Posterous is a new service that lets you by emailing a specific posterous.com address from your email account. In doing so, posterous grabs the content in the email and posts it where you ask — either on facebook, twitter, your blog, etc… Well, it's time to see how it works.
What do you think? Is this fanning business getting out of hand?
For 57 grueling pages, Sam pushed Green Eggs and Ham. For 57 pages, Sam got nothing but no thanks. But every new attempt came with a smile. Sam never showed an ounce of frustration.
I know that in the eyes of social media, Sam was pushy to point of annoyance. If the book would be written with Inbound Marketing in mind, I suspect Sam would be creating remarkable content to attract a trial and conversion, but we have what we have.
For those of us who know and understand what social media can deliver for its adopters should feel assured we’ve got something really special on our plate. We also have to realize that for some folks, that offering may still seem a little odd or scary, but that’s okay.
Convincing the curmudgeon — as Sam did (and as Charlene Li referred to it in this presentation delivered at Inbound Marketing Summit, San Francisco) — is only one part of the battle. The other part is keeping your chin up throughout the process, learning everything we can every day. The deeper the knowledge and the deeper our understanding, the more likely we are to convince people to just sit down with us and have a taste — no force feeding necessary.
During a loud Tallahassee storm today, I decided to stop in at Ace Hardware in Killearn for a flashlight — you know, just in case the lightning struck just right.
Walking to the front door, I noticed the inside of the store was dark. It didn’t occur to me that just moments earlier, the lightning had struck just right at Ace. It looked as though they were closed, but I pulled handle anyway. The door swung open.
“Welcome to Ace!” came a woman’s voice from the register.
Honestly, it scared the crap out of me.
“Come on in. What do you need?”
“Actually, I need a flashlight.”
She laughed, and, almost as if on cue, out from the shadows came a man walking toward me with his own flashlight. He said, “Flashlights? Follow me.”
He led my to the back of the store and asked that I watch my step. The whole way, he pointed the flashlight right in front of my feet so I could actually watch each step. When we got to the flashlight display, he pointed here and there with the light, described some options, and recommended the black Mag-Lite over their own store brand. I said sure.
He grabbed the flashlight and a two-pack of C batteries: “You’re gonna need these too.” Then he pulled out a pad of paper and wrote down the stock number on both items. He led me back to the front of the store where he handed the woman behind the counter the ticket. She proceeded to write out an invoice — get this, with a pen! Knowing there was no power, I would have pulled out cash, but all I had was plastic. I handed her my debit card and she went to a drawer and pulled out the ancient shunk-shunk credit card imprint thingy.
She shunk-shunked the thingy, handed me my card, and I signed the receipt and left.
They never once mentioned the lights.
Refreshing to have an experience like this when the usual response would have been, “Sorry, sir. Can you come back later? Power’s out.” Had she said that to begin with, I would have accepted it and done just that. Now Ace Hardware has spoiled me.
Thanks to the gang at Ace Hardware Killearn. My flashlight’s ON — in your honor.
I may be missing some essential piece of information, but I still don’t understand why you’re writing a book on crushing it — or why your agent(s) even considered it a good idea. I, for one, don’t want to read Gary Vaynerchuk.
I love your passionate physicality — your volume, your mannerisms, the way you put THUNDER into every word and comma (and maybe I’ve even got a man crush on you), but the stuff that makes you you — your DNA, your brand — is not two-dimensional. No matter how much ink you use, I’m betting this kind of thunder won’t show up on the page. Think about it dude: you’d need a second book just to hold all the exclamation points.
Why aren’t you putting out a DVD, or a series of ‘em? Somehow re-inventing the medium? I’d pay for the DVD. I’d even pre-pay for a series. But a book? Maybe I’ll buy, maybe I won’t — but I’ll definitely have to wait for the reviews.
