Gary Vaynerchuk's Blog, page 30

The Rise of Audio Branding

In the past 36 months, I’ve been talking a lot about how the next “wave” in marketing is voice – but what I haven’t talked about a lot is audio branding. 

Audio and streaming in particular has increased massively in popularity with the emergence of Alexa and Google Home. And it’s super clear to me that this is just the beginning.

As voice gets more popular, branding in the audio world is about to become significantly more important. I even pulled my team into a room a few months ago and talked about how we need to adapt.

Sonic branding is about how your brand sounds and how it gets recalled or remembered — like the little jingle in the beginning of video games or the sound when you boot up your computer. It’s about to become dramatically more important for every single brand.

What is sonic branding?

To me, the thing that I am probably most passionate about with voice is the fact that “branding” has never been more important.

In a decade, a percentage of people will buy their product, goods, and services on a voice-first device. When that happens, you will start realizing how smart the branding strategies of companies like Kleenex, Xerox, and Uber really were.

If you do not start the process right now of branding your respective “Chips Ahoy” over “cookies,” what’s going to happen is we’re just going to say “Alexa, send me some chocolate chip cookies,” and the battle becomes which cookies are then sent – whether that’s Amazon’s private label, a Mondelez product, a Nabisco product, etc.

When you ask for jeans, imagine how much Calvin Klein or Levi’s are going to have to pay to be that go-to product, given the margin that Amazon could make in having their own private label.

The problem is, most companies haven’t thought about what their business sounds like.

It’s the same reason that we probably never thought about how important a username would be in a social media environment. When you ask a brand what their “tone guidelines” are, for example, they’ll have answers like “we’re an aspirational brand”, “we’re an accessible brand”, etc.

But when you ask them what their business audio identity is, many of them will just quote back those same adjectives.

But creating audio identity requires different thinking. For example… is your brand’s voice the voice of a 25-year old surfer? Is it the voice of a celebrity? Is it a song? Is it a whistle?

Over the next decade or two, what your brand sounds like is actually going to be an unbelievably crucial variable of success in a world that will be driven primarily by two things: voice and brand.

The real reason why audio branding is so important  

Sonic branding isn’t a completely new concept.

Listen to these sounds and notice how you feel:







If you’re like most people, when you hear these sounds, you have pretty strong feelings.

But over the past decade, we’ve lived in such a visual world that disproportionately rewarded video content and images over everything else. In a Facebook and Instagram world, it’s important to have captions on videos because a lot of people don’t even have the volume turned on when they scroll through their feed.

For that reason, audio branding just hasn’t been as “top of mind” as it used to be.   

But it matters for one care reason:

Speed.

Normally, to capture the attention of the end consumer, cement your brand identity in their mind, or stimulate recall. you’d have to run a 10, 15, or 30 second advertisement on a relevant channel to capture their attention.

But sound is incredibly powerful because of the speed at which you can capture your audience’s attention and “cement” your brand in their mind.

In the voice world, brands have incredible opportunity to form deeper relationships with their customers. The reason we put famous singers and artists on such a pedestal is because of the connection we form with them through their music. Sound has a powerful ability to get us to trigger specific emotions and memories, and that’s impactful when it comes to brand.

It’s the same reason why podcasting is such an incredible medium — you’re in your audience’s earbuds, and that creates a bond with them that’s deeper than anything else.

Brands that have gotten in on audio branding early have able to rapidly create recall and brand association by playing their audio tag at concerts and other events. For example, P.C. Richard (an electronics store) created a jingle that’s used by the New York Yankees after striking out an opposing batter. A brand like Pepsi could play an audio tag at the Super Bowl halftime show to align themselves with pop culture.

Ultimately, sonic branding is the audio equivalent of a brand’s username. If a company plays their tag alongside advertisements or content that match their brand’s positioning, eventually that audio tag by itself will conjure up the intended feelings around that brand.

Personally, I’m adding my audio tag to every single one of my videos starting now, in early 2019.

Here it is:



Why Super Bowl Commercials Should Cost More Than They Do

Super Bowl commercials are incredibly underpriced – even at a $5 million+ price tag, they should cost way more than they do in 2019. 

If you told me that you have $25 million and you wanted to sell some stuff, I would look at Super Bowl commercials first — then I would look at Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube ads.

This is why I talk a lot about being in the attention business over the social media business. The only reason I’m interested in social media is because it has captured the attention of so many.  

The Super Bowl is one of the single biggest events in America. Virtually everyone is watching – and the attitudes towards Super Bowl ads haven’t really changed for over a decade. 

Source

I felt it back in 2014, when I didn’t watch the Super Bowl. I just laid in bed. It felt surreal – it was mind blowing knowing that all of America was doing one thing, and my brother AJ and I were just sitting in silence.

For me, that really drilled home the fact that this is such a massive event in America with so much attention around it.

From a marketing standpoint, there’s a “brand” that’s been built around Super Bowl commercials. The reason I’m so bullish on them because the commercials actually get consumed. During the event, there are always a ton of people watching them, and even after the event people love to look up Super Bowl commercials on YouTube and vote on the best ones.

When it comes to regular TV, the “event” is to consume the actual TV show and reach for your phone during the commercial breaks. The event is not to consume  the commercial — but during the Super Bowl, the commercials are a big part of the fun. .

And that’s why I think the ROI is there — even if it’s $4 million or $5 million for a short spot.

