Steve Jobs was a visionary, innovator, and hell of a marketer.
Guy Kawasaki said, "Steve was the greatest marketer ever."
His approach was the base for building the most valuable company in the world.
Here are 11 marketing lessons from Steve Jobs that will catapult growth 🧵
1. Stand For Something
In 1977, Apple laid down their principles.
It was labeled "The Apple Marketing Philosophy."
It laid the ground for everything they stood for.
Empathy - Understanding People
Focus - Do few things well
Impute - Great Marketing
2. A Great Product Is Great Marketing
A great product markets itself
Jobs knew good brands were built on great products.
Not advertising.
Each time a product was released -- excellence was expected.
This made the value of Apple's products evident to consumers.
3. Sell An Idea or Status
Steve Jobs was an innovator who moved the world forward.
This was also the idea/status Apple sold.
People who use Apple products can also move the world forward.
4. And Sell What The Product Does For People
Steve Jobs never sold the product.
Or the benefits.
He sold what the product did for consumers.
How does this Apple product make your life a little better.
5. Tell Stories.
The idea/status was sold through storytelling.
The "Think Different" campaign focused on the people who thought different and changed the world.
And if you bought an Apple product, you thought different.
Because you too, could change the world.
6. Inspire
Jobs used storytelling to inspire consumers.
Everything from the product to the marketing inspired people to 'Dream Bigger.'
This meant every time Apple released a new product -- you could achieve bigger.
This kept bringing consumers back over and over again.
7. Create Brand Advocates
By inspiring users to take on this mission of changing the world -- Jobs turned consumers into raving fans.
They felt as if they were part of a movement. Something larger than themselves.
Apple's advocacy resulted in a cult-like fan base.
8. Us vs. Them
Cults have an Us vs. Them mentality.
Exhibit A: Mac vs. PC
Exhibit B: iPhone vs. Android
Jobs knew the best superheroes always had villains they had to defeat.
So he built an army to make it happen.
9. Word of Mouth
Us vs. Them leads to fans who do all the marketing for you.
Why?
Because they NEVER want to lose to the opposition.
So they go on and on about why Apple is the best.
This is an organic marketing machine.
10. Secrets Create Suspense
Cult-like fans meant they always wanted to know what Apple was up to.
Apple knew this.
Before releases, they would drop a hint, then a rumor, then a conflicting rumor, and the buzz would get going.
Plus Job's infamous "Oh, one more thing"
11. Experiences Over Campaigns
This all worked because every aspect was part of the experience.
From the keynotes to the releases to the second you got an Apple product -- it all created an emotional response.
Every little bit inspired you to do more.
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1. Stand For Something 2. Great Product Is Great Marketing 3. Sell An Idea/Status 4. And Sell The Benefit 5. Tell Stories 6. Inspire Through Stories 7. Create Advocates 8. Through An Us vs. Them Model 9. Drive Word of Mouth 10. Create Suspense 11. Focus on experiences
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Starter Story collects over 2,000 emails a day on autopilot.
But just a few months ago, they were collecting ~200 emails.
So, who did they 10x their email signups in 3 months?
Here are the 8 tactics they use:
It comes down to four main points:
• Deliberate email capture widget placements
• Thoughtful value propositions
• Placements throughout different stages of the funnel
• Tailoring it to different audiences.
Let’s break it down from top to bottom
1. Top Menu bar
Audience: Site visitors
Placement: Top menu bar
Value proposition: Join the starter story community
Pat placed an always-on email collector on the top menu bar. Wherever someone is on the site, they have a way to give Starter Story their email.
Ikea was the first retailer to let customers pay with time.
And the campaign garnished more than $14,000,000 in earned media.
Here’s the campaign:
Most Ikea stores are out of the way. Not in the heart of the city. And usually, a good drive from a customer's home.
And we all know the more friction to do something, the higher the chance we won’t do it.
But what if that friction was converted into a currency?
Because IKEA stores are far away, IKEA created the “Buy With Your Time” campaign to let customers pay with their time based on how far they traveled to the store.
The more you traveled, the more you earned.
For example:
• Drive an hour to Ikea
• That hour is converted into $