Why Steve Jobs Was a (Great) Marketing Engineer
Marketing engineers see the world differently. They do things differently. They act differently.
They also think differently.
And that is exactly what Steve Jobs - the legendary force behind Apple - did and that is why he was a marketing engineer par excellence.
Most people who think of Jobs remember him for the amazing products that he and Apple produced. First came the pioneering Macintosh in 1984. There was the iMac in 1998 - a unique addition to the still-nascent world of personal computers.
Then came the iPod, followed by the iPhone, the MacBook, and the iPad, along with every unique innovation and breathtaking new feature that accompanied them.
But to see the products and the features alone is to see the trees - and not the forest as a whole.
Steve Jobs was a marketing genius. Not in the sense of fancy powerpoints and cool product names, but in the sense of delivering products (and services) to an audience that appreciated and loved them - and then also bought them.
Jobs was a top-notch marketer because he built a machine to push the many revolutionary things Apple set out to do. It was a machine built not just on image or cool slogans - it was (sometimes) ruthless engine designed to be self-reinforcing and, above all, effective.
In the process, he proved himself to be not only an engineer of beautiful products but an engineer of a beautiful and powerful brand - a true marketing engineer.
“Let’s start at the very beginning…”
It all started with the hardware. Jobs and Apple built a unique item - a user-friendly personal computer - that positioned itself squarely in opposition to the big, bad corporation that was IBM.
What is important to note is that Jobs not only started with a strong, fundamental product - as noted before. He also chose a very clear positioning. While IBM was the dominant provider of mainframe computers at the time and had introduced its IBM PC in 1981.
Jobs framed the Macintosh personal computer in clear contrast to the “big, bad blue” corporation that was IBM. His famous ‘1984’ Super Bowl commercial highlighted the start contrast (in Jobs’s eyes) between the Macintosh and IBM’s own line of machines.
This positioning was important. And positioning in general is extremely important in the field of marketing engineering - for several reasons:
If a product or service is positioned too close to that of a competitor, it becomes indistinguishable from its rival. In this case, any USP or strategic advantage gets lost on the end customer.
Positioning your main product too far away from a competitor can also be a disadvantage. While Steve Jobs would later prove that it is possible to draw in new customers from outside the realm of current markets, the more advantageous step is to convince current customers of competitors that your product or service is better. If Jobs had gone ‘too revolutionary, too fast’ he might have missed out on the chance to flip a certain percentage of IBM users, at least on a personal level.
By choosing an ‘enemy’, Steve Jobs cast Apple in a positive light. The Macintosh personal computer, with its innovations and emphasis on individual freedom and usability, set Apple up to be the brand of ‘the people.’ It was a contrarian move - but one which clearly set Apple apart. There was no doubt where the company stood - none whatsoever.
What this first step in product positioning shows - more than anything - is that Jobs understood the concept of first principles. His machine was the first in a line of products that would capture global imagination.
Beyond being simply ‘cool’ or ‘nice’ - Mac products formed the foundation of a future ecosystem that would fuel the rise of Apple above and beyond the personal computer and personal device market.
Jobs clearly understood this. Get the foundational product right, loop customers into using your device over that of a competitor and you set yourself up to sell them much more than they originally signed up for.
What is also important to note is the passion with which Jobs approached his battle with IBM - and his later tangles with Microsoft and others. The driving fire behind the development of the Mac, the iPod and later the iPhone points to Jobs’s understanding of the so-called “Hedgehog Principle” popularized by Jim Collins in his book Good to Great.
In the book, Collins points out that a key element of taking a company to the next level is to identify the focus of where a firm can:
Be world-class
Leverage a deep-seated passion
Make money
In building great products - starting with the personal computer, but not only - Jobs did exactly that.
The clear focus on this hardware aspect set Apple up for its future success. It was the base layer that helped power an entire market takeover in later years.
In short, Steve Jobs was a brilliant marketing engineer because he got the first step very, very right. His foundation was simple, yet strong - and his positioning was clear. In the same way that civil engineers must carefully choose the ground upon which they construct the world’s tallest buildings, so marketing engineers must choose wisely where to “build.”
Marketing engineer principle: Build a strong (and sustainable) foundation.