I think it’s worth $10 million or more.

I spoke to Jennifer Saenz (CMO at Frito-Lay) and Greg Lyons (CMO at PepsiCo) about how they’re thinking about Super Bowl commercials as marketing leaders at major brands.

Listen to the podcast here, or read below for the full details:

The ROI of Super Bowl Commercials

When we first started talking about commercials and how we thought about them, Greg took the conversation in a fascinating direction.

For PepsiCo, what has also been a great opportunity (in addition to running commercials) is sponsoring the Super Bowl halftime show. Given the context of the show and the brand of Pepsi, they’ve been able to use the halftime show to help cement themselves into pop culture. Every year that Pepsi sponsored the halftime show, they were the most talked about brand on Twitter.

I also asked Jen and Greg about the actual business impact of Super Bowl commercials as well and how she thinks about that at Frito-Lay.

I always enjoy talking about ads that drive sales. I’m a salesman at heart and driving business results is a super important part of this whole equation.

For a brand like PepsiCo, it’s a clear positive ROI investment. People consume Pepsi products while they watch the game. People shop for their products before the game. Unlike an insurance company or a car company, there’s a stronger level of practicality for a brand like Pepsi to invest in these commercials.

The thing about Super Bowl Commercials in 2019 is that companies are able to release a portion in advance. Instead of just releasing a commercial and having it consumed during the game, they’re able to release teasers for the commercial leading up to it.

And that helps. A lot.

Because companies are putting out teasers of the commercials ahead of the Super Bowl, it makes even more sense. That means that they’re able to influence the purchase decision before the game when consumers are in Walmart or Safeway shopping for snacks.  

It can also be incredibly exciting for employees at those companies to see their company’s ad on TV.



How Brands Have Gotten Smarter About Their Commercial Strategy

Over the past several years, companies have taken a slightly different strategy when it comes to creating commercials for the Super Bowl. 

Dr. Pepper did this years ago with the #ImA hashtag:

Reebok did this as well. Notice the screen at the end of this old Reebok commercial:

This was the start of brands trying to focus on continuing the conversation around their advertisement. The best commercials create some sort of action that viewers can take after they finish watching the commercial — whether that’s tweeting a hashtag to be part of a conversation, liking a Facebook page, or something else.

For example, one really good way to do this is by playing part of the commercial on TV, and forcing people to consume the rest of it on a social media platform.

How This Is Similar to Small Business Marketing 

I wanted to contextualize the conversation more for my readers and listeners, since I know most of you aren’t in high level positions at brands making marketing decisions. So I asked Jen and Greg what small businesses could learn companies like PepsiCo or Frito-Lay.

I loved what Jen said:

Ultimately, it comes down to storytelling and understanding what types of content will create buzz and get people talking. It becomes even more important to tap into those currents of conversation. As long as you’re interested in stories and creating content around what your audience would love, you’ll be able to crack an amazing creative idea.

Companies like Pepsi can afford to use celebrities to “cut through” into relevancy, but small businesses and startups can use influencers. At the end of the day it’s the same game, it’s just a smaller version of what a brand like Pepsi can do.

 

All in all, I have a tremendous amount of respect for these two — being the inside of this industry, I know how much work it really takes and I admire them so much for it.

Listen to the full podcast episode here:  

7 Essential Tips for First Time Managers in 2019

Many first time managers face significant challenges as they go from a place as someone who “executes” to someone who’s responsible for a team.

Here are some tips to remember if you’re transitioning to a management role for the first time:

1. Understand that you work for your employees, they don’t work for you

This one is hard for a lot of leaders to understand.

Most new managers think that becoming a manager is the “graduation.” Truth is, it’s the reverse.

Leaders work for their employees.

That means you have to understand what your employees want at a deep level. You have to be constantly adapting to their needs and what they want from the organization.

For example, one of my employees might want higher pay when he’s 24. But maybe he falls in love at 28 and decides he wants to spend more time with his family. Another might be more interested in a fancy title. Another might want to get access to me and build a relationship. Another might want to go to one of our international offices and work there.

There are a million different variables, and it’s on you as a leader to adjust to reality as it changes.

When you go from being someone who “executes” to someone who’s managing a team, you go from trading on IQ to trading on EQ. You go from doing the actual work to listening to employees, catering to what they want, taking blame, and being the bigger person.

The best managers are actually the best mentors.

2. Lead with empathy and kindness

Empathy and kindness are two massively underrated qualities when it comes to leading a team. They’re not qualities that most people would think makes a good leader, but I believe in them so much.

I genuinely believe that the best leadership qualities are maternal, not paternal. It’s a lot more appropriate and helpful to have a caring, empathetic, understanding personality when you’re a leader than something stern, paternal, or aggressive.

A lot of people overlook the idea that showing emotion is important. 

Even if you already think of yourself as an empathetic or kind person, becoming a manager will change how you practically apply that empathy. 

A lot of this just comes down to self-esteem. If you’re not secure in yourself, you’re not going to feel as comfortable being kind, positive, and empathetic to other people. It won’t come as natural to build someone up (instead of tear them down). It’s why so many leaders lead with aggressive, mean personalities. Many of them are just insecure on the inside and they project that insecurity on their understudies.

At VaynerMedia, you can’t lead with ego. We suffocate that out. People who lead with negativity and ego get fired really quickly.

