Being Real in an Unreal World with Ted Rubin

Ted Rubin is a leading social media strategist, keynote speaker, brand evangelist, CMO, and author. In 2009, he started using and evangelizing the term ROR, Return on Relationship, hashtag #RonR and released a book by the same name in 2013. He has a background in sales and marketing and preaches the importance of putting relationships and customer experience back into marketing.

Andre and Ted have been friends for about 10 years, and this is a fun episode where Ted shares his no holds barred opinion on what stores are doing right, what they are doing wrong, and why unsubscribe really needs to mean unsubscribe. We talk about building authentic, building relationships, being vulnerable, the future of retail, what it’s like being a divorced dad, and more on this episode.

Show Notes

• [03:41] Ted has spent most of his career as a CMO, social media marketer, and senior marketer.
• [04:18] When Ted first got out of college, he worked in sales as a stockbroker. His father was also in sales, and his father taught him about relationships.
• [06:21] When selling you want to get to know the person. It's easy to do that digitally now.
• [07:08] A brand is what a person does, a reputation is what people remember and share. Ted's dad taught him this and to always be himself.
• [11:28] Share what happens in your life, and you will have no shortage of content.
• [12:12] People will know you for who you are and showing your vulnerabilities.
• [14:28] Without using trackers, you would be amazed about how many people follow you.
• [16:17] You build a bigger presence by putting content out there and putting it out there regularly.
• [17:52] Social media is the ultimate in permission marketing.
• [19:21] Attention spans are going up for quality content.
• [23:13] Customer service at its root is relationship building.
• [25:40] Bots can give you a quick response, but they still need work.
• [26:09] Customer experience with marketing makes a difference. Don't bang people over the head.
• [31:56] Pay attention and bring back the right information at the right time.
• [32:42] Build a relationship and create content that people want to engage with. Do it at the right place at the right time.
• [33:40] The dinosaurs of retail are dying.
• [34:50] Warby Parker has a great retail and online experience.
• [36:38] Retail isn't disappearing, it's just changing.
• [41:44] Walmart is experimenting and trying things. The Jet acquisition wasn't a great idea.
• [43:11] There is a large percentage of Walmart customers that don't have bank accounts and pay with cash.
• [44:26] A lot of companies need to keep their sales and numbers up, and they end up digging big holes.
• [45:41] In under 10 years, there will be no one driving cars and parking lots will be accessible.
• [46:51] Know you customers and treat the special.
• [47:12] Let people know who you are and what you care about. Put yourself in your customers shoes. Start creating content everyday. Local search is driven by photos.
• [48:09] Use Photofy to let your employees help make branded photos and create content at scale.
• [48:54] Start being real and conversing with people and actually listening to what they say.
• [50:24] Before going to meetings look on social media and see what people are doing.

Links and Resources:

• Ted Rubin Straight Talk
• @TedRubin on Twitter
• Ted Rubin on LinkedIn
• Ted Rubin Facebook Page
• Return on Relationship
• Photofy
• Brand Innovators
• Report: Target's App Charges Higher Prices to Customers Near a Store

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