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Steve Jobs, the iconic co-founder of Apple, was a master of persuasion. His ability to convince billions of people to buy his products at premium prices was no coincidence.

While technical innovations and relentless advertising played a role, the true secret to his success lay in the persuasive techniques that he employed. Techniques that anyone can learn and adopt.

In this post, I share how Steve Jobs managed to sway the world using simple, yet powerful persuasion strategies that you can apply in your own life.

Leveraging the Labor Illusion Effect

One of the most effective tactics Steve Jobs used to instill confidence in Apple products was to emphasize the amount of work and effort he put into their development.

Take his first keynote back at Apple recorded in 1998. He’s been re-hired as interim CEO. While he was away the company started to fail, revenue fell, and profits dwindled.

It was vital for Steve to rebuild confidence in Apple. Here’s what he chose to say.

By highlighting the countless hours, weekends, and years dedicated to perfecting Apple devices, he invoked a psychological principle known as the labor illusion.

The labor illusion suggests that when people witness the effort and labor put into a task, they tend to value the end product more.

This principle has been demonstrated in various contexts, from restaurant-goers appreciating their meals more when they see chefs preparing the food to house buyers valuing properties more when their real estate agents spent hours crafting a list of options.

In fact, a 2022 paper called “Pulling back the curtain” found that going on a brewery tour — and seeing the work that goes into making beer — will make visitors 32% more likely to buy that beer.

It’s something I’ve tried when promoting my podcast Nudge.

Turns out, stating that I’ve spent “480 minutes listening to marketing experts” made people 45% more likely to click my Reddit ad (look at the copy above the image).

By applying the labor illusion to Apple products, Jobs made consumers appreciate and value them more, which ultimately drove sales and customer loyalty. When he launched the iPhone, he noted, “This is a day I’ve been looking forward to for two and a half years.”

Harnessing the Halo Effect

Another powerful persuasion technique that Jobs used was the Halo Effect, a cognitive bias in which people’s positive associations with one thing influence their perception of other things associated with it.

For example, if someone likes George Clooney, they are more likely to try the coffee he endorses and might even perceive it as tasting better.

I tested the halo effect for myself on my podcast Nudge. I gathered 200 people and asked them if they would listen to my podcast.

However, 50% of participants just saw my podcast logo. And the other half saw my logo next to some very popular British podcasts.

I wanted to see if merely being in the presence of other popular podcasts would boost the likelihood that people would listen to Nudge.

Turns out, people were almost 3X more willing to listen to Nudge when it was pictured alongside other well-known podcasts.

Jobs was well aware of the Halo Effect and expertly applied it to Apple’s marketing campaigns, most notably in the iconic “Think Different” campaign.

By associating Apple with groundbreaking figures like Gandhi, Einstein, John Lennon, and Picasso, Jobs created positive associations between these visionary individuals and the Apple brand.

The success of the “Think Different” campaign, which won multiple awards and revived Apple’s dwindling market share, can be largely attributed to Jobs’ understanding of the Halo Effect.

Making a Lasting Impression with Distinctiveness

Standing out in a crowded market is essential for success, and Steve Jobs knew this all too well.

He understood the Von Restorff effect, a psychological principle that states distinctive items are more memorable than those that blend in.

Von Restorff’s research shows that numbers are 30X more memorable when placed alongside letters in a memory test.

Almost 100 years later, Richard Shotton replicated the research, this time finding that one brand from a unique category (say fast food) is 4X more memorable when placed alongside multiple brands from one category (say automotive).

This principle can be seen across marketing today. It’s why Party Cannon (a death-metal band) are 30X more memorable than their peers.

Jobs applied this principle to Apple’s products, making them visually striking and easily recognizable.

One prime example is the 1998 iMac launch. While competing desktop computers at the time were uniformly gray and dull, the iMac was unveiled in an array of vibrant colors, immediately capturing the attention of consumers.

This distinctive design played a crucial role in Apple’s resurgence, as the iMac helped return profits to the company after years of decline.

Steve Jobs’ ability to persuade and convince people was not a matter of luck or happenstance. He had a deep understanding of the psychological principles that influenced human behavior and expertly applied them to his work at Apple.

Modern Day Persuasion Masters

While Steve Jobs remains an iconic figure in the world of persuasion, there are several other individuals in the startup communities who are just as skilled at winning people over.

Take Arlan Hamilton, founder of Backstage Capital, who broke barriers in the venture capital industry as a black, queer woman. Her persuasive storytelling, relatability, and genuine belief in her mission have garnered her a loyal following and impressive investments.

Or Payal Kadakia, the founder of ClassPass. She has revolutionized the fitness industry through her persuasive skills. Her ability to share personal experiences and connect with her audience has successfully convinced investors, customers, and partners to support her mission.

But Wait … There’s One More Thing

But there’s one more persuasion technique that Jobs used repeatedly to sell the iPod, pitch the iPhone, and announce the iPad.

To discover this powerful tactic, you’ll have to tune in to the next episode of Nudge Podcast, where I unveil the final piece of the puzzle in Steve Jobs’ arsenal of persuasion techniques.