3. To build culture, focus on firing

When I hire, I do look for certain qualities.

For example… emotional intelligence matters above everything else. Then, I care about the actual tangible skills candidates have.

It’s not even close. If someone’s a jerk, I won’t hire them – even if their numbers are phenomenal. It’s similar to sports — a team that sticks together will end up beating a team of superstars that were put together for one season (over the long term).

Another big piece of advice I give is hiring people that complement your strengths. If you’re a visionary type of person, hire someone who is obsessed with excel and freaks out if you’re a minute late. Hire someone who loves details.

A lot of leaders get “caught” because they hire friends that are similar to them, but aren’t what they actually need.



But ultimately, to maintain great culture within your team, you have to do one thing:

Focus on firing.

In the early days of VaynerMedia I would hire people real easily — but I would fire quickly if and when I realized they weren’t a good fit on my team. It didn’t matter to me how great they were on paper or how talented they were — if they didn’t play well with the other people on the team, they were out.

If you don’t cut that “cancer” out quickly, your team will crumble long term.

4. Being nice is ROI positive

Truth is, you could have the greatest HR tools and software of all time to “monitor” how your employees are doing – but if you don’t actually care about your people at a deep level, you will lose. None of those tools are going to do anything. 

As a leader, it’s my job to give my employees 51% of the value in the relationship.

But I’m not Mother Teresa. It’s just practical.

If you’re using negativity as a way to extract value from employees or people on your team, they’ll build resentment towards you and it’ll kill your culture long term.

I want to create a conversation around the practicality of positivity, kindness, and empathy within my organization. I’m not just saying it to be ideological —  instilling those characteristics and traits as part of your culture has significant long term impact for your business. At VaynerMedia, Claude Silver, our “Chief Heart Officer”, is number two in the org chart at our company.

And if there’s ever a debate on what’s good for our employees vs what’s good for our bottom line, she’ll win that debate nine times out of ten.

Nice guys always win in the end.

6 Sales Tips on How to Sell Without “Selling” in 2019

Sales has changed dramatically over the past half decade – now, the best sales tips are more about branding and less about “converting.”

Here are the best strategies for salespeople and entrepreneurs to close more deals in 2019.

1. Focus on branding over sales

If you have a personal brand and you’re focusing on selling courses and books, you’re limiting the upside of your speaking career.

This is something most people don’t realize.

When you’re focusing on selling books, you’re doing sales. Not branding.

The reason I’m one of the highest paid speakers is because my audience is so “bought into” me. I don’t sell you $1000 courses or seminars. That’s why so many people are willing to come to Vayner4Ds or pay for a conference ticket to hear me speak.

The best advice I can give anyone aspiring to build a well-known personal brand is to hold off on monetizing their audience for as long as possible. The longer you go without monetizing, the more economics you’ll build on the back end.

The reason why 15-year-olds love brands like Tommy Hilfiger or Fila today is because they built on brand. Not because they had a sales funnel. It’s the same reason why Spiderman, Aquaman, and Wonder Woman do so well at the Box Office.

The only caveat here is that you need enough sales to not go out of business. But build as much brand as you can.

2. Lose your ego around your craft

Scaling a business to the next level takes two very important traits:

Humility and patience.

The reason most people aren’t able to scale well is because they have ego around their craft. They don’t want to hire someone who might do a better job than they do, so they create arbitrary hiring standards in their own heads that no one can live up to. That way, they scratch their own egos at the expense of their business.

The second big thing is patience.

When I walk into a sales pitch, I’m incredibly optimistic that the person on the other end is going to say “yes.” I’m completely convinced that they’re going to spend a ton of money with me.

And if that person tells me “no”, I’m not deflated. I stay just as optimistic that the next prospect will buy.

“Patience” is also about not buying fancy things too early. Most people are in such a rush to prove to their friends and family that they “made it” by buying a flashy car, and it creates a vulnerability for long term success.

My biggest business failures have occurred when I chose to buy fancy things over investing in  smart business decisions.

The real reason I passed on Uber was because I bought an apartment. If I had just stayed in the apartment I was in for one more year, I would’ve invested in Uber. And I would have an extra $400 million today.

Scaling is predicated on your humility, patience, and how “fancy” you want to live.

3. Go “all in” on LinkedIn as a B2B marketing strategy

2019 is going to be the year of LinkedIn.

Whether it’s through the written word, audio, or video, my biggest advice for you all is to publish an enormous amount of content on LinkedIn every day.

This is especially true if you’re in the B2B space.

The organic reach on LinkedIn is similar to what Facebook’s reach was several years ago. The ads are expensive because there’s a “floor” on pricing, but there’s a massive opportunity with organic content right now on LinkedIn.

Just putting your profile URL in your email signature (if you’re someone who emails a lot) is enough of a “match” to start your LinkedIn content career.

4. Create more ads on social media

I get some emails and DMs from people who tell me their Facebook advertising strategies aren’t working for them anymore.

Truth is, it’s only because their ad got “saturated.”

They run one ad for a long time, convert customers from it, and after a while, it starts to lose its effect. And on top of that, the feed gets more competitive.

The answer to this is to just make more content. If you make more content contextual to the audience, you can tailor messaging to very specific types of audiences — everything from 42 year African American people to 23 year olds joining the military.

 

Targeting 42 year old African Americans on Facebook

The narrower you go, the higher CPMs you’ll pay. But your advertisement will be more specific and more likely to get your audience to take the action that you want them to take.

