Straight Talk Blog
Ted Rubin
Better Products, Better Marketing… Better Listen
Thanks to the continual evolution of social media, we have a growing set of useful tools for gathering feedback about our brand and products. Online branded communities, for example, have become increasingly valuable meeting spaces where community members and brand...
What’s Marketing’s Future Role in Stimulating Need?
I have a real problem with this question I get asked often… “So, what is our future role in stimulating need?” I realize that a great deal of the marketing world focuses on “stimulating need” rather than fulling needs, solving problems, providing solutions, and making...
Paying (Closer) Attention to Communication
Were you born before the digital age? Do you remember what it was like to get actual letters in the mail from family, friends and colleagues? If you are lucky enough to be born “back then,” when communication was slower and simpler—when picking up the telephone was...
Never Give Up on Your Daughters
Today on the Dads With Daughters Podcast we have Photofy CMO, leading Social Marketing Strategist, Author, Speaker, Provocateur Ted Rubin. "A big thank you to Christopher Lewis for including me in the amazing Dad communities he has empowered and nurtured." ~Ted Rubin...
Consumers Are Loyal to Experience, Not Brands
Reminder for retailers and brands. It’s not just the brand, product or price, it’s the experience. Think about your favorite song or artist and consider why it’s your favorite. Do you remember when you first heard it? Does it transport you back to a certain time in...
Look Beyond the Cliché of “Influence”
Okay marketers, it's time to get something straight... when you buy into influencer marketing, what are you really buying? Media. Influencer marketing is really just another form of media, but can be a much more effective form in my opinion… if done with forethought....
Engaging Influencers
The biggest mistake brands make when trying to engage influencers is not first trying to understand who they are and what they stand for. They think it is all about the money, and simply the numbers and reach. I write a lot about Looking People in the Eye Digitally…...
UBS Advisor Podcasts: @MpSlater and Ted Rubin talk Return on Relationship
"Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain" - a quote Ted Rubin does his best to live his life by. I am Mitch Slater and Ted is my guest this week on my UBS Advisor Podcast, #financiallyspeaking. Ted is truly a legend in...
Why Marketers Should Add Employee CREATED Content, #ECC, to Their Marketing Mix
If you Google ‘Employee Created Content' the search engine will change your search to ‘Employee Generated Content’ as the idea of employee “created” content hasn’t entered the collective mindset of its algorithms. Yet. Employee Created Content (#ECC) is a largely...
Digital Marketing Dive Podcast: Special edition with Ted Rubin ~via @BigHeadDM
Originally posted at Big Head Digital Media
Want Diverse Ideas? Time to Fix Brainstorming
Inclusion of diverse marketing ideas starts early in the process when we brainstorm – avoid the groupthink, include the right people and listen… Brainstorming is a great concept that occasionally becomes twisted when a few members of your strategy sessions, and/or one...
If You Value Connection… Create and Share Content!
We’ve all heard that Content is King, and over the years, I’m sure you have heard a zillion sermons on the power of creating business content. This isn’t one of those sermons that promises, “If you post it, they will come and buy your stuff.” However, I don’t post a...
Tips and Ideas to Scale Your Content Creation
Everyone struggles with generating content. We know it’s a constant process and unless you’re invested enough, you’ll have a hard time maintaining quality and consistent frequency in your posts. So what’s the best way to scale up your content creation? We, at...
Make This Year a “Social” Thanksgiving… “OK, now do it”
Thanksgiving, the time when we give thanks not just FOR, but TO those who have been an important part of our lives... not the only time I hope, but certainly an "official" time. I feel the need to once again propose we all try a Social Thanksgiving – one where we...
Want To Keep Your Customer Experience and Marketing Focused… Beware Automation
What’s the key to an unwavering customer experience and marketing focus? – keep the customer front and center, avoid unnecessary automation and ditch the not-ready-for-prime-time bots. There are plenty of marketing and customer service tools that promise more than...
