This is the foundation of Apple’s incredible success.

Whether you love them or hate them, there’s no denying the success of Apple. With other personal computers coming on the market at the exact same time that Apple launched the Apple I in 1977, what set them apart?

Employee #3.
To take the Apple I into production, they needed a mass infusion of cash. $250,000, to be exact. No bank was going to loan a barefoot, smelly hippie that kind of money—especially not to produce a product they couldn’t even understand.

A prominent Silicon Valley investor introduced Jobs to Mike Markkula, a 33-year-old retired multi-millionaire who was an expert in marketing and selling technology parts (his fortune came from Intel). After helping Jobs write a business plan, he offered to invest the $250,000 in return for one-third ownership of the company.

At this point, the fledgling Apple was still operating out of the garage in Jobs’s family home.

On January 3, 1977, Apple Computer Co. was formally incorporated. That day Markkula sat down and wrote a one-page paper titled “The Apple Marketing Philosophy.” It set the tone for everything Apple has done since with just three simple points:

1. Empathy – an intimate connection with the customer’s feelings. “We will truly understand their needs better than any other company.”

2. Focus – “In order to do a good job of those things that we decide to do, we must eliminate all of the unimportant opportunities.”

3. Impute – “People DO judge a book by its cover. We may have the best product, the highest quality, the most useful software etc.; if we represent them in a slipshod manner, they will be perceived as slipshod; if we present them in a creative, professional manner, we will impute the desired qualities. “

Perception is everything, my friend. People will form an opinion based on what you convey about yourself and your product or services.

Markkula’s philosophies were in alignment with Jobs’s. The year before Jobs had been quoted in a magazine saying “If we can rap about their needs, feelings, and motivations, we can respond appropriately by giving them what they want.” “Them” referring to the customer, of course.

Next step.
To “impute” the proper perception of their company, Jobs set about courting LA’s top PR and ad executive, Regis McKenna. McKenna had produced an ad campaign for Intel that set them apart in the technology industry, and Jobs wanted that same treatment for Apple. In his usual, determined way he set about making that happen. McKenna finally agreed to meet with Jobs (still a barefoot, smelly hippie) and took Apple on as a client. McKenna did two things that set the foundation for the trajectory of the company:

1. His art department created the rainbow-colored Apple logo (with the bite taken out).
2. He gave their marketing materials a tag line that read: “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”

That maxim became the defining tenet of Job’s design philosophy.

This is the sum total of what should be taught in any marketing 101 courses. If you operate your business based on these principles, there’s almost no way you can fail.

Always behind you 1,000%-
Julia

Jay-Z buys Tidal.

In 2015 Jay-Z invested $56 million in a holding company that owned the streaming music service known as Tidal. Partly in a move to beat Apple to the punch—their music streaming service was just getting ready to launch.

At a press conference in New York City in March of 2015, along with the core group of artist/owners of Tidal including Drake, Alicia Keys, and Madonna, the reveal was made. Tidal would be a home for high-fidelity audio and exclusive content where artists could get paid what they were rightly owed. They intended to change the course of music history forever.

“The challenge is to get everyone to respect music again, to recognize its value,” said Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter. “Water is free. Music is $6, but no one wants to pay for music. You should drink free water from the tap — it’s a beautiful thing. And if you want to hear the most beautiful song, then support the artist.” –New York Times, March 30, 2015

The Twitter vs. Tidal takedown

Aside from being a sentence that doesn’t make much sense, it was marketing suicide for Tidal. Twitter eviscerated Jay-Z for this statement. First of all, they pointed out, water is not free from the tap (he was directed to talk to the people who pay his bills), and secondly—he was on stage surrounded by multi-millionaire musicians who were asking to be paid…more. Those are not the musicians who need the help of an artist-owned streaming service like Tidal.

But most importantly, the question never answered that day, was how does all this benefit the subscriber?

The wrong hero.

Jay-Z made himself and the artists the hero of the story, and the subscriber was just along for the ride. And, apparently to support them in a venture that finally treated “these people that really care about the music with the utmost respect.”

Marketing success stories are based on the customer as the hero and the brand as the guide. Your marketing should always be positioned to answer your target market’s biggest question: How does this help me?

Jay-Z made himself and his “artist-owners” the heroes. He never once mentioned what the benefit was to his potential customer. What sets Tidal apart other than more money for artists who are already making big bucks?

