Straight Talk Blog
Ted Rubin
Ears Open, Eyes on the Prize: Why Social Listening Requires Action
The person who came up with the concept of “social listening” probably didn't intend for the name to be ironic, but here we are. So many brands treat social listening as little more than another item on the analytics checklist. They look at the numbers, check out the...
Best Ways To Improve Your Digital And Social Presence ~via @MagnificentMktg
Ted Rubin is a leading social marketing strategist, acting CMO of Brand Innovators, and co-founder of the recently launched Prevailing Path. HOW TO PREPARE YOUR BUSINESS David Reimherr: Ted, to dig in, what do you feel is the first thing a small business should do...
Happy 50th Birthday to My Business Soulmate
John is my business soulmate... Not just because we see the marketing/retail world the same way, and not just because we accept each other's talents and shortcomings... and do our best to support/make-up-for both. But because he is a true, heart-felt, loving friend....
Most Important Practices a Solopreneur Must Do Well in Order to Succeed Online
Listen. If you want to be heard above the growing social media “noise,” you need to first listen to your consumers so when you do speak, you get it right. What are they saying, what are they feeling, what are their pain points, what solutions do they need? Don’t just...
How to Master Return on Relationships with Ted Rubin ~via @DisenchantedMKT
Today’s Guest: Ted Rubin Ted Rubin is a leading Social Marketing Strategist, Brand Evangelist, CMO and Keynote Speaker. In March 2009 he started using and evangelizing the term ROR (hashtag #RonR), Return on Relationship™. His first book, Return on Relationship, was...
Career Advice I’d Give To My Younger Self…
Career Advice I'd Give To My Younger Self... - Be careful about looking back too much. Learn from your mistakes, but try not to second guess yourself too much. - Surround yourself with friends you trust… A network gives you reach; a community gives you power! -...
User-Generated Content (UGC) and ROI
It's no exaggeration to say that user-generated content (UGC) is changing the way that we consume information, both in marketing terms and in the wider world. If you have an internet connection, a connected device and a social account, then you have a platform to...
Instead of Anger and Heartache… a Teaching Moment
Attitude, Perspective... Mindset. #NoLetUp! This is why I love traveling with John Andrews, and am always disappointed when traveling without him. #FollowThePath... #RonR Kudos to Delta ------------------------------- John's story... When life gives you travel...
![With A Little Help From My Friends [audio] ~via @joelcomm](https://i0.wp.com/tedrubin.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Fun-with-JoelComm-1.jpg?resize=400%2C250&ssl=1)
With A Little Help From My Friends [audio] ~via @joelcomm
It's easy to stay in your comfort zone, but today's guest has spent a large proportion of his life trying to get into a comfort zone. Ted Rubin is our guest on this episode of FUN. Ted is a leading Social Marketing Strategist and Keynote Speaker. So often on other...
Amazon: The Gold Standard in Customer Experience (Part 2)
Is it any surprise that Amazon Payments has become a success story? Well, sort of. Despite Amazon's well-earned reputation for developing efficient eCommerce solutions, going toe-to-toe with PayPal is no small task. The truth is that both services work quite well, and...
Amazon: The Gold Standard in Customer Experience (Part 1)
It's easy to forget that Amazon began its life as an online retailer of books – the paper kind. The eCommerce website where today you can literally purchase almost anything you can imagine got its start selling a single type of product that would soon lose most of its...
Shoppers as Advocate Influencers
Let’s face it… shoppers don’t become advocates and influence others in order to champion brands out of the goodness of their hearts, or because of a brilliantly-designed logo or a couple coupons they can download from the internet. Shoppers become advocate influencers...
Make it Easy for Customers to Do Business with You
If you make something easy to do, people are more likely to do it. They're also more likely to come back to you in the future when they need a similar product or service. Nothing complicated about that, but it's a point that many brands and service providers miss at a...
The Word “Mobile” Needs to Disappear as a Silo in 2017 and Beyond
There is so much talk about Mobile, how important it is, and the differences in how it works. I believe the word “Mobile” needs to disappear as a silo in 2017 and beyond, as everything has basically become mobile. Don’t be scared because building a mobile community is...
