In the past, it was very difficult for businesses (and individuals for that matter) to address criticism or feedback from the masses. With social media it’s easier than ever, and you need to take advantage of the opportunity. Look at what Dominoes Pizza is doing. It’s very impressive that they are willing to interact with their customers on a one on one basis. The new social media offers this opportunity, but far too few major companies are taking advantage of this. Think about how you can interact with individuals within your community?and you will always be ahead of the curve.

Notable quotes from the final?chapters:

• If you see falsehood, you can correct it. If you see praise, you can show appreciation. If you see confusion, you can inform.
• We’re all in the public eye now.
• Think through the consequences of every business decision you make before you actually make it.
• No matter how big you get, every email, every customer, every friend, every single person with whom you come into contact matters and deserves respect and attention.

This concludes the discussion of Crush It! It’s an excellent book and worth the read so check your local library or purchase using my shameless link.

Advertisers are always looking for ways to effectively market their products, and you have been building an enthusiastic community around your specific subject. You’re practically doing them a favor! Most people immediately flock to Google AdSense, which displays targeted advertisements on your webpage, rss feed, etc. You can certainly make some money using this, but it really doesn’t pay very well, and it can make your website look cheap. I think we can all agree that making your website look like a NASCAR driver is probably not in the best interest of your online community, so moving on…

One of the methods Vaynerchuk suggests is placing classy banner ads on your site. See this link?for an example of how to do this. You can also try cold calling companies to see if they are interested in buying adspace on your website. Sounds ridiculous? It’s not. Go to and search for your subject. See which advertisers are using Google AdSense for ads to be posted on these websites, and take note. Call these guys up, and see if they will spend money with you. Think about it, they’re already paying for Google AdSense, so they believe in advertising online. By sponsoring your page directly they will not get lost in the clutter like they would with AdSense, and you won’t look like a NASCAR driver.

One note about advertising, you should only advertise companies and products that you yourself endorse. Don’t put something on your site that you don’t believe in.

Speaking engagements

Come up with an interesting topic, then call a show or conference organizer and offer to give a free talk about your topic. This will give you a chance to discuss something you love, build some credibility, and to do so in front of an interested audience. This could eventually lead to money: You could be paid next time you offer to speak, or even better, your discussion could lead to new clients or opportunities.

Affiliate programs

Affiliate programs allow you to get a commission on products sold through links on your website. For example, if you are interested in purchasing the book I’m discussing, click this link… Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion?and I’ll get a small cut. Cool, huh? One way to go about doing this is to simply do a google search for affiliate programs; there are tons of them out there. Vaynerchuk suggests Commission Junction and Amazon. Also, don’t overlook local businesses, there could be some good money and opportunities for you there as well.

As with advertising, remember that all of the products that you link to should be relevant to your subject / topics, and should be something that you yourself endorse.

Retail

Vaynerchuk suggests that you can create a product or a service that is related to your business. One site that I’ve seen do this effectively is Open Source Marketer, which is also an excellent resource for you evil marketers out there. You could also design T-shirts promoting your site. If your community is big enough this could be profitable in the short term, and more importantly it can help promote your website to the masses.

Articles

You are an expert in your chosen subject, right? You can contribute articles to online and print magazines, and even other blogs. You’ll see some of my posts re-posted on vcplan – The Path?to Success?(you may even be reading the re-post) which is an excellent resource for entrepreneurs looking for venture capital investment. I don’t get paid for this, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t. At the worst, at least you are getting your name out there in your community.

Seminars

If your subject lends itself to how-to type of stuff, then put together an event, conference, webinar, etc.

Books and TV

Your blog and community building efforts could lead to book or television deals. Hey, it worked for Vaynerchuk. I wouldn’t?be reading his book if it didn’t.

Consulting

As my boys at Marvel Comics say, ‘Nuff said.

Notable quotes from this chapter:

• Be patient. In time, if you continue to hustle, you’ll grow your presence and improve your skills to the point where the fish – really, really big fish – will be jumping straight into your hands.
• Anything is better than zero.

If you know of any other opportunities, or have any other links, post in the comments, or email me at edwardviator [at] evil-marketer [dot] com

1. Buy your domain name, preferably firstnamelastname.com When you sign up for Twitter, Facebook, etc, use this domain name (ex: )www.facebook.com/edward.viator
2. Start a Wordpress or Tumblr account and host your domain on it.
3. Hire a web designer to make sure your user interface is excellent. If you can’t afford one, get started anyway, but know that you should hire a designer in the future (as you can see, I can’t afford one yet).
4. If you’re doing video, buy a $150 Flip camera.
5. Create a Facebook fan page.
6. Open a Twitter account with your domain name.
7. If you’re doing video open a Tube Mogul account; if written word, sign up for Ping.fm.
8. Create content and lots of it. Use personal anecdotes and let your personality shine.
9. Tweet or post your content using Ping or Tube Mogul.
10. Go to search.twitter and start searching for subjects relevant to your blog. Start following many of these.
11. Go to blogsearch.google.com and search for blogs similar to yours. Comment and leave your name which should be linked to your webpage.
12. Search Facebook for pages that relate to your topic. Join the active ones. Do the same for groups.
13. Repeat 5, 8-12.

