By David M. Mastovich
Dave M. Mastovich
Various reports have the iPad garnering 68% of tablet market sales. Those same studies show the iPad’s share of web surfing done on tablets is a whopping 91%.
Staggering statistics. But the iPad also passes the eye test. How many people do you see with iPads at work, home, the coffee shop or other places?
Yet Google’s Nexus 7 tablet introduced this week competes more with the Kindle Fire than the iPad: $199 price range, similar size and weight, both tied to the parent company’s digital multimedia content distribution service (Kindle Fire–Amazon.com, Nexus 7–Google Play).
Microsoft entered the tablet market last week with their Surface tablet. But in typical Microsoft marketing fashion, the release was muddled with pricing and shipping dates unavailable and featured two versions targeting two different markets.
The iPad is the clear tablet market leader without significant competition in sight. Apple dominates the market it created in no small part because the company’s marketing–product development, naming, introduction and rollout, advertising, PR and Social Media–continues to top the competition, even in the post-Jobs era.
While the company’s advertising the past year has not been as memorable as in the past, Apple’s product placement in movies and TV shows makes up for it.
According to Brandchannel, which tracks product appearances, iDevices appeared in more than 40% of the movies that topped the weekly box office, almost twice the penetration of the next highest brands like Dell, Chevy and Ford.
Apple’s focus on stylish, user friendly products and creative marketing continues to be a winning combination. The company’s obsessive attention to detail even included flipping the logo on Mac laptops so passersby (or TV and movie viewers) could see the logo right side up.
Not many companies will have the marketing capabilities and budget that Apple has. But, regardless of resources, you can still develop a marketing culture. First, make it about them, your target customers. Then, work to create what they want and tell them about it in multiple ways with creative and consistent messaging.
It also doesn’t hurt to create a game changing product every couple of years.
David M. Mastovich, MBA is President of MASSolutions, an integrated marketing firm focused on improving the bottom line for clients through creative selling, messaging and PR solutions. He’s also author of “Get Where You Want To Go: How to Achieve Personal and Professional Growth Through Marketing, Selling and Story Telling.” For more information, go to www.massolutions.biz.
