Gary Vaynerchuk's crystal ball trumps your Magic 8 ball

"As we all go Jetsons, the $h!t that's going to matter is Flintstones." These are the colorful and candid words of Gary Vaynerchuk, author and marketer, as he talks about living in a high-tech world at a time when businesses are striving to become more human than ever. Gary is a guy who gets it and shows you how you can get it, too.

I had the pleasure of seeing Gary speak this week at an event produced by my favorite networking group, LinkedOC (thank you to the amazing Bryan Elliott for producing another stellar evening!). I've read Gary's best-seller Crush It and I've seen his online rants, but seeing him in person was so much better than I ever expected. Some people are just more vivid in the flesh, so if Gary comes to your city to promote his new book The Thank You Economy, I highly recommend you go see him!

For those who aren't familiar with Gary, in short he's a business dynamo. A lifelong entrepreneur who has marketing in his DNA, Gary grew the family business from $4 million to $60 million because he's just one of those kind of guys. You know, the kind who like to make the impossible possible (learn more about Gary HERE).

Whether you know of Gary or not, he makes you think of things in a new way. Here are some of my favorite takeaways from his LinkedOC appearance that you might find useful as you grow your business or ponder your marketing techniques:
People draw lines in the sand that they swear they'll never cross, but they do
Remember way back when you first got on the internet and a website wanted your credit card number? How about when grocery stores wanted your address and phone number to sign up for a loyalty card? Initially, many of us swore we'd never give up that kind of private information to a stranger, but now all of us do.

The internet is word of mouth on steroids
Think of the things you write on your Facebook wall or some of the things you tweet. Would you ever pick up the phone to call someone and say, "Mmmm.Pinkberry yogurt is soooo yummy!"? Me thinks the answer is no. Word of mouth (powered by the web) is more effective than any overpriced Super Bowl ad. That's just fact.

The future is all about gamification
Are you slow to embrace geo location tools such as Foursquare and Gowalla? These platforms also have gaming features that can provide discounts to users. Gary predicts that there may come a time when your state or local government utilizes these sites to encourage patronage of government run attractions. Check in at five places such as the local museum, state park or dam, or other such location and get a $1,000 credit on your taxes! What an interesting way to stimulate the economy and support your city or state, eh?

Just because someone's right out of college, doesn't mean they know squat about social media
Businesses tend to think if they hire a 21-year-old straight out of school that they're the best candidate to run the company's Facebook or Twitter page. Heck, that generation knows social media, right? No! As Gary says, that fresh-faced graduate has only been scouring his Facebook feed looking for girls in bikinis. He/she doesn't know how to convert those fans or followers into actual customers. You have to know something about business to do that. Crazy revelation, huh?

Planning for today is great. Prepping for tomorrow is better. But, being able to look five or ten years down the road and know what's coming is what separates the average from the extraordinary. Gary is one of those folks who can look at the facts and see something you and I don't: the future.

If you have the opportunity to see him on his book tour, it's worth the price of admission. Tell him Amber sent you. I think he'll appreciate the good old-fashioned word of mouth referral...

13 comments:

  1.  Amber, enjoyed your recap of the evening. You picked a lot of the points that stuck out for me as well. Gary packed a lot into his brief rant and his energy was contagious. I love how you turn this post around the same evening! 

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  2.  Great meeting you last night Amber. And this post is great, you nailed the main points --and so quickly!-- What I love about Gary's talks is exactly what he pointed out yesterday... this isn't "new" guys. This is all basic and really, the same ol' sh*t just with different technology, and it just happens to be a lot more disruptive than it has ever been before. 

    Look forward to talking with you some more soon.

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  3. Hey, there's Mitch! - I agree, his message and energy is just contagious, and Amber... wow, this post is great, well written, and she put it out so quickly. 

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  4. This was a great recap of the event!  

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  5. Thanks, Mitch. Gary had so many good points, so I picked the ones that resonated with me most. The in-person Gary was more than I ever anticipated!

    Thanks so much for reading and commenting, Mitch. Good to see you at the event!

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  6. Very true, Oscar. All old school stuff with a tech twist. Who would have thought your grandparents way of thinking would be cool again?

    Be human, care about people, offer great service to your customers, and care! Now, that's a 21st century I can get behind ;-)

    Thanks so much for stopping by and weighing in, Oscar! You are so "not a grouch"!

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  7. Thanks, Cassie! Gary had so many wonderful points. It was a challenge not to just post a transcript of his presentation ;-)

     

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  8. Thanks Amber for a terrific and comprehensive blog post that I discovered just as I finished my own shorter version!  Hope to catch you at the next event and please check out some pics from this very special evening at http://www.flickr.com/photos/niklasmyhr

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  9. Thanks for stopping by, Niklas! Gary had so much info jam-packed into that hour that we could ALL write a blog post and touch on completely different things. Crazy!

    Great photos, too. Thanks for sharing them :-)

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  10. Amber this is a great recap. Sorry I didn't meet you in person last night (I was two rows directly behind you). I appreciate your post. 

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  11. Thank you, Denise! I'm sorry we didn't meet, either.

    Gary had so much great content, I just tried to concentrate on what resonated with me most. He was a dynamo!

    Hope we can meet at the next event, Denise! And, thanks so much for the comment ;-)

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  12.  Great meeting you last night Amber. And this post is great, you nailed the main points --and so quickly!-- What I love about Gary's talks is exactly what he pointed out yesterday... this isn't "new" guys. This is all basic and really, the same ol' sh*t just with different technology, and it just happens to be a lot more disruptive than it has ever been before. 

    Look forward to talking with you some more soon.

    ReplyDelete

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