Steve Jobs, co-founder and late CEO of Apple was a man that changed the world with his brand. The Apple brand is recognized worldwide today, and part of its success is by the leadership of Steve Jobs. Here are 5 Pieces Of Advice From Steve Jobs About Branding.
Know What You Stand For
“Our customers want to know who is Apple and what is it that we stand for in this world.” This quote by Steve Jobs shows the core of branding, which is to show the world what you stand for and why they should be loyal to it.
Knowing your brand is the most fundamental aspect of branding and allowing for your management or board of directors to change is the first sign that your brand might die. Understand your own brand and be loyal to it, because if you are not loyal to the brand you created, others will have no reason to as well.
Communicate Your Brand
The focus of Steve Jobs was not to merely sell his products but also his brand as when people believe in your brand, they are more willing to buy your products. This can be seen in large brands, where products can be created without much connection with previous ones and still sell well due to the brand name.
To build a great brand, what you need to do is understand your values and vision well. Followed by this, is to find a way to communicate this to others and market your brand by expressing it through your brand message.
Invest And Care For Your Brand
Brands need to be constantly tended to, for them to continuously grow. This is the same for even the largest brands, as in business, not growing means letting your competitors overtake you in growth.
Steve Jobs understands this after letting Apple’s relevancy drop by neglecting to care for his brand for a period. As said by him, “Even a great brand needs investment & caring if it’s gonna retain its relevance and vitality”.
As a business owner concerned with their branding, it is even more important to invest and care for your brand as even the large established brands cannot stop doing so. As such, money spent should be considered going into the brand’s growth rather than things that will not help the growth of your business.
Commit To Your Aesthetic
Everyone today knows what an Apple product looks like. This is the cumulation of the popularization of Apple’s brand aesthetic, where it has repeatedly shown the world what an Apple product should look like.
This easy recognition of Apple products is proof that their brand promotion has been a success. Steve Jobs developed a recognizable aesthetic identity that made his Apple products stand out from all the other consumer electronics in the market.
As such, when building your brand, keep its aesthetic in mind. Spend time brainstorming on how you want your brand products to be recognized by consumers.
Brands Don’t Make Companies
The most important thing to remember when growing your brand is that the brand does not guarantee the success of your business. A successful brand without other solid aspects of business cannot carry your business to success alone.
A seen with one of Steve Jobs’ lesser ventures in business, NeXT, which has a logo that is close to perfect in design. The brand did not make the company, however, as he was forced to abandon it entirely, leaving the logo to be useless to the business.
This shows that business owners should not expect a brand to instantly make their business better or more successful. Instead, they should focus on the other aspects of business alongside the brand building and not just obsess overgrowing their brand.
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