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The Evangelist Marketing Minute is a weekly thinking launch point that is always short enough to read in about 60 seconds. It covers marketing, branding, positioning, language, and public relations. Your email address is never shared, with anybody, for any reason.
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This Week’s Launching Point:
Apple had to know its Maps app wasn’t in the same league as Google’s. Steve Jobs knew. Years ago, he said this to Walt Mossberg: “We don’t know how to do maps on the backend. We know how to do the best maps client in the world [the iPhone], but we don’t know how to make the backend. So we partner with people who know how to do the backend.”
With the release of its own Maps app, Apple got away from focusing on its greatest strength while partnering with others to leverage theirs. So did Research in Motion when it spent a year developing the PlayBook tablet while neglecting its great strength, the BlackBerry. So does Best Buy when it tries to compete with Amazon.com online instead of focusing on its great strength, the retail stores.
Peter Drucker said don’t try to correct your weaknesses. I think that’s because even after development they’ll still be weaknesses. (They’ll still be the Playbook!) So, do as Jobs did — never a bad idea — and find people who excel at areas where you do not.
What are your two or three great strengths in the world (two lists: as a company, and personally)? Leverage them to the exclusion of nearly everything else. Develop them. Pursue them. Flaunt them. Market them.
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