I’ve got nothing but respect and admiration for everything you’ve done and everything you do, Gary. I wish you all the luck in the world with the book, and I’m pretty sure it will crush. With a video though, you wouldn’t need any luck. After all, you’re Gary f*ckin’ Vaynerchuk!!!!!!!!!!
photo credit: theleetgeeks
Every email is not important and urgent.
The same with every phone call and voice mail.
Do you have to do every part of every project yourself? Or can you delegate?
Are you spending too much time on stuff that’s neither urgent or important? Like worrying about things you don’t have any control over? Or making mountain ranges out of mole hills?
In this era of 24 hour connectedness, time-management isn’t what’s needed. It’s you-management. The more the clock ticks and tocks, I sense it’s not about attacking a to-do list but about writing out a want-to-do list, and figuring out how to delegate or spread out the to-do list so that the want-to-do list gets done.
After all, spending more time on the things you want you to do versus the things other people want you to do is way more important. Those are the things re-fuel, energize us, and keep us going. Most importantly, they allow us to give more to the people who count on us.
So, how’s today looking?
After a routine checkup, my regular dentist recommended I visit a periodontist — “the best” in Tallahassee — who could address my receding gum line, a procedure that shouldn’t be more than $1,000-$1,500.
After my visit a few weeks later, I was presented with an estimate of over $6,000. They pushed me to schedule before leaving the office. They offered me credit plan and “easy” payment options. But the real kicker came yesterday, when the periodontist’s receptionist left a voice mail offering me a “ten percent discount off the top” if I took advantage of one of the open time slots they had available next week.
I felt a little ill. I immediately thought of The Simpson’s discount medic, Dr. Nick Riviera.
Is this what it’s come down to? How does any medical practitioner think this is a good idea? On any level? Is this part of an overall marketing strategy? Why not offer a fair price to begin with? What’s next? Cash back if you bleed less on the ER floor? Group discounts if more than one person is injured at a time?
This is one area where I don’t want discounts. I want a fair price to begin with and an honest interaction from beginning to end. For a periodontist with very good ratings, I expected a little more thoughtfulness.
The only comfort in grey is imagined.
Grey is a state of mind — a nebulous mass of indecisiveness. Grey is a maybe. Grey is nothing but an excuse. Grey says it’s okay to straddle the fence, delay the decision, and avoid a position. Grey keeps you average and impedes greatness.
Yes, grey exists, and it’s good to be able to perceive and understand it, but living grey is a whole other matter.
Be black. Be white. Be whatever color you want to be. But make it solid. And f* grey.
After two days of Inbound Marketing Summit San Francisco, I called the twitter offices to see if I could stop in and say hi. Though there was no answer, I stopped in anyway. The door was locked, but I got the attention of a woman who opened it cautiously, asked me to identify myself, and let me in. She stopped me in the lobby and asked me nicely to wait there.
Seconds later, another woman appeared who told me — also very nicely — that they have a policy not to let people in without an appointment. She mentioned that about 80 people stop in every day just to say hi, which is why they made “no entry” a policy. (Apparently I wasn’t even supposed to be inside.)
Although I completely understand that the nature of their work is of a secretive nature, there’s something fundamentally wrong for a company who’s raison d’être is human connection to instate such a policy.
Seriously, twitter, if you’re getting that many people who want to just come say hi, do something so that the people who love you actually can. We all love you, but that’s a ridiculous policy. Perhaps next time I’ll bring some cupcakes and wear a wig:
So your full page print ad is running this morning’s USA Today. You spent $189,400 for the privilege — hoping people will care. We don’t. We’re too busy not caring.
We’re making coffee. Checking email. Writing a blog post. Avoiding the swine flu.
Reaching consumers is no longer a matter of reach and frequency and CPM. Frankly, it’s not even a matter of reaching them, it’s about pulling them in — by creating smart, unique content that points them to their own little peephole. If you’ve done it right, they’ll look inside and open the door. Whenever they’re good and ready.
The cost to you? Strategy, passion, and effort.
Thoughts? Opinions? Love to hear ‘em.
