Gough 2020). Thereafter, the data being collected will be written down under various themes to understand the information on the topic in further details.

Relevant Past Studies

The potential risks that are associated with the research work are:

• Questionnaires may not be returned within the time limit being set
• Scheduling of the interview sessions might be little troublesome in planning for the same is not done in advanced. This might lead to delay in getting the final results.
• There may be biases attached to the feedback that gets collected using the survey data of the customers as they may be loyal customers of the company (D?wigo? 2018).
• Some of the secondary data collected may be plagiarized due to the lack of adequate referencing in them
• If the timeline set for the project completion is not realistic, then there can be delay in the completion of the task.

Abstract

Table of contents

• Introduction
• Literature review
• Methodology
• Results and findings
• Conclusions and analysis
• References
• Appendices

The time required for completing the project would be from March – September 2022 and then the progress report would be communicated to the organization and to my project supervisor. The roadmap of the project is here below:

References

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Ansari, S., Ansari, G., Ghori, M.U. and Kazi, A.G., 2019. Impact of brand awareness and social media content marketing on consumer purchase decision. Journal of Public Value and Administrative Insight, 2(2), pp.5-10.

Bairagi, V. and Munot, M.V. eds., 2019. Research methodology: A practical and scientific approach. CRC Press.

Bandy, L.K., Scarborough, P., Harrington, R.A., Rayner, M. and Jebb, S.A., 2020. Reductions in sugar sales from soft drinks in the UK from 2015 to 2018. BMC medicine, 18(1), pp.1-10.

Breton, M.O., Britton, J., Huang, Y. and Bogdanovica, I., 2018. Cigarette brand diversity and price changes during the implementation of plain packaging in the United Kingdom. Addiction, 113(10), pp.1883-1894.

D?wigo?, H., 2018. Scientific research methodology in management sciences. ?????????-???????? ??????????: ???????? ?????? ?? ????????, (2), pp.424-437.

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Guo, J., Zhang, X., Gu, F., Zhang, H. and Fan, Y., 2020. Does air pollution stimulate electric vehicle sales? Empirical evidence from twenty major cities in China. Journal of Cleaner Production, 249, p.119372.

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Ilhan, B.E., Kübler, R.V. and Pauwels, K.H., 2018. Battle of the brand fans: impact of brand attack and defense on social media. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 43, pp.33-51.

Ilhan, B.E., Kübler, R.V. and Pauwels, K.H., 2018. Battle of the brand fans: impact of brand attack and defense on social media. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 43, pp.33-51.

Ilhan, B.E., Kübler, R.V. and Pauwels, K.H., 2018. Battle of the brand fans: impact of brand attack and defense on social media. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 43, pp.33-51.

Janoskova, K. and Kliestikova, J., 2018. Analysis of the impact of selected determinants on brand value. Journal of International Studies, 11(1).

Mao, Y., Lai, Y., Luo, Y., Liu, S., Du, Y., Zhou, J., Ma, J., Bonaiuto, F. and Bonaiuto, M., 2020. Apple or Huawei: understanding flow, brand image, brand identity, brand personality and purchase intention of smartphone. Sustainability, 12(8), p.3391.

Mohajan, H.K., 2018. Qualitative research methodology in social sciences and related subjects. Journal of Economic Development, Environment and People, 7(1), pp.23-48.

Newman, M. and Gough, D., 2020. Systematic reviews in educational research: Methodology, perspectives and application. Systematic reviews in educational research, pp.3-22.

Pandey, P. and Pandey, M.M., 2021. Research methodology tools and techniques. Bridge Center.

Pimonenko, T., Bilan, Y., Horák, J., Starchenko, L. and Gajda, W., 2020. Green brand of companies and greenwashing under sustainable development goals. Sustainability, 12(4), p.1679.

Snyder, H., 2019. Literature review as a research methodology: An overview and guidelines. Journal of business research, 104, pp.333-339.

Yun, B.S., Lee, S.G. and Aoshima, Y., 2019. An analysis of the trilemma phenomenon for Apple iPhone and Samsung Galaxy. Service Business, 13(4), pp.779-812.