If you want to be successful, you’re going to need to focus on step 13. In other words, constantly create new content and reach out to the community online. If you’re going to need to focus on step 13. In other words, constantly create new content and reach out to the community online. If you’re content is great, you will get results eventually. Just remember, you should try to wait as long as possible to monetize your brand. Once you monetize, Vaynerchuk suggests that it is difficult to focus on content, so early on you should focus on building the community.

Notable quotes from this chapter:

• Don’t forget to include a list of all of your social network links on your e-mail signature, letterhead, and business cards.
• Make sure you have a big fat button on your site that says Want to Do Business with Me? or something along those lines.

There are many profound statements in Gary Vaynerchuk’s book Crush It!, but one in particular had me jumping up and down like a maniac (okay, maybe I should lay off the Jack Daniel’s when I’m reading… nah). In his 9th chapter, The Best Marketing Strategy Ever, Vaynerchuk breaks it down for us in the most simple and direct way I’ve ever seen it explained. In his words… care.

That’s it! And you know what, he’s dead right. I’ve worked for many different companies (both as an employee and as a consultant), and this is the one ingredient I’ve seen missing all too often. Many times people care about the wrong things… short term sales, their own jobs, etc. As a marketer you should care about these things, especially about being profitable, but more importantly you should care about your product, your customers, your brand, your industry, and your fellow employees. Look at the most successful people in the world, from business people to pro athletes, and you’ll see this quality in every single one of them. They love what they do, strive to be the best, and do what they can to elevate their chosen cause. Why should it be any different for you? If you put 100% into what you do how can you possibly fail? This goes back to what I’ve been saying in previous posts. Be authentic. If you genuinely care and communicate in an authentic way, then you will have no problem monetizing your brand.

I’ve been involved with companies that only care about profits, and you know what? They don’t last too long. I’ve seen people go from caring about their industry and their customers to caring only about profits and losing jobs. It’s a deathstroke for business, and kills any kind of forward momentum. Why does this happen? Because people at the top level dictate the culture of a company, and when all they care about are the wrong things, guess what? It trickles down to everyone in the company. If you are a business owner, don’t let this happen. Set a good example and care about the right things.

So how does all this apply to building your personal brand? It goes back to everything we discussed before. If you are truly passionate about what you are doing, then it will come naturally. Just keep it in mind the next time you have a tough decision to make. In these trying economic times, it’s easy to get sidetracked into focusing only on profits. If you do a good job at building your brand, the money will come eventually, maybe even sooner than you think. If you communicate your passion in an authentic way, you will most definitely be on your way to building a strong brand with passionate customers.

What do you think? Comment below or email me at edwardviator [at] evil-marketer [dot] com

In my opinion, alot of marketing I see is very phoney. I think that people today are more media savvy than ever before, and they are also aware of how fake marketing efforts by major brands has become. We live in an age where prepared PR statements are a way of life (see my blog for a list of some of my favorites). I’m not fooled by them, and I don’t think anyone else is either. People value authenticity. It’s why?we go online and seek out consumer opinions. By building a community around your brand (personal and as a business), you won’t have to sound your own horn, your community will do that for you.

So how can you build this magical community? Through alot of hard work and time. The basic idea is that you should create your content and distribute it (see previous post for details), then start looking at and commenting on other people’s content. You should make the most of every interaction, stay on topic, and be yourself. Resist the urge to post things for the sake of posting them, and instead only post when you have something of value to share. You should follow people on Twitter, or sign up for some pages on Facebook. Basically, you need to get involved. You can’t just post content and hope that people show up.

When people visit your site, they will be hooked on your outstanding content (you do have outstanding content right?). You also need to make the most out of those call to action buttons (subscribe, follow-me, share, etc).

Next we will discuss the best marketing strategy ever, and you won’t want to miss it.

Notable quotes from these chapters:

• Being authentic and being perceived as such by your audience relies on your ability to ensure that every decision you make when it comes to your business is rooted in being true to yourself.
• Creating community is about starting conversations.

