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Category: Marketing and Branding (Page 9 of 13)

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Gary Vaynerchuk on Being a Good Human

Reading “Crush It!” set me on a short course of watching some of Gary Vaynerchuk‘s live presentations and interviews.  This one, from RailsConf 2010, was one of the more comprehensive in terms of conveying who he is, what he’s about and what he’s currently thinking and doing (though it’s from June).

I posted it to my Facebook page, but it got no likes or comments.  I get it – you had no idea what it was about and didn’t want to bite off an hour of the mystery behind door number 2.  So, I decided here to provide multiple in-points to encourage some viewing.  Find your topic and jump in wherever you’d like.

A few notes off the top: Ruby on Rails is a web app framework developed by 37signals.  This gives the conference its name; it’s a Ruby developers conference.  Vaynerchuck refers to “freed” and “DHH” a few times.  These are the leaders of 37signals, Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson.  (Read my short review of their book Rework here).

Though he’s speaking to a group of developers, it’s a talk – plus a great Q&A session – about marketing, branding, social media and general business.  The guy really loves life and loves people, so it transcends these topics regularly.  In this way, it moves toward life, philosophy and being a good human.

Here are your in-points:

2:00    Family emigration from Belarus to US

3:35    Entrepreneurial start (lemonade stands and baseball cards)

4:40    Doing awesome – 13 year old with six grand under his bed

5:40    Goonies reference

7:10    Collecting wine = collecting baseball cards

7:50    Brand damage from being part of co-op/franchise

11:45  Finding happiness in community

12:30  Getting repped by CAA

13:15  New book: “The Thank You Economy”

14:50  Building long-term, real relationships, beating competitors on culture (Zappos/Amazon)

16:40  Consulting with big companies, trying to help them get in on conversations

17:40  If one person follows you, you should be ridiculously thankful

18:10  Riff: “If I get a hundred more followers, I’ll donate $100 to Haiti”

19:30  Shout out to his great, great grandchild (writing your legacy right now)

22:00  Becoming self-aware, showing people who you are

22:45  Huge Twitter fail

23:50  Work your face off, be thankful, have gratitude

25:40  Gatekeepers controlled the game forever, now lost the keys, we can go direct to consumers

26:50  Freemium debate, app culture opens the door to begin charging

28:30  Q&A starts

31:20  Why it’s difficult to impossible right now for big companies participating sincerely in online conversations

34:15  Killing on cost effectiveness of traditional media – outdoor, print, TV, “Don’t even get me started on fucking Nielsen”

37:00  Why our elders are more properly positioned to be successful in 2012 and beyond

39:30  Rework and Crush It book deal customer, nice story of community support – results in a hug at 41:10

42:15  “It was very tea and rock climbing in 2006”

42:40  Why he’s going to jail soon

44:00  Who’s trying harder than him (hint: no one)

44:50  Quoting Jay-Z

45:30  Customer complaints as a gift – results in kiss at 45:50

47:10  Why the corporate game is built not to do this

49:00  Why you need to taste things

49:30  Rocky 4 winter training reference

50:30  Why he loves old people and what matters to them

51:30  Revisiting freemium debate

53:40  Why he’s backing off speaking

55:40  Overlooking the good in favor of the bad

56:40  The “shark and hippo thing”

1:00:20  Why he showed someone his tax returns at Starbucks

1:02:10  “I’m bullish on human beings”

Here is the video, compliments of O’Reilly Media by way of YouTube:


Customers Just Want to Know What’s Going On

When you place an order with Amazon, you immediately receive an email confirming the order.  You receive another to let you know when it’s been shipped.  You can track its progress all the way to your door.  As a customer, you know what’s going on from beginning to end with updates throughout the process.

Even Domino’s Pizza lets you track your order from confirmation through prep, baking, quality checking and completion.  “Hey, look!  Rick just put my pizza in the oven!”

Among the many observations my wife shared with me from her years as a flight attendant is that customers don’t expect the mechanical delay to be fixed in an instant.  Instead, they just want to know what’s going on.  What’s the problem?  How long until it’s fixed?  When will we be taking off?  How late to my destination should I expect to be?  Has the status of the problem changed?

The same is true under crew, weather or any other kind of delay.  The rising anxiety of passengers was slightly diminished each time more information was shared.  On occasion, she’d been explicitly told how nice and helpful it was to know what was happening.

This is also a basic rule of crisis management within public relations.  Share what you know, when you know it.  Be honest.  Be clear.  Be informative.

Now to my motivation to put this little post together: my 2003 Volkswagen Jetta was recently hosted by the local Volkswagen dealer’s service department for three entire days.  During this time, I had to initiate every single piece of communication.  This poor customer service was acknowledged by the fact that they took $100 off the final bill.

