Steve Jobs: Marketing Genius
Posted by Cathy Harris on Thu, Oct 06, 2011 @ 05:18 PM
Let me ask you a question, which most of you will remember, but some of you won't...
Do you remember:
- Boomboxes that people would carry around on the shoulder, loaded with 8 “D”-sized batteries, playing the most recent cassette tape. In the early 80’s – that was “portable” music.
- Sony Walkmans, loaded with 2 “AA” sized batteries, playing the radio OR a cassette tape. Wow. Innovation.
- Discmans, in the 90s. They skipped. They were temperamental. But dang! They allowed for higher sound quality and continued the trend of music-on-the-go…. As long as you stayed still.
- And then… mp3 players. Several versions were out. I, personally, had
a few that were cheap. And I mean cheap in price and cheap in quality. But there was this other one on the market… the “I”-something-or-other. I-what? iPod? “It’s a passing phase,” I thought. “No one will pick this up…at that price!?”
But holy moses, they were cool! And in a time where the economy was failing, more people had iPods. I’ll admit it - I was on the Napster bandwagon. I downloaded my music for free. I blamed it on the industry: “If bands will start making better albums, I’ll buy the whole album.” And I would. If there was a great album, I’d buy it.
Then something interesting happened. People were becoming raving fans of Apple. They set the standard for how we listened to music outside of our homes or cars. If you didn’t have an iPod, you were missing the boat.
The iPhone was another game changer. What was once a device used only for connecting with people for convenience became a portable entertainment center. Want a game to play while you wait at the doctor’s office? There’s an app for that. Want to edit and send spreadsheets on the go? There’s an app for that! Want to have a virtual girlfriend who pumps your ego and tells you all the things you never knew you wanted to hear? There’s even an app for that!
“There’s an app for that!” That was a phrased coined by Apple.
All of those “i” products. iHome, iTunes, iRobot, iThis, iThat. Every one of those products has defined this generation: the iGeneration.
And on October 5, 2011, we lost the man who propelled these products into our everyday lives. For this young marketing gal, Steve Jobs is a legend. He had a make-it-or-else attitude. He put on presentations that people clamored over. He didn’t create products that we needed. He created products that we needed to want, marketed them to us in the most unique and clever ways. He launched music careers (The Ting Tings, for example, gained visibility because their song was used on an iPod-Nano Commerical). Not only were developers getting rich from iTunes App sales (ahem, Angry Birds, anyone?), so were everyday, ordinary folks.
He had scruples. He wanted everyone to do well and, in the process, created a brand that was a leader in the industry that was otherwise stagnant.
How are we marketing to our fans? How are we reaching them? Are we inside-the-box thinkers, or are we pushing the limits of our industry? How can we create an environment that needs what we have to offer, even though it may not know it, yet?
I’ll tell you how: through a defined mission. Through clear values. Through a vision that everyone in your company can stand behind. Through a plan of execution that isn’t flawless, but has backup plans.
Today, we pay tribute to the man who changed everything in our mobile world. Thank you, Steve Jobs, for all of your innovations.