Apple: World’s Worst Content Marketer?

One of the main things I’ve learned at my internship so far is the importance of content marketing. Apple is one of my favorite companies, and I expected them to be amazing at content marketing. But guess what? They’re not. Does Apple deserve the title of "world’s worst content marketer"?

Prepare to be surprised

Apple does not do content marketing because consumers do it for them.

Well, isn’t this quite interesting. Wouldn’t we all like our customers and other consumers to do the content marketing for our business too? Here are some of the ways consumers are doing Apple’s job for them.

Apple consumers as “Mactivists”

Over the years Apple has created a cult, a group of fanatical people who are insanely loyal to the company. They go around spreading the word about how great Apple products are and Apple gets more customers from this (I do not consider myself an Apple fanatic, but many times I’ve caught myself trying to convince my friends that have PC’s to change to a Mac.)

As Mactivists we carry product messages ourselves — we are like free brand ambassadors for Apple.

Blogging vicariously

Content marketing tells us that we need to have a blog where we solve our customers’ problems. We have to become a reliable and trustworthy source of information for them, showcasing our expertise and helping them become potential customers.

Apple doesn’t do any of this. What they use as a blog is just a section on their website called “hot news.” They post links to blogs people have written about them or blog posts they write themselves. All you can read in their blog are boring descriptions of their products, or achievements they’ve had lately.

Wouldn’t it be great if Apple had a blog where they could show consumers how these products can solve their everyday life problems? Think of the infinite opportunities they would have to talk about this. Their iPod, iPad, iPhone, and Macs have revolutionized the way people live their lives. Thanks to products like the ones Apple makes, life is simpler and communication is more effective.

Lack of control can be dangerous

So there’s actually a lot of content marketing about Apple, it’s just that they are not the ones doing it. The biggest problem with this is they cannot control it.

People may be devoted to them now, but there are signs that devotion is failing (the iPhone 5c and 5s did not get a warm welcome) — and when people start saying bad things, it will be harder for Apple to control it.

If I were Apple, I would like to have control over what people are saying about my company and my products. Whether it is good or bad, nobody knows the story better than Apple. They have more credibility than any other blog written about them, and not everything that consumers write about them will always be positive. That is why it is always more effective to be in control of the information out there about your company.

Take control of your marketing

If you want to learn how to build your brand and use content marketing to boost your business, download our Digital Marketing Guide to Growth. This free whitepaper gives you all the information you need to starting creating your content marketing plan.

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