Have Media Will Travel

A blog about outdoor adventure, family travel, national parks, media, technology, marketing, fitness and me.

Marketing

Let Gary Vaynerchuk Pump You Up

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Gary Vaynerchuk, of @garyvee and Wine Library TV fame, is a living example and inspiration to all of us who want to live our passion.

I read a ton of books, usually several at once. When I got my copy of Gary’s new book, everything else moved to the bottom of the pile and remained there until I finished Crush It. I couldn’t put it down. Like Gary himself, his book will get you all fired up and motivated to follow your passion, and in doing so, to work your butt off, and become a better hustler.

Drop what you’re doing and get a copy of the book. Now. You will thank me for this tip. (You’re welcome.)

Until your book is in hand, here’s a clip from his keynote at the 2009 Web 2.0 Expo. It will also pump you up.

Facebook: Personal Lives Unveiled

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Compared to all other things technology, which I usually embrace early, I was a late adopter of Facebook. The reason is I don’t prefer to be very social. I’m busy and tend to be selfish with what free time I have.

But then one day I surmised that because of this very realization, Facebook could be ideal. I could be social without physically being social. With Facebook, I could be social without leaving home or even picking up the telephone.

That was a few months ago. Now I love it. It’s my favorite social network. And although I belong to Twitter, LinkedIn and Friendfeed, and utilize YouTube and have this blog, Facebook is, hands down, my platform of choice for “life-streaming.” It’s where I go to post all of my most meaningful updates, including simple thoughts or videos and photos related to my family, friends and travel.

This doesn’t make me special. Facebook is the most popular social network right now. For crying out loud, my parents are now on Facebook, as is one of my Grandmas, and she’s 85 years old! You know the saying, “Everybody’s doing it.”

My Grandma Sniffin is on Facebook. She's 85.
My Grandma Sniffin is on Facebook. She's 85.

But, I digress. This post is about how our relationships can benefit from Facebook’s biggest strength: the personal profile. Sure, with Facebook we can learn about the personal side of our friends and family. But that’s not all. Now, we can also connect more personally to our business partners and colleagues.

I am Facebook friends with some of the tourism clients we work with.

For example, I know that John, the marketing director of my favorite ski resort, Grand Targhee, in Alta, WY, is a die-hard Red Sox fan and that he loves ice hockey. I know he has two kids who are about the same ages as two of our sons. I know he moved to the Idaho side of the Tetons to take the marketing helm at Grand Targhee following a similar position for Colorado ski resorts a little over a year ago. (BTW, I can’t help myself. I might mention here that Grand Targhee is my favorite place in the world to ski and snowboard. I learned to ski there, our kids learned to ski there and it has the best powder anywhere. But that’s another post.)

I am Facebook friends with Eric, the marketing director of the Salt Lake City Convention & Visitors Bureau. As a result of this connection, I know that he’s not only an avid cyclist, but a pretty darned high level one. I know he likes yoga, and I know a little bit about his familyincluding that his son has the same name as our youngest son. I have learned he’s into endurance biking and bike racing and has a good line on interesting events my husband, Jerry, and I will want to consider in the future.

Another long-time client I am Facebook friends with was diagnosed with cancer this past summer. Thankfully, he’s doing remarkably well following treatment, and his prognosis is good. But I’m grateful to my Facebook connection with him because it enabled me to keep updated on his health in a more personal way and enabled me to reach out in a more personal way to let him know he was in our thoughts, and to ask him if there was anything we could do to help. I also came to learn he recently got married. This is all stuff I felt lucky to know given this is a business customer I care about.

All of these insights help me shape a conversation that is no longer limited to “do you want to do business with us?” Thank goodness we may have more to talk about and form a relationship around than only the business at hand. We are people, after all, with meaningful lives. Certainly, we can serve our partners and customers better if we know them better personally, right? Plus, thanks to Facebook, I know when to wish a client Happy Birthday. That’s pretty cool.

Of course, this means we need to be on our best behavior. In the current social media landscape that we’re operating in, we don’t have the luxury of having two personas, one for our personal life and another for work. Our personal and work lives are increasingly blurred. As Erik Qualman so aptly reminds us in his great book, Socialnomics, when it comes to social media, one needs to “live your life as if your mother is watching.”

In the old days, if we were lucky, we’d get a face-to-face appointment with our prospective client. It was during this meeting, while seated in our client’s office, that we could take note of family photos, trophies, certificates, posters, artwork, or other items on display, in an effort to try and get a glimpse of the “person” we were dealing with. It wasn’t much, but it was valuable.

Today, Facebook provides that, and more.

Trump Tower: Good Start, Bad Ending

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NOTE: This may look like a rant, smell like a rant and seem like a rant. But it’s not a rant. But it could be… and that’s the point of this post.

Our family went on a 2,200-mile road trip adventure over our Spring Break last April that involved camping and touring 6 states in 7 days. (See posts here: Spring Break 1, Spring Break Post 2, Spring Break Post 3, Spring Break Post 4, Spring Break Post 5, Spring Break Post 6, Spring Break Post 7, Spring Break Post 8, and Spring Break Post 9.

Our three young sons: Dirty, riled up and tired from roughing it for 6 days. Destination? 5-star luxury resort in Las Vegas.
Our three young sons: Dirty, riled up & tired from "roughing it" for 6 days.