5. Spend money on influencers – even if some of them “don’t work”

When you’re running a business, you shouldn’t be sitting around predicting whether an influencer is going to be around in 5 years or not. It doesn’t matter. If they control the attention, you should pay them to promote your products now as part of your influencer marketing strategy. 

I don’t overanalyze which influencers I pay. To me, it’s just about whether they’re underpriced or not.

For example… if you had the option to buy a $400,000 home for $3,000, the smart move is to take the deal — even if you don’t have all the little details figured out yet. Even if the seller requires you to buy 2 or 3 other homes at $3,000 a piece.

Cast as wide a net as you possibly can. Hire hungry interns to work for free (or low pay) to DM influencers all day and map out which influencers are underpriced and which ones aren’t. 

6. Use content creation as your leverage

If you think back to high school, there were a lot of kids who were ranked “in the middle” in terms of popularity at the start of freshman year. But by the end of the four years, they rose up to, say, the top 5-10%.

A lot of them weren’t “meant” to be popular on paper, but they figured out the system: If their parents weren’t home a lot or just didn’t care, they had the chance to host parties for the popular kids. And the fact that they were the “host” dramatically elevated their brand.

Same thing applies to B2B marketing.

If you’re the “host” of events or dinners where your target customers are attending, your elevate your brand in their eyes and give yourself a much better chance of closing the sale.

If you’re in B2B, you can host a niche podcast and email people that you normally would pitch. But instead of sending them a sales email, send them an email inviting them to be on your show. A lot of upper-level executives have tremendous insight and knowledge on their industry, but don’t have the name recognition — so they’re not frequently asked to be on podcasts.

And once you build that relationship, you’ll be stunned how much easier it gets to get their business.

Watch the full video here: 6 Tips on How to Sell Without “Selling” 



4 Key B2B Marketing Strategies for 2019

When enterprise companies ask me what B2B marketing strategies they should leverage, I always tell them the same thing:

The “High School Party” Strategy.  

Think back to high school…

For a lot of “mid-tier” popular kids — kids who weren’t the coolest —  an incredible opportunity came up in during sophomore or junior year.

If their parents traveled a lot, weren’t home much, or just didn’t care, they had the ability to host parties for the cool kids. And that made them dramatically more popular over the years because the popular kids needed a place to hang out.

Many of them started out say, “lower middle class” in terms of popularity. But they rose from that level to the top 5-10%.

These kids weren’t necessarily built to be popular on their own, but “hacked the system” and figured out how to elevate their brand. You might know a few kids like this if you think back to high school. You might have even been that kid yourself.

(Not that popular high school kids are necessarily “better” humans — they were just good at figuring out the game).

What people don’t realize is… same thing applies to B2B marketing. Imagine if you could be the “popular kid” among your clients and customers — and get them to give you business on the back of that popularity.

You can get to that level faster than you think.

Social media marketing has made B2B advertising so much easier – yet most companies in the space just don’t see it. In B2B, you know exactly who you’re targeting. You know exactly whose business you’re trying to get and what they look like.

And you can target that exact person through Facebook ads, Instagram ads, or LinkedIn.

The best way to do it is through the “High School Party” Strategy.

It’s what I want you to do in 2019.

Here’s how you can apply it B2B (and high ticket B2C):

1. Host small in-person events using social media

Leveraging Facebook ads, Instagram ads, and LinkedIn to create and promote in-person events is an unbelievable opportunity.

You can position the event however you want.

If it were me, I would do it around wine because that’s authentic to me. But you could host a dinner, a golf competition, or a number of other things.

Here’s a very tactical example of how you would do this if you had a business that sells to dance studios:

Step 1: Run ads at low cost 

On Facebook, the broader your reach is, the lower your cost will be generally speaking. Pick an area to host your event that has a lot of “ideal clients”, so you can run ads at a lower cost.

If you have a business that sells to dance studios, pick an area with a lot of dance studios. To target people who own the studios, you might target people within a certain radius who are admins of a Facebook business page who are also interested in dance.  

Step 2: Record an authentic video ad 

Record a video straight from your phone or webcam. Keep it as authentic as possible.

Say something like this:

“Hey Phoenix, I’m going to be in your city soon! We rented out a room at Johnny’s Steakhouse — I’ve seen the great Yelp reviews and I’ve been wanting to go there for a while. We got some incredible food and wine, and we’re going to be putting on a 20-person dinner where we’re going to talk about the state of the union of dance studios.

Things like opportunities in social media, how to make more margin, how the TV shows have affected us, the macro trends, and more.

My family’s been in this business for 35 years, and I’ve worked in it for 15. I think we’ll have an awesome conversation.

Please fill out the form and I will pick 20 of you to join us for a private dinner. Can’t wait to see you!”

The reason I’m such a big fan of “raw” content is that people can tell that you’re being “you.” This is super important on a platform like Facebook where your content does both branding and sales (so you don’t hurt your brand while you’re trying to convert).

Step 3: Put all the information in the copy

Include the event details plus the Google Form in the copy of the post.

Step 4: Design the survey with an open-ended question

In the Google Form, include one open ended question where the answer will give you an indication as to whether or not you can convert them.

You can invite the people who give the “right” answer to this question to your event.

