The Rider At The Last Place Notices Others Are Doing It Wrong

Pedaling harder is not the answer. It’s about your moves.

Steves Jobs was very clear on what he wants people to know about Apple. After all, it is a noisy world saturated with marketing campaigns. He believed that even a great brand needs investment and caring if it’s going to retain its relevance and vitality. He believed that marketing is about values. Apple didn’t say we are better than windows. Instead, they said we believe in changing the world and we do it by designing user-friendly products which happen to make great computers.

The marketing strategy that Apple uses has been codified by Simon Sinek as the following illustration. He proposed the Golden Circle:

Simon Sinek says most companies market from outside to inside the circle. They say about the features and benefits of their product and how they developed it by they don’t focus on why they are doing it. To create a brand image, companies should focus on the why question. They must work their way from inside towards outside. The brand image brings customer loyalty and educates customers about the values.

Steve Jobs considered Nike as one of the greatest examples of marketing. He noted the fact that they don’t advertise being better than Reebok. In their advertising, they honor great athletes and athletics; that's who they are; that's what they are about. He said when he was working with a marketing agency to bring Apple to life again, the goal was to show people what Apple stands for and where it fits in this world.

Apple is not about making boxes for people to get their jobs done, although they do that well and better than almost anybody in some cases. Apple’s about something more than that. Its core value is that we believe that people with passion can change the world for the better. that’s what we believe and we’ve had the opportunity to work with people like that.(Steve Jobs)

Sometimes some companies don’t notice that most people that they are reaching, don’t need their product. Posting one more video or sending one more email or interrupting one more person might not be the answer. In the following short video ( 1.22 minutes) from a biking competition, the rider at the last place discovers that others are doing it wrong, biking is a a actually system, and pedaling harder might not be the answer.

In all of the successful car advertisements, the focus is on the feeling and mentality. They don’t say their car is better than others but instead inject the idea in your head that if you own this car then you belong to a special style and class of society and you are gonna feel special. They want to give identity to their brand. This example is parallel to Steve Jobs’s opinion on marketing. It is about values. It is about knowing where your company fits in this world.

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