046 The Invisible Touch – The Physics Of A Brand
The Second Key: Brand
Harry Beckwith, in his most-recently updated version of The Invisible Touch (2000) used Apple as an example for this section of his book.
Little could he know how far and how fast this company would go.
Our Memories Are Often Very Short
When a company experiences a "tipping point" of acceptance and is about to skyrocket in success, lots of people want to jump onto the bandwagon. The same is NOT true when the company is in decline. Though still above the success mark when the upward-movement tipping point occurred, people want to steer clear of the downward-movement tipping point and NOT support a company in decline.
People's memories are short. I'm not talking about my going down to the kitchen for something and completely forgetting why I went there (oops… I HOPE it's just because I'm so busy and NOT because of age!).
Rather, I'm talking about people's memories when it comes to the success (or lack there of) of companies.
Remember Toyota when it first came into the USA with its cars? They were crap (pardon my French). We owned two of them.
Look at KIA when it first came here – I predict they will be a huge success, but their first Sportage really caught my attention when looking for an SUV, but they were totally UNcomfortable, their safely-rating was poor, and opening the rear door with a heavy tire on it would have made moving my photography equipment around very difficult.
And then there was Apple.
A Company In Decline Is Tough To Turn Around
In 1996, Apple Computer lost $1 Billion. Its sales were plummeting and business magazines were kissing it goodbye (and not "good buy!").
But within a few years, those editors were feeling like those attending Huck Finn's funeral when he showed himself to be alive.
This dying brand was turned around, its name changed from Apple Computer to Apple (to better reflect the breadth of its product line), and Steve Jobs et al performed a huge rebirth of a chic brand.
But even in decline, people still thought of Apple as inventive, artsy, quirky, fun. Though I own a couple of iPods and keep looking at the iPod touch to use as a microcomputer, I'm still a PC guy. Most of my clients over the years have been on PCs and I have so much hardware that I'd be throwing all of that away if I did a wholesale switch to Apple (Mac computers).
But I think highly of the company (as many people do!). The biography of Steve Jobs is one of the biographies I've read (and I admire the risks he took to make his company work).
The more depth you can give your company, the more positive reasons people give for liking what you do, the better off you'll be if/when a difficulty hits you.
Build your brand and build it deep and wide. Know what you want your brand to stand for and then go make that happen in all the materials you publish about yourself and in the way you manage your operations.
Set your targets high and then go achieve them. You'll be glad you did!
Best,
Charlie Seymour Jr
Blogging, Podcasting, Consulting
The Invisible Touch – A Marketing Blog Series By Charles Seymour Jr
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Charlie Seymour Jr is an entrepreneurial evangelist and marketing-success coach helping individuals and companies (up to $100MM) explode their success through online and direct-response marketing. He specializes in blogging, podcasting, photography, video, and Facebook applications. Visit his blog at http://bit.ly/24eYTO to learn more about his successes.
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Fallacies of Marketing
045 The Invisible Touch – The Physics Of A Brand
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