So go ahead and give it a listen, you’ll learn a persuasion technique that you won’t forget.

The future of marketing is undoubtedly intertwined with AI. The question now becomes: how will you fold it into your work?

The HubSpot Blog surveyed 1,300+ professionals to see how they use AI in their day-to-day work and where they see the biggest benefits of this technology.

We hope these insights will help you find the best areas to supercharge your marketing with AI. Let’s dive in.

The Top Benefits of AI for Marketers [New Data]

1. 67% of marketers say the biggest benefit of AI is the ability to create content faster.

If you’re in marketing, your job likely requires some degree of creativity. Yet, the quality of your creativity is often impacted by tight deadlines, limited time, and competing responsibilities.

So, what’s a marketer to do? Enter AI.

A staggering 67% of marketers who use AI say it speeds up the content creation process, enabling them to write faster, research quicker, and hit “Publish” in a fraction of the time.

Even if you’re not ready to hand over your entire creation process to the robots — which we don’t recommend anyway — you can still use it for smaller tasks within the process.

Here’s a snapshot of how marketers are leveraging AI for content creation:

25% use AI to summarize content into key points
18% use AI to create outlines 
20% use AI to write marketing copy
36% use AI to create images

AI is also a powerful tool for repurposing content. 13% of marketers use AI for this exact purpose, enabling them to get more traction content-wise.

Take Vidyo AI, for example. This tool enables you to convert YouTube videos into short, bite-sized videos for TikTok and Instagram. This is one of many tools that can convert content for different formats, platforms, and audiences.

AI has undoubtedly upended the way professionals across the organization work.

And content creation is no exception.

Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) are offering new ways for marketers to create more effective and engaging content. From automating content creation to improving personalized recommendations, AI is reshaping the content marketing landscape.

But if you’re unsure how to leverage AI to create better content, you’re not alone. At HubSpot, we’ve been exploring the fine line between using AI to enhance our content without relying too heavily on it.

Here, let’s explore some of the ways HubSpotters across the marketing organization are leveraging AI to enhance their content and drive better results.

How HubSpotters Are Enhancing Their Content with AI

1. HubSpotters Are Using AI to Figure Out Which Type(s) of Content to Make

One of the most powerful use cases for AI is figuring out what content you want to create in the first place.

For instance, AJ Beltis, HubSpot’s Senior Content Strategist of Media Conversion, told me, “Part of my team’s responsibilities is to create content offers on high-traffic blog posts that convert visitors into leads at as high of a rate as possible, which we then promote on that blog through CTAs. Understandably, some blog posts are more challenging to create content with a reliable conversion path.”

He continues, “For instance, when our blog team writes a post about marketing planning strategy, we know a downloadable marketing plan template will work as a CTA. However, some of our more technical topics on our Website Blog aren’t as straightforward when it comes to our traditional conversion strategy.”

Which is where AI comes in.

He says, “Here, we turn to AI and ask prompts like ‘What would somebody reading a blog post about (Topic X) want to learn about next?’ or ‘What is a template, guide, or checklist that somebody would find useful after reading a blog post about (Topic Y)?'”

Similarly, you might leverage AI chatbot tools like ChatSpot for your own content strategy. Beyond brainstorming blog topics that relate to your core product or service, you can use AI to determine which types of downloadable offers make the most sense for each individual piece of content.

As Beltis puts it, “AI helps us with content ideation and outlining for areas where our team lacks familiarity. We can then run these offer ideas by our experts and writers – the same way we would with any other outline – and take it upon ourselves to create this content with HubSpotty design and tone-of-voice.”

2. HubSpotters Are Using AI to Discover The Right Audiences — And How to Speak to Them

Justin Graci, HubSpot’s Marketing Fellow, Partner GTM & Product Readiness, uses AI in his role to determine who his audience is and what matters most to them.

He told me, “I leverage generative AI to change the tone of my writing by informing ChatGPT who my audience is and what they care most about. Very quickly, I can adapt my copy to be more tailored to the different audiences I’m writing for without having to research whether one audience prefers shorter versus longer form, deep context versus high level, or informal versus professional.”

One of the most difficult aspects of content creation is shifting your tone depending on your audience and the platform for which you’re creating content. For instance, your tone will change depending on whether you’re creating content for an Instagram post versus a weekly newsletter.

Rather than spending hours finessing your content to fit the platform and audience, you can use generative AI to speed up the process and spend more time on what matters most: The content itself.

Additionally, you might consider leveraging AI to help hit the right tone with your buyer persona.

As Graci puts it, “I’m also using AI for sales enablement … Being able to generate templates and phrases that are effective and proven to engage buyers has been immensely helpful when creating sales email templates and collateral.”

3. HubSpotters Are Using AI As Their Own Creative Co-Pilots

HubSpot’s Associate SEO Strategist Josh Blyskal is a big fan of AI.

