The iPhone has passed the 1% market share status but does so with very little help from a consistent media campaign that fully integrates the Internet.
The iPhone was introduced with great fanfare as a phone and Internet device. Today, we are seeing the device promoted as a client side distributed application device in addition to its core offering. This recent back cover advertisement from the Economist touts the device’s ‘apps’ as a consideration set.
This type of messaging and placement is often utilized as awareness, perhaps early stage consideration media, but here we see Apple utilizing the premium real estate in deeper consideration phase. Could this work? They are operating off an assumption that market awareness of the iPhone is near saturation, and reach and frequency media would only serve to reinforce. Could this form of media drive a business reader from consideration into purchase? I think yes, but it has to be done correctly. For instance, many of the applications in the ad are not targeted to the Economist reader. (Certainly finding an apartment should not fit this audience–unless it is an investment banker who can still afford a subscription.)
They should include applications that really appeal to this reader. A search of iPhone apps reveals many appropriate apps available for Economist readers; PortfolioLive and iFutures – Mobile Commodities Tracking are just two examples.
Furthermore, anyone reading the Economist in print is likely to take the next step online. For example, one likely next step in the customer journey is to search for the iPhone itself or for the applications – depending on whether you already own an iPhone.
And this is where Apple may lose their customer by not following through online: While anyone searching for iPhone will find Apple.com, any long tail search for iPhone finds an array of options that do not take the potential customer to Apple or even ATT.com
For example, a search for ‘iPhone financial apps’ produces web site results that do not include Apple.com. Having a reseller control the next step in the customer journey experience should be avoided here, as there are app developers not affiliated with Apple.
Some of the web sites within the top 10 have content, editorial, and creative media that do not support the Apple brand experience – one that is highly controlled in offline media and by its stores.
Another search for the generic, non-branded description of an iPhone is ‘smart phone’, which does not yield any Apple.com results. It does produce several comparison sites, which are difficult to read and can be trying to a potential searcher who is bombarded with different messaging and claims by a variety of merchants, manufactures, bloggers and news site.
For any product seller who has had the benefit of innovation, a consistent, contiguous media campaign both off and online is a must. Failure to participate can result in higher cost per order, limited or inconsistent growth, and lack of momentum. To say the sum is greater than the individual parts is very important to understanding how the customer journey works both financially and cognitively for your customer.