Marketing Apple: Secrets of the World's Best Marketing Machine

2010-03-05T08:58:34-05:00

Apple is announcing that iPad will ship on April 3 and will start taking orders on March 12. Watch carefully - this is all part of their process to determine how popular certain models will be and dynamically shift supply to fill demand about 3 weeks in advance. Very interesting way to solve 2 problems and get more publicity all at once.

Apple: Do one thing, better.

2010-02-23T21:35:13-05:00

That is Apple's secret.

And Tim Cook confirms it today.

When I give my Apple speeches around the world, I spend a lot of time explaining to audiences that the one thing Apple does better than anyone else it they focus on one thing to do better than anyone else.

The iPod made getting music into your pocket dead simple. The iMac made getting on the Internet dead simple. The iPhone made putting the Internet, your phone, movies and music in your pocket dead simple.

And that is their secret.

To make that happen, though, you need to focus. Today we released a new enhancement of our free web conferencing product called Dimdim myScreen that makes sharing your screen dead simple. Take it from me, making something hard easy isn't easy.

Read on to see what Tim thinks about how Apple does it. Focus is a very good thing.

Tim Cook:

"Yeah, that is a great question. The executive team of the company spends a lot of time thinking and discussing how to retain and recruit the best talent in the world, because at the end of the day—I know it's a cliche—but people are our most important asset by far, and it's people that deliver innovation, which is key to us. And so what else do we do other than that? Well, we are the most focused company that I know of, or have read of, or have any knowledge of. We say no to good ideas every day; we say no to great ideas in order to keep the amount of things we focus on very small in number, so that we can put enormous energy behind the ones we do choose, so that we can deliver the best products in the world. In fact, the table that each of you are sitting at today, you could probably put every product on it that Apple makes, and yet Apple's revenue last year was over $40bn. I think the only other company that could say that is an oil company.

And that is not from just saying "yes" to the right product which gets a lot of focus—it's saying no to many products that are good ideas, but just not nearly as good as the other ones. I think that this is so ingrained in our company that this hubris that you talk about, that happens to companies that are successful but then decide that their sole role in life is to get bigger, and they start adding this and that and this and that, I can tell you the management team of Apple would never let that happen. That's not what we're about. So, focus on people, and ensuring that it's a small list of things to work on and putting all of our wood behind those things, that's the magic behind us."

A view at my keynote deck of my presentations about MarketingApple Live!

Apple Marketing iPad

2010-02-17T11:40:29-05:00

I've gotten many emails and phone calls about Apple's iPad marketing over the last few weeks all asking about Apple's marketing prowess. One of the tenets of great marketing is what I call "passion over logic." In other words, when your passion dictates you have to have something you reach for your wallet in spite of your better judgment.

Great marketing can help sell you something you really don't need. We've all been victims of great marketing.

Apple somehow takes it to another level. How many companies have customers lining up to buy something they have never held, seen or used before? Apple seemingly hosts a press event, updates their website, posts a few television commercials and waits for the cash register to ring.

Is there something "magical and revolutionary" about their marketing? I think I have an answer, but first a question. Based on everything you know about the iPad, do you intend to purchase one?

Please take this one question survey and we'll all know what others are thinking. Feel free to craft your own answer if Yes and No isn't enough for you ;)

An Open Letter (okay, blog post) to Toyota's James Lentz

2010-02-04T08:22:17-05:00

Dear Jim,

As President of Toyota Motor Sales US, I know you are dealing with a very difficult situation and I think I may be able to help turn your nightmare into a dream (at least on the PR front.) I can help provide every Toyota customer with a free browser-based web conferencing account so they can telecommute while their recalled car is being repaired.

You can turn this crisis around: customers who are scared to drive Toyotas and those who need to bring their car in for repair can use Toyota Web Conferencing to join meetings, attend job interviews, or meet virtually with a teacher. By proactively providing this service now, millions of Toyota customers (and your competitor’s customers) will instantly be delighted that you have gone beyond their expectations. They will see that Toyota has their best interests in mind and you will have taken positive steps to enhance the brand loyalty your industry relies on. Take it from this marketer: long after this crisis is over, your response will be all anyone remembers. How you handle this adversity will define how you are perceived for years to come. I want to help.

Jim, feel free to have someone contact me. I have the ability to help you rapidly deploy this solution in a matter of days. Even if you view this crisis well in hand today, consider how a web conferencing solution can assist future Toyota service customers from all of your dealerships.

Steve

P.S. "Surprise and Delight" is one of the 5 secrets of Apple marketing you'll find in my free eBook. I woke up thinking about how this can be applied even in a crisis situation and hence this letter was born.

