What Gary Vee Taught Me About Marketing (Part 1)

In all my years of self-development and blogging biz research, I have never encountered energy like Gary Vee. His style is unmatched and if you watch and listen carefully, you can connect the dots that will lead you to success. He’s not for everyone, but he is for me which is why I had to share what Gary Vee taught me about marketing because it is really, really good. Really.

gary vee’s advice: age down

The market in any industry, especially blogging, needs to stay up with the times so they look to the younger generations to lead the way. Consumers age down to what’s “cool”. If your target market is 18-30 year olds, aim for 16-22. For example, how many of us 20-something year olds are swooning over Kylie’s Lipkits? Ugh, I’m swooning over anything Kylie.

This doesn’t mean changing your target market, but instead reaching out to younger influencers and working with brands who target the youngin’s because the truth is, the kids got it goin’ on. They know the latest apps, trends, and lingo. We all want to be forever young and one way to do that is living vicariously through people younger than us.

gary vee’s advice: “collabs are king”

I’ve been saying this for years! Teamwork makes the dream work. It’s that simple.

If you want to get in front of thousands of people, reach out to thousands of bloggers in a similar niche. The worst that can happen is they say no to the collaboration and you move #ontothenextone.

Why do you think Gary Vee does the #askgaryveeshow? He has (younger) influencers on there all the time because they’ll promote him from being on the show and he promotes them by having them as guests. It’s a win-win for all involved. It makes me so sad to see people trying to be “self-made” because really there’s no such thing.

gary vee’s advice: be generous

If you want to gain hundreds of thousands of followers and make hundreds of thousands of dollars, you better be generous. People aren’t going to buy the cow when they haven’t tasted the milk. The majority of your content and “shpeel” if you will, should be of the best quality and free. Yes, FREE! (I give away a free brand collab spreadsheet.)

Then when you actually start developing a product line or start asking for people to pay for things, they do it without hesitation. They think ‘Wow, if her free stuff is this good, I can’t imagine how good her paid stuff is!’.

gary vee’s advice: think long-term

This goes right along with being generous. Thinking in long-term form versus short-term is the foundation for building a successful business. Businesses grow over time. In the words of Gary, don’t focus on “short-term nickels and dimes”. Don’t sell yourself out by trying to grow your Instagram followers, the numbers don’t matter.

Your main focus should be “the long-term dollars” you’ll achieve once you’ve built trust within your market and among your followers (big or small). If you want a business that has longevity, focus on creating quality killer content and providing more value than what you’ll get in return.

Have you heard of Gary Vee? What’s your opinion of him? Tell me in the comments below!

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