Behind the Brand with Gary Vaynerchuk | 2011

hi I'm Brian Elliot welcome to behind the brand today we're here with entrepreneur Wine Enthusiast businessman extraordinaire and author Gary vuk Gary welcome to the show thanks man it's good to be here it's great to have you man I appreciate that so uh today we're talking a little bit about the thank you economy tell us about the book and why you wrote it I wrote it because I think there's a huge debate about the ROI of social media uh I don't love that term social media I just think it's clear to everybody there's a change in the air um so I just wanted to talk business Trends and something that I'm seeing as the consument salesman as the guy who loves Roi who wants to close the deal it blows my mind that I'm transforming that the businesses I'm involved with and Consulting for are looking to transform and there's a very different way to do business today ironically all these new gadgets and apps and Technologies are bringing us back to Old Small Town rules and that's what I talk about in this book I triy to focus on some case studies you know start to kabash some of this that you know social media is just like black magic or that a silver bullet that's going to save your business I tried to write a practical Book on a subject matter that I think has a lot of hype a lot of overhype and definitely some under hype depending on which sector of the world you're at so who' you write it for you know I wrote it for probably Corporate America more so than my prior book crushit you know crushit was super entrepreneurial like go do this there's an opportunity I became wine famous internet famous because this platform has emerged and that's the Internet it's just the maturity of the internet this is a little bit more for or you know you've got a business you've got a logo whether it's the Nike Swoosh or it's your you know lawnmower service that has five clients put that logo into play humanize it understand one-on-one marketing is here use the tools that are 2011 based right not 2005 based and uh and there's some upside and so you know a lot of brand managers Corporate America agencies I definitely thought about this and this is a very transparent answer I'm going to try to give you as much good stuff because I like you and I want to give you some juicy nuggets I wrote this thinking like I want companies to buy a thousand copies of this right so I definitely wrote it you know crush it was like hide this book people are going to quit our business right this is very much like oh crap this is where the world's going our people need to understand this let's buy 45 copies for our agency or hey let's buy 10,000 copies for all our employees so you buy a th000 copies for the company are you hoping that it goes top down or does it matter just can kind of go out there yeah as the consument salesman I want it I want people to read it you know yes top down Works bottom up works I mean there's been a lot of people who are inspired by this who forced the CEO to read it and so it goes bottom up then back down you know when you're trying to move product you know as long as you understand how you're doing it you're not being cheesy about it I'll come from the side upside down flip over no shirt on whatever it takes whatever angle I can get it to go into that's fine by me I think it comes down to having quality content and it's been funny the book just reappeared on New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestsellers list that has you know me excited that feels like I'm running a marathon with this book yeah it's got legs a little bit yeah I'm excited about that that's it's excellent I wanted to know more about you know the title is excellent you know a lot of people talked that customer service is the new marketing talk to us about what the thank you economy means though like what is that yeah so the word economy is a big boy word right I sat with it for a while I was like if I'm going to use the word economy I need to understand that people are going to take pot shots at this isn't the thank you Theory moment did you have some Al alternative titles not really I came up with a title because I was being interviewed about crushit post crush it selling really well and everybody kept asking me the same thing like how did this do so well you didn't do traditional media you know you came out a left field why is this doing so well and finally said the thank you economy and the host was like huh that's interesting what's that and I'm like I'm not sure but I like the way that just came out let me think about it and what it meant was I paid forward so much to my community I gave so much I replied to tens of thousands of tweets I replied to hundreds of thousands of emails I put out a thousand wine shows for free every day that by the time I came out a $25 product I guilted you know my community into buying it yeah they were already sold they were sold and it's because and they were sold the same way you're sold on what you would do for your parents or your older brother or your children there was context there I had built up Equity right uh they were my friends and so I believe that is a business pattern that is developing so that's what I really tried to figure out why did that happen for me does that work for Corporate America why I started Vayner media I start listen client work is like getting punched in the nose like I'm not that interested in client work as an entrepreneur you know I mean this is not going to be my career Vayner media is going to be an interesting step along the way and I did it because I wanted to understand corporate you know I knew how to be an entrepreneur build a small business you know 50 $60 million business that's a small business right even though it's big for a family it's small I wanted to understand how billion multi-billion dollar 100 billion these big market cap companies worked I started vayer media that's what gave me the ammo to write this book because I know that the brand

