Snapchat, orientasi pada konsumen

This week Snapchat launched their Snapchat Spectacles to the public. Why have they been such a hit when Google Glass wasn’t?

Because Snapchat’s founder, Evan Spiegel, took a page out of Apple’s launch of the iPod 15 years ago:

Instead of focusing on the product, the launch focused at the customer. Why would someone want Snapchat Spectacles? Just to shoot 10 second videos? No. Because they’re fun to use and cool to wear.

Instead of launching the high-tech glasses worldwide or through retail stores, Snapchat put one minion-like bright-yellow vending kiosk in Venice, California on Thursday.

The first buyers lined up - some for hours - to get their spectacles, making anyone who got one wear it like a badge of honour.

The kiosks will keep showing up for just 24 hours in different locations around the US. The quirky branding and packaging make the Snapchat Spectacles prized possessions - just like the very first Apple iPods.

Are you focusing on your product, or your customer?

Are you making your customer the hero, or the victim?

Media-led marketing of the 20th Century sold to customer’s fears:

"Are you sick? You need this pill! Are you fat? You need this diet! Buy this technology or you’ll be left behind…"

21st Century marketing has flipped 180 degrees, from stoking your customer’s anxieties to appealing to their aspirations. Why? Because with social media, when your customer is the hero instead of the victim, they stay loyal - and they share.

“Marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make, but about the stories you tell.” ~ Seth Godin

Earning word-of-mouth is far more effective today than buying media space. So spend less time thinking about your product, and spend more time on making your customer the hero.

It doesn’t just make for better business, it makes for a better world.

That one bright yellow Snapchat Spectacles vending machine has led to mass global media coverage and trending hashtags for Snapchat. But asked why he even came out with the Spectacles in the first place, Evan just said “Because it’s fun.”