Step 5: Host the party with a captive audience

Let’s say you spend $500 on Facebook ads, and pick up a $1000 tab at the end of the dinner. For $1500 all-in you’ve got a captive audience where you’re the host of the party!

Hosting the event doesn’t have to be super complicated either. If you’re introverted, you could literally prepare note cards in advance, and start the event by saying something like “Thanks for coming guys. Today we’re going to talk about the state of the union of dance studios. Let’s go around the room and share our two cents.”

2. Start a niche podcast

People in B2B always complain about not being able to “go wide” when they create content. But the truth is, many B2B companies don’t need to go wide.  Even if you have 1500 people listening to your niche podcast, that could be enough to do millions of dollars a year in revenue!

If you’re the host of a small podcast in a niche, and you’re reaching out to experts or thought leaders and asking them to be clients on your show, you’re essentially “inviting” them to your party.

You’re telling them that they’re valuable enough to be on your show, and it plays to their ego. You get a valuable guest, and they get to send a link to their buddies from college that they were on a podcast.

And you’ll be stunned by how much easier it becomes to get their business. If you’ve got a popular podcast in a narrow niche and your guests are senior execs at the companies you’re trying to do business with, they’ll be so happy to be “fake famous” that they’ll just give you the business.

Hosting an event or “owning” the medium (i.e. podcast, vlog, etc) where the popular kids (i.e. the people you want to get as clients) want to hang out is an unbelievable arbitrage in 2019.

The host always wins the land grab.

3. Focus on what your customer wants, not on the service you provide

A few years ago, a lawyer asked me how she could leverage content to grow her business.

The answer I gave her surprised her a little bit, but it’s still so true – even in 2019.

Take Guinness beer, for example.

Guinness beer had a problem about 60 years ago. Their sales in pubs in the UK declined for the first time ever and they had to figure out a new strategy.

They went out and did old school market research and surveyed people in bars. Guinness found out that the two biggest things people talked about were soccer and trivia.

So they created the Guinness Book of World Records.

They started a “media company” to solve their problem.  By owning the media company that produced content that people at pubs consumed, they were able to “bake in” advertisements that increased beer sales in pubs.

I told the lawyer to do something similar. I told her to become a media company.

But instead of just putting out content around legal topics, I told her to think about putting out content around topics that her clients would be interested in – and advertise her business natively within that content every now and then.

For example, she could start a golf website that covers golf topics, and advertise her legal business in every seventh post in the form of “branded content.”

Guinness was early, but I fundamentally believe that this is going to be the blueprint of how companies in the future do business.

4. Create “pillar content”

I put out an 86-page slide deck around my content strategy.  

Think about “pillar content” as one long-form video/audio show from which all other content is derived.

For me, my “pillar content” is DailyVee on YouTube. It’s a “documentation” of my life  as an entrepreneur and operator. From there, I create short form pieces of content that are repurposed from DailyVee — this includes articles, memes, mashups, images, and more.

Source: GaryVee Content Strategy

After that, I’ll distribute content across all my social channels.

I believe in this strategy so much for B2B companies. Even though you’re selling to businesses, you’re targeting human decision makers. And humans will respond to your content.

It doesn’t matter if you don’t have a team. Think about how you can create as much content with the resources you have. Maybe you can’t produce 100+ pieces of content as I do, but maybe you could do 50. Maybe you could do 10. Maybe you can only do 1 right now.

Whatever it is, please understand that putting out any content (even if it’s totally unrelated to your niche) is better than not putting out anything at all. And too many people think it’s the reverse.

Being the “host” of a vlog, podcast, or show that people in your industry consistently consume will give you massive leverage with the decision makers in your space.

 

The Best B2B Marketing Strategies for 2019

When enterprise companies ask me what B2B marketing strategies they should leverage, I always tell them the same thing:

The “High School Party” Strategy.  

Think back to high school…

For a lot of “mid-tier” popular kids — kids who weren’t the coolest —  an incredible opportunity came up in during sophomore or junior year.

If their parents traveled a lot, weren’t home much, or just didn’t care, they had the ability to host parties for the cool kids. And that made them dramatically more popular over the years because the popular kids needed a place to hang out.

Many of them started out say, “lower middle class” in terms of popularity. But they rose from that level to the top 5-10%.

These kids weren’t necessarily built to be popular on their own, but “hacked the system” and figured out how to elevate their brand. You might know a few kids like this if you think back to high school. You might have even been that kid yourself.

(Not that popular high school kids are necessarily “better” humans — they were just good at figuring out the game).

What people don’t realize is… same thing applies to B2B marketing. Imagine if you could be the “popular kid” among your clients and customers — and get them to give you business on the back of that popularity.

You can get to that level faster than you think.

Social media marketing has made B2B advertising so much easier – yet most companies in the space just don’t see it. In B2B, you know exactly who you’re targeting. You know exactly whose business you’re trying to get and what they look like.

And you can target that exact person through Facebook ads, Instagram ads, or LinkedIn.

The best way to do it is through the “High School Party” Strategy.

It’s what I want you to do in 2019.

Here’s how you can apply it B2B (and high ticket B2C):

1. Host small in-person events using social media

Leveraging Facebook ads, Instagram ads, and LinkedIn to create and promote in-person events is an unbelievable opportunity.

You can position the event however you want.

If it were me, I would do it around wine because that’s authentic to me. But you could host a dinner, a golf competition, or a number of other things.