manager at Trident or or an agency or somebody works on the Puma brand is going to learn something from this and I put those pieces together and that's kind of why I did it so let's back up just a little bit talk about your background how you got from there to here people who are watching this a lot of the people are small business owners entrepreneurs they look at you know with 800,000 plus people following you on Twitter and probably you know millions of uh web views on wi Library TV but how did you get started in all this this job you know I'm an immigrant I wasn't born here my dad and mom are my heroes my mom raised me impeccably um she didn't still obnoxious self-esteem in me which makes me super confident but I come from zero place so I think I'm balancing that ego versus The Humble of being an immigrant uh my dad taught me great things including that which is the biggest thing that saved me because as a Storyteller you know as a marketer there's that in me and my dad was able to suck a lot of that out to give me the right balance what is that like my word is my bond absolutely yeah okay absolutely I mean and listen I have so much chaos right now I get hundreds if not thousands of emails a day tons of intake and there's things that will fall through the crack I have an assistant I have people around me so things will fall through the crack but it's always how you make good right and so like I fight fiercely for having a good Legacy well I like that because I think that's how most of small business is still done these days absolutely it's done by relationship it's done by you know handshakes and all that big business too they just don't talk about it as much right the mergers the Acquisitions the big boy stuff the big girl stuff that happens with relationship too yeah you're right you know I was flying down here ironically with a gentleman who was telling me about stuff he's done with the government guy was like 7080 years old and telling me amazing stuff and just you know it's he said it's all about relationship I said you're talking to the right kid yeah you know he's trying to preach it I'm like boy am I sold I'm like I'm a 90-year-old man and a 35y old body and he started laughing we talked um absolutely I got here because my dad built the American dream for me you know he built a small family business uh a liquor store business I was whisked into it when I was 14 I have enormous entrepreneurial chops I'm natural right I'm like an athlete what kind of sales was your family doing at that time we were a three to4 million do business at the time I got involved fulltime Just Wine Liquor and beer Shoppers Discount Liquors uh from 98 to 2005 and that's seven-year window I grew it to $45 million year business aming um and so I was very good I'm good at what I do well people want to know how you did that cuz that's did that traditionally Direct Mail radio print you know that big advertising I paid myself $27,000 a year so I could hire good people I built infrastructure and systems I collected data I did everything you have to do it's never one move it's not having a Twitter profile or a Facebook fan page it's not having a LinkedIn profile it's everything you've got to do everything I just left my biggest brand that I've ever built Wine Library TV to start daily grape because I wanted the challenge of building a subscription model and a mobile play I'm pointing to my pocket um you know I just think that um I got here I got there I'm going to Big places because there's a couple things I understand which is number one if you don't evolve if you don't play Within the reality of the marketplace you'll get run over that's a very strong message throughout the whole book in fact absolutely on page 42 I kind want to read this it's like one of my favorite uh spots in the book but there are too many businesses that are still holding back watching the social media train rush by convinced that if the destination is so great another train will come along soon enough they seem to think that it will be going more slowly and the ride will be safe and steady and they'll be able to catch up with everyone else who jumped on early they're wrong though the next train will come and it does show up it'll be going fast and full speed to some other equally exotic and unknown Place yeah I mean thanks for reading that I think that fast following is very interesting yeah and it's a skill set and as a matter of fact I actually think it's something I would be naturally good at i' I've come to the realization last six months that I'm probably not going to start the next Facebook or Twitter but it's very obvious to me very quickly when something's happening and I'm always willing to go all in and that's why I win bigger because I don't hedge you're an early adopter I'm an early adopter and more importantly I'm an early business adopter yeah I feel like a lot of the people that were early to the social media thing were very Zen we're very journalistic we're very you know I'm business I I know there's an Roi to this because I practiced things very quickly and then I talked about them you know it's funny I don't dream of the future I live in the future and then just talk about it I'm never scared the reason I always pound my chest and why I'm so focused is because I'm living it I've had the RO social media happen already yeah I've been living this every day and breathing at 247 365 for six years yeah you know this isn't new to me you know people think it's funny when I talk about Twitter or new things on stage in 2011 I was talking about this in ' 07 where people are like what you know so I act very quickly I'm an