(Footnote: When Jobs was forced out of Apple in 1985 and started NeXT, he took the dramatic step of seeking a partnership with IBM. In this case, he proved again his marketing engineering genius: when seeking to vault to the next level, leverage a bigger force than yourself. See the section on leverage below.)
We love wheelies
Marketing engineers, and especially the best ones, get their machines started right. And then they accelerate.
This is what is known as a building a ‘flywheel’ - where each successive step fuels the next in a self-fulfilling flow. But, of course, it has to get off to a good start.
As a world-class marketing engineer, Steve Jobs certainly understood this fact. He also understood the underlying human forces that help drive the greatest business flywheels.
While it might be possible to identify several flywheels in the overall Apple machinery - it is clear that it all started with one thing: building fantastic, innovative products that people love to use.
With a lineup of technically and visually superior hardware products, Apple and Jobs could add unique software (not just Microsoft programs) to create a totally separate ecosystem. With two levels of “different” built in, it was then possible to charge a higher price, which ultimately led to more funds for R&D to build the next new “thing.”
The result? Another great, innovative product to feed the flywheel all over again.
It is fair to say that Jobs knew very well what he was doing in setting up this virtuous circle - or at least he was able to develop and refine it over time. And with each new innovation - iPod, iPhone, MacBook Air, iPad etc. - the acceleration continued. Just like pushing down on the pedal of a bicycle, the top-notch design and simple beauty of the products Apple built helped propel it forward.
Not to forget as well - this flywheel continues to function well even today, in a world where Apple does not have total domination of the smartphone or laptop market. At no point did Steve Jobs allow competition to derail the process. And with each new product, Apple reinforced its positioning and “pulled away” from its competitors yet again.
Marketing engineer principle: Build reinforcing machines that ‘run’ of their own accord
(Re)making the market
In their role as drivers of business, marketeers are asked to “go to market” with their company’s products and services. But, of course, this (usually) implies going out into a market and attempting to target one or more segments of it. Hence the “go” part of the phrase…
Steve Jobs did things differently.
Much like kids who later grow up to be engineers of the mechanical or electrical variety, Jobs started out by “deconstructing” the market - and then putting it back together again.
Consider a case in point...
In his now legendary keynote at Macworld in 2007, Jobs unveiled the revolution in smartphones that was the iPhone. Part of the presentation magic from Jobs was the slight-of-hand rotation of icons on-screen showing that the new device was actually three-in-one: a mobile phone, an iPod and an internet communicator.
In one quick move - Jobs had deconstructed the market for all three separate devices and combined them into one. It was a masterfuf, marketing engineering feat. As we know now, it helped take Apple to an all new level.
What was equally impressive was how Apple also deconstructed and reconstructed many other markets, including software delivery (with automatically updated apps in its App Store), online advertising (pushing “mobile-first” to the default setting for campaigns) and eventually e-commerce (with in-app purchases through Apple ID accounts and later Apple Pay).
In each case, Jobs managed to re-engineer markets and push the borders of target audiences that had seemed entrenched before.
Once again, his market (re)making was based on the solid foundation of Apple’s core brand ethos of delivering fantastic product and service experiences.
Marketing engineer principle: Construct new markets - and deconstruct them as well.
Leverage, leverage, leverage
Mechanical and civil engineers, perhaps more than any others, know the value of leverage. How else would huge loads get moved or engines function properly?
Marketing engineers also need leverage - but of a different sort.
Steve Jobs leveraged dreams - dreams of greatness, dreams of comfort, speed and a sense of superiority.
It is no wonder that another iconic marketing campaign (Think different) from Apple employed the images of world-famous figures from history - Einstein, Picasso, Ali and others - to highlight the possibility of doing great things and affecting great change. This is the stuff of dreams…
Jobs leveraged the basic human desire to achieve greatness and make great things happen to inspire great brand loyalty in Apple’s customers.
On an even more practical level, the superior design and user experience of Apple products was good enough to make users believe that they could, indeed, do great things. With an iPhone or an Macbook, every person could be a world-class artist or creator or writer.
Those positive feelings, hopes and dreams were perfect leverage for Jobs to employ.
Marketing engineer principle: Identify deep, long-term forces in human nature and leverage them