Friday was an interesting day. New York rules. I went to a talk by Gary Vaynerchuk about branding, briefly met him, then later on saw a grown man play guitar with a dildo. Briefly met him too, although nobody could work my camera except me, apparently, so I’m not in the shot…
If you’re reading this, Gary, I was the guy who pulled out the Wine Library wrist band at the end. You leaned in for the hug and it was awkward. Sorry. I was in “business mode” and wasn’t expecting it. Lips from Anvil, I’m the guy who’s camera didn’t work and held up the photo line. If you remember that, you probably remember what you had for breakfast five years ago.
Anyway, Gary was speaking at Sunshine Suites as part of the Jelly Talks series. I’ve been to two Jelly Talks so far, and they both coincidentally happened right at a turning point in my new business venture, and both were highly inspirational. The first was with Seth Godin (also briefly met, no hug). I’ve since read* a few of his books. I like “The Dip” in particular. Its small, and to the point. Part of the reason why I actually read it.
The talk, in summary form:
We are at a unique point in history. When people compare it to other turning points, like the rise of cable TV, Gary laughs, because the shift is much more fundamental. You can start up a business in your off hours, with literally nothing but sweat equity, and everybody can take a shot. He compared it to all of us going down to a major league ball field right now, and taking a few pitches. Most people will fail miserably, but if you can actually knock out a few home runs, you’re going to get picked up. The shift isn’t that everybody gets to be a millionaire, but that everybody can get a shot (plus, you know, customers have direct feedback, that sort of thing. I didn’t take notes).
Starting a company is hard work, and will take a long time, but know when to ditch. He mentioned one thing that resonated with The Dip. Somebody asked, essentially, “what do you have to do to make it?” His response was, if I may paraphrase, you have to dive in. Forget about going out with your friends or taking trips for a while. You’re going to be working. And it doesn’t happen in 3 months. If you haven’t put in a solid, head-down year, something is probably wrong. Then, however, he tossed in that some people stick with the wrong plan, just because they’ve put all this work into it, but you need to move on after a while if it hasn’t worked out. The Dip covers this quite nicely. The “dip” is really the value generator. Especially in this information economy, that’s your barrier to entry. The period you have to push through and get past, when others threw in the towel. However, you have to recognize when the dip isn’t actually going to end, or when you just don’t have the resources to get to the other side. Then quit.
So, same concept. Thought that was interesting.
Content is at an all time low in “value” but has never been more important. I believe that was the sound bite wrap-up, word for word. If you want to get your brand out there, write good content. Blog about what you’re doing, and what you’re passionate about. ”Micro-blogging” is a joke. You need real content. Also, comment on other blogs and sites, but in a constructive, non-spammy way. Get yourself out there.
The written word is much better than video as far as getting your content out. Video is harder to pull off.
Companies will start sponsoring and producing content directly, as opposed to advertising indirectly. This is the only part I seriously disagree with. The argument is that because there’s such a strong spotlight on everybody now with twitter, facebook, etc, that companies won’t be able to be dishonest about what they’re putting out there. They’ll get “called out”.
I get it, and I think it’ll catch on in the short term, but won’t really “stick”, at least not in that obvious of a manner. Its seductive in part because it might save money, but I think a company would really like it because they want to control the message. However, that’s where it falls apart. You’d have to be pretty naive to think Apple would produce a tech news site where they’d pan their own products. That would NEVER happen. Its like saying “I’m a perfectionist” is your only weakness on an interview. Apple would never say, “well, the Ipad is great, but on the HP slate you can have multiple apps at once and install whatever you want. That’s pretty sweet!”
Gary did a great job with Winelibrary TV. He had to convince people that his reviews were honest, and in general I think he’s done that. I started watching early on, like somewhere in the mid-100’s. At first I assumed he was just trying to move product, but he regularly pans stuff he sells. We may not like the same thing, but I don’t feel like he’s trying to push anything in particular. It takes a lot to build that trust, though. The luxury and the will to take a potential sales hit in the short term to build trust in the long, and that’s for a retailer. I can’t imagine any company PRODUCING a product would do that that (technically, Gary has a wine, but I would assume its barely a blip on his sales radar. There’s a bottle in my stash).
For example, in the tech gadget world. I generally trust reviews on Amazon and Newegg, but not on Best Buy. They’re all user contributed reviews, but I suspect the stuff on Best Buy’s site is heavily edited. Why? Because the in-store experience is a joke. If you ask a question, you will ALWAYS get an answer, even if the sales person has no idea what they’re talking about. I actually call that a “Best Buy answer” when it happens in other contexts. Trust is not automatic, and difficult to get back once lost. As much as the media landscape may change, that’s a human constant.
GV mentioned a blogger who got sponsored by a major company (details fuzzy). However, I point to the recent FTC decision that bloggers must reveal they’re paid to blog. Say I had a rabid following on my knitting blog. If I start pushing a certain brand of yarn and they just happened to be paying me, does everybody really think that yarn is the best out there? I doubt it.
Anyway, enough about that. You get it. Gary thinks companies will have more direct control over the message. I think they’ll control it like they always have: indirectly, though advertising cash. But what do I know, really? I suspect GV gets more calls on branding advice. I have his wristband, you may recall.
I was going to tie the branding discussion back to Anvil and my band, but that’ll wait for another day.
Anyway, back to the “inspiration” I mentioned. I promise to “get my message out there”. I will swing for the fences, because you can’t get a home run if you don’t. Back to the first Jelly Talks, I promise to do more releasing than trying to make things perfect. Also, I promise to write more blog posts, but spend less time doing each, because this one took forever and I need to get back to work.
* I am a lazy reader, especially businessy books. I get a couple chapters in, then sort of skim a couple more, then regularly put the book in a bag for when I’m traveling or on the subway. I usually wind up playing games on my phone, though.
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