A Marketing Lesson from Steve Jobs

brand marketing tips
Steve Jobs launches Apple iPod - Blog by Great Circle Brand and Marketing

Do you remember the Apple iPod?

Please don’t tell me you’re too young otherwise we might fall out ;)

Anyway, Mr Jobs did a pretty good job (sorry) of shifting a few - around 450 million or so*

But here’s the thing; he didn’t actually sell iPods, he sold the way it made people feel.

Take a look at these two adverts, same product, different text - which one do you connect with?



 

People couldn’t care less about what it was made of, how light it was or how long the battery lasted…

They bought the benefit of having all their favourite songs with them on the go.

The features were great, but the genius was in the positioning.

And it’s something we as marketeers should all adopt for our messages:

Benefits first, features second.

 Remember this; people don’t buy ‘things’ - they buy solutions. They buy the way a ‘thing’ makes them feel.

People aren’t emotionally invested in features, they’re just things that make up a product.

When it comes to solving your customer’s problem, if you can tap into their emotional triggers, you’re halfway home with your marketing.

Once they’re on the hook, you can tell them how slimmer, faster and stronger your product is.

Go and have a look at your marketing messages (your website and social media) and see if you’re leading with benefits first.

If you’re not, it’s worth spending time creating copy that will make an emotional connection with your audience.

Think different 😉

*Source: Wikipedia - iPod sales as of May 2022

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