Digital & Dirt
00:53:32 · Doug Zarkin, Ian Dallimore, Barry Frey
[00:53:32] S10: And so why are all of the discounts? Why are all of the deals? Why are all the promotions? Why is the best of everything always to get you to come in once versus saying thank you for trusting us with your business, with your money. Let me reward you with something more. [00:53:45] S0: Yep. Is that why you feel loyalty and the loyalty rewards and the retail space has become even more prominent? [00:53:51] S10: I think the idea of creating stronger relationships has had to become more prominent because if you're trying to fight for market share and that is going to be your pathway to comps, you're never going to have enough money to acquire customers at the rate that you want. If your retention is not a small leak, but a massive hole. Too many times businesses look at their attrition and lifetime value and they're like, Oh, well, we're losing 40% of our customers. That's not so bad because we're keeping 60%. But to get that 40% to come back will not cost you nearly as much as it will to get another 40% of people to come to. And so brands have to invest. They have to invest in creating stronger relationships either through loyalty programs, incentives, relationships, or just frankly better communication. [00:54:37] S0: Yeah. And what does that look like? And I know every brand it's different, but I'll I'll tell the story. Good friend of mine is the cofounder of Goodr sunglasses. [00:54:45] S1: Okay. [00:54:45] S0: And a pair of sunglasses, what they do is, you know, spare our listeners the whole story of it, but they have this friendly, fun approach.
00:54:45 · Ian Dallimore, Raj Lala, David Sable, Doug Zarkin, Alex Grieves
[00:54:45] S0: And a pair of sunglasses, what they do is, you know, spare our listeners the whole story of it, but they have this friendly, fun approach. [00:54:53] S8: Right. [00:54:53] S0: I mean, they have this obscure CEO that's a flamingo that talks to you every time and it'll send you personalized texts like, hey, Ian, saw you snooping around on Instagram. Sorry, we're not creeping you. But does that universe starts to become even more important as the personalization once you're bought into the brand and you're like, okay, this is kind of like that friend. Or in your books case, it's like, hey, this girlfriend actually cares about me and knows who I am and what [00:55:16] S9: I do. [00:55:16] S10: You got to be careful because you can doesn't mean you should. Because you can send somebody a text message, because you can send somebody an email, doesn't mean you should. And I think what brands are suffering for in this attempt to try to rescue their existing customer base is let me inundate them with messaging. I mean, my best friend lives on the [00:55:35] S2: West Coast.
00:55:35 · Alex Grieves, Doug Zarkin, Ian Dallimore
[00:55:35] S2: West Coast. [00:55:36] S10: If I speak to him more than twice a week, it's a lot. Think about brands that are communicating two, three, even four times a week to their existing customer. There's not enough news, unless you're a medical based brand. There's not enough news to warrant you taking up my inbox or asking me to give you two minutes or three minutes. And so to me, it's not about more is better. It's about better is better. Educate me, entertain me, thank me, let me know you're thinking of me. But honestly, what I wouldn't kill for a brand to just simply pick up the phone and call and check-in. Yeah. You know, like doctors do. My, my, my family, we have two dogs and our vet calls the house two weeks after the appointment, not because she has to, but because Doctor. Jackie just wants to check on the dogs. And that means the world to me and is going to stop me from ever looking for another vet as long as I don't have to. [00:56:24] S0: Well, and it goes to your book, right? You taking that out of the friend zone and all of a sudden the brand cares about you beyond just the sale.
00:56:24 · Ian Dallimore, Doug Zarkin
[00:56:24] S0: Well, and it goes to your book, right? You taking that out of the friend zone and all of a sudden the brand cares about you beyond just the sale. [00:56:30] S10: The transaction should really be the beginning of the experience. I had the chance to live in Japan for a month and learned the Japanese art and philosophy of customer service. And truly the transaction is the beginning of the relationship. Too many brands look at the transaction as the end of the rainbow and they're like, okay, we're done. You're not done. You're just beginning. Brands that think they're done with the transaction often find themselves screaming and yelling for, hey, it's been six months since you've come in and they give you some 40% off coupon. That's great in terms of getting the sale back, but that doesn't deepen the relationship. Relationships matter both in life and especially in business. [00:57:04] S0: Yeah. Take a step back. What inspired you to write the book? What was the career path that got you to the point where you, I mean, obviously you're a brilliant man to have launched the book and and to have [00:57:14] S10: this Or a sadist because I can't sell and I and I have a love hate relationship with autocorrect. [00:57:18] S0: Yeah. Me too. Shout out there. I can't... I don't know the difference between there, there, and there. So I'm with you on that one.
00:57:18 · Ian Dallimore, Doug Zarkin
[00:57:18] S0: Yeah. Me too. Shout out there. I can't... I don't know the difference between there, there, and there. So I'm with you on that one. [00:57:23] S10: What what prompted me to write the book honestly is the is the one part of being a leader that I think most leaders under index on, but honestly I get a lot of enjoyment from, and that is teaching. Being able to unlock someone in or a superhero by showing them the way and giving them the tools and tips that they need so they can avoid the pitfalls that I went through or somebody else went through is just, it's rewarding. And I mean that seriously, being able to coach and mentor somebody. And that's why I wrote the book because it allows me to do that on a broader scale. It comes from years of putting in paradigms and analogies to help take the complex and make it simple. But it's also a way to hold myself to a standard that if I'm going to put out about how I want to be as a leader, what a good leader is, then I have to live up to that every day. And it's something I'm proud of. [00:58:07] S0: Yeah. How do you continue to stay ahead? I have my little tips and tricks. I I have Grok that's constantly pulling certain articles, certain topics for me in the background. But how do you stay stay ahead of the curve with technology, but also with media? You know, here we are at the Video Everywhere Summit and, know, Lamar Advertising out front Clear Channel, but then you have a long tail of screen types. That's just one industry. How do you continuously stay on top of media tech while incorporating in that brand world?
00:58:37 · Doug Zarkin
[00:58:37] S10: You know, I... It it really goes back to what I think makes for a great marketer and that is curiosity. I am insanely curious. It's why I started my career in the agency world and went to the operator side because I wanted to understand more than just how to put the brand on the brain of a consumer, but understanding why we were doing it. What was the thought that went behind it? What's the strategy? And so for me, I am a consumer of media, both in the digital world and the offline world. You know, I'm also not afraid to say, I don't understand. You know, I think the best thing that I try to do is to put myself in rooms where I am not the smartest person in the room. Because if I'm the smartest person in the room, I'm definitely in the wrong room. I want to surround myself with people that are experts in things that while I have competency in and can make good calls, can teach me something. And so being at a conference like we're at right now is an opportunity to really focus on the relationships that could teach me something. You know, I talked before about the importance of relationships both in life and in business. You learn more from those that you interact with. And so being here physically allows me to meet people that are going to teach me something. And if I get one thing from this, it makes me that one thing better.