Do try this at home.
Persuasion and Steve Jobs, these words go along too well. If you have ever read my content, skimmed through it, or hated it, you know that I am a big fan of him.
But for different reasons. Not because he was the billionaire CEO of a multi-billionaire brand. But because of his ability to convince millions of people with 10 to 20-minute presentations.
So today(not today, been busy procrastinating), I was reading this amazing book, The Storytellers Secret, and I found an absolute gem so I thought to share it out there for the greater good. The world needs to know this.
A bit of background.
Apple Music is one of the leading streaming services today but this was not always the case. Back in 2003, Jobs persuaded millions of music lovers to pay 99 cents for a song. His 10-minute presentation was so simple that even a 6th grader could understand it.
He began the presentation by briefly talking about Napster and Kazaa, sites that offered free downloads. The free songs were great but they were unreliable, you’d be stealing them from the artist and the quality was so poor that “it felt like a 7-year-old encoded them”.
Notice that he started with a problem. A problem that millions of listeners relate to. So instead of saying that my product is the best, prove it by explaining the problems it solves.
So Kazaa and Napster are our villains. Now comes the hero- Apple Music.
- Fast, reliable downloads
- Pristine encoding
- Previews of every song
- Album art cover
- No stealing, no karma.
The songs bought from Apple Music would cost you 99 cents apiece. How much are 99 cents, you ask?
How much is 99 cents? How many of you had a Starbucks latte this morning? Three bucks. That’s three songs. How many lattes got sold across the U.S this morning? A lot. Ninety-nine cents is pretty affordable.
A bit of anchoring effect in the play. 99 cents is a lot if you just think about 99 cents. However, if you compare that with the 3-dollar latte you had in the morning, it’s comparatively pretty small. So in that context, “ninety-nine cents is pretty affordable”
Final thoughts from Steve Jobs.
Simple can be harder than complex. You have to work hard to make your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.
Let’s end this one with the thought of you moving mountains, isn’t it pretty to think so?
Peace.
