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Three Lessons We Can Learn from Steve Jobs

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A recent article on MediaPost News cited a new survey of 265 marketing execs. One insight struck me: in spite of the economic doldrums (or maybe because of them), innovation is top of mind for top marketers. I get that. At this stage of the recession, the time for hunkering down is done. When your competitors are still sitting in fear, it’s a good time to stand up and get moving.

Take a lesson or three from Steve Jobs. If you look at the arc of his life and leadership, you see that, while it has had extraordinary highs and lows, it has been relentlessly steady-eddie on the concept of innovation. So here are the marketing lessons we can all learn from Mr. Jobs:

  1. You don’t have to be the inventor to be the innovator.

Apple’s early genius wasn’t necessarily in developing the foundational technologies. It was, and continues to be, its ability to envision the future, focus on getting there, and creating advertising and communications to inspire people. As Walter Mossberg, the personal technology columnist for the Wall Street Journal, tells it:  “He (Jobs) didn’t invent the basic technologies in that (the MAC), they were developed at Xerox. But Xerox had no ability to market them.”

  1. Marketing isn’t the last step, it’s the first. 

Who are your customers and what do they lack that you can fulfill? I think it’s fair to say that most businesses speak in answers and forget to speak in questions, and “who is the customer” has to be the first – and constant — question. When businesses start speaking in answers, they hunker down and, once there, you’re in survival mode.

  1. Recognize what consumers need — before they do.

Truly the hardest lesson to implement. But this is more about the culture of the organization than anything else. And it starts at the top. The executive team that dares to look beyond the horizon may see opportunity their competitors can’t, or won’t. So dare to stand up and look long. Commit the people and resources to stand up and look ahead. Encouragethem. Listen to their nutty ideas. And then figure out which one of those ideas you’re going to put your money on. No, don’t fire the bean counters; you need them to keep the balance between “drive” and “neutral.”

I am an unabashed acolyte of Steve Jobs. Sure, I’ve never been up-close-and-personal with the man and his legendary quirks. But as an advertising creative and marketing professional, I’ve been inspired by him and his company ever since I bought my first little MacIntosh with a screen the size of an iPad’s (of course, it was packing at least 10 lbs of brain in a plastic box the size of carry-on bag).

So as you’re doing your marketing plan for 2012 or your Q4 ad campaign, remember the value of thinking differently.


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