Marketing lessons we can learn from Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs was one of the greatest innovators of the turn of the century. After an eight-year battle with pancreatic cancer, the co-founder of Apple died October 5, 2011, at the age of 56. He leaves behind a legacy of lessons for entrepreneurs.

Do What You Love
“… [T]he only way to do great work is to do what you love.” -2005 commencement speech at Stanford University. In what is considered one of the best commencement addresses of all time, Jobs revealed how following his passion kept him on track, improving and fulfilled.

Steve Jobs’ passion was creating products the public could not pass by, and to do this, he chose details to give all his products “taste”. It all began with the MacIntosh, Apple’s first personal computer and the standard-setter for the personal computer interface.

As a college dropout, Jobs sat in on a calligraphy course at Reed University. He learned and was intrigued by the art of spacing letters, typography. During the creation of MacIntosh, Jobs took great care in the design of the typography offered in the interface. Unlike the pixilated block letters of its ancestors, Mac offered a screen full of words the way a good book does.

Jobs carried this attention to detail all the way to his final innovative company: Pixar Animation Studios. Computer-generated images (CGI) were staples of the computer industry and the Internet, but until Pixar they were only the used in the special effects of motion pictures. Pixar’s creation of Toy Story, the first completely CGI-animated movie, revolutionised the world of animation.

Be a Beginner
“The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.” – 2005 Commencement address. Steve Jobs knew creativity was having the “beginner’s mind”: looking at the situation without cluttered thinking.

When creating the MacIntosh, Jobs surrounded himself with musicians, poets, zoologists, artists and historians, “who also turned out to be the best computer scientists in the world.” Jobs recognised the creative capacity of his staff.

They were not constrained by the perception that what had been done before was the ultimate creation. As “beginners”, they looked at the concept from fresh angles and created.

Make Your Own Mark
“I want to put a ding in the universe,” is arguably the most popular quote Jobs ever spoke. With innovative technology and drive, Jobs did just that. His long list of state-of-the-art, first generation products have revolutionised technology and the way inventers look at what they design.

His companies flourished under this philosophy. The first web browser was designed on a NeXT workstation. Toy Story is the most innovative, animated motion picture since Snow White. iTunes released the stranglehold the music industry had on music downloads, and iPhone birthed the age of the smart phone.

Putting a ding in the universe is having the courage to create something new instead of concentrating on improving something which already exists. It is the soul of thinking outside the box.

Focus by Saying, “No.”
 “[Innovation] comes from saying no to 1,000 things to make sure we don’t get on the wrong track or try to do too much.” – “The Seed of Apple’s Innovation” in BusinessWeek (12 October 2004). Companies often get caught in the stream of wanting to do too many things at once. Saying no and focusing on a few things is how Jobs created the best innovations.

The iTunes Store is one such innovation. The music industry was desperate to stop the stem of piracy. The iPod could deliver music, videos and more, but the only ways to get the content was to replicate it or steal or buy it from someone who had.

Rather than focusing on expanding the iPod’s native capabilities, he opened the door for music labels to offer digital music. He criticised his competitors for doing the opposite: “Other companies tried to do everything on the device itself and made it so complicated that it was useless.” BusinessWeek (12 October 2004)

Sell Dreams
“It is more fun to be a pirate than to join the Navy.” Odyssey: Pepsi to Apple – A Journey of Adventure, Ideas, and the Future (1987) by John Sculley and John A. Byrne. Instead of focusing on what his products could do, Jobs focused on how people would use his products.

In a Newsweek interview concerning Microsoft Zune’s wireless capability to bring people together by sharing music, Jobs was unconcerned.  “It takes forever.

By the time you’ve gone through all that, the girl’s got up and left! You’re much better off to take one of your earbuds out and put it in her ear. Then you’re connected with about two feet of headphone cable.” (14 October 2006)

Marketing for all Apple products emphasises the human component, focuses on solutions to problems and introduces the perfect product to solve them.
“We’re gambling on our vision, and we would rather do that than make “me too” products…For us, it’s always the next dream.” – From an interview about the release of MacIntosh (24 January 1984)

Build Your Brand
“It’ll make your jaw drop.” – The New York Times (8 November 1989). Jobs spent a lifetime creating 342 products and concepts which changed the way people interact, communicate and are entertained.

“… [P]eel more layers of the onion off, you can often times arrive at some very elegant and simple solutions.” – Newsweek (14 October 2006). Simplicity was the culture he created with Apple: Simple products which gave the user the ability to customise them.

The philosophy continued with The Apps Store. Jobs recognised the smart phone as a computer, not a telephone. Opening a market for smart phone apps allowed developers untapped ground to seed new software. The iPhone is simple, but becomes personal with apps installed.

Keeping it simple is how he sold them all: clean presentations, “no mess” marketing and remembering his designs were about the people who used them. Simple graphics represent all Apple’s products. In that simplicity, Apple is a brand recognised around the world as innovative.

This article was written by Timothy Ng. You can read more of his work at CreditCardFinder.com.au where he has a number of comprehensive guides to all types of credit cards.

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