Building Fans Early

One company that I'm very much impressed with on the Marketing tip, is Apple. Clearly I may be a little biased as I blog this from my new MacBook, but as a loyal fan way BEFORE the cool iPhone came out, I've been watching them build their brand pretty closely for over five years now. And who doesn't love those commercials with the Mac and the nerdy PC guy? Simple, honest, funny. Brilliant.

When I was debating on whether to get a Mac or a PC back in college, it was pretty clear that I would be the outcast from the Communications department if I were to even think about getting anything other than an Apple laptop. All the computer labs had Apples and all the PC-users resided in the Business and Math buildings. I can't tell you how many hours I spent completing homework assignments for my Advertising classes using my awesome white iBook. It was a great computer.

Fast forward to today and as I was visiting the Apple store this morning, I was greeted by a bunch of rowdy little children. So cute! They were all wearing yellow T-shirts (much too big for them) and they were all on the field trip of their lives - the Apple Store. Ok, that might be biased, too, but I know I would have loved it at 6 years old. They were laughing and giggling and chatting excitedly. Everything you would want your potential life-long customers to be doing at a very, very early age. :)

Their teacher was explaining to them how to use iPhoto, a super-easy software program for your pictures that comes on every new Mac. Literally, these little kids were doing it all themselves. (By the way, Mac is short for Macintosh. Which is a kind of apple. Brilliant, right? Branding. Love it.)

If these kids can do it, you can, too! Don't be scared of computers and technology. Embrace it and watch the success come to YOU! It'll be as easy as A-B-C! But don't forget to smile. ;)