VW, Volkswagen, Jetta, engine, car, 2.0, 2002, 2003, under the hood

The Bob Penkus VW Service Department should share what they know when they know it.

Situation and Timeline

The car would not start properly on a Wednesday morning.  We got it jumped, then I dropped it off with them at 7:45am.  To be fair, I did not have an appointment.  I characterized the problem as a failing battery and noted that we still had a temperature light flashing (it’d been looked at before but never solved).

I didn’t expect to have the car back by noon.  I did expect to hear something that day, though.  I called at 5pm to learn that, of course, it wouldn’t be ready.

On Thursday, I didn’t hear anything, so I gave them a call at 3pm.  A new battery was definitely needed and they were “looking around” for one.  They were still looking into the flashing light.

I left a voice mail message at 5:30pm and again at 6pm to see if they’d found and installed a battery.  I got a call back at 6:15pm and learned that: I had two choices of battery, they’d solved the flashing light, they’d found that the oil filter leaked and they wanted to change my timing belt.  Also: no work had yet been performed.  And: no costs were mentioned until I specifically asked about them.  Even then, the whole package was positioned at once ($1,200), rather than as a series of options.

So after 5pm on two consecutive nights, it was up to the customer to figure out if he’d need to line up an alternative ride home from work that evening and back to work the next morning.

On that callback, I said yes to $400 in work – new VW battery, new oil filter and new coolant return thing that solved the flashing and beeping with which we’d been greeted every cold morning.  I said no to the $800 timing belt change (I’ll get that done elsewhere, even though they price match).  I was assured the work would be performed first thing in the morning and that the service manager would call me as soon as the car was ready.

I heard nothing all Friday morning, so I gave them a call at 1pm.  The person handling my visit was not in, so someone else said she’d check with the technician and call me back right away.

At 2:15pm, having heard nothing, I called again.  I was told that the car should be ready by 4:45 or 4:50pm.

The Bottom Line

Voice mail messages unreturned.  Broken promises of calls back.  All information pulled by the customer rather than pushed by the service department.

I don’t expect them to work miracles.  I don’t expect to drop in without an appointment and be first in line.  I only expect to know what’s going on.

Customers should be presented with choices and associated costs when decisions need to be made.  Customers should not be left to wonder what’s happening.

Phone call, email, text message, anything – let customers know what’s going on.  The customer experience is made much more positive … and you’re more likely to collect full price for services rendered.

Crush It! by Gary Vaynerchuk: Hard Work Trumps All

I just finished reading “Crush It! Why Now is the Time to Cash in on Your Passion” by Gary Vaynerchuk.  Again, I’m behind on this one.  This was one of the “it” business books of 2009 (NYT and WSJ bestseller).

Here’s the book’s website.
Here’s the Amazon review page.

 

If you’re not familiar with Gary, watch a few episodes of Wine Library TV.  In short, he’s extremely enthusiastic and inspiring.  Connecting personal branding, personal passion, and social media, “Crush It!” is brimming with obsessive energy and absolutely delivers on its title.

What feels like the single most important ingredient, though, is hard work.  Lots of it.  Very, very hard.  Ceaseless hustle.  This shouldn’t be a surprise, though, from a guy for whom owning the New York Jets “has been an obsession … since the third grade” (p 15).

 

portrait, illustration, drawing, Gary, Gary V, Gary Vee, Gary Vaynerchuk, Wine Library, Wine Library TV, Sam Taggart, Taggart, Media 2.0, portraits

Web 2.0 Portraits - Gary Vaynerchuk (Gary Vee) by Sam Taggart (samtaggart.com)

 

Hard Work Notes and Quotes

On page one, he makes clear that hard work’s part of the formula: “You’re lucky because you live in an age of unmatched opportunity for anyone with enough hustle, patience, and big dreams.”  He bridges pages one and two with a reference to “a willingness to work your face off.”

His three simple rules for life: “Love your family.  Work superhard.  Live your passion” (p 2).

His “timeless” messages in the book: “Do what makes you happy.  Keep it simple.  Do the research.  Work hard.  Look ahead” (p 12).

Regarding the ceaseless nature of the effort: “No matter how successful you get, you cannot slack off … Stop hustling, and everything you learn here will be useless”  (p  13).

Regarding the modeling of learned behavior: “My dad worked his ass off, so much that I really didn’t get to know him until I was fourteen years old.”  (p 19)  Gary got to know him by … you guessed it, getting into the family business, Shopper’s Discount Liquors.  He helped grow the business from $4M to $20M between 1998 and 2001 (p 25).

An example of hard work toward your passion: “You should be reading and absorbing every single resource you can find – books, trade journals, newsletters, websites, as well as taking classes and attending lectures and conferences” (p 49-50).

What life looks like while crushing it: “There will be time for meals, and catching up with your significant other, and playing with the kids, and otherwise you will be in front of your computer until 3:00 A.M. every night … Expect this to be all consuming” (p 89).