Magical Device, the iPad

2010-01-28T11:37:55-05:00

I'll have much more to say on this shortly but I need to get two things off my chest first:

1. Apple isn't trying to decide if a niche exists between smartphones and laptops. They are trying to replace netbooks (and eventually laptops) and get people to carry the cloud with them. If you think through the logical progression of the Web, all the data we care about will exist online. The iPad is the device to access it. Very different mode than a laptop. This is the device from the future we've seen on Star Trek. You can buy it today (well in 59 days.)

2. "Our most advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device at an unbelievable price." Something about this sentence seemed un-Applelike. As someone who struggles to come up with the "syrupy goodness" of my value props (spoken about in my free eBook) this phrase seemed too forced and wordy. It doesn't even say what it does. "Touch the Web" or "Your life to go." would have been more Apple-like to me. I just don't follow this one...

More soon.

P.S. thank you Dane for the correct spelling of niche ;)

Win the new Apple iPad

2010-01-26T21:17:02-05:00

Win an Apple iPad!

That's right, Dimdim Web Conferencing can help you get a new Apple iPad!

Simply sign up for a 30-day Dimdim Pro trial via this URL and you instantly qualify to win the new Apple iPad! It's that simple. No credit card required. You will fall in love with Dimdim, the easy, open, affordable web conferencing tool while you wait to win your iPad. We'll pick a winner in the next week, so sign up now!

The Magic of Apple Marketing

2010-01-20T12:47:47-05:00

"Real Artists Ship."

This is a quote attributed to Steve Jobs when the first Macintosh was being developed. His engineers were struggling with every nuance of the new machine and wanted to slip the launch until they got it just right. Steve compelled them to do better.

Today, Apple has come full circle - they ship a finished product then go back to improve it over and over again. Look at the iPod - it was great in 1999 and it is even better now. Other vendors promise something but never seems to ship it, or it comes so much later that the enthusiasm wanes.

But Apple ships. You'll see it with the Tapplet and I was going to write a similar post, but Joel from Gizmodo says it all: "Consumer audiences have grown wary of nearly a century of predictable sleight-of-hand. We've seen too many companies promise us the future, then fail to deliver it."

Read the rest of the article.

Meet the real magic of Apple marketing: Ship delight. Repeat.

Secrets of the Apple Tablet

2010-01-04T17:58:02-05:00

Okay, now this is getting way too fun. Far be it for me to resist from the rampant rumor mongering, but here is what I think is coming later this month:

I think Apple is going to surprise everyone. While most people think this will be a big iPhone and run apps from the App Store (it will) I think its true intent is to remake the print, tv, and publishing business the same way that iTunes remade the music industry.

I forsee a beautiful, HD video screen that will let you view all your music, television, movies, magazines, books and DVDs wherever you go.

You'll be able to subscribe to beautiful full color magazines via iTunes at 1/4 the price of buying them off the newstands and get exclusive content and video (ads too!) to enhance the reading experience. (You'll see entire websites rewritten for the device as well.)

I think Apple will strike a deal with Amazon to enable digital books to be streamed to the device via a built-in color Kindle app.

I think we'll see Apple work with Netflix (or go directly to the studios themselves) to stream movies to the device and of course they already have iTunes to handle your music and television subscriptions.

Your documents and iPhone/iPod Touch apps will travel with you too - making the device a multipurpose workhorse that will seem to many like something from the future. And you'll want to own one. Because it will cost $699. And you'll subscribe to a lot more stuff every month - buying apps and content wirelessly. And all of it will be available to view on your AppleTV when you get home since it will now live in Apple's new $1B cloud service.

Finally, the name.

I won't cover the obvious choices spoken elsewhere like iGuide, iScreen, iPad or iSlate (although iSlate would match the iPod branding in that it can be generic). I think Apple could have cut some deal with the Etch-a-Sketch folks (Ohio Arts) to call it "MagicScreen" (Magic Mouse is already in the house) and they also have the Touch and Air franchises to combine "AirTouch" Also a possibility relating their own name and their app store to create something like "iTapp" And let's not forget, Tapplet or Applescreen isn't that far fetched...

Time will tell. Oh yeah, Time will publish their magazines for it too.

Apple is Marketer of the Decade (Adweek)

2009-12-29T15:01:49-05:00

Any surprise? Read this story for more details on the company and the man.

Just a quick recap for those playing at home:

Apple limped into 2000 after barely surviving extinction at the hands of poor management all through the 90s. But Steve's return and the iMac (1998) saved the company and paved the way for all future product launches that helped fix the company. In a nutshell, great marketing coupled with great design saved Apple.