Here’s a very tactical example of how you would do this if you had a business that sells to dance studios:

Step 1: Run ads at low cost 

On Facebook, the broader your reach is, the lower your cost will be generally speaking. Pick an area to host your event that has a lot of “ideal clients”, so you can run ads at a lower cost.

If you have a business that sells to dance studios, pick an area with a lot of dance studios. To target people who own the studios, you might target people within a certain radius who are admins of a Facebook business page who are also interested in dance.  

Step 2: Record an authentic video ad 

Record a video straight from your phone or webcam. Keep it as authentic as possible.

Say something like this:

“Hey Phoenix, I’m going to be in your city soon! We rented out a room at Johnny’s Steakhouse — I’ve seen the great Yelp reviews and I’ve been wanting to go there for a while. We got some incredible food and wine, and we’re going to be putting on a 20-person dinner where we’re going to talk about the state of the union of dance studios.

Things like opportunities in social media, how to make more margin, how the TV shows have affected us, the macro trends, and more.

My family’s been in this business for 35 years, and I’ve worked in it for 15. I think we’ll have an awesome conversation.

Please fill out the form and I will pick 20 of you to join us for a private dinner. Can’t wait to see you!”

The reason I’m such a big fan of “raw” content is that people can tell that you’re being “you.” This is super important on a platform like Facebook where your content does both branding and sales (so you don’t hurt your brand while you’re trying to convert).

Step 3: Put all the information in the copy

Include the event details plus the Google Form in the copy of the post.

Step 4: Design the survey with an open-ended question

In the Google Form, include one open ended question where the answer will give you an indication as to whether or not you can convert them.

You can invite the people who give the “right” answer to this question to your event.

Step 5: Host the party with a captive audience

Let’s say you spend $500 on Facebook ads, and pick up a $1000 tab at the end of the dinner. For $1500 all-in you’ve got a captive audience where you’re the host of the party!

Hosting the event doesn’t have to be super complicated either. If you’re introverted, you could literally prepare note cards in advance, and start the event by saying something like “Thanks for coming guys. Today we’re going to talk about the state of the union of dance studios. Let’s go around the room and share our two cents.”

2. Start a niche podcast

People in B2B always complain about not being able to “go wide” when they create content. But the truth is, many B2B companies don’t need to go wide.  Even if you have 1500 people listening to your niche podcast, that could be enough to do millions of dollars a year in revenue!

If you’re the host of a small podcast in a niche, and you’re reaching out to experts or thought leaders and asking them to be clients on your show, you’re essentially “inviting” them to your party.

You’re telling them that they’re valuable enough to be on your show, and it plays to their ego. You get a valuable guest, and they get to send a link to their buddies from college that they were on a podcast.

And you’ll be stunned by how much easier it becomes to get their business. If you’ve got a popular podcast in a narrow niche and your guests are senior execs at the companies you’re trying to do business with, they’ll be so happy to be “fake famous” that they’ll just give you the business.

Hosting an event or “owning” the medium (i.e. podcast, vlog, etc) where the popular kids (i.e. the people you want to get as clients) want to hang out is an unbelievable arbitrage in 2019.

The host always wins the land grab.

3. Focus on what your customer wants, not on the service you provide

A few years ago, a lawyer asked me how she could leverage content to grow her business.

The answer I gave her surprised her a little bit, but it’s still so true – even in 2019.

Take Guinness beer, for example.

Guinness beer had a problem about 60 years ago. Their sales in pubs in the UK declined for the first time ever and they had to figure out a new strategy.

They went out and did old school market research and surveyed people in bars. Guinness found out that the two biggest things people talked about were soccer and trivia.

So they created the Guinness Book of World Records.

They started a “media company” to solve their problem.  By owning the media company that produced content that people at pubs consumed, they were able to “bake in” advertisements that increased beer sales in pubs.

I told the lawyer to do something similar. I told her to become a media company.

But instead of just putting out content around legal topics, I told her to think about putting out content around topics that her clients would be interested in – and advertise her business natively within that content every now and then.

For example, she could start a golf website that covers golf topics, and advertise her legal business in every seventh post in the form of “branded content.”

Guinness was early, but I fundamentally believe that this is going to be the blueprint of how companies in the future do business.

4. Create “pillar content”

I put out an 86-page slide deck around my content strategy.  

Think about “pillar content” as one long-form video/audio show from which all other content is derived.

For me, my “pillar content” is DailyVee on YouTube. It’s a “documentation” of my life  as an entrepreneur and operator. From there, I create short form pieces of content that are repurposed from DailyVee — this includes articles, memes, mashups, images, and more.

Source: GaryVee Content Strategy

After that, I’ll distribute content across all my social channels.

I believe in this strategy so much for B2B companies. Even though you’re selling to businesses, you’re targeting human decision makers. And humans will respond to your content.

Being the “host” of a vlog, podcast, or show that people in your industry consistently consume will give you massive leverage with the decision makers in your space.

 

20 Kindness Quotes To Help You Win in Life

Kindness is the biggest strength in business and in life — I hope you use these kindness quotes as reminders to deploy more empathy and generosity every single day!

1. “Kindness is not debatable”

To me, there’s no debate that kindness is a strength. And it breaks my heart to know that so many people believe it’s a weakness.

So many people are afraid that other people will take advantage of their kindness or make them feel “used.”

But the truth is, those who take advantage of your kindness are weak on the inside. Feel bad for them, don’t let them make you feel bad about yourself.  