The real, true and absolute bottom line on hard work: “Someone with less passion and talent and poorer content can totally beat you if they’re willing to work longer and harder than you are.  Hustle is it.  Without it, you should just pack up your toys and go home” (p 88).

By his own words, hard work and hustle are not just fundamentally important, then, they’re the difference maker.  This explains exactly why more people are not crushing it: “Too many people don’t want to swallow the pill of working every day, every chance they get” (p 88).

 

I appreciate that while drawing a wonderful, idealized image – making a living (or even getting rich) by living your passion – Vaynerchuk doesn’t sugar coat the requirements in any way.  There’s no magic.  There’s no silver bullet.  Instead, there’s reality and credibility.

Vaynerchuk does provide a nice formula to help you take advantage of inexpensive tools that have only recently become available (the “now” part of the title).  While the general outline and rough plan are his, the passion, patience and hustle, though, are all yours.  In theory, the hard work doesn’t feel like work if it’s about something you love.

Interestingly, Vaynerchuk’s true passion isn’t wine.  It’s business development.  This means that he’ll be even more interesting to read, hear, and watch in the coming years.

 

A note about Sam Taggart: he’s got a sporadic series of these portraits at his website – samtaggart.com.  I don’t know Sam; I found his site through a Google search.  This was – by far – the coolest image of Vaynerchuk on the internet.  I thought it was a nice inclusion because a) it’s a great image and b) it’s obviously born of personal passion.  Coincidentally, he’s a project manager for VaynerMedia.  Again, check him out.

 

Chair Socks: When You Absolutely Must Buy More Stuff

Apparently, the urge to live your life with style has come to this: socks for your chairs.

This may not be new, but it’s new to me.  It can’t really be called “conspicuous consumption,” because you don’t carry your chairs on your arm like you might a $1,000 purse.  I’ll call it “ridiculous consumption.”

I’m good with style.  I’m good with design.  I’m good with new ideas.  I’m good with entrepreneurs – they’re our best bet for an economically better tomorrow.

I’m not so good with the perishable, fleeting and often silly nature of fashion.  I’m terrible with having to buy more stuff so badly that you’d pull out a credit card for socks … for your chairs.

Chris and Ruby, Chris & Ruby, Chair Socks, socks for your chair

Socks: What You and Your Chairs Never Knew They Never Needed (Photo: Dwell.com)

I did buy a pack of pads for the bottom of some of my chairs for $5 at Bed Bath and Beyond; they prevent my chairs from scratching the floor.

I did not buy a set of four chair socks from Dwell.com for $20.  At that price, socking up your dining room would cost $80-160, depending how many you seat.

If you absolutely must spend money, please consider other options, because there are people who live within a 5 mile radius of your home that need socks more than your chairs do.

Here in Colorado Springs, the Colorado Springs Independent’s IndyGive! campaign just fired back up – colorful, fun, incentivized and wonderful.  Later this month, the Gazette-El Pomar Empty Stocking Fund campaign begins again; this campaign is run in several other cities, too.  Both benefit a wide variety of non-profits on all kinds of missions to make life better for all of us here in the Pikes Peak region.

About what do you care?  How can you improve your own life by improving others’ lives?  Is there a person, organization or idea you appreciate that could use a little boost?

Most of us buy things we don’t really need, but instead simply want.  That’s OK.  But I’m drawing the line at chair socks.

Personal Branding: What You Say Can Be Used Against You

Respect must be earned constantly.  Your personal brand is alive.  What you say can be used against you, especially if you live in the court of public opinion.

For years, I’d respected perennial NBA All-Star Kevin Garnett for his hard work, high achievement and defensive prowess.  I liked the Pierce/Garnett/Allen trio they assembled in Boston.  I preferred they win over Los Angeles in the 2008 NBA Finals.

I lost most of my respect for Kevin Garnett after his failed attempt to shout his sponsor’s slogan immediately after winning the 2008 NBA Championship as a Boston Celtic.  I found it shameless to pass off the commercial as authentic.  You can see that video here.

“I’m going to Disney World!” absolutely defined an era of championship-winning and became a pop culture reference, something about which Adidas’ “impossible is nothing” could never dream.  Apparently, having KG as your front man gurantees its dormancy.

2008 National Basketball Association Boston Celtic Garnett Anything Is Possible

Garnett tries, but fails, to shout "impossible is nothing!" (Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images)

Today: reports that Garnett called Detroit Pistons forward Charlie Villanueva a “cancer patient” during a game.  By tweeting about it after the game, Villanueva is said to have violated an unwritten players’ code against sharing such on-court antics off the court.  Read the ESPN story here.  Read the Bleacher Report story here.

