Apple believes that people with passion can change the world.
Sandi Krakowski
Influence And Marketing- What The World Can Learn From Steve Jobs
By: Sandi Krakowski
I confess, right now, before our hundreds of thousands of readers and the countless amount of people who come to our website and our social media connections daily, I have a serious addiction to Apple products. My office is laced with Apple products! I'm a happy business woman, wife, mother and friend because Apple makes me happy! My addiction with technology started in the early 90's with my very first online business….. oh was I ever living in he dark ages all those years of building companies with a PC. Now I'm a faithful Mac user and addict!
To be honest with you, today I am honored to have Steve Jobs name on my website, in our newsletter and in our social media streams. It is because of Mr Jobs that I've been inspired and creative and constantly think outside the box. He has very much influenced my life, my business and he has won my marketing to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars! I've cheerfully spent a lot of money with him! That's a lesson all on it's own.
Our home is completely taken over by Apple products!
There are 5 MacBook Pros, a MacBook Air, 4 iPads, 4 iPhones, 4 more iPods, an iPod Nano, 2 more 27" inch monitors and a WAITING ORDER for an iPhone 5 that arrives today!! Mr Jobs has influenced my family!
Steve Jobs was a visionary and a dreamer….. but the fact that he implemented his dreams and visions makes him a hero in my eyes more than anything.
In a recent discussion with some people on Facebook the question was posted asking if Steve Jobs was so much a marketer or was he more an influencer. Then we began to ponder and think through… can you really do any effective marketing without influencing?
A brand expert piped in and said that Steve Jobs was an amazing brand expert, because he was the face of Apple… "Oh hold up a minute" was my next thought.
Was Steve Jobs really the face of Apple?
Or was the iPhone the face of Apple? That's a big branding question that begs an answer! Branding is the thing one remembers the most, it's what causes one to make repeated purchases and become very loyal to the brand specific product and company. Most companies, more than 90-95% will HAVE to have a face attached to their brand. I am the Pink Haired Face of A Real Change International, Inc. But Steve Jobs…. was HE the face of Apple?
What burned a blueprint into our mind the most about Apple?
What caused us to want to take a second glass, to buy products that we KNEW were being released in Mid-Beta Phase and WE were the product testers?? Was it Steve Jobs face, his famous Levi jeans and his famous black turtleneck?
He is a rare individual who can brand a product and cause people to remember the Creator. Very few companies will ever be able to pull it off. Was Steve Jobs really the face of Apple or were the millions and millions of iPhone and iPad users the face that he left us all wanting to be like?
What brilliance lived in that mind!
When we made a purchase at Apple we felt like we were the ONLY one!
It didn't matter who served us on the phone or if we were shopping at their store… we were now a part of the CULTure and the Family! Every Apple purchase caused us to "Buy In" one level deeper.
Steve Jobs is personally responsible for making being a geek sexy!! He changed the 'stigma' I knew when I graduated from high school in the 80's that smart people aren't sexy and brains aren't something to chase. He made it cool to be smart and innovative and his famous words of, "I don't give a shit what people think about what I wear" should be a voice of freedom for people everywhere.
He made an Apple something that did more than just keep the doctor away, he kept our dreams alive!
We could be connected online 24/7, use our phone like a desktop, bring hundreds of books, documents, songs, movies, pictures and anything else we could imagine with us…. and soon, the world is changing again as everyone receives their iPhone 5!!
So the question is posed…. was he a marketer or an influencer?
Can you actually influence without marketing and can you even market at all successfully without influencing?
Steve Jobs revolutionized how we use our minds, our talents, our time.
He was a revolutionary. He was a revivalist. He brought relationships back to life with a phone. He brought dreams into reality with an iPad.
It is my prayer that God would give me just 1 Mb of Steve Jobs wisdom and passion. But honestly…. as I look around my office, I think He already has.
We have lost a hero, a genius and a man who never said no to the NEXT step…. with the BEST days ahead.
He branded his company so that my great great grandchildren will even know him. Who knows, maybe their iPhone 23 will be only 4 inches and a 1/2 of a cm thick.
Thank you Steve Jobs. You've given me courage to believe BIG and to bring my influence and marketing to the world.
"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary." Steve Jobs
