Straight Talk Blog
Ted Rubin
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 🤦🏻♂️...
15 Minutes with Ted Rubin… via @EclipseGroupUK
SEE TRANSCRIPT OF INTERVIEW BELOW... In our Fifth episode of 15 Minutes With we’re talking to Ted Rubin. Ted is a leading Social Media Marketing Strategist, International Keynote Speaker, Business...
DIVERSITY and INCLUSION
I think diversity and inclusion are two sides of a coin. On the one hand, diversity is about having people from different walks of life. I think that’s really important depending on the kind of business or product you have, but the value is always there. On the other...
Retail Growth Series with Louise Lally – Ted Rubin and John Andrews discuss Retail Relevancy
WATCH VIDEO HERE ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️ Business partners and co-authors Ted Rubin, a leading Social Marketing Strategist, and John Andrews, a Retail Marketing Expert, will be discussing how Retailers need to adapt to new consumer shopping habits. They have released a new book...
Inclusion… Empower Your Employees to Speak-Up and Raise Their Hands
WATCH VIDEO HERE ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️ Nothing like serious face-to-face conversations, especially with AT&T’s John Starkweather… nice to be back at #sxsw2022 Brand Innovators #BISummit. John spoke at the Sx Brand Innovators Summit about diversity and inclusion, and did...
How ‘Return on Relationship’ (#RonR) Came to Life For Me
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,...
Coffee and ‘Retail Relevancy’ in the Clouds with Ted Rubin and John Andrews
Listen here (interview starts :35)... Thanks to Tom Capone, @Thomas_Capone, for this great conversation. John and I look forward to the next one. John Andrews CEO Photofy, Co-Founder Prevailing Path Progressive career of emerging shopper marketing technology....
Digital Marketing in 2022… Just Because You CAN
Much of the current spending in digital marketing is at the very bottom of the funnel. There are literally billions of dollars being spent to target the right consumer in the right place at the right time, and much of it is completely wasted due to a simple fact:...
John & Ted’s Excellent Adventure – The Dad 2.0 Podcast
In 2008, before the influencing Earth cooled, John Andrews and Ted Rubin came together over a radical new idea to involve bloggers in marketing campaigns. Their new book, Retail Relevancy, offers strategies based on 14 years of research, common sense, and lessons...
Businesses No Longer Have the Luxury of Compartmentalizing Customer Experience
Businesses no longer have the luxury of compartmentalizing the customer experience. Consumers have a multitude of ways to engage with a company. For example, by walking into a physical store, browsing a catalogue, visiting a website, using social media, and now......
Rockstar CMO and… RETAIL RELEVANCY
LISTEN HERE ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️ "An excerpt from Rockstar CMO episode 98 - when we got to hang out with two incredibly experienced, passionate, and interesting retail marketers, Ted Rubin and John Andrews, as they discuss their book... RETAIL RELEVANCY: How Brands and Retailers...
VoyageRaleigh Magazine | Raleigh’s Most Inspiring Stories: Meet Ted Rubin
https://voyageraleigh.com/interview/community-highlights-meet-ted-rubin-of-return-on-relationship-and-an-equity-partner-in-raleigh-based-photofy-inc/ Today we’d like to introduce you to Ted Rubin. Hi Ted, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can...