As it turns out, nothing. Tidal is a sinking ship, and the captain himself is ready to jump. Just today, users discovered most of Jay-Z’s previously restricted catalog of music is back on Apple’s streaming service.

When you stop losing sleep over the success of your business and start losing sleep over how to help your customer succeed, your business will grow by leaps and bounds.

You are Yoda. Your customer is Luke Skywalker.

Always behind you 1,000%,
Julia

Is Facebook’s latest user tool the end of targeted advertising?

Seth Godin has talked recently about the fallacy of “reach.” His point is that we shouldn’t run ads on the platforms that have the biggest or the most reach (Google, the Super Bowl). Why would you want to reach more people while spending more money? Remember: If you are speaking to everyone, you are speaking to no one.

It makes much more sense to spend money to reach the right people.

We should be willing to pay more to reach a super-targeted audience to meaningfully connect and create relationships that benefit both the customer and the purveyor.

If you and I have been e-friends for long, you know how much I love the ability to strategically target ideal client personas on Facebook.

We’re able to do this, in part, because of the offline data they collect via the Facebook pixel. The little snippet of code you install on your website to track visitors and re-target them with ads on Facebook and Instagram. That’s why if you shop online for a mattress (Caspar, DreamCloud, etc.) you immediately begin to see their ads scroll through your newsfeed.

You may be using this snippet of code on your website. I have certainly encouraged you to do so.

Here’s a great, current example of how this code and social media advertising are working for the greater good:

I am currently running ads for a community event (pet rescue) at a yoga studio in Texas.

Each time we have run ads for this event, the registrations have steadily increased. This is because I am able to target people in the local area, in a specific age range, that like yoga AND the Humane Society, or yoga AND the ASPCA, or yoga AND rescue pets. This helps narrow my audience to those most likely to attend.

I can do this because Facebook has user info based on sites visited, apps used, and pages liked.

The people who are most likely to be interested in this event get to hear about it and possibly register if they are so inclined. The yoga studio gets to give back to the community in a different way, rescued pets have the possibility of being adopted at the event, and the animal shelter gets 100% of the proceeds.

With social media ads and the targeting strategies available, I can reach people I would not be able to get to otherwise, for a very affordable price. It’s much less costly than radio, print, billboards, or trying to hang flyers everywhere.

This is an example of how we use marketing/social media for good.

Enter: The new Clear History tool.

Facebook announced this tool last year and has pushed back the release date a time or two. It seems it is now about to come to fruition, and they are preparing advertisers, their primary source of income, for the impact.

“The Clear History feature is designed to deliver more transparency for users, showing them a list of the apps and websites they have visited that employ Facebook business tools like the Facebook Pixel, SDK and API.” -Amy Gesenhues, MarketingLand

You and I, as general users, will be able to clear our history just like you do in your internet browsers. While this may seem like a great thing, this does not mean we will no longer see ads. It simply means we won’t see ads specifically from websites we have visited or apps we have used. This means it’s highly likely the ads we do see will not be relevant to us, making our user experience less valuable. That’s part 1.

Part 2 is that, according to Facebook:

“This feature may impact targeting. When someone disconnects their off-Facebook activity, we won’t use the data they clear for targeting. This means that targeting options powered by Facebook’s business tools, like the Facebook pixel, can’t be used to reach someone with ads. This includes Custom Audiences built from visitors to websites or apps. Businesses should keep this in mind when developing strategies for these kinds of campaigns in the second half of the year and beyond.”

I think this is a PR move and not a win-win for either party involved, the user or the advertiser. But alas, they didn’t ask me so here it is.

If you use the Facebook pixel to re-target warm audiences on Facebook, here’s what I suggest you focus on for the 2^nd half of the year (and beyond because this tool is not likely to be revoked):

1. Building your email list. You should be doing this anyway, but it will be more crucial now than ever. Why? Because you can upload this list to Facebook and re-target them. It’s actually even better than re-targeting website visitors or app users. 

2. Utilize the embed feature for Facebook videos. Once you upload a video to Facebook or go live on your page, you can embed the video on your website. Facebook tracks video views, and you can re-target viewers, via a custom audience, on Facebook. The video will be placed just like those embedded YouTube videos.

