It's been more than a decade since Steve Jobs left us. His legacy remains stronger than ever. Steve Jobs took a near-bankrupt Apple and turned it into one of the most profitable and successful companies in the world.
He became a legend in the digital industry, despite the fact he was not an engineer, he could not write even a line of code, he didn’t have an MBA, and he didn’t even have a college degree.
But he was a great marketer. He created products that became global trends.
Here are ten marketing lessons that Steve Jobs and the team at Apple employed to create one of the best consumer brands in history. These should be deployed in every consumer goods company.
MAKE A GOOD PRODUCT
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Original iPhone 2007
From the performance of Apple’s product, to its design, and the beautiful box it comes carefully wrapped in.
When you buy the device, you know exactly what to expect. For Steve Jobs and his team, quality comes first, but not just attractive packaging or tricky marketing strategies. The key is that product is excellent.
Kawasaki, an evangelist at Apple, once said, “What Steve did that few marketers understand is that he first created a great product. It’s hard to market crap. Most marketers take whatever crap is thrown at them and put lipstick on the pig. Steve’s ‘secret’ was to control the product and the marketing, not just the marketing.”
KEEP IT SIMPLE
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iPhone 3GS
One of the secrets of the popularity of Apple’s products is simplicity. When you make it simple, make it even simpler.
Starting with user experience to perfect aesthetic design, Steve and his team created simple products that everyone can use, despite age and education. Keep it simple and minimalistic, and it will always work for you! Every product product works out of the box and is intuitive. Just take a look at Apple’s site to understand what I mean: simple layout, attention to details, a lot of white space and trendy flat design. Less is more!
INNOVATE OR DIE
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iPhone 4S
Steve Jobs knew that the key was diving into the user experience and identifying what they need, and what they want. Thinking outside the box, and constantly providing products and services that meet those needs.
Apple remains a precursor in the current market and has recently launched some apps that measure your health and can automate your home. From the Genius Bars to Apple Stores, the vision and personal beliefs of Steve Jobs are alive in the legacy of the coolest products, whose sales efforts reach even the packaging.
Jobs believed that you don’t only have to innovate, but you’ve got to think and dream big, believe in something and then fight for it. And if you want to stand out in a highly competitive market, you need to take risks, but mostly you need to be different or else you’ll just blend in with the rest.
FOCUS ON THE EXPERIENCE
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iPhone 5S
Think different. Focus on creating a universe of sensations, experiences, and values that the person gets when they buy your product.
Analyze how it feels to use and buy your products, and think about what you need to improve, and what you need to focus on. When you purchase your Apple MacBook Air, you’re not only buying a computer where you can do your work.
When you purchase your Apple MacBook Air, you’re not only buying a computer where you can do your work, edit pics, videos, and connect with your friends. You’re buying Apple’s belief that people with passion can change the world and make it a better place.
BE PASSIONATE ABOUT WHAT YOU DO
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iPhone 6
Steve Jobs Once Said, 'People With Passion Can Change The World'
Steve loved his job, his company, people he worked with, and the products. Of course, he became a billionaire when he brought Apple back from the brink of bankruptcy. He would not have done anything else. Apple was his calling and passion.
In 1997, Steve Jobs returned to Apple after a 12-year absence. The company he had co-founded was running out of cash and close to bankruptcy. Jobs held a staff meeting and explained the role passion would play in revitalizing the brand: Apple is not about making boxes for people to get their jobs done, although we do that well. Apple is about something more. Its core value is that we believe that people with passion can change the world for the better.
MASTER THE MESSAGE
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iPhone 6S
Steve Jobs is the world's greatest corporate storyteller, turning product launches into an art form.
You can have a great product but if communication fails, it’s like watching a stand-up comedian do a gig in a completely different language.
Jobs gave us some of the best speeches in corporate history. He preached against PowerPoint presentations, saying you only have to use them when it’s really necessary.
Mastering the topic, the message, and knowing how to present it without visual aids, speaks much more than a cute drawing created with some elegant color scheme. For large groups, PowerPoint is excellent but Jobs hated when people brought in presentations into meetings, because he saw it as a sign that they didn’t completely dominate the topic they were presenting.
TURN CONSUMERS INTO EVANGELISTS
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One of Apple’s most important strategies is getting the consumer to want to recommend the brand, and without being paid for it.
Like other iconic brands such as Harley Davidson, (the great motorcycle company that doesn’t just sell bikes, but rather a subculture, and a lifestyle); Apple users are advocates, sponsors, and fans of the brand. We’ve seen it in the classic fight between designers: which is better for designing computer graphics, Mac or PC?
DON'T BE AFRAID TO FAIL
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iPhone 7
iPhone 8
Everybody fails, even a billionaire like Steve Jobs. In 1984, he was fired from Apple. Just imagine, he had co-founded Apple Computer at 21. At 23, he became a millionaire. He was a legend come alive and a global celebrity. And at 30, he had this humiliating failure..
At 2005 he said about that defeat: I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life. In other words, failures are the way to progress. If things go well all the time, a person has no reason to move forward and change things, work and create something new.
DON'T BE THE FIRST, BE THE BEST
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As we all know, Apple was not the first that invented a smartphone, MP3 player, computer or tablet.
But they redefined these products! Despite the other competitors in the market, Apple took the same products and improved everything: navigability, user experience, design, weight, and packaging. They had achieved better design and size.
"We have always been shameless about stealing great ideas." – Steve Jobs.
CREATE A PERSONAL BRAND
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iPhone X
iPhone XR
Steve Jobs was one of the very first people who showed the importance of personal branding in the Internet age. His black turtleneck is as instantly recognizable as the Apple logo.
