What Apple’s Move to Digital Marketing Means

It’s hard to think of many companies that have had more of an impact on mass media, culture, and technology than Apple. From its products to its ads, Apple has taken brand marketing to new heights (when a silhouetted image with white ear buds is instantly recognizable, you know you’ve done something right).

So it’s intriguing to see how Apple is making more of a shift to digital marketing. The recent announcements about its decisions to bring on board new agencies (AKQA and Huge) that are generally “digital first” organizations is noteworthy. For all of the modern feel of Apple’s marketing and advertising, it has been very much an old school way of doing things: we know best and we’re going to talk at you. Apple’s recent moves are a significant shift in the direction of on-demand marketing, which is what successful digital marketing is all about.

On-demand marketing is all about being actively responsive to your customers (and potential customers). This shift is very much about responding to four important trends in consumer expectations:

1. Now: Interacting anywhere at any time.

2. Can I: Doing things they’ve never been able to do before

3. For me: Having truly personalized experiences.

4. Simply: Having all interactions to be easy.

This world of marketing is about moving from “always-on” to “always-relevant,” from “marketing at customers” to “marketing as a service.” For marketing to be relevant and a real service – and by service, I mean something that actually helps the consumer either answer a question or get something done – that means having a very clear sense of the consumer decision journey. That requires three levels of analysis:

Telescope. A clear view of the broad and long-term trends in the market, category, and brand. Digital sources that track what people are looking for (search), what people are saying (social monitoring), and what people are doing (tracking online, mobile, and in-store activities) represent rivers of input providing constant warning signs of trouble or signals of latent opportunity. For Apple, such analytics could help them better understand which people get stuck - and where they get stuck - in using their applications, or providing guidance to their app developers on customer behavior that could help them design better experiences.

Binoculars. A complete, integrated picture of where they spend their money, which interactions actually happen, and what these outcomes are. Most direct-sales companies (retailers, banks, travel services), for example, measure the performance of their spending by analyzing what consumers do just before making a purchase, e.g. Googling a product. That level of analysis is too narrow because it doesn’t take into account the advertising, social media chatter, and other media out there that also influence the consumer during his/her decision journey. Getting such return on marketing investment data, may lead Apple to major shifts in how it connects with its customers, such as trying out and scaling personal recommendations, educational material, or crowdsourced suggestion contests. These would be huge changes for a brand that has always acted as if it knew what was best, but they would be steps towards a new level of emotional engagement from the brand's fans.

Microscope. Technology and analytics to create services, messages, and offerings that are relevant to the individual. Research shows that this level of personalization can deliver five to eight times the ROI on marketing spend and lift sales 10% or more. Apple will likely develop a much better sense, over time, of how to manage the messaging and support it provides each customer to get them fully engaged with their products, apps, and content. Right now, little contact from Apple feels very personalized.

It will be interesting to see how Apple merges its fantastic creative energy and capabilities with a more digital, interactive, and analytical approach to marketing.

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