As he puts it, “When I use AI in my role, I’m amplifying what I already know I can do. When I get stuck or have a mental block, that’s when I open up my AI tools. AI is like my creative co-pilot — it’s not going to everything perfectly, and I don’t expect it to. AI has been most beneficial in enabling me to quickly outline, plan, and get the ball rolling.”

His colleague, SEO Strategist Bianca Anderson, agrees. She told me, “For me, AI has served as the ultimate virtual assistant. I’ve been using AI daily to improve my internal communications with stakeholders and have found that it’s particularly effective in editing for tone and clarity. It even helped me write out this quote!”

She adds, “Additionally, AI has become a valuable resource for me in outlining memos for larger projects. It provides a solid foundation for me to build upon and refine, which greatly streamlines my workflow.”

Note that neither Blyskal nor Anderson use AI to replace their role in the content creation process — instead, they use it to amplify their content in much the same way you’d turn to a colleague if you were stuck on a paragraph or concept.

HubSpot’s Senior Marketing Technical Manager – AI, David Groechel, agrees that AI is a catch-all when it comes to content creation. He told me across the Marketing department he’s seen all teams leverage AI to create copy: “We throw copy into ChatSpot and have it give us iterations or come up with ideas we can riff on.”

(Bonus: If you’re a HubSpot customer, you can access your own creative co-pilot – Content Assistant – which is natively integrated in HubSpot’s platform and can effectively generate copy for you.)

4. HubSpotters Are Using AI to Off-load Time-consuming Tasks

One of the most powerful advantages of using AI is how much time it frees up for you to focus on tasks that, quite simply, need a human touch.

Marketers, sales professionals, and service professionals can now offload route, mundane, and repetitive tasks to AI — and save the work that requires more creativity, innovation, and empathy for themselves.

As HubSpot’s Senior Marketing Manager Pernilla Jungåker puts it, “Since I’m the only marketer for seven countries (Nordics and Benelux), I use AI to help me with easier yet time-consuming tasks to take some workload off my plate and save time. For instance, it could be summarizing a webinar landing page I’ve created and using that text in an email. Or creating versions of ads text so the ads team can test the different texts against each other.”

Justin Graci agrees, adding, “My writing process often requires me to get a lot of thoughts on a page before tightening it up in a way that makes it clearer to a reader (making every word fight to be on the page is key). With tools like ChatSpot I’m able to paste in my long paragraphs and ask it to shorten the copy without losing its depth … and Voila!”

He adds, “I also use AI on a daily basis to get over writer’s block. For example, I’m in the process of writing a new content offer and for each section I’ve come against a brain block on how to articulate certain points … So off to ChatSpot I go for inspiration instead of mulling over it for hours.”

As a writer myself, I’m well-aware of the time-suck that writer’s block can become. With AI, the days of staring out the window and waiting for inspiration to strike are gone. That, in itself, can quickly become an easy way to save hours of time.

The same goes for social media content, as well. As Nicole Phillip, The Hustle’s Senior Social Media Manager, told me, “Operating as a one person show has its challenges, but generative AI has made it a bit easier. I’ve started using ChatSpot for help with content ideation, text summaries and script-writing.”

She adds, “Of course, generative AI is still imperfect, so there’s fact-checking and rewriting that needs to be done, but it takes what would usually be hours of brainstorming and reduces the time needed to develop content like TikToks, especially.”

5. HubSpotters Are Leveraging AI to Edit Their Work & Research Faster

HubSpot’s Product Marketing Manager Irina Nica’s role requires her to get the latest news out about HubSpot’s product launches — which includes writing blog posts, product updates, and sales materials quickly.

Leveraging AI in the editing process has been monumental for Nica.

She told me, “One of my favorite go-tos is the Content Assistant’s blog writing feature. It’s like having a second pair of eyes that helps me go through my drafts, tidy them up, and get them out there faster. Don’t get me wrong … Writing is a huge part of my job and something that AI can’t take over, but it sure helps to speed up the nitty-gritty bits like editing. Plus, it’s a lifesaver when it comes to brainstorming catchy titles based on my own drafts.”

Beyond the editing process, AI can also supercharge your research process. Rather than spending hours on Google, you can now ask a chatbot to provide you with a fast, compact paragraph with all the information you need to get started.

Nica says, “I also like to use ChatSpot for getting quick recommendations for products, books, or any type of resource really. Say I’m looking for the best product marketing book for SaaS companies; normally, I’d be knee-deep in Google searches, reading articles and checking out recommendations on Goodreads. But with the right prompt, ChatSpot can get me there 10X faster. I still give its final recommendation a quick Google check, but it’s a super handy shortcut.”

While these are some of the most effective ways HubSpotters have been using AI in their roles, I’m sure this list with evolve – and expand — over time. We’re in the early days of AI, so it’s critical you take the time to experiment within your own role and determine how AI can work best for you.

And you might try becoming comfortable with AI outside of your professional life, too. As Nica told me, “AI is not just for work. It’s great for personal stuff, too. For example, it can help me find the best stops on a road trip or whip up a recipe for toddler-friendly, no-sugar, oat flour, banana muffins.”