Steve Jobs
didn’t have a master’s degree, and he certainly wasn’t an engineer, but
he excelled at marketing. Those marketing skills propelled Apple into
the top spot and turned the company around from near bankruptcy.
Apple’s marketing has become a benchmark
for other companies that want to reach similar heights of recognition
and revenue. Whether you are a top tier content marketing agency or a
SaaS (software as a service) product, you can learn a thing or two from
Apple. Here are 10 big lessons:
1. Keep it simple.
Customers and prospects don’t need
complex marketing campaigns that overwhelm them with information. Apple
understood this concept early on and made sure that their marketing was
as simple as possible. They took out product feature lists, price,
voice-overs and special effects.
In Apple marketing, there isn’t
typically any information on where and how to buy their products.
Instead, the ads and other marketing messages are very straightforward —
typically showing the product and letting it speak for itself. Leave
out the flashy noise, strip down the content to the bare minimum, and
display simple graphics that translate your message.
There is no need for jargon or technical terms that take away from what you are really offering your audience.
2. Use product placement.
Apple has the budget to get its devices
on television shows and movies, but it’s fine to start smaller too. Any
marketer can place a product with an influencer who can then share it on
their social media sites like Instagram or Snapchat. Once an influencer
shares your product and shows their followers how beneficial it is, the
seed is planted and leads are made.
3. Leverage reviews.
Apple has done well getting reviews from
its customers — and you can too. A free trial or sample can be offered
in exchange for a testimonial or a review that appears on social
media or a review website. Many times, customers are happy to give a
review if you just ask them. A coupon or some other exclusive deal is
icing on the cake.
Make sure each testimonial has the
person’s name and image or avatar. If it’s a B2B relationship, be sure
to add a link back to their website for further credibility.
4. Focus on unique value proposition rather than price.
A big part of Apple’s marketing strategy
is that they never get involved in price wars. They stick to their
pricing albeit it is often much higher than any of the competition. They
can do this because they focus on touting their unique value
proposition that no other competitor has been able to emulate
— beautiful products that work straight from the box.
Apple also focuses on providing a great
user experience with cool features and extensive applications that put
it in a product class by itself. Whatever device Apple is offering, they
make sure the customer feels like it’s worth paying the higher price.
This method of thought can be used to market any product or service
environment. Just focus on what sets you apart from the rest of the
market.
5. Stand for something.
Customers want to know that you represent something — core valuesthat
they can see in action in order to feel comfortable buying and using
your products. This stand goes beyond just the product. It must be
apparent in everything else connected to it — the packaging, retail
appearance and marketing collateral. The messages must repeat those
values throughout all platforms.
Messaging consistency reinforces the
beliefs of your audience; that your brand can always be counted on to
deliver what they stand for. You need to look at everything related to
your marketing efforts and make sure there is a unified look and feel.
6. Create experiences, not just products.
Anyone can make a product, but not many
can create an experience for the customer that is memorable and entices
them to come back again and again. From product launches that feel like
going to a rock concert, to movie-style ads, to stores and online shops
that revolutionize the shopping experience — Apple invented the idea of
customer experiences.
Part of creating an experience that
customers will remember is to use the art of storytelling to generate
the experience and add sensory dimensions to the overall delivery. This
immerses the customer in what they are doing, making it feel less like
just shopping for a product. Instead, Apple has made looking for and
buying computers, tablets and other devices exciting.
7. Speak to audience using their language.
Because Apple has studied their
customers intently, they know how to speak to them in their own
language, which creates a deeper bond and encourages more sales.
By avoiding terms and explanations that
only serve to confuse and overwhelm, Apple has found a way to
reach customers on a new level that the competition still has not
figured out. Focus on studying your customer, how they interact and talk
on social media, and speak to those aspects of your product or service
that they are most interested in, and use the words they would use.
8. Develop an aura and mystery around what you are doing.
The best marketing approach Apple has
used is to create mystery about what they are doing next with product
launches and announcements that keep what they are up to under wraps
until the big unveiling.
This turns customers into rabid fans and
gets them pumped up in a way that has them buying whatever it is rather
than stopping to think if they even need what Apple is introducing.
However, Apple has gone even farther by leaking certain information and
starting rumors to further stir the mystique around a product
introduction, They really know how to stir up the audience.
Usually, marketers tell their customers
everything about a product, but Apple creates more excitement by
withholding information and making everyone speculate.
9. Appeal to emotions.
Apple has created evangelists out of
their customers primarily because they have been able to reach and hold
on to them at an emotional level. Apple’s ads show happy people having a
great time with their iPads and iPods rather than focusing on memory
size or battery life.
The more their visual content appeals to
emotions like happiness, enjoyment and inclusion, the more likely that
content will be shared with others and generate the viral movement that
Apple has leveraged. This can be emulated by any business niche or
company through strong visuals, emotionally charged language and a
positive tone as the basis for all content.
10. Use visuals.
We live in a world of content where
people are bombarded with words all the time. That’s why videos have
become so popular. There’s far fewer words and more images that can make
a greater impact upon the customer experience.
Apple even had ads with only 10 words
because they understand that the words, especially the excess of words,
is not what resonates with customers and prospects. When creating
marketing campaigns, fewer words mean more to the audience, especially
when they are given images that resonate on a deeper emotional level.
Apple has a marketing strategy that
continues to drive growing sales throughout the globe. Any company can
do the same if they apply these lessons within their marketing strategy,
and continue to use these tactics for both new and existing products
and services.
Mohammed Arshad is a marketing and business development manager based in the United Arab Emirates. Connect with him on LinkedIn, where this article was first published.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
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