{"id":415,"date":"2009-10-06T14:25:20","date_gmt":"2009-10-06T03:25:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mrpitcher.wordpress.com\/?p=415"},"modified":"2009-10-06T14:25:20","modified_gmt":"2009-10-06T03:25:20","slug":"you-cant-be-everything-to-everybody","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.razchorev.com\/newme\/you-cant-be-everything-to-everybody\/","title":{"rendered":"You can’t be everything to everybody"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few weeks ago I talked about Apples’ marketing strategy<\/a>. Apple have been marketing<\/a> their products, having these in mind:<\/p>\n

1. They don’t sell products.<\/h3>\n

If you understand that people buy what other people have, you’re on the same wave length..<\/p>\n

2. They are never ‘first to market’<\/h3>\n

Take something good and improved it slightly, or package it differently.<\/p>\n

3. They Empower early adopters<\/h3>\n

Customers are the best sales people. Let them sell…<\/p>\n

4. They make the message memorable<\/h3>\n

Makes it easy for your “salespeople” (aka customers) to repeat your message…<\/p>\n

5. They go one step further!<\/h3>\n

Surprise and delight your customers. Give them something unexpected (there is no traffic jam on the extra mile )<\/p>\n

However:<\/p>\n

Apple has been very specific with their marketing tactics, declaring: We are NOT for everyone! We have a great product, which works and looks great, and reasonably priced. But not for everyone. Which can make it problematic:<\/p>\n

A recent article in Silicon.com magazine (why CIOs say no to MACS<\/a>) raised a possible hurdle on Apple’s growth:<\/p>\n

CIO<\/a> (Chief information officers) are shying away from macs, because:<\/p>\n

“Apple has for a long time been associated <\/strong>with producing the best OS system so long as you’re a creative <\/strong>artist or designer. Until it shakes off that image<\/strong>, very few IT heads are likely to carry out a wholesale replacement of their Windows XP\/Vista operating systems to the Snow Leopard OS<\/a>,”<\/p>\n

What does it mean?<\/h3>\n

Apple has chosen (or their customers decided for them) an image, a perception, that macs are great for designers, and creative people. NOT for everybody. Until proven otherwise, most IT heads are not likely to consider Apple’s products, and invest time and lot’s of money in replacing the hardware, as well as the software (snow leopard) .<\/p>\n

There is another point worth mentioning:<\/p>\n

Apple realized that in order to make their software more appealing to the corporate market, they need to be compatible with the market leader – Microsoft. I assume they thought :”Let’s beat them in their own game, and penetrate slowly, via the back door, into the corporate market”.<\/p>\n

So Apple, developing products for certain positions within the corporate, developed the software to be compatible with the market leader’s product. Not direct competition. A bit sneaky maybe, but what is the point in being  a Me Too company?<\/p>\n

How do you <\/strong>compete in the marketplace? Are you offering the same as everybody else? Are you unique in your offering (not your price!). How can you take a share of your competitors’ business, using Apple’s tactics?<\/p>\n

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