Wordpress and Tumblr:

All other platforms you use should lead here to your blog. It should be your headquarters. Wordpress is an excellent service, and incorporates many features. It can be challenging to master, but can pay off in a big way. Tumblr is an alternative to Wordpress that is very easy to use and while lacking some of Wordpress’ bells and whistles, succeeds in getting the job done. Personally I recommend Tumblr (this is what I use), especially for the person with a $0 budget, for one big reason. They will host your domain for free. Awesome I know.

Regardless of which blog platform you choose, you should always take advantage of the call to action buttons (Like that button on the right that says Share). Having this type of button on your page can be an excellent way to build some word of mouth.

Facebook:

I love Facebook. It’s an excellent way to share all types of information, photographs, news articles, videos, etc with your friends and contacts. You can set up a personal profile for yourself, as well as a fan page (like my favorite local comic shop Keith’s Comics… http://www.facebook.com//keithscomics). The advantage of using a fan page is that you can have an infinite number of fans (there’s a 5,000 person limit on your profile). Also, it’s?an excellent non-intrusive way to get your messages out to your customers (as opposed to spaming them with emails).

Twitter:

I’ll admit, I’m a bit puzzled when it comes to Twitter, but after reading Vaynerchuk’s book I’m definitely reconsidering using it. Basically you can use Twitter to put out content, and follow other people’s content. Most importantly, it allows you to start conversations with people. As with other social media platforms, Twitter can be used effectively to lure people to your blog… assuming your blog is relevant and interesting to your followers. Vaynerchuk suggests the following website (www.chrisbrogan.com/50-ideas-on-using-twitter-for-business), and I agree. It is an excellent resource for those interested in using Twitter to effectively market a business (or your personal brand).

Flickr:

Flickr is a picture hosting site that can be used to either post pictures that lead back to your blog, or you can post intriguing comments on other people’s pictures that will lead back to your blog. Just remember, if you are posting comments, you should stay relevant and tasteful; don’t just post something for the sake of posting it.

Youtube and/or Viddler:

Youtube is one of my favorite time-wasting websites. I use it all the time to search for music concerts, classic boxing matches, video game playthroughs, and tons of other fun content. It’s such a huge site that it’s very easy to get lost among all the other people out there doing the same thing that you’re doing. Viddler is a smaller site, and you can even put your logo at the bottom of your videos (instead of having a Youtube logo on it). Viddler also allows you to earmark specific segments of your video which works well for someone posting reviews and such. If video is your thing, there’s no reason to not use both.

Ustream.tv:

Ustream.tv is a live video program that includes chat functions. Vaynerchuk suggests that it is excellent for radio shows or a home shopping network style show. I haven’t tried it myself, but if you’ve had success with it, I’d love to hear your story (email me at EdwardViator [at] evil-marketer [dot] com).

Everyone is starting to use these sites, but don’t let that discourage you. As long as you do things your way in your style, you will be able to differentiate yourself with no problem.

In addition to these sites, you should look into using www.ping.fm which allows you to post small updates on a bunch of sites (like facebook and twitter) all at once, and www.tubemogul.com?which essentially does the same thing, but for video content. Tube Mogul is also excellent for analytics (as is google analytics). Vaynerchuk recommends www.somewhatfrank.com/2008/12/social-media-my.html for a full list of social media tools.

Notable quotes from this chapter:

• The difference between promoting your brand via traditional marketing and advertising mediums and doing it via social networking platforms is like the difference between sending a message by pony express and chatting on instant messenger.
• Twitter is perhaps the most powerful brand-building tool in your tool box.
• The best business tweet of all time… What can I do for you?
• It’s not about?how many viewers you have, it’s about how passionate they are.

According to Gary Vaynerchuk, you should quit if you can’t answer yes to the following questions:

1. Are you happy with your present job?
2. Do you work for a company that allows you to have a public persona?
3. If you’re not allowed to develop a personal persona at work, are you allowed to do so in your personal time?

In today’s tough economy, it is probably unwise to quit your job outright. However, Vaynerchuk makes a good argument. If you are not able to build your own personal brand, you will be left in the dust, and should at least start preparing your resume. Chances are, there’s a better job out there for you, one that will enable you to prepare for your own future success as well as the company’s.

What do you think? When is it appropriate to quit your job? Let me know at edwardviator [at] evil-marketer [dot] com

Notable quotes from this chapter:

?

I can definitely relate to some of what he says in this chapter. I remember my dad working two jobs so that me and my brother could go to the best schools. I’m sure that he wasn’t passionate about loading goods into eighteen wheelers all day (his true passion has always been baseball), but he endured the back-breaking labor because he valued education, a passion that quickly became my own. You should look to your own past and find out what drives you to success. Do some soul searching and find out what you are passionate about.

Notable quotes from this chapter:

• Storytelling is by far the most underrated skill in business.

What are you passionate about. Let me know at EdwardViator [at] evil-marketer [dot] com