2. “Genuine kindness is the ultimate strength”

People who are truly kind have the ultimate leverage. If you give without expectation of getting anything in return, you’ve won.

I’m not worried about people “using me” or “taking advantage” of me. When someone takes advantage of my kindness, I just feel bad for that person. I feel bad that they feel the need to step on someone else for them to “get theirs.”

3. “Once you are happy for people instead of envious, you can start the process of getting to a happy place.”

There’s so much happiness and abundance in the world! I’m always so happy for other people when they win because it’s not coming out of my pocket. I’m going to “get mine” regardless.

4. “Kindness and Good always win when the clock hits 0:00”

Being “kind”, “good”, and caring is how you leave a legacy.

It’s why kindness is one of my biggest values. I want the admiration. Sometimes people can get away with bad behavior in the short term, but kindness and positivity will always win the game.

5. “Nice guys finish last? Where? It’s just not true. Nice guys might be losing at halftime, but they win the game. Nice guys always win.”

The problem is, so many people just look at who’s winning in the first and second quarter. They just look at who’s leading at halftime.

But in the macro, if you’re kind, you’ll be rewarded. You’ll win. Someone is always watching.

6. “Nice guys don’t finish last, bad guys posing as nice guys do.”

Most people who think that “kindness is a weakness” or “kindness doesn’t work” are giving with expectation. When your “kindness” is loaded with “ask” on the back end, people can smell it from a mile away.

If you’re using your kindness as disguise to get what you want from the relationship, you will lose.

7. “Being nice is ROI positive.”

A funny thing happens when you give without expectation.

A lot of good things start coming back to you.

Kindness is unbelievably ROI positive in business. But the problem is, a lot of companies don’t realize this. They get caught up in maximizing 90-day numbers at the expense of how their employees are treated.

That’s why so many companies lose long term.

8. “I want kindness, empathy, and gratitude to become ‘cool’ instead of putting cash to your ear or having ‘ice’ on your wrist.”

My ultimate ambition is to make empathy, gratitude, patience, and kindness “cool.” I want people to look at those those traits as “alpha male” characteristics.

I want kids to aspire to be kind instead of aspiring to be the type of person who flashes fancy stuff on Instagram.

9. “I want 100% kindness and empathy throughout my organization.”

I sent an email to all employees at my company about kindness and why it matters it so much.  



Kindness is super important to me, especially when it comes to the work environment I create for my employees.

10. “One of the biggest reasons I act like a big shot is because I want kids to become fans of me, That way, I can become the ‘shield’ for them to have confidence to do good things, not bad things.”

If kids think I’m “cool”, they won’t be talking about Ferraris and gold watches. They’ll be talking about hard work, humility, empathy, and kindness.

So many kids feel pressure from their parents and from society to “win” at an early age. And because of that, they resort to short term behaviors might lead to “success” at a young age, but damages their reputation in the long term. They’ll hurt their chances of long term success because they’re chasing short term wins. 

I want kids to point to me and use me as their “shield” that gives them confidence to push against their parents and society go all in on what they want to do.

11. “99% of people have good, positive moments in their lives and they never think to share that on Facebook or Twitter. Yet, the second somebody cuts them off the road, the cashier is slow, or they don’t like what’s going on in politics, they get nasty. We need to make positivity and kindness louder.”

We need to make a commitment to making positivity louder.

The people who are the loudest right now are the most negative, and that tricks people into believing that the world actually is more “bad” than “good.”

Truth is, it’s an incredible time to be alive right now, and we all need to do a better job of being “loud” about it.

12. “Kindness required.”

Period.

13. “I think the best managers have caring, kind, empathetic personalities.”

A lot of people think of leadership qualities as “paternal” — qualities like being aggressive or stern. I think of them as more “maternal.” I think the best managers have caring, empathetic, kind personalities.  

14. “Kindness builds emotional capital.”

If you make a commitment to giving 51% of the value in the relationship, you will win. It’s just a smart thing to do, both in business and in life.

When you give a lot, you build a lot of emotional capital. You grow your reputation significantly. And the people you impacted will eventually come back and impact you.

15. “Kindness is always rewarded. Someone is always watching.”

Always.

If you’re deploying kindness to a person who’s not rewarding to right away, someone who watched that happen will notice the sort of person you are. And they’ll reward the kindness.

Even if you’re in a confined space with no one else around, the person who’s not returning your kindness might change in 15 years. And then, they’ll remember the sort of person you were. 

16. “Kindness over everything.”

Over money, over fame, over everything.

17. “Truth is, people who view kindness as a negative are just insecure themselves. You can only be kind if you feel like you’re coming from a place of leverage.” 

It’s easier to be kind when you’re happy on the inside. When you’re happy, you want everyone else to “get theirs” too. You don’t feel the need to drag other people down.

People who say that “kindness is a weakness” are just insecure themselves.

18. “It’s hard to be taken advantage of when you’re giving without expectation.”

This is one way to be happy no matter what.

The reason I’m always so pumped is even though I’m so generous is because I don’t expect anyone to come through for me. People can’t take advantage of me because I’m playing a different game.

19. “I’ve been pushing kindness more heavily than anything else. It’s a crucial part of the legacy I’m building.”

I want to build massive businesses and buy the Jets, but I want to do it while also being a good dude. I want to build the “biggest building” in town without tearing down anyone else’s building.

