Business Lessons From Steve Jobs

A few weeks ago, Steve Jobs resigned from his position as chairman of Apple, which we all recognize as one of the most powerful and well-known companies in the world. Although most people consider Apple a clear leader in its field, it had a rather bumpy road to the top and still fights to maintain its position.

Steve Jobs Business Lessons

Apple has not just been a social and business force, but a marketing leader as well. It has shown the rest of us how to build and maintain customer loyalty, which is the most important asset that any business can possess. Consider the lessons that we learned from Apple’s meteoric rise back to the top of the brand heap.

• Think outside the box. Some of Apple’s most popular modern products were innovations, items that did not exist until Apple introduced them to the market. It is easy to be an industry leader when you have a head start on development and also the free publicity inherent in a new and unprecedented product. There was no small and portable music storage until the iPod, and the iPhone revolutionized the way that we view and use our mobile devices.
• Design is important. Would Apple be where they are if they had a complicated, ugly or generic logo? Luckily for the corporate giant, we will never have to find out. Similarly, most Apple products are designed to be part of the Apple brand: sleek, sophisticated and simple. People are proud of their Apple products and want to be seen using them. Design is a huge part of this company’s cult status.
• Leadership matters. Steve Jobs is a notorious micromanager, but he is also notorious as a leader. He demanded excellence not just from employees, but from himself. His hunches became some of Apple’s most popular products because he knew how to lead the company from concept to a physical product without losing his vision.
• Know your audience. Apple’s marketing is extremely targeted toward their market. Consider the humor and thinly veiled sense of superiority seen in the “I’m a Mac” commercials, or the simple graphic appeal of the happy silhouettes seen in the iPod commercials. These appeal immensely to Apple’s market and show exactly how well they know their market. The product design and the products themselves confirm the impression that few companies are as customer-centric as Apple. Apple moves people on an emotional level, which is unusual and very difficult in their industry.
• Keep your investors happy. Just a decade ago, Apple was at the bottom of the heap and the Microsoft-driven PC was on top. Apple shares were down to $9 a share, which is less than most fast food meals. This blip in company history did not last long; one of the world’s most valuable companies, Apple currently fetches $372 per share. The company followed through and proved that investment in Apple is worthwhile.
• Keep your customers happier. I have never bought an Apple product without being delighted as I open the package. The cords match the rest of the design and are tucked away neatly. The package lining is soft and the instructions easy to read. Compare this to the experience of opening similar products, in brown cardboard packaging with peripherals thrown haphazardly in the box and instructions written in incomprehensible wording. Apple knows how to make you happy you bought their product.
• Set the bar. Apple is best known for being the company that others must match. It is the technology to which most others are compared. All mobile music devices are held up to the example of the iPod, and we are seeing a similar phenomenon with the iPad. Apple is not scrambling to keep up with the competition; they are setting the standards against which their competition is compared.
• Do it for the passion. Steve Jobs was fired from Apple in 1985 and the company soon went into a tailspin. When he was rehired in 1997, Jobs asked for a salary of $1 per year. With plenty of company stock, money was simply not an issue. Jobs led Apple because he loved the company and believed in it. His passion was clear to employees, investors and even customers. This salary was certainly not enough to demand the level of work that Jobs put into the company, but money was never his motivation.
• Some games turn around in the overtime. When Jobs took over Apple in 1997, the company was at an all-time low. Jobs tool what many considered a desperate deal with Microsoft, agreeing to cooperate with Apple’s historic rival in exchange for a nonvoting minority investment in the company. This investment became seed money for the iMac, which received rave reviews and helped to bring the company out of their slump. Another CEO might have given up altogether or stubbornly refused to play nicely with their enemy. Jobs’ actions show real vision.
• Be an inspiration. Obviously Jobs is an inspiration to many entrepreneurs. He saw the company through some very difficult times and emerged on top, which is a dream for the many people struggling through the recession right now. There is a reason that we chose Jobs for this article. Not only is he a timely figure, he is truly an inspirational one.
• Protect your brand. Apple made the news recently when they sued a Chinese food company that used an apple image as the basis of their logo. While this seems a little heavy handed, most of the highly successful corporations of our times are very protective of their brand and logo design. Apple wants to ensure that customers buying a product with an apple on the front will be thrilled with their purchase. Controlling the use of that apple image is the only way to ensure that customers associate only good things with the Apple brand.
• Brand loyalty pays off. While it may take a lot of work to build brand loyalty, it is always worth it. While many entrepreneurs prefer to focus their efforts on products, this is a short-sighted approach. Loyal Apple users may complain about the company, but they will simply never abandon it. We’ll complain when our favorite computer game is PC-only or when the price of an iPhone drops by a huge percentage just a few days after we finally buy one, but the emotional attachment to the Apple brand remains.