Straight Talk Blog
Ted Rubin
The Prevailing Path of 5:2 Intermittent Fasting
The Prevailing Path of 5:2 Intermittent Fasting... by JohnAndrews When we built the initial concept of the Prevailing Path, our goal was to fully understand the shopper’s journey from discovery and awareness, to preference to purchase, and post-purchase usage and...
‘Look Into The Customer’s Eyes:’ Improving Retail Relevancy
“Get back to basics and look people in the eye digitally,” is Ted Rubin’s key message to marketers today. Ted is the author of several books about developing customer relationships. “Retail Relevancy,” the new book he co-authored with John Andrews, explores how brands...
Breaking the Retail Disconnect with Relevancy
As a self-proclaimed “relationship” guy, Ted Rubin, speaker, social marketing strategist, and co-author of “Retail Relevancy,” challenges marketers to get back to basics by developing customer relationships. In this episode of Customer Data Perspectives, Ted shares...
What is Your Business Value Proposition and Does it Set You Apart?
Your business’s value proposition is arguably the most important element of your overall marketing messaging. A value proposition tells prospects why they should do business with you rather than your competitors, and makes the benefits of your products or services...
Branding at Its Best
The Story is Beyond Real and Worth the Read by DJ Edgerton For those of you who know, and not many do…my first real Job was at DDB Needham in NYC as an Mechanical artist during the summer of 1989. Still a student at Pratt Institute. Soon after, degree in hand, I...
Brand Kindness: Build Your Brand Reputation with Empathy and Compassion
What does it mean to build a reputation? I’m not talking about brand recognition, or even the quality of the products or services you offer. Those things are important; however, a reputation is something more. It’s the little things… those moments of...
Chief Hugs Officer… and Beyond
We’re excited to re-introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ted Rubin. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ted below. ~CanvasRebel.com Ted, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s been the best...
“Life isn’t About Finding Yourself… Life is About CREATING Yourself.”
The title of this post is a George Bernard Shaw quote I employed with my daughters in the hopes I would impress upon them, in a small way with a few words, what I will say here with many more words than their attention spans would allow. I continue to try to influence...
Engage Your Contacts and Social Connections
Over the years I’ve been asked by a lot of people how they can be more successful in building relationships on social channels. And the one thing that keeps coming to the surface is the importance of being “present” when you’re communicating with someone. You know how...
Brand Humility… Clandestine Events + Experiences “Embodies” It
Even if you are absolutely certain that your product/service is one of the best on the market, what you think of your brand is not nearly as important as what your customers and potential customers think of it and say about it. They are, after all, the market! “Brand...
An Email Marketing List, and the Marketing That Follows
An email marketing list, and the marketing that follows, is not simply about numbers… it’s about adding value to both your brand AND the consumer. Unfortunately, too many are simply banging away at the numbers. Consumers do not owe you their attention, and they...
Rosh Hashanah… Let’s Seek The Humane Middle
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...
How Can Brands and Retailers Use Universal Coupons to Drive Consumer Behavior?
In this installment of our Universal Coupon discussion, Brandi Johnson, CEO of The Coupon Bureau, sits down with John Andrews and Ted Rubin, authors of RETAIL RELEVANCY, to discuss the digital identity, personal avatars, offer relevancy, and the impact of Universal...
Clandestine Events + Experiences Embraces a ‘Return on Relationship’ Mindset
ROR: Return on Relationship, #RonR, simply put, is the value that is accrued by a person or brand due to nurturing a relationship. ROI is simple dollars and cents, ROR is the value (both perceived and real) that will accrue over time through connection, trust,...
Is Executing Really the Only Thing?
How thinking and brainstorming convert to powerful strategy making. We live in a culture where the simple act of distraction-free thinking has become alien, daydreaming has been replaced with scrolling through a feed on our smartphones and the office is a place for...
The Long Beach Boardwalk #Experience… My Happy Place
A month of my summer, for the past few years, is all about my Long Beach, NY boardwalk experience. It’s not about a plan, or trying something new, or luxury… it’s about how being here, doing what I do every August, and how it makes me feel. It’s about what this...