early adopter but I try to turn into business very quickly yeah and you're talking absolutes right you're not apologetic about that I'm not it's one of the first things you say in the book I'm just I just think I'm right you know I know how obnoxious that just came off and people as I just delivered that people are like you know I just think I am I don't know what else to say and more importantly it's because I've already felt it I am not notus or Yoda I'm not predicting I'm doing and then I talk about it I just have happen to be doing it so early that it's so obvious to me yeah what does caring look like you talk a lot about caring talk about nurturing your customers taking good care of them what does caring look like what does it really you know the best part you know how you just asked me that question yeah it the answer popped to me so quickly and it feels like so right to me every customer knows every person who's watching this right now knows exactly what caring feel looks like I think the consumer's radar is much better than we've ever thought it's because now they can communicate with us and tell us you know a Super Bowl commercial runs 10 years ago and a couple people like from the agency are sitting in their house and their 10 friends who are watching it with them are like that was so funny and everybody high fives and everybody thinks it's awesome now you go to Twitter and everybody tells you it sucked yeah there's a very different world we live in today I think consumers know what's going on caring looks like to me it's not something I see it's something I feel right and it's just very obvious to me when somebody listen people do nice things for you because they're trying to get the brand Equity out of you for themselves I see it every day and then I see it when it's purely their intention for what's good for them and then I see relationships where it's good for both and I see relationships that are really Zen and they're just TR trying to do it good for you I actually prefer the one in the middle I'm not comfortable with somebody just doing what's good for me right I'm not comfortable with that yeah and I'm not comfortable with the person that's just trying to suck out my brand that's pretty rare anyway right I mean which ones the one that they're just trying to do something for you it feels you get some artistic people out there that are going there yeah but I love the middle and I love when people don't the middle yeah like yeah you brought me out here and this and that but it's good for you too and let's like let's work together I love that I hate the people and there's a lot of them the leeches they want it all for themselves and that's big businesses that's a small onep person entrepreneur yeah you know it's what's in it for them I mean it's very rare that I do business with the people that come at me like I want to do this and they're not hiding that there's some inherent value for them they don't have to make it at the Forefront I don't need somebody to come to me and say hey this is going to be awesome for me too I don't really need you to do that I think that's almost Untold amongst entrepreneurs and business people cuz you get it cuz I get it and and what I've gotten much better at is I've putting higher value on that for me and Brands need to do that businesses the customer is not right don't be scared of social media because somebody says yours place sucks you go and jump in there and debate it I mean it's all a Level Playing Field now and so caring is something I think every person here feels and in the book you talk about If This Were You know the early 20th century or early this wouldn't be anything new but because we're in this digital age and it's becoming less personal this caring about people one to one is kind of what where it's coming back around you right how expensive would it be for you to run a commercial during friends in the 1990s damn expensive yeah Millions everything's changing I mean people are even watching commercials I want the people watching this right now to think if they have a DVR or to and don't watch a single commercial all year I mean those numbers are growing they're staggering um the world is changing this is the biggest culture shift we've ever lived through and it's not social media it's the internet right the consumer internet the one that started in '95 I don't want some nerd saying actually Gary it's 195 I know I'm talking about when people started using it when AOL spammed our actual mailboxes that thing is a baby that is a 17-year-old product it's five minutes in a scheme of business it's revolutionizing everything and the abats that every business now has costs less it costs Sweat Equity it's tough to scale the values in the human but it's a culture shift a big one and it's leveling the opportunity for different businesses to do different things and the companies that understand it will survive and win and the ones that don't will lose plenty of businesses went out of business when the television age came yeah video game Market came and look at the soap opera industry going out of business why Farmville women are playing games on Facebook instead of watching One Days of Our Lives and so I just think that I'm stunned um that people don't recognize how obnoxiously big this all is I mean and it's going to be I mean I can't wait to watch this in five years and be like see because in five years from today the world's going to look totally different no YouTube no Facebook no Twitter seven years ago so Gary who's doing it well what brands are doing a good job with the thank you economy or social media in general this is tough right because this is where I think I'm doing a really bad job I know our clients are doing it well and that's like the cheesy answer I'm not spending a lot of time paying attention to other people I think some

