Steve Jobs left us many gifts, one he left us marketers w/ was to strive to emulate the army of advocates he created
It was Fall 2008, and after finally sitting at a table with my wife and another couple after searching for a parking spot in Boston, my friend introduced me to the iPhone 3G which he had just purchased. He was espousing the wonders of this new and amazing product for a good part of the meal.
As he continued his pitch I looked around the restaurant, and saw something truly amazing, at many of the four person tables there was one person who had an iPhone out, and talking about how much they loved their new gadget!
My next step? Was I bought Apple Stock!
But, as a marketer what is the real lesson here? Well I concluded that nobody sells product better, than a consumer who just bought it and loves it!
I believe one of Steve Job’s greatest legacies is that he left an ARMY of advocates to carry his message, to help his company continue to sell new and better products faster than anyone else. It is this lesson that we as marketers should take forward, and the communication divices we have at our disposal now makes it easier than ever to engage with potential advocates.
When I speak about social marketing, people often ask me, how do I get started? Or I only have 50 followers what can that do? How do I build out my Fans, and followers? My answer back to them, is that I do not believe that simply increasing a fan and follower base is the true win we should be striving for. The true win, is getting other people to carry our message, to give them a reason to share your product and information with their friends. How do you get people at a virtual table in a virtual restaurant to tell all of their friends why they should buy your products?
This is the question that needs to be explored and will be explored in my series of articles coming up.