Web3… Have We Learned Anything?
Will Web3 Become the Same Hot Mess As Social Media and The Internet? OR… did we learn anything from past mistakes? Do you enjoy social media? I bet many do not truly enjoy it anymore, but I am also certain most once did. Now many of us are still there because in some...
The Importance of Brand Humility… Evergreen Trading “Lives” It
Even if you are absolutely certain that your product/service is one of the best on the market, what you think of your brand is not nearly as important as what your customers and potential customers think of it and say about it. They are, after all, the market! “Brand...
Anyone Out There Have a Smartphone 🤔
Anyone out there have a smartphone 🤔 LOL... anyone drop their phones, or need to let the phone kinda hang there for a moment, or need to stand it up for a video or zoom 🤷🏻♂️ Yeah, I thought so... EVERYONE! Well, many years ago I started using one of those rings on...
Dads and Divorce
With divorce, most dads are not the custodial parent, and therefore, the dad has little or no control over the daily decisions. For many reasons, dads may allow the mom to be the custodial parent, including financial necessity, lack of comfort with being a pseudo...
Retail Entropy Is Coming to Your Neighborhood
How Will Virtually Unlimited Choice Affect Shopper Behavior? Will this create retail entropy? It’s a great time to be a shopper. Inflation aside, there are limitless choices to discover, compare, shop and acquire products. Accessible shopping options are even helping...
How Do We Find Out What’s Important to Our Audiences?
How do we find out what’s important to our audiences? Ask them! Have social conversations, pick up the telephone and talk to your best customers. Engage them in conversation. Ask them what’s keeping them up at night—what they’re passionate about, or how you could...
The Secret Sauce for Content Creation Influencers
The secret sauce here is providing good content because content creates a platform for people and brands to communicate, not just about products and services, but about what is important to consumers. If your content is on target, it will be spread freely via social...
Digital Marketing Dive | Ted Rubin & John Andrews Talk About Retail Relevancy
Via Seth Goldstein and Digital Marketing Dive Podcast... Ted Rubin and John Andrews have been in the retail space for more than they care to mention. The two are long-time business partners and great friends and have been helping brands of all sizes get a handle on...
Leadership Series… Elizabeth Suárez Interviews Ted Rubin
Elizabeth Suárez: In this series, I chat with various industry experts on the intricacies of business and discover what advice they can offer to both seasoned and emerging leaders. I sat with Ted Rubin, a leading social media strategist, author and the former chief...
The Universal Coupon is a New Industry Standard… AI (8112)
The Universal Coupon is a new industry standard. It brings all coupon data to the cloud to enable a serialized, single-use manufacturer funded coupon. If coupons are a part of your retail strategy, THIS CONCERNS YOU... there is an important change coming, be prepared....
You Want To “Growth Hack,” Then Build a Reputation…
In today’s digital world it’s all too easy for us as brands and individuals to let our relationship-building muscles atrophy. We get caught up in a multitasking whirlwind of emails, social updates, text messages, so many different communication platforms, where it’s...
Omni-Channel: Not Something Retailers Do for Consumers, but Something Consumers Expect from Retailers
"Focus on something the customer wants, and then deliver it." ~Sam Walton Walmart is the largest private employer in the world, only the US Department of Defense and China's People's Liberation Army have more people on the payroll. It stands to reason that the retail...
Accessible Investing Is Changing The Game
Guest post by John Andrews This week I bought my first annuity. I also bought a pair of Nike’s first NFT sneakers. Both of these investments are easy to transact thanks to a growth industry of DIY investment options. Traditional companies have gotten into the game...
Why Are Marketers Still Referencing “Mobile” as a Marketing Category?
After attending four days at the Brand Innovators SXSW2022 Summit, I felt the need to share this post again that I wrote in the beginning of 2017 (with some minor 2022 updates)... could not believe how many speakers I heard refer to "Mobile" marketing in 2022 🤦🏻♂️...