people may view that as a Strong Weakness I view it as a strong strength I just and there's probably the right answer is probably a little bit in between I'm probably doing a little less paying attention to competitors and other brands than I should be so this question's tough I hate that I'm probably not answering it as well as I could but that's the truth yeah well you were a little bit critical of the Old Spice C was because the Old Spice campaign was a social media Campaign which doesn't exist they did this hoopla a lot of people know what happened you know they took the guy from the commercials they amassed a lot of people got a lot of followers did YouTube videos did one-on-one marketing they did listen if you read it carefully I give them a lot of credit up to the last point which that's what they did right they did almost everything right okay they created context in the character they made it one-onone they link baited Kevin Rose and Lissa Milano they went into Reddit they did almost everything right until the Big Money Shot which is that they let that Community sit there and they left them yeah they left the community and so I think that was a huge mistake um I think that you know and what to people that didn't see it they amassed tens of thousands of Twitter followers and then at replied one of them in the course of six months because they just wanted to mass them they looked at it as data collection an email newsletter collection versus connection thing that's a very nice one I haven't heard that believe it or not that often yeah that's exactly what happened it's the one night stand versus marrying somebody they one night stand their customers I think you need to marry your customers cuz I think we're all going to map and this is it anybody watching this video This Is The Moment you've been waiting for this is the only thing you need to take away we are going to map through UI and ux through ad platforms through AB testing we are going to map customer acquisition awesome the Holy Grail Facebook and technology is going to help us map why do you think Farmville and Groupon and guilt group do what they do we will map customer acquisition the battlefield going forward for all of us production companies Wine Guys business peeps is going to be retention lifetime value and the only way you do that is by giving a crap and being human the businesses that understand how to get there in a scalable way whether they're gillion dollars or $ n are going to be the ones that are relevant going forward I like that a lot of the people are watching want to know sort of want to break this down probably and understand you know you say that the Old Spice campaign was great in many ways but they fell short because they didn't respond or engage their people they were just collecting now I think on the Old Spice campaign side the brand managers might say we sold a ton of product we did great our Roi was you know through the roof better than expectations they were on coupon during that time so the bait of you know of what really helped move the product is there but they did do well they got me to buy a stick of Old Spice deodorant I did I went to CBS I saw it I was like oh it kind of all resonated you know this is branding right Impressions emotion I bought it but then and not a lot of people are going to do this and they're not worried about my business because they handled it so poorly now I don't buy it and they've lost my business forever so they did more damage than they did good I think it's a very interesting debate what I know is this they I don't believe they created any lifetime value and I don't understand how to go forward without lifetime value so then what's the lesson here for small business owners and entrepreneurs that when you invite 880,000 people into your universe and you got them there because they're excited you don't just never talk to them again and that's a everybody understands that a new restaurant that opens you don't run a bunch of ads in town everybody gets pumped you got a BigTime Chef everybody shows up and there's no employees or anybody talking to them they didn't follow through you know it every woman out there knows exactly what I'm talking about you had a great date it went awesome and he didn't call how does that feel like crap that's how those customers felt there was no engagement no relationship and in a world now that we live in which is based on Word of Mouth where because that's what Facebook and Twitter are bringing to the table it's bringing word of mouth on steroids where context is being created I like this Pizzeria I hate this burger I like this Airline I hate this hotel these impressions are being thrown at us from our friends and being indexed by the way right absolutely but more importantly when your aunt says that this place is delicious instead of an advertisement it matters more because you have a relationship with your aunt that endorsement matter matters more and these things are happening the way we do business is changing it's going to be a lot less of talking and a whole lot more of listening that's a culture shift from the way we've done business for the last 150 years and there's a lot of pain in changing into that game it's kind of like businesses have been playing basketball for the last 200 years and all of a sudden we said you know what it's now about hockey some people aren't going to translate Gary thanks so much for being here thanks for having me man lots of fun yeah it was good Gary Chu author of The thank you economy go out

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