If you are ever asked to make a list of the most successful companies in the world, Apple would surely be on the top. The man who took Apple from rags to the riches and inspired an entire generation with his innovations was none other than Steve Jobs.
It is amazing how the man achieved so much within so little time without any professional degree or technical experience. Perhaps not all of us are aware, but his innovations have affected us in more ways than one, i.e. the way we perceive things, consume data, and interact with each other.
When starting a business, people often ask – what makes one successful? The combination of quality, innovation, and thoughtfully-designed marketing strategies worked wonders for a genius like Jobs. He applied a unique approach to whatever he did, and this helped him reinvent Apple and give it a new face altogether. A lot entrepreneurs can learn a great deal from the greatest marketing guru ever.
If you were not born with a silver spoon in your mouth; here are some the greatest lessons from Steve Jobs, which, when leveraged, can help you create another turnaround in the corporate history:
A Great Product Is At The Heart of Every Success
All your marketing efforts and hype surround only one thing – your product. Often, marketers get too occupied with designing strategies, but they forget one thing – it is almost impossible to market crap.
Steve jobs created an amazing product first and then designed the marketing strategies around the product to create an impact among users. The innovations in Apple products such as the iMac, the MacBook Air and the iPhone 4 show how the team has been trying to innovate, not just from a technology point of view, but overall design, look and feel as well. While most brands focus on just one aspect, Apple takes the 360-degree approach.
Jobs was committed to excellence and so should you. Think about how you can turn a simple product into something outstanding; strive for excellence so that you can create history.
Remember, marketing or advertising a bad product won’t work, but creating a brilliant product will!
Create A Unique Selling Proposition
Apple believes in selling dreams rather than products. They sell experiences that people remember forever. Have you ever heard people recording the ‘unboxing’ of a product and uploading that to YouTube and other video platforms? Probably not. But, when it comes to Apple’s products, numerous people are known to record the unboxing process and share it with others only because the experience is one-of-a-kind.
Take the iPod, for example. While other marketers would probably have bragged about its features, functionalities and specifications, Jobs described it in a single line – ‘1000 songs in your pocket.’
This works because most people do not fully understand these specifications, so confusing them with jargon and technicalities makes no sense. It is always better to describe what the product can do and how can it simplify customers’ life.
Steve Jobs was more of a showman and he understood the importance of creating experiences. This is probably why he could make fans line up to grab Apple products. It is, therefore, necessary to create a unique selling proposition that will attract customers towards your brand.
Your Customers Are Your Evangelists
Steve Jobs considered customers as people with dreams and ambitions. Marketers come across the term ‘brand advocates’ all the time. Jobs created brand advocates by engendering experiences that inspired customers to refer the brand to others without expecting anything in return. Apple users are evangelists that preach about the brand and ignore everything that does not have the Apple logo.
Apple users consider themselves part of the team and stay loyal to the brand, which profits the company. They bring in more customers and improve brand visibility and awareness.
Steve Jobs understood what his customers really look for, the problems they face, and how products can provide the best solutions. He used insights from customer surveys and leveraged them to create products that offered one-of-a-kind experiences.
If you are an entrepreneur, then you must make the effort to understand your audience and work in tandem with them to create products that turn your customers into evangelists.
In Conclusion
Steve Jobs taught people, especially entrepreneurs and marketers, that a great product is at the heart of the success of businesses and it is completely up to them to create products and experiences that attract customers towards their brand. He once said that dying rich didn’t matter to him, but going to bed every night with the idea of having done something wonderful mattered to him the most.
Mobile phones existed much before iPhones were launched, but Jobs and his team recreated them in a manner that made people think it was the first-of-its-kind.
Jobs created a story and tapped peoples’ emotions to link them with the brand forever.
He revolutionised conventional marketing and made people think differently. Even though Jobs is no more, his legacy – in the form of Apple, Apple products and Apple marketing – will live on for generations to come.
