Abivia – Consulting that Fits

Apple Computer is recognized as one of the world's best marketing companies. In some ways it's obvious how they do it, but at the same time, it's not easy to see how Apple's efforts can be applied to other businesses.

Steve Chazin, a former Apple marketing executive, has summarized five of the most important principles into a free e-book. Marketing Apple: 5 Secrets of the World's Best Marketing Machine is an eight page presentation available from his web site.

One of these secrets says that tight messages are required in order to get a message across in a world of very limited attention spans. We agree completely, and in that spirit, here are the five rules, distilled down to the smallest space we can manage:

1. Don't Sell Products. Apple doesn't sell products. It sells the concept of membership in the special club of Apple customers. Their messages focus on how people feel and act when using Apple products. Your product or service should too.
2. Never be First to Market. We've advocated this for a long time. Companies who are first to market have to do the hard work, building a space for their category of product in the customer's mind. That and be both difficult and expensive to achieve, and at the same time it's hard to make that first product "perfect" because customers will use it in new and unexpected ways. When you come into a market a little later, you're on the leading edge but not the bleeding edge. It's much easier to step into that existing market space with a product that has been refined to fit – and surpass – the customer's needs and expectations. 
3. Empower Early Adopters. "Early adopters are eager to help you out – they've already chosen you". That says it all. Word of mouth has always been a critical factor in the success of a product or service. In an era of viral marketing, it is easily the most important and least expensive way of driving success. Help your early adopters. Give them tools to help them talk about you. Make them feel good about being in the special club of your customers. Most importantly: listen to them, and closely. If there's a problem, they will probably try to tell you first. Fix it before they get frustrated and start telling everyone else.
4. Make Your Message Memorable. There's a lot to say about messages, but it boils down to just one thing: if traditional marketing is overpriced and ineffective (it is), and if viral marketing is the best, most powerful, and most cost effective way of getting your message out (it is), then people had better be able to rapidly absorb, retain, and repeat your message. You have two to five seconds to achieve this: go.
5. Go One Step Further. Marketing is all about the complete package. The real relationship with your customer starts after they buy from you. Coming from a product background, Chazin focuses on the retail experience and product packaging. Apple's price points give them the ability to make their packaging an experience in itself, but this principle still applies universally. Make your customers feel good about themselves for buying your product or using your services, and you'll succeed.

There's more insight in Chazin's presentation, although we didn't find much in the way of additional insights on his site, which is really more of a blog. He did, however, have the grace to share his work under the Creative Commons License, Attribution 3.0. This article is licensed under the same terms.