Shut Up Shop to Generate Business
Apple may be one of a rare breed of companies that can generate business by actually shutting up shop for an hour or two. Every time their online store displays their customary “We’ll be back soon”, the Internet goes into a slight frenzy with the non-news that you cannot actually buy anything for now. The result is additional traffic to their website; and sometimes they don’t even appear to have released anything at all.
For most of these updates Apple should not need to bring down their store at all. Most other companies update their online stores on a regular basis without having to shut them down. Combined with often releasing new products on a Tuesday, Apple has created a buzz around even the most minor of updates. A minor speed bump generates press, compared with Dell who update their products regularly without a flicker of interest. Apple have also learnt to spread their releases out rather than focus them on the MacWorld Expo or their Developer Conference, thus keeping them in the headlines for longer.
All businesses should learn from this successful marketing strategy. Now more than ever it is not sufficient just to make great products, you have to have great marketing to go along with it.
