Why you Shouldn't give up. Instead Follow Apple's Example

byTheCatherine

13.9K followers

Updated 4 years ago

This is why you shouldn't give up!

In 1997 Apple nearly went to the wall, precisely 20 years after the company was first started! That is not a typo the company which Steve jobs ran for years very very nearly went bankrupt. It was in that year that Bill Gates invested $150 million to keep Apple alive. At this time, Apple had already created the iPod, the iPhone, and the iMac. It still nearly went to the wall. In practical terms, what Bill Gates did was create a version of Microsoft Office that worked on a Mac. Twenty-one years later, Apple made history by becoming the world's first $1 trillion dollar company.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/02/technology/apple-stock-1-...

You may well ask why Bill Gates bailed out Apple? Part of the answer may be that both Microsoft and Apple stole technology from Rank Xerox. Rank Xerox was in the 70s, one of the biggest companies in the world, and it had a budget of over $1 million a year just to innovate. Absolutely groundbreaking innovations were created. Sadly they didn't patent any of them! Had they done so, they would have doubled the value of their company, but they didn't, and they went to the wall. It's one of life's little ironies that about 30 years after Apple's creation, they started actively suing people who steal their technology!

Apple succeeded because they understood that computers in the 70s were just not functional for the average person. Once Steve jobs concentrated on that fact and simplified it, then Apple became Apple rather than its predecessor, which was Apple computers! Apple built its brand by providing value for its customers. They have such a loyal customer base. People either hate Apple or love it; there is no in between.

As far as I can see, there are only three things in the world that create that polarization. Those three things are Apple, India, and Marmite. However, that's an aside. I love two of the three and hate the other. You may assume I love the first two, but you would be wrong it is the 2nd two I love.

I gave up on Apple as a result of user experience. After the Apple4, I decided that Apple wasn't for me, and I would never buy another Apple product again. I have stuck by that, and that puts me firmly in the out of Apple tribes group! As far as Apple are concerned, I am a success. I bought an Apple product and decided I didn't like it, but I did buy it. I am out of their target market forever, so it makes their marketing efforts easier. They are marketing to their tribe

Just because I don't like Apple products, it doesn't mean that I can't applaud the success of the company and how it was built.

IBM and Hewlett-Packard were the main competitors of Apple, and both of them really concentrated on the functionality of computers. Apple focused on the design the colors the appeal and how it could transform lives.

That is what you should be concentrating on with your review sites. Forget the functionality concentrate on the value of the product can give to people and how it can transform lives. Generally, people don't buy because they need something they don't buy a computer because they need more processing power. They don't buy a new television because their old one doesn't work. They buy it because of innovation and how it can change their lives.

Apple's iconic think differently adverts change the way people thought. It concentrated on the fact and the idea and the dream that if you used Apple products, you with the next thing to being a genius. Conversely, if you didn't, you were well behind the lines when brains were given out! Apple people became part of the club or a tribe. You were either with Apple or against it.

Forget the Sausage Emphasize the Sizzle

If you can create this idea in your product reviews, your halfway to success, think about the emotional benefits to your prospective readers; don't think about specifications. Don't be frightened to be innovative and change your articles and reviews as you learn more Don't give up just change the way you are thinking. Grasping marketing ideas is a concept which is quite tricky, but it doesn't mean that you can't master it one chunk at a time.