5 Inbound Marketing Opportunities Apple Missed When Launching iPad

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Many would argue that the biggest consumer product launch of the year is only a few days away. Saturday April 3, Apple releases the iPad, a device the company hopes will create an entire new product category in the consumer electronic industry. While the iPad isn’t short on buzz, the electronics giant has missed some key inbound marketing opportunities that could have taken the product launch to an even higher level.

5 Inbound Marketing Opportunities Apple Missed When Launching iPad

Historically, Apple’s product launch approach has been to be as secretive as possible about product details leading up to the launch. The company’s release of iPad guided tour videos
last week created buzz for an event that would have gone unnoticed by most companies. This type of buzz is valuable, but had Apple developed content and inbound marketing strategies with key customer groups, they could have built stronger advocates across growing customer segments.

1. Building Business Advocates
– The iPad’s major opportunity and application is its business use. While it’s being launched as a consumer electronics device, this new type of tablet computer fills the needs of many businesses from restaurants to hospitals. Apple has largely ignored businesses in its initial product launch marketing; however, a content marketing strategy that focused on business applications of the new device beyond just its ability to run business applications like Numbers and Keynote. They could have started the conversation about the second generation of cloud computing
and improved commercial application sales in the iPad app store. A blog or even a series of use case examples showing how different industries could leverage this new type of device in their businesses could have helped build a stronger level of support outside of IT departments for adoption.

2. Feeding the Base — In classic Apple fashion, they have tried to keep news and information about the iPad to a minimum leading up to its launch. What if they hadn’t? Instead of acting like a stone-cold corporation, Apple could have done just a little bit to empower its nation of rabid supporters. Does it need to divulge product secrets and give away too much information away to the competition? No. However, Apple could have done a few things to reward its strongest fans and early adopters. Imagine the buzz they would have created if they gave in-store line priority to anyone who bought a first generation iPhone. It makes sense; people who bought the first iPhone are likely to be early adopters who will also buy the iPad. A simple gesture of putting them at the front of the line would have built a wave of word-of-mouth buzz that cost Apple nothing except for some organizational time and effort.

3. Engaging Bookworms
– It is no secret that Apple hopes its new iPad will drive an entire new business channel of its iTunes Store: books. Digital books, though cheaper than printed books, can be a tough sell to traditional book readers. With inbound marketing strategies that aimed to educate avid book readers including students and teachers, Apple could have used the months leading up to the launch to inform potential customers of the benefits of electronic reading and how it would integrate into daily life.

4. Appealing to an Older Market — An opportunity that an iPad has that the iPhone or iPod doesn’t have is to appeal to older electronics users. Until now, portable electronic devices were too small and hard to read for older users, while computers and netbooks were to hard to use. The iPad gives older users an easier to read screen size with a simple user interface. Apple should have been working with developers prior to the launch in a public way to showcase new iPad applications that would appeal to the older demographic. Apple could have built an entire content community around use cases for older iPad owners.

5. Getting Gamers Geeked — For the past year or more, Apple has been pushing gaming on the iPhone and iPod touch. With the iPad launching, gaming is likely a priority on this device as well. Not having dedicated content channels online to showcase upcoming games as well as development insights from game developers was a critical mistake in inbound marketing. Gamers get excited about new games, characters, levels, etc. Building a content network to hype up the launch could have bolstered iPad sales.

Will the iPad sell? Yes. Could Apple have used inbound marketing to sell more? Absolutely.

Do you plan on buying an iPad? 

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