Verizon iPhone 4 Versus iPad 2

We all heard about the craziness for the iPad 2 and how sales went completely out of control.  Apparently not so for the Verizon iPhone 4.  They did okay but it wasn’t “revolutionary.”  It was seen primarily as “just another iPhone 4” with Apple not participating so much in promotional sales, leaving it mostly to Verizon.  At the end of the day the marketing message was clear: “Verizon can’t market its way out of a paper bag.”

Verizon Not Hot on Marketing

It’s not really a surprise when you look at the company’s marketing history.  Even when it came to the Droid, it didn’t do that well and it had quite substantial opportunity since there were plenty of customers who would have settled for it over the iPhone 4.  Verizon should have jumped on the bandwagon and used iPhone for its marketing technique by selling it as an iPhone but ultimately it did quite the opposite and promoted the Droid as “the anti-iPhone.”  Well, that wasn’t going to satisfy anyone.

Learn Lessons Like a Politician

At the end of the day, to really be a success in marketing what you need to do is believe in your product.  Just like the British Labour Party in the 1980s kept trying to be a watered-down version of Thatcherism and that didn’t work, Verizon should have honed in on its own market and those who wanted its product.  Around 99 percent of Verizon’s customers are non-geek and so only required something that was like an iPhone (for a better price).  Indeed before the era of Verizon iPhone, AT&T’s iPhone was beating Verizon Droid sales by a staggering 2.5 to 1 which led to a total flop of Verizon’s Droid marketing.

At the end of the day, any marketing buff will tell you just how important it is to hone in on your own specific market if you really want to succeed in pushing your product.  Marketing Lesson 101 learnt: believe in yourself.