Steve Jobs and Apple in general, never cease to amaze me. This week, Apple announced their latest product, the iPhone 4 and received, as always, millions of dollars worth of free publicity. I watched a live video of the iPhone launch event at the World Wide Developer’s Conference, and saw journalists (literally) cheering and shouting as Steve Jobs listed features of the phone.
Within minutes of Steve Jobs’ presentation, there were thousands of iPhone 4 news reports and blog posts. People were guessing how many millions would sell in the first year and how the new features would change the way people use phones. The coverage Apple received was something that other businesses and brands can only dream of.
Steve Jobs and Apple – It’s more than a brand
People who buy and use Apple products tend to be more than users – They tend to be advocates or ambassadors. If you DARE to mention something negative about Apple or any Apple product, in a blog post, article or on Twitter, for example, you will quickly get chastised by Apple users, who will quickly tell you that whatever you said was wrong. This kind of brand loyalty is gold dust. It’s not born from smoke and mirrors either, Apple make some amazing products, but they fuse their great products with equally good marketing and PR.
What Apple can teach small & medium sized businesses
Apple offer great quality: Your services or products need to be excellent quality, if you want people to rave about them. It’s hard work and really low leverage, to market average quality products or services. In fact, if all you have to offer the marketplace is a similar sounding service to your competitors, stop reading this and start looking for ways to massively improve the unique value of your offering.
Apple have a network of advocates: The Apple team has crafted a network of people, who proactively cover and recommend their products. I suggest you do the same! Start getting to know the bloggers, newsletter providers and networkers, who have access to your prospective clients and customers. When you have something interesting or newsworthy, share it with them. (This is a subject I will cover in future posts.) This is a great way to generate word of mouth publicity.
Apple remain relevant: Just as Apple have continued to evolve their design and product lines over the years, you should too. If your service has remained largely unchanged for a year or more, it’s time to check that it’s still relevant to the marketplace. We live in a time of great change. The most successful businesses know this and adapt their offering accordingly. If your competitors are still offering a stale set of services and you adapt your services to be more relevant, you give yourself a powerful advantage!
Steve Jobs speaks with passion: When I saw Steve Jobs take the stage, a year or so after a liver transplant, and then speak with such passion about the new iPhone, I was left with a feeling of awe. I hear from businesspeople all day, who are in great health and have 1% of Jobs’ drive and passion. Have something worth saying and say it like you mean it. If you are not clearly passionate about your business, products and services, no one else will be!
Your thoughts
I would be interested to know what your thoughts are on the coverage Apple get. Equally, what are your thoughts on how small and medium sized businesses can learn from what much larger companies do? Let us know!
Jim Connolly can help you grow your business and achieve the breakthrough marketing results your hard work deserves. To find out more, simply click here!
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Hi Jim! I have played with a few clients’ iPhones in the past and it was enough to make me want one. When my provider didn’t have the right to market them, I was disappointed. I have a different smart phone right now as my first one and I still wonder how the experience would be different with an iPhone.
You are right that everyone I know who has Apple products is an ambassador for them. I haven’t seen an iPad yet but I am sure as soon as I play with one, I will love it.
When you do have ambassadors for your company, whatever the size, it sells your services for you. I have always had a strong word of mouth marketing working from my client base but since my services have changed dramatically in the last year, it is time to make sure I communicate that to clients who have not connected in awhile.
.-= Julie Walraven | Resume Services´s last blog ..Jobseeker Google Your Targets =-.
Thanks for your observations, Julie!
I’m perplexed and amazed by the seemingly cultish following that Apple perpetuates. Apple gets the kind of coverage they do because while they don’t make a LOT of things (I remember reading someplace that all the products Apple manufactures will fit on one boardroom table), the things they DO make just work great. I think it boils down to one thing that applies to any size business, from a lone freelancer to a corporation as large as Apple: Consistently delivering on your claims.
If you say, “Our smart phone is the smartest,” then it better be. If it ain’t, then you lied. If it is, undeniably, then you’ve got competitive advantage. Either way, it won’t be long before word spreads.
On the smaller scale, as a freelancer, if I say, “I’ll have this project finished by Friday,” and I don’t, I lied. If I do, I’m reliable and honest. Either way, again, word gets out.
It’s interesting you use the word “cult” there Brett, when referring to Apple. It’s a term used a great deal and testimony to the power of the brand over it’s customer / user-base.
Thanks for the feedback sir.
Passion is one of my favorite words. Steve Jobs is a passionate speaker. Always has been, even from the early days. Jim – You are a passionate writer and it shows in the articles that you write. Keep up the great work!!! My takeaway is that it all starts with passion, and others will emulate it if you do it right!