We “roughed it,” camping along the way. Las Vegas was our last stop before returning back to Lander, WY. It would be the first real civilization since our trip started. We thought we’d treat the boys to the opposite extreme. So before our trip started, we splurged. On Priceline, we were able to get a night at the 5-star, 1-year-old Trump Tower in Vegas for $90.

Our three boys in front of Trump Tower... OR... Our country bumpkin sons have arrived.
Our three boys in front of Trump Tower... OR... Our country bumpkin sons have arrived.

Arriving with 6 days worth of red dirt and grime on our bodies and in our orifices, Trump Tower was exactly what the doctor ordered. And well deserved, I might add. We had hiked hard and the boys never complained. We were in need of some special treatment, a hot shower, good meal and a swimming pool.

It was exquisite. Robes for the entire family, and a huge outdoor swimming pool. The boys were in heaven and we felt we had arrived.

Hayden and Wolfie posing in front of some famous person's ride. (Every time they saw a stretch they were certain it was Miley Cyrus or Zac Efron!)
Hayden and Wolfie posing in front of some famous person's ride. (Every time they saw a stretch they were certain it was Miley Cyrus or Zac Efron!)

The stay was a perfect end to a perfect Spring Break family adventure.

Until, that is, we went to check out. There was a single person attending to all checkouts and there were about 25 people in line waiting to check out. We stood in line for 35 minutes.

The boys, who had watched The Apprentice with us a couple of years earlier, remarked “When Donald Trump finds out about this, that person at the counter will be so fired.”

We were angry, though. I wanted my 35 minutes back. That was 35 minutes of sightseeing we couldn’t get back and 35 minutes of road that remained in front of us instead of behind us.

We left, disgruntled. Which is a shame given the stay was absolutely wonderful.

About halfway back home, I was checking email on my Blackberry Storm and there was one with the subject line: “The Donald Thanks You for Staying at Trump Tower.” I showed the boys. Although I knew this was just good marketing, they thought it was awesome and special that The Donald would personally send a note to us.

Of course I know it as email marketing, but it's the fact our boys thought Donald Trump really wrote us a personal note within hours of checking out of Trump Tower that makes it great.
Of course I know it as email marketing, but it's the fact our boys thought Donald Trump really wrote us a personal note within hours of checking out of Trump Tower that makes it great.

As a result of the aforementioned, I decided to give the Trump Tower a pass. But most wouldn’t. We had a perfect stay and then had to go through the painful activity of waiting in a long line for 35 minutes. Given today’s technology and the fact it was a 5-star luxury resort, no one should have to wait in line for 35 minutes to check out of a hotel.

In today’s social media landscape, many customers would rant about it on TripAdvisor and Yelp, their blogs and Twitter, etc. (Again, don’t view this as a rant as much as an example of something that started out great but ended poorly. I will not be posting a negative review to TripAdvisor, Yelp, etc.)

The moral of the story is respect people’s time and apologize if you’re going to waste it. As we waiting in that long line, sitting on our suitcases, a simple apology by someone would have gone a long ways. Not an apology once we arrived at the counter, after 35 minutes, but during the long wait. A simple “I’m so sorry about the inconvenience and the long line” would have probably resolved my frustration a great deal. And it wouldn’t have cost the business or staff anything to do that.

Air travel: Overpriced then, cheap now?

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We all bellyache about the airlines. I had a terrible lost luggage experience with American Airlines last week, and ranted about it. I’m still upset about all the cab fares and late night shopping and money-spending I had to do because they couldn’t find and deliver my bag in time for my keynote presentation to a travel conference. (It arrived during my presentation, thank you very little –– for nothing.)

But I was thinking, 20 years ago I paid the same rate I do now, to fly half-way across the U. S.

Flying 20 years ago cost me the same amount it costs today. Why?
Flying 20 years ago cost me the same amount it costs today. Why?

I have talked to some of my friends who are avid travelers, and they recall a time when flying was more of a luxury. Judy Legerski, a friend here in Lander, WY, who’s a baby boomer who travels about 100,000 miles/year, recalls that she used to get dressed up to go flying, an activity that was considered a privilege.

My parents, who weren’t financially worse off than our family is today, relatively speaking, didn’t fly on an airplane until they were in their 20s. My first flight was when I was in 6th grade. And yet our three young children …well, they’ve been to San Francisco, Hawaii, New York City, Mexico, and other destinations, all by flight.

My question is were the flights I paid $350-450 for 20 years ago better than the same flights I pay the same rates for today? I can hardly think of any other business or product that in 20 years has not raised their rates or prices.

I just wanted to post about this as I was thinking about it recently as I complained about American Airlines because of my luggage debacle.

We always complain about the airlines, and yet how can it possibly be that I can be in a June Wyoming snow storm at 8 am and be on a beach at the Atlantic Ocean by 1 pm? It’s like a miracle really. No wonder we love technology. Add to that that I’m not paying any more for the transportation that gets me there than I did 20 years ago, and well, I might even feel a little giddy about flying.

Hanging out on Miami Beach, about 5 hours after leaving the frontier of Wyoming via air travel.
Hanging out on Miami Beach, about 5 hours after leaving the frontier of Wyoming via air travel.

It leaves me to wonder if the quality of the flying experience has gotten so much worse, or if it was simply provided for significantly fewer people and as a result of scarcity it was priced more at a premium 20 years ago? Just curious.

I’m probably missing something, and am likely naive about all this, but I think it’s an interesting question. I would love to get some feedback and insights into why the cost to fly today is similar to what it was 20 years ago.

(BTW, I’m not proposing that airfares increase!)