Want More from Your Employees… Make it Personal
Don’t underestimate the value of getting to know your employees and vendors as people. For developing great working relationships plan time for getting together outside work to unwind, taking part in a charitable event, having a meal or just playing. Getting to know...
In Honor of Female Entrepreneurs…
This past year, I have been blessed with so much from friends, family, clients and colleagues. One of my highlights has been a series of 10 videos I’ve done with branding expert David Brier. While he’s funny, smart and scratches beneath the surface to get at why stuff...
SXSW is here again… So Much to Do, So Little Time
You have been hearing about it for so long and finally the time has come… off to Austin for the “event” of events, SXSW. What will it be like, where do I go, what can’t I miss? It can be overwhelming. For me, and for many others, the most successful approach is to...
How the In-Store Experience is Evolving, Thanks to Mobile
If you have been shopping at a Banana Republic Factory store in the past year, you may have noticed something new. Banana Republic is working with “flok,” a third-party customer experience platform, to deliver a more tech-friendly shopping experience for loyal...
#JustBeNice Isn’t Always Easy
Just be nice. When you're working to build relationships, you can never go wrong by showing some basic respect, decency and empathy. It's pretty easy to be nice when the sun is shining, you're in a good mood, and you're surrounded by people whose company you enjoy....
Why You Need A Human Connection Over Technology—It’s Important For Your ROI ~via @TheLandGeek
In today’s episode of The Art of Passive Income, Mark and Scott talk to Ted Rubin. Ted is a Leading Social Marketing Strategist, Acting CMO of Brand Innovators and Co-Founder of Prevailing Path. He is a guy that says what he thinks and believes that being who you are...
Shopper and Brand Marketing Converge, Now What?
Do Shopper Marketing and Brand Marketing Still Need to Be Separate Functions? By John Andrews, Co-Founder Prevailing Path Current marketing structures were built for a time when the purchase funnel was predictable and the store was king. That time has passed. After...
Instead of “Creating” Viral Moments, Look for Real-Time Influence Opportunities
Look at big corporate brands, and you'll find plenty of businesses paying millions to cultivate influence by creating the next viral moment. Good luck. The impulse is understandable, but the tactics leave much to be desired. Obsessing over “the big one” all too often...
Engagement: How Making Meaningful Connections Leads to Brand Loyalty
Transactions, conversions, closing the deal. All good stuff in the grand scheme, but not what we should be focusing on when building sustainable relationships with customers. The problem is that when a transaction is the only goal, there's little focus on keeping the...
Don’t Blame Social Media for Less Face-to-Face Interaction
I've been reflecting for a while on an article from MediaPost, which outlines some of the ways social media and online culture have changed the way we interact face to face. The upshot, based on a study by the British government, is that we're making fewer in-person...
Hire for Passion, Train for Skills
Then... - Listen to them, and make sure you take actions that let them know you are listening. Every human being needs to feel that their contributions are appreciated and that their opinion matters. Otherwise work is a mindless drudge with no purpose (other than a...
B2B Marketers and Social Listening—Stop Making Excuses!
The excuses for shunning B2B social listening are familiar by now, and they are understandable even if they're ultimately misguided: B2B brands don't generate the same social chatter as B2C brands in popular niches B2B decision-makers don't use social to research...
Learning to Dance in the Rain | Ted Rubin ~via @siimonsander
My Guest is an industry leader in Social Marketing strategy and brand evangelism. Forbes Magazine ranked him among the top 15 social media influencers, he was listed number 2 on the LeadTail list of top 25 people most mentioned by digital marketers. He is the author...
Tell Your Story in a Way People Will Care… Return on Relationship
When you tell your story in a way that people will care, you create a relationship, a connection, a value that goes beyond immediate $'s and cents. It is what creates conversation, the content that creates trust, loyalty and advocacy. All of this will scale no matter...
Can You Have Too Many Online Friends?
You may have noticed that it's not terribly difficult to build up a huge list of connections on your favorite social platform, if volume is your goal. Volume doesn't necessarily translate to quality, but there are plenty of tactics to rack up big connections numbers...
Brand Loyalty… Why Every Online Interaction Matters
We spend a lot of time talking about the positive momentum you can build with social, simply by being present, engaging your audience in a meaningful way, and keeping the focus on building relationships with your connections instead of just blasting out as much...