.-= Brent Pohlman´s last blog ..Are You A Midwest Laboratories Fan on Facebook =-.
Thanks for the kinds words there my friend! I certainly agree that passion is massively important.
The funny thing is, I’m decidedly underwhelmed by Apple products on the whole.
The iPad I’m “meh” about, I have no inclination to get the iPhone, my wife’s iPod Touch is pretty cool though. Maybe it’s because my MacBook is acting like a pig’s ear at the minute…
But I do appreciate great marketing when I see it, and brand advocacy, and they have that by the spades.
.-= Danny Brown´s last blog ..An Experiment in Platform Exclusive Content – The Metrics =-.
Hey Danny. Your frustrations with that damn MacBook are an example that even Apple get it wrong.
When you pay that much for a product, you should be getting pease-of-mind as standard.
I would be interested to know how/if Apple have helped you with your problems.
Thanks for the comment (and the balance) sir!
You’ll be the first to know, fella
.-= Danny Brown´s last blog ..An Experiment in Platform Exclusive Content – The Metrics =-.
I agree, Steve Jobs and Apple are real phenomenon, both as quality of products and market acceptance. They create amazing products which are pleasure to use and surpass all competition in terms of quality and usability. I would also add that they always seem to identify which features bring the most benefit to users and focus on it (like navigation, touch precision, screen quality). They also avoid doing everything if they cannot nail it perfect. This is great.
I am however one of those people who consciously avoids buying any Apple products. The reason is, Apple is abusing the community, both users and application developers by creating a closed ecosystem, where Apple is the only player deciding how people will use their products, what applications users can install, which applications get approved to run on an iPhone and so on. The regular user just isn’t aware of those things, but techies and enthusiasts feel the oppresion. I don’t want to be told what I am allowed to do on my own device. As a developer I don’t want to pay to put my own software on my own device. And I am sure most developers don’t like it when Apple ‘competes’ with them by blocking their applications because Apple has similar applications in the offering.
So bottom line: I love the products, but I don’t like Apple’s policy and disrespect for clients and community, so I don’t bye their stuff. And as a technically adept person, I can use much better platforms in terms of openness like Android or Windows Mobile or the web. IPhone is getting alot of competition from Android and I wouldn’t be surprised if an year from now Android has the bigger market share. The platform is just great and need a little more time to catch up with Apple.
.-= Angel Kafazov´s last blog ..Happiness is possible for all =-.
I share your concerns about the closed nature of what Apple do – Indeed, one of their best known “fanboys”, Leo Laporte says the same.
However, this does not detract from their ability to generate a buzz around their brand that is rare (if not unique.)
Thanks for the feedback Angel!
Small business can learn a lot from Apple. To be a “top notch niche” business, you can follow the Apple recipe (for the most part):
1. Quality product/service, or it has to have that image and live up to it.
2. Build a small, core, cult-like following and make sure you always exceed their expectations.
3. Make your marketing and copy different from the rest. Make bold statements, then back them up 110% of the time.
4. Never compromise on price. Ever. Apple is more expensive, will always be more expensive, and it adds to their image/allure.
It’s not easy to do all of this, but if you can, you can rocket to the top of your industry, even if it’s only a small piece of the pie.
.-= Rob Mangiafico´s last blog ..What Ocean’s 11 Can Teach Us About Being Successful =-.
Some very good points there, Rob.
Thanks for the feedback sir, as always!!
Besides the product quality Apple has an incredible ability to understand what people want.
I hear a lot about Apple closing the platform and denying people’s right to do whatever they want with their devices. But for some reason, people seems to be buying the products more and more. So, is an open platform important?
From my point of view people does not know what it is an open or a close platform. People buy a phone or a computer in the same way they buy a new TV or new microwave oven.
While most of the vendors pack their products with new and complex features that only power users know and understand, Apple puts the right features in the right moment.
.-= Guillermo Acilu´s last blog ..Developers: proprietary platforms are good for us! Stop complaining about Apple! =-.
Hey Guillermo!
I think most Apple users are unaware of the closed nature of the platform; particularly those using iPhones / iPods as these are more consumer items and less “geeky.”
It will be interesting to see how Apple compete against the “open” approach used by Android and other competitors.
Thanks as always for the feedback.
I am with Angel quite a lot on this one. It seems to me Apple markets brilliantly to a certain section of the population, the must-haves. Apple has created a brand in the way that Gucci and Prada have. Most other companies would love to have their sales.