But remember the only way the pixel info can’t re-target website visitors, or app users is if people actually use the Clear History feature. And honestly, most people won’t.

Final thoughts.

Maybe this isn’t true for you, but I have bought things I really like by clicking on a Facebook ad. Many, many times. Instagram too. I’ve seen things I would never have seen if it hadn’t been for targeted advertisements. And yes, they can get annoying. But ads aren’t going anywhere, even with data privacy challenges and user tools like “clear history.”

Clearing your history won’t necessarily enhance your Facebook experience, nor will it protect your privacy. Your data and info are scattered all over the web (in much more detail than anything Facebook knows about you) in a way that is now inextricable to daily life.

Our job as marketers is not to interrupt people with info they don’t care about. Our job is to meaningfully connect with people who share our worldview. How do you find them? Using data. Data acquired in a fair manner, mind you.

A common misconception is that the roadblock to success (and thus happiness) is a lack of resources. Alas, it’s not.

It’s not a lack of time, money, or education. It’s not because you don’t have a personal trainer or a sous chef (this is often my reasoning). It’s not your bank account, your job, your husband, wife, kids, or even the past.

It’s not that you don’t know how to run Facebook ads, you don’t have enough followers or a big enough email list. (Sigh)

The biggest roadblock we all face regarding success (in anything) is…our lifestyle.

Our beliefs, the actions we take daily (aka habits), and the people we surround ourselves with create how we live. And how you live may very well be holding you back.

The power of belief.
What you believe about yourself is what you will create and receive in your life. If you think money comes by struggle, you will always struggle.

If you think you are “bad with money,” you will mismanage money.

If you think money comes from hard work, you will always have to work hard to get money.

We’ve all been raised with a bunch of mandates on our beliefs that simply aren’t helpful. They are old wives’ tales, myths, superstitions, and general societal fears that people operate by as if they were the golden rule. Some of what we are taught (do unto others…) is valuable advice. But have the strength to stray from the herd. To let go of the past and believe in your future. To walk your own path.

To get something you’ve never had, you have to do things you’ve never done.
Every, single time I’ve pushed myself to get out of my comfort zone it’s paid off. And usually in a pretty big way. It’s hard. Sometimes there are tears. There’s almost always fear. But the prize I visualize at the end is bigger than the tears and the fears. So, (most of the time) I push through.

Sometimes change doesn’t involve tears or fear but pain. There’s pain in lifting weights and seeing no immediate benefit. There’s pain in throwing the bag of Ruffles out and seeing no immediate weight loss. There’s pain in writing and posting content without a huge audience of viewers. But which came first? The chicken or the egg? You have to do all those things (consistently) before you will gain strength, lose weight, or amass a dedicated tribe of followers and customers.

Who do you love?
It’s a proven, scientifically researched fact—the heavier your friends are, the heavier you will be. The more they work out and live a healthy lifestyle, the more you will as well. The same is true for every area of your life. You are the sum total of the 5 people closest to you.

Hang out with people who are already doing what you want to do. Emulate them. Copy them. Whatever you have to do to create the good habits that will, in turn, create you and the life you want.

Your focus is your future.
Where is your attention? What are you truly committed to? Do your actions reflect those commitments each day?

Where your thoughts go, you go. If you regularly expose yourself to the negativity of the news channels, the uninformed regurgitation of news on the social channels, and people who worry and gossip, your life will reflect negativity, worry, and judgment.

Change your focus, change your life. Start by observing your negative thoughts. We have 60,000+ thoughts a day, and the majority lean toward negativity, complaints, worry, and anxiety. That is no way to live the life of your dreams.

Ever evolving.
My lifestyle has changed tremendously. Not just in the last 5 years but even in the last 6 months.

I do a lot of things now I’ve never done before and mostly because I’ve learned how to control my thoughts. 

The most significant determinant of your lifestyle: your thoughts.

Our thoughts create emotions, emotions create our actions (and habits), and our actions create our results. Focus your thoughts on gratitude. On abundance. On peace in your life. On health in your body. Imagine and feel what your desired lifestyle is like before you have it and know, down to the tips of your toes, it is coming.

You can create any results you want to create. From weight loss to daily Stripe deposits in your bank account. You just have to think the right thoughts, believe them wholeheartedly, act accordingly, and the rest will follow suit.

Always behind you 1,000%-
Julia