Apple & Google: “What is everyone else doing wrong, and how can we destroy the foundation of the market they operate in?”

The word ‘disruption’ is thrown around by a lot of companies.  They use it to describe their operations or future products because it makes them feel like they’re innovators who are doing something truly great.  So why do most of them end up homogenizing themselves with their competitors, all while keeping their market stagnant?

The difference between Microsoft and Apple, or Microsoft and Google, is that one is looking upon the landscape from 100 feet up, while the other is looking at it from 10,000 feet up.  It’s impossible to see the big picture if you’re just looking at what your main competitors are doing.  The real winners, it seems, are the ones who see where their market will be headed in 5 to 10 years, and start working towards that system now.

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Tucker Max’s response: “No. The real winners don’t worry about competitors or landscape at all–they worry about solving real problems that real people have, and thus create real value for them. I doubt in most cases Google or Apple even think about where the market will be in ten years, or at least, they think about it in a different way–they think about what problems people will have, and how they can solve them. Solving a problem creates value, and creating real value is the key to 21st century business success.”

“PC makers in the Windows camp have done everything possible to make their products progressively worse by cutting corners to save pennies per unit and boost sales volume.  There’s good reason Apple is seeing healthy profits while grabbing market share.  It refuses to budge on quality and so charges a higher price. Rather than running ads that seem clever at first but really aren’t, the Windows guys ought to take the hint and just build better computers.”

The best companies — the ones who retain their brand equity while consistently increasing their bottomline — all think relentlessly long-term.  They know that marketing means absolutely nothing if you have a bad product.  So start allocating all of your ad money into the R&D department.  You can get a lot farther on free word-of-mouth than with a multi-million dollar TV campaign.

Quality first, marketing later.

I disagree with Steve.  Apple has been steadily rebuilding their brand’s image for the last decade, and now it’s one of the coolest companies on the planet.  They have a cult-like following and are notoriously secretive to their benefit.

While some may love the credibility and trust that comes with being more open, it can actually weaken a business to an extent.  Being extremely open sets a company up for immediate and constant criticism.  This can result in an endless discussion where the company is pandering to its consumers instead of staying focused on providing value to them.  And I don’t think ‘pandering’ and ‘providing value’ are mutually exclusive – I just think that pandering can make companies lose sight of what’s important.  Sure, it might ultimately be better for the consumer, but it can be extremely compromising for the company.

Apple’s gotten away with being secretive because people absolutely love their products.  Half of the fun in being an Apple fan is the speculation that comes before their next product release.  It creates a wild sense of curiosity all over the web.  Then when the products are finally released, people go crazy.  They literally tear the products apart to see what they’re made of and post tons of close-up shots.  It’s like technology porn.  Few corporations in the world have created this kind of madness so many times.  And this mega-hype is a result of Apple being so private.  They manufacture their brand’s mystique and they’re very good at it.

Seth Godin and Tucker Max, two great marketing strategists, have very recently reminded me that if you have a hammer, everything will look like a nail.  Basically, if you have one tactic that has worked well for you, then you’ll be apt to believe that it will work in every situation.  Being open works for Google because it’s consistent with the company’s brand.  Opening up Apple, however, would be detrimental to the brand they’ve created.

There will always have to be some degree of openness, and Apple might benefit from a bit more.  But what they’re doing right now is working very well for them – it’s aligned with their strategy.  Their main problem, in my eyes, is managing the expectations of their customers.  They’ve literally changed the face of the computer, music, and phone industries.  And now it seems like any new product they come out with that doesn’t change the world is a letdown.

Being known as the innovator is tough.

Here’s a video I made recently.  I’ve combined two of the most talked about topics in the online world: Apple and Barack Obama.  I wanted to see if there was such a thing as an inherently popular video…

Apparently, there is NOT such a thing.

Why this is relevant: I’m doing online video work for a few companies – it’s one of my (few) skills.  A lot of companies try to make viral videos, a la meatball sundae.  They delude themselves into thinking that viral videos are a marketing opportunity that will somehow give them greater brand equity, more sales, loyal customers, etc.  And while the methods for making viral videos can be kind of sleazy, creating something viral interests me from both a marketer’s and film enthusiast’s standpoint.

To me, this is the greatest thing they’ve done for iTunes’ sales, the music industry, and the consumer.  Everyone will benefit tremendously from this feature.  Apple will sell more songs, artists will have a better chance of getting their songs heard, and consumers will be exposed to highly personalized recommendations.  As Joseph Kelly pointed out to me, it’s basically like having Pandora for your own music library.

Download the newest release of iTunes and watch Genius in action.  You’ll see the potential of the long tail, integrated seamlessly with collaborative filtering – all with a flawless execution.

And that’s just the first release of Genius…

9/20 – UPDATE: Seth just wrote a pretty similar article to this one.

Aside from the insanely idiotic Seinfeld-Gates commercial, Microsoft has pulled yet another move revealing how clueless they are about marketing. “Microsoft Gurus”?  Really?

Before I tear into Microsoft, let’s talk a little bit about the experience of dealing with an Apple Genius.

The best thing about Geniuses is that they don’t come across as employees – they’re just passionate Apple users.  I don’t mind talking to them because their behavior doesn’t signal that they are being paid to talk to me.  It comes across as a very genuine interaction.  Geniuses don’t even actively try to make me buy something.  Seriously, they’re barely a step above Barnes & Noble employees when it comes to pressuring sales.

Microsoft Gurus, however, are going to be giving demos to the tune of “See how Vista doesn’t suck as much as you thought?”  Apple’s Geniuses are perceived as passionate users.  Microsoft doesn’t really have many passionate users at this point (other than Steve Ballmer), so these poor Gurus are going to come across as thinly-veiled shills who are restraining their desperation.

My point is this:

When you have a product that is great and can sell itself (Apple), it doesn’t matter that there’s someone (Genius) who is encouraging the sale.  But when you have a product that’s perceived to be awful (Vista), anyone’s claims to the contrary (Gurus) are going to be perceived as highly specious.

Vista genuinely sucked for software that spent 5 years in development, and customers spoke up. The “Get A Mac” ads didn’t tarnish Vista, and the Mojave ads won’t save it.  Advertising was never the true cause of Microsoft’s problems, nor is it the solution.

Microsoft – Put your marketing money into making a better product; one that will sell itself because people love it.

One last thing…

My favorite thing that I noticed while writing this post was that the Mojave Experiment site didn’t work for me.  Reason?  I needed to install Silverlight in order to watch the videos.

Putting up a barrier for customers to watch your ads online?  BRILLIANT!  Oh, Microsoft…

Click to see Mojave's landing page

What’s true in life is also true in marketing: If you want to be boring, talk about yourself. If you want to be interesting, talk about other people. - Gaping Void

Let’s compare Donald Trump to Steve Jobs. Both are respected businessmen who came back from difficult circumstances by outsmarting their competition and working extremely hard.

Donald slaps his name on every single product he puts out. His hotel, his golf courses, his vodka, his steak. He acts like he’s King Midas. His ego is massive and even though he can be funny sometimes, I get really turned off by how great he thinks he is.

Then there’s Steve. He created a lingo for his products: iMac, iPod, iPhone. Steve has insane amounts of talent as both a strategist and a designer, has created great products and services, and has an almost cult-like following.

Which of those two do you think is the better marketer? Donald gives you his name, Steve gives you an experience.  There’s a reason that none of Apple’s products have been called the iJobs.