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

Marketing in Kiev

[Okay, okay - title corrected. It was supposed to say Russian, not Russia - no offense intended (p.s. my great-grandparents were from Minsk and Odessa)]

All next week I'll be in Kiev to deliver a speech about how better marketing saved Apple from extinction. You can check it out here (if you want to translate the page from Russian then go here)

While putting together the speech, I relived a lot of my time at Apple and how the company really lost its way under the Sculley/Spindler/Amelio regimes. I think that Apple's near death experience was the catalyst for the company turning itself around. And by company I mean Steve Jobs. I truly think he was the most motivated person in the company in those days to see to it - personally - that Apple didn't die. After all, watching your own child suffer is the worst thing possible and in many ways Apple was Steve's baby. Just try to imagine the PC, music or phone industries today if Apple's star had twinkled out 10 years ago.

A lot has been written about Apple's amazing resurgence following the return of it's once-ousted wunderkind. But my speech will provide an very different, insider's view at what it was really like to feel Apple's soul return during its brush with bankruptcy. And for those of you who won't be in Kiev next week, perhaps there will be a webcast or a book on the subject real soon. Stay tuned!

FORTUNE Chats with Apple’s iPod and iPhone marketing czar

Link: FORTUNE: Big Tech A chat with Apple’s iPod and iPhone marketing czar «.

Fascinating view at how Apple markets the iBook, iPod & iPhone. Pay careful attention to the differences in product marketing required for success in international markets. Greg Joswiak ("Joz" as they call him - a cool cross between Jobs and Woz) is a great guy who really does listen to the market, its customers and employees. His role leading both Product Marketing (outbound) and Product Management (inbound) is a critical clue to how Apple has become so successful. Basically they have tied these two functions together under one team where they can interface closely with Engineering. When you do it this way you can get closer to your customers, listen to the needs of the market and produce products people really want.

Personal note: I remember when I was working hard to get renewed interest within Apple with the Higher Education market back in 1997 and Greg and his team really stepped up to help. Thanks Joz!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Folks,

Thanks for making my first 3 months as a blogger a real joy! I appreciate all the emails and comments you make and I read and respond to every one I receive.

You've really demonstrated the power of the social web: like-minded people connected by a common idea can really change the world. I happen to know for a fact that your passion and your voice is heard by people who care about your issues. Over the last few months you have been instrumental in changing Apple's mind concerning native apps on the iPhone and in helping make the iPhone $100 rebate a reality. We have a lot to be thankful for and it's good to know that Apple is listening to our tiny corner of cyberspace.

Enjoy the day with your family and friends. Those of you who do not celebrate this holiday please take some time for yourself today. Tell them Steve said so.

What is missing in the Mac market besides me?

I'm leaving Tubes later this year and looking for the next great gig. I'm doing some consulting work in the meantime and taking a long hard look at holes in the market. I'm very keen on your thoughts as to what types of solutions are missing or lagging in the Mac market.

For instance, my wife signed me up to DJ an event (for free, ugh!) and so I've been trying to learn the world of DJ software on the Mac (I never did this before and love to learn new things.) And I've found, much to my dismay, that even though the Mac is the leading platform for media creation, I can't seem to find really good DJ software on the Mac that's on par with Windows. Am I not looking in the right places? I found VirtualDJ but the Mac version is still in beta and Traxtor doesn't seem as powerful. Any others that I'm missing?

Also, some small startups I'm looking at have lagged their Mac offerings behind Windows, making it hard to excite the early adopters (mainly Mac users) required to ignite early word of mouth crucial for these small companies to break out. This is the same issue we had at Tubes which is still lacking a Mac version (one of my reasons for leaving, BTW.)

And with all my free time I figured I'd play a game or two. I used to love the flight simulators on the Mac (anyone remember Hellcats over the Pacific or A10 Attack? - I still have them for Mac OS 8!) but I can't seem to find a decent one any longer on Mac (other than X-Plane but that doesn't feel like a game) And I can't bring myself to use Microsoft Flight Simulator (it pre-dates the Mac!) on a Windows PC.

I'd love to hear from the readers of this blog: what areas does the Mac lag behind or is non-existent? I'm thinking your answers may just help me decide where to focus my search for my next job. And speaking of job, feel free to contact me if you need a Viral Marketing, Web 2.0, or Social Web consultant to help you out with your marketing. I'm available for rent at [email protected] or my iPhone at 603.930.2490

Apple Everywhere

Okay, it's no secret I'm an Apple user. I use them for work, for home, even for blogging. But for the longest time it "felt" like I was alone. And by longest time I mean for the last 20 years of my life. I was a lonely Mac user occasionally bumping into another. No wonder I got excited about seeing one on TV and in the movies.

Well that rare feeling is starting to wane. I'm speaking in at the Streaming Media conference in San Jose this week and EVERYWHERE I look I see Macs. Mostly pretty new MacBooks (white seems to be in vogue) and it feels like they are 50% of the laptops I've seen. And when I speak to people who are using PC laptops, they almost always offer the fact that they are "thinking" about moving to a Mac.

I know Apple had a pretty good quarter on the strength of great Mac sales, but my informal poll is indicating a huge resurgence here - I'm going to start predicting 20-25% marketshare soon. With Apple's market-cap now at $162B - (more than IBM and Intel) it is now half as valuable as Microsoft - and it has less than 10% of the market for PCs.

So let's recap. Apple in the late 90s was close to dying. Then Steve came back and the Mac (and great marketing) was reborn. the iMac begat the iPod, then the iPod begat the iPhone. And now the Mac is back again, primarily because a whole new iGeneration is willing to look at the Mac for the very first time. And they like what they see, they get one, and they tell their friends. And the cycle is just starting to spin up. Enjoy the ride!

Word of Mouth and Friendship Capital

Many of the folks who read this blog are also users of Apple's products. Perhaps you had a Mac (back in the day when they were called Macintoshes) or maybe you recently got an iPod or iPhone. Regardless, you are part of the marketing machine of Apple. You probably share you enthusiasm for Apple's products with family, friends, even perfect strangers.

Well, after working for Apple for almost a decade, and being a customer for more than 20 years, you have to realize that almost all my family members use Macs. My dad is no exception - for his 75th birthday his children bought him a new iMac. Being the tech support member of my family clan, I urged him to upgrade to Leopard so we could use the new screen sharing feature. (boy is it hard to explain what to click on over the phone - you know what I mean?) This was going to make our lives easier.

Anyway, Dad did buy Leopard (from a link on this page) and he immediately began the upgrade. But somehow along the way, he clicked the option that did a complete, fresh install. And here is where my Dad makes a good point (and sent an email to Steve Jobs to punctuate it) - why didn't the installer ask him at least once "Are you sure you want to do a fresh install?" He swears he never saw it, and so his computer was completely wiped clean. He spent nearly an hour on the phone with Apple support but of course there was nothing they could do. And I ended up feeling responsible for his hardship.

So I'm coining a term: "Friendship Capital" It's what you expend, gain or lose when you recommend to your friends what they should do. Don't spend your friendship capital unless you are sure the experience they will have with the object of your recommendation buys you more. In other words, don't stick your neck out unless you are sure you won't have to deal with the repurcussions. I'm already expecting to help my dad rebuild his Mac. But of course, that's more like Relative Capital - and that renews itself by blood.

Love ya Dad!