I’m no cheerleader for political correctness.  Garnett has every right to say whatever he wants whenever he ways, no matter how insensitive, childish or reckless it may be.  Even with a parent who’s a cancer survivor, I’m not offended by the remark.

What I do find offensive: “You are cancerous to your team and our league.”  Garnett claims this is what he actually said – in the middle of the game, in the “heat of the battle,” as a piece of trash talk.  Right.  I’m sure that line was preceded by “Excuse me, Charlie.  In a moment, I’ll commence talking trash, as they say, to get inside your head and take you out of your game.”  Given the chance to display some integrity, to own his words, Garnett passed.

Goes without saying: millions of people who are, in fact, cancer patients die every year, leaving tens of millions of family members, friends, colleagues and fellow cancer patients behind.  All of them are among your current, prospective and former brand advocates and adherents.

Worth remembering: your personal brand exists in real time across many media.  Video’s being shot.  “Codes” and other institutions are being violated (if not demolished).  Tweets are being retweeted.  Be prepared to own the things you do and say.

The bottom line: ultimately, production is all that counts to most NBA fans.  If Garnett continues to pour in 20 and grab 10 most nights, all will be forgiven.  20/10’s not enough to earn my respect, though, and I’m sure I’m not alone.

The Mesh: Marketing, Environment, Culture

For a class I’m taking this semester in the MBA program at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs, I got to choose and review the online marketing book of my choice.  The deliverables included a formal book review, a blog post, a video and an in-class presentation.

With my first two choices gone (David Meerman Scott’s The New Rules of Marketing and PR and Hubspot’s Inbound Marketing), I turned to Rework from the guys at 37 signals.  Rework turned out to be a little too general business for the purposes of the class, but I did write it up here earlier.

Fortunately, a brand new, big idea book was recommended by Seth Godin as I was still in search mode.  I ordered, read and reviewed The Mesh: Why The Future Of Business Is Sharing by Lisa Gansky.

book, business, marketing, online, social, mobile, GPS, businesses, share, sharing, share platform, access, ownership, Lisa Gansky

Cover: The Mesh

The Mesh was very obviously a labor of love for Gansky, whose personal and professional passions are evident in the book’s concept, premises, tone and style.  The describes her vision, illustrates it with examples and backs into the broader driving and enabling trends making Mesh businesses and strategies possible and advantageous right now.  It’s this drawing together of otherwise disparate observations that makes her book feel so fresh.

I’ve already written a review and collected several links for the class blog post.  Here, I thought I’d take a minute to observe how it so nicely connects the themes and sub-heading of this blog – marketing, environment and culture.

Marketing The Mesh argues in favor of a business model that both threatens traditional companies and creates opportunities for new ones.  A Mesh company or a Mesh strategy employs: a core offering that’s shared (access rather than ownership); web, social and mobile networks; increased customer interactions; increased layers of information and analysis of data; and offers that are more and more timely, relevant, personal and location-based.

Think Netflix versus Blockbuster.  Both rent DVDs, but Netflix is, at its core, an information company dedicated to making it easier and easier for customers to find, watch and review movies and television shows.  Meanwhile, Blockbuster is in bankruptcy protection.

Zipcar was another key example in the book.  With your mobile device, you can locate, select, reserve and unlock one of dozens of individually-named Zipcars parked around your city.  Each transaction provides data about who, when, where and how long the car is used.  Zipcar’s partnered with all kinds of other businesses in complementary ways to provide more – and more personalized – value to each customer.

Environment One of the underlying themes behind the share concept is an increasing population and limited resources.  The increasing population is also increasingly urban; this density is required for share platforms to scale properly.  At the same time, it’s clear that our disposable consumer culture is unsustainable.  Mesh companies need highly durable goods from their suppliers.  Through frequent and repeat use of shared goods and real-time data collection, Mesh businesses will understand each product’s strengths and weaknesses, like when and how it’s likely to fail.  While demanding greater durability from suppliers, they’ll be in a unique position to provide information to aid in that mission.

Culture There are many broad, cultural themes in The Mesh.  For example, acceptance and adoption of share platforms requires a shift away from ownership toward access and sharing.  Gansky also covers customers as communities within the same share platform.  So many of the factors that permit the Mesh characteristics and driving and enabling factors to be observed and formally captured in a book are temporal and cultural.

All three themes – marketing, environment and culture – are ever-present in this quick and fun read.  I recommend it to marketers, entrepreneurs, environmentalists, futurists and anyone broadly interested in what’s happening out there right now.

My blog post for class that’s loaded with links can be seen here.

My video review can be seen here:

 

Mesh, The Mesh, meshy, companies, company, business, businesses, Zipcar, Crushpad, Kickstarter, thredUp, Prosper, Roomorama, Netflix

Seven of the dozens of examples provided by Lisa Gansky to illustrate her concept of The Mesh.

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