20. “The biggest issue for most is they see bad behavior get ahead in the short term. And because of that, they get tricked into thinking that’s how you win the whole game.”

Kindness is how you win the game of life.

Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise

Why “Nice Guys Finish Last” is Just Not True in 2019

It’s so ludicrous to me that people think “nice guys finish last” — especially with where we’re at and how far we’ve advanced in 2019.

The reality is, kindness is the ultimate strength not just in business, but in life. Nice guys always win.

Here’s why:

1. Nice guys don’t finish last, bad guys posing as nice guys do

Most people who say that “kindness is a weakness” are giving with expectation.

When your “kindness” is loaded with an “ask” on the back end, people can smell it from a mile away. You’re not actually being nice, you’re just using kindness as a disguise to get what you want from the relationship.

If you “give” with a hidden agenda, you’ll always lose.

2. It’s hard to be taken advantage of when you’re giving without expectation

When you give without expectation, you’re happy no matter what. People can’t take advantage of you because you’re playing a different game.

Even if I provide all the value in the relationship and I get nothing back in the short term, the worst case scenario is that I had a positive impact on somebody through my actions. As a human being, that makes me feel really good.

3. Kindness always wins when the clock hits 0:00

The biggest issue for many is that they see bad behavior get ahead in the short term. Because of that, they get tricked into thinking that bad behavior wins the entire game.

The issue is that they’re just looking at the first quarter. They’re just looking at who’s leading at halftime.

In the macro, kindness always gets rewarded. Someone is always watching. People don’t realize it, but the amount of opportunity gained by good people because of their kindness is enormous. On the flip side, the amount of opportunity lost by bad people because of their bad behavior is also enormous.

“Bad” sometimes leads at halftime, but “good” always wins the game.

4. It’s easier to be kind if you’re coming from a place of leverage

It’s much easier to be genuinely kind when you feel that you’re coming from a place of leverage. If you’re not in a good place mentally — if you’re insecure, anxious, or worried about what other people think of you — kindness won’t come as naturally to you.

That’s why to me, giving without expectation is the ultimate strength.

 

In conclusion … in a digital world, kindness is rewarded more than ever before.

Before the internet, fakers and people with bad intentions always had the option to hide or move to a different country after they were discovered. They were isolated and lived in the “shadows.”

In a digital world, we don’t have the option to “hide” like before. The internet is exposing all of us. For that reason, the benefits of doing bad behaviors have become dramatically smaller.

 

This is a really important message. If you got value from this article, please share it on Twitter!

An Invitation to the GaryVee x VaynerSports Meet and Greet

What up VaynerNation!!

I’m so excited to invite you all to The GaryVee x VaynerSports Meet and Greet in Atlanta ahead of the Super Bowl on January 31st!

You’ll get the chance to hang out with me, NFL athletes from the VaynerSports roster, watch a Fireside Chat with me, and hear some incredible performances on stage.

Get tickets here.

Details:

Date: January 31st, 2019

TIme: 1:37 pm – 3:30 pm ET

Location: Atlanta Tech Village, 3423 Piedmont Road Northeast, Atlanta GA 30305

What’s included:

Fireside chat with me

AJ and I started VaynerSports because we wanted to help athletes leverage their brand to for success off the field in the long term. I’ll be doing a 30-minute fireside chat talking more about this, and the intersection of sports and entrepreneurship.

I’ll be joined by Ed Reed, Tennessee Derrick Morgan, and David Meltzer.

Ed Reed is a Baltimore Ravens legend. He played 12 NFL seasons and was named Defensive Player of the Year, went to the Pro Bowl nine times, and was an eight-time All-Pro. He holds a ton of NFL records and he’s considered to be one of the best players in the history of football.

David Meltzer is the CEO of Sports 1 Marketing and S1Media House — he’s a bestselling author, investor, and hosts Entrepreneur’s original show that got nearly 40 million views.

Fired up for this one

9 Strategies for Personal Branding Online in 2019

For years, I’ve been talking about how important personal branding is.

But let’s not get confused by the semantics:

Your personal brand is your reputation. And your reputation in perpetuity is the foundation of your career.

Your personal brand is your reputation. And your reputation in perpetuity is the foundation of your career.
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People don’t understand this. Playing the long game and building your reputation always plays out.

But the issue is, people see others getting ahead in the short term at the expense of their long term personal brand. And so, they get tricked.

Instead of being patient, they go for the quick sales. They keep trying to convert customers on the first interaction. They try to extract money, instead of creating an experience.

Brand is about how someone feels in the moment when they interact with you or your business.

You all have emotions you feel in reaction to names like “Coca-cola”, “IBM”, or “McDonald’s.” Whether good or bad, you have a reaction. When you hear my name, you probably get a feeling too (which I hope is positive).

For example, if you had to put into words — I hope you’d say “Gary Vaynerchuk, the guy who gave more than asked”, or something along those lines. I want you to think of me as someone who gave massive amounts of value.

The best companies in the world don’t sell. They brand. For example, Apple never tries to “convert” you into buying an iPhone. Instead they paint a picture of the “iPhone experience.” They focus on branding.

I do the same.

Not saying you should never sell. But personal branding is a disproportionately valuable factor that most people just don’t focus on.

In this article, I’ve put together a mashup of strategies, tips, and advice on building a personal brand I’ve talked about over the years.

Hope you get a lot of value from it