Now just count what Steve has done in a decade:

Turned Pixar (and countless characters) into a loved, respected family brand.
Sold Pixar to Disney (one of his heros) and became largest single Disney shareholder
Introduced iPod, revolutionized carrying all your music with you
Introduced iTunes, figured out how to make money with music, now largest online store
Introduced iPhone, changed the definition of smart phones
Introduced mobile Apps, changed how software gets distributed

So Steve changed music, movies, phones, software and computers. Apple now touches all our lives. Apple was once a backwater player in computers and now has the world at it's fingertips.

Can't wait for 2010 and a renewal of books, radio, television, magazines, advertising and mobile devices. Happy new year everyone!

Apple and Family Guy

2009-11-23T09:03:40-05:00

I told you I loved Family Guy. Now I know why. Where else would a major show write this into the script? (Perhaps this was intentionally added to kick Microsoft for pulling out of their sponsorship at the last minute.)

If you love Free...

2009-11-21T09:42:12-05:00

Pardon the obvious selfish motives; but us marketers need to stick together...

Please vote for Dimdim - the iPod of Web Conferencing - just by clicking this badge - it will take only 5 seconds and you won't have to register for anything. Thanks Techcrunch!

And if you haven't tried Dimdim yet, make up your own mind before you vote by signing up for free here.

I'll give Microsoft credit. But umm...

2009-11-18T15:47:59-05:00

But I just don't know how I feel about this. Halfway through the video I was getting nauseous (perhaps that was the camera work) but it seems like everything that Microsoft is trying to do around marketing itself as just as hip as Apple (first it was Zune packaging, then the "I'm a PC" TV commercials, the too-cute-for-business people Windows 7 ads and now Microsoft Retail Stores) seems to come off as too contrived.

Am I just being harsh? Or has all those years of selling against Microsoft tainted me. What say you?

Windows 7 is based on Mac OS X? (Or, "I'm Mac and Windows 7 was my idea.")

2009-11-11T11:57:25-05:00

Too funny. Poor Microsoft partner guy who didn't go to media training. Read on.

UPDATE: November 12:

Hmmm. I didn't think it would take too long until this happened. Question is, who do you think at Microsoft is telling the truth?

Congrats, Steve. Fortune's "CEO of the Decade"

2009-11-05T14:06:56-05:00

What more can I say. One man remade computers, music, movies and phones.

Bravo!

BTW, the answer to the Gizmodo blog about the original name for iMac was "C1". Short for "Compact One" Guess what the original name for the iBook was?

How do you say "spin" in Chinese?

2009-11-03T20:13:35-05:00

Interesting story by Philip Elmer-DeWitt (probably the coolest financial journalist name ever) about how poorly sales of iPhones have gone in China.

Is it me, or is there a story everyday spelling doom for the Cupertino cash machine?

When I used to work at Apple (1991-1999) we had our share of real issues. Our machines in those days were overpriced and underpowered and based on the failing PowerPC platform. Developers were leaving the platform in droves for better pastures in Windows-land. There was no roadmap for new Apple products or even a new operating system. Even if you loved the Mac good luck finding one in Circuit City or (yikes!) BJs, Costco and Sears (yes, we sold them there in those days). Yet with some Stevie J. magic and some amazingly good marketing (and just a bit of that reality distortion field thrown in Philip) we managed to turn that ship around.

Flash-forward ten years and everything that ailed the company is now a huge asset. Apple products are competitively priced and based on the newest Intel chipsets. The App Store is now the new platform for small developers to get to market and make some real cash. Apple's roadmap and design prowess has never been sharper and the world is beating a path (literally) to Apple Store doors. And there is real innovation here - unlike the original iMac which was really no better than the Performa it replaced (yet marketed a whole lot better - get the theme?) And have you seen or used a new iPod Nano lately? (my son just got one.) Amazing. And a lot more 'amazing' is coming soon...

So I have a message for the financial pundits out there spelling Apple doom. If it didn't happen in the 90s, it ain't gonna happen now. Save your ink.

If any of you folks who read this blog want to save some money and help your wallet, please sign up for a free 30-day trial of my Dimdim web conferencing product by clicking this link. It will save you a lot of cash vs WebEx, a lot of heartache (it works equally well on Mac, Windows and Linux and doesn't require your meeting guests to install anything) and may even help your business during this flu season. And to have some fun, I'll give away an iPod Nano to 2 random people over the next few days who simply try Dimdim free.

UPDATE 11/4: Winner of the first iPod Nano is Dimdim ID pk22901. If this is YOU, send your mailing address to steve @ dimdim.com so I can ship it along with your pick of colors: Blue, Green, Yellow or Red. I'll give out the next and final winner tomorrow night, so sign up soon!