I can get comfortable well-made shoes without buying the top brands, so the value I percive in designer names is less than the value perceived by the must-haves. In my business, Apple computers are much less suitable than Windows-based ones. When I fancy a different flavour I play with Linux. The iPad is much less functional than my cheap netbook, but my netbook is not a fashion item, it is a useful tool.
It is all a question of whether your target market is the bling-lovers or the practical people, isn’t it? You have to admire the way Apple do it, though.
I think Apple, from the beginning, delivered value to its customers. Its not like people want to be ambassadors for Apple its actually how Apple makes them talk about it. Apple product=Better impression has been set in the minds of people through a long struggle.
Steeve Jobs has managed to make Apple a luxurious brand as well as build loyal customers. Other than the target market which is not really big the untargeted segments of the markets have also become their ambassadors.
I would like offer another view but the same conclusion. I am not a marketing professional but my job as a trader and educator makes me a very me an amateur psychologist.
The brain has a tendency to remember negative things, it is a defense mechanism for survival. Part of the reason why newspapers are littered with negative headlines.
One of the things I try to focus on is not the loudest signal but the most relevant signal. I will use a basketball reference, you hear the announcer talk about how the athlete has made 20 free throws in a row and than he misses the 21st free throw. It is not that the announcer did not say that on free throw 2-19 it is that we finally notice it.
So yes Apple does have a great product but I do not think it will ever be as main streamed as MS. Why? Because it is hip to own apple products. I love my I-phone and will get the new one when it come out. Out perception of the fanboys is that there are a lot of them, and yes apple has had great sales, but they are also really loud.
What they lack in real numbers is made up by their loudness and outsides natural awareness of it.
[...] marketing combined with a superior service is the secret behind the success of every business. No matter how enigmatic Steve Jobs is, the iPhone would not have been an international best-seller unless it was a superior product. [...]
I disagree. I have a macbook pro, and love it, but there are so many small frustrations. It didn’t have appleworks office suite included, since they don’t make it anymore. Full functionality requires a subscription to “mobile me” (stupid name).
I’m tired of being raped at every turn, just so Jobs can be “passionate” about making a “sexier” computer. I complain about these issues frequently.
It might seem more worthy of the exorbitant price if it were made in the US. At least then I’d feel I was contributing to slowing the flood of jobs to China (and I here the Chinese iphone workers are killing themselves).
My usual statement-”I don’t want to pay for his employees to have jungle gyms in their offices”. Perhaps my last Mac.
You say: “Perhaps my last Mac.” PERHAPS?
Unless there’s something I am missing, you feel completely cheated by the company and you dislike the way you believe they operate. Why continue to buy their products if you have such strong, negative feelings about them? Is their marketing REALLY that good?
That real that Apple brand do respond more than a brand.Brand do bring lot of information include company image, product, service and so on.They are lot of innovator line up to wait for iPhone 4 for the 1st day release. No doubt that would happen the same in iPhone 5
[...] we can afford to use them or buy their products, after learning how good they are. This is why Apple Inc. posted record breaking profits in the middle of a deep recession; even though their goods are priced at the high end of the [...]
[...] like Nike pay professional sports people to wear their products. Does anyone actually think companies like Apple or Chanel are marketed by morons? These guys are masters of brand marketing / advertising and [...]
I completely agree. Steve Jobs is a genius marketer, I saw him speaking about how he plans to stay above his competitors in the gadget market around the time the ipad came out. The questions started out sounding quite scrutinising but after a while he had the whole room on his side and passionately believing that Apple products are the best available. Hats off to the guy.
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Hi There,
I must say I am very frustrated with my iPad.
I have always been avid Android fan and I was really impressed with what I thought that the IPad could do. After my sister visited us from Australia, and playing with her iPad I thought that the iPad was awesome and decided to buy one I must say I love the speed of the processing but my frustration lies with the non availability of apps on the AppStore for instance I can not get “break the rope” for my kids in SA after they played it on my sisters unit.
I have Paid for and downloaded numerous app from AppStore and I must say I have been bitterly disappointed. After using Android market for the past 2 years I really thought I could expect more from apple. On Android Market you download the app and then if you like it you pay for the full version. I have never been disappointed. Paying for and downloading apps that quite frankly are total crap! With apple I have only been using the Appstore for a month and am really disappointed. As another issue is when browsing You see and app that is appealing so you click on the app and when you go back and are placed right back at the beginning of the catalogue( quite frustrating when you are trying to browse thousands of applications). please guys, you seem to be onto a great thing but maybe you need to learn a few things from Android. I do not expect any response to this as you are clearly making zoo much money from this and this kind of feedback is sure to fall on def ears. However , for the record, I feel that I have said my bit.
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