Good ‘Influencer’ Marketing and Measurement
Something John Andrews and I learned early on, him while at Walmart and me at e.l.f. Cosmetics is that when it comes to content marketing, influencing someone means you are speaking to their personal interests and specific needs and engaging that person enough...
Employee Created Content (#ECC) vs. Employee Generated Content
Employee Created Content #ECC is a fast-growing trend in modern marketing, and brands who embrace it over dated control-focused employee policies around their online presence will be positioned to speed ahead of competition. Many companies are looking at how they can...
Ted Rubin on Social Media Success and Programmatic Advertising ~via @tech_funnel
In this interview, Ted shares why many of us get so distracted on social media that we forget about making genuine human connection and relationships and what we can do about it. He also discusses programmatic and the critical things advertisers need to know when...
True Engagement Should Never be Overwhelming
Coming over a little needy? It’s time your marketing stopped overwhelming the audience on every channel and touchpoint with stories about you, your product and brand, and instead focused on them and their needs. What is engagement? Many brands have one simple answer:...
Who Made You the Arbiter of What Does and Does Not Belong on LinkedIn?
LinkedIn Response, When Someone Tells You What You Should and Should Not Post… First of all… curious who made you the arbiter of what does and does not belong on LinkedIn? Second… LinkedIn is a “social” network, and a place for conversation that the person posting...
Start Thinking More Like a Customer and Less Like a Marketer
We are all consumers, so why do we find it so easy to forget what ticks us off as consumers when we design our marketing? Here is some straightforward advice. Given the choice between developing a marketing idea that dazzles fellow marketers but falls flat with...
ROSH HASHANAH… May you be Inscribed in the “Book of Life” for a Good Year!
Rosh Hashanah (Hebrew: רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה), literally meaning the “beginning (also head) [of] the year” is the Jewish New Year. It marks the beginning of the year, according to the teachings of Judaism, clearly a time for reflection and hope. And right now "hope" for a...
Too Many Marketing Tools Create Sloppy Work, and Too Few Brands Seem to Care
Telling it straight on the impact marketing automation tools are having on marketing and highlighting a couple of examples that have caught my eye. There are plenty of marketing tools that promise more than they can deliver. That’s always been the case. But when the...
Why Employees Need to Be Empowered to Stop and Think
We live in a culture where the simple act of distraction free thinking has become alien, day dreaming has been replaced with scrolling through a feed on our smart phones and the office is a place for the hustle, not to think – I believe we are missing a trick. Try...
BYOD Retail Marketing
Engaging Employees to Create Scale, Engagement and Localization. Could there possibly be a better influencer to promote your business than your employees? There is simply no one that knows your business, you customers, and most importantly your local market better...
Is Amazon the Next Generation of Walmart?
I made a statement recently that I believe Amazon is the next generation of Walmart, and I was asked if I see any downside with that. I don’t really see a lot of downside here, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be any. Time will tell how this shakes out, but I don’t...
Why it’s Time to Change the Conversation from “Targeting” to “Matchmaking”
Why matching your product or service with the consumer will always be more effective than hunting your audience like prey. Targeted ads, targeted content, target demographics… We see the word ‘target’ used again and again in marketing. It’s as common as any of a...
Make Your Advertising a Part of the Customer Experience
Is there a disconnect between your advertising and your customer experience? Let's breaks down the importance of bringing the two together. From a consumer perspective, there are few things more frustrating than seeing an ad for a product that you may really want, but...
Six Steps to Keeping it Real with Ted Rubin
Every month in the Rockstar CMO Green Room, Ian Truscott, Editor In Chief, chats with his regular Rockstars and gets their take on a topic. This month, he discussed all that is fake in our industry, asking for their advice on how marketers can avoid getting caught up...
Respect the Grind Podcast featuring Ted Rubin
Transcript from the show: Stefan Aarnio: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the show Respect the Grind with Stefan Aarnio. This is a show where we interview people who’ve achieved mastery and freedom through discipline. We interview entrepreneurs, athletes, authors,...