Voiceover: Now back to Angel and Eric, the Experience Pros.
Eric: Welcome back to the Experience Pros radio show with Angel and Eric. Very nice to have you along with us today. In studio is one of the more animated, colorful, and now well-traveled guests that we get to talk to on a monthly basis.
Angel: Absolutely. Darrell Stern, president of Stern DMB, responsive web design, inbound marketing, content marketing, social media marketing. This is the guy who is on top of all the trends when it comes to marketing. When we think about the technology and how much things have changed, the only one person I know that’s really keeping up with it is Darrell Stern. Darrell, welcome back from London.
Darrell: Yes, top of the morning to you all. I don’t know if that’s actually English, but there you go.
Angel: You could say that. Right? The last time we talked to you, you were getting ready, you were talking about going out to London because of all the exciting things going on in Snapchat. Tell us a little bit about your trip to London and how that all played out.
Darrell: Well, yeah, there’s an amazing group of young people that put together the world’s first Snapchat global event and award ceremony that they call the Ghosties, and they brought in all of the top Snapchatters from all over the world to this place called the Magic Roundabout, which is a really, really cool club. What it is is you go down into the Underground-
Eric: Yes.
Darrell: And then you come up into the roundabout, so there’s traffic basically around you-
Angel: Ohh.
Darrell: And the whole bar and the whole setup is-is in the roundabout.
Eric: How cool is that?
Darrell: It was very cool. It was a very cool and unique kind of hip, you know, place to have this kind of new, you know, social media, you know, world-wide event, and all that. It was awesome.
Angel: All right, so you finally got to meet some of the people that you’ve only Snapchatted with, right? To get to meet them in purpose- person.
Darrell: Exactly, yes. To see them in person, and it’s amazing. On Snapchat, there’s a very intimate experience. When you’re Snapchatting, you’re holding the phone. It’s like- kind of like FaceTime. I mean, you’re getting to know these people, you know, close up, and seeing the different types of stories that they tell on Snapchat, so you know them. They’re almost like your neighbor. You feel like they live across the street from you, and then, of course, here they are, and surprisingly enough, they’re all very tall. Eric would fit- I was surprised.
Eric: They’re all very tall?
Darrell: They’re all like- even Simon Barry, who we talked about last month, he was at least a head taller than me-
Angel: Really?
Darrell: So I felt like the American Gulliver’s Travels, you know, little person from the-
Eric: Well, isn’t that interesting. Okay, so Darrell-
Darrell: Yes?
Eric: You know, social media is the, um, the equivalent today of the dot com thing-
Darrell: Right.
Eric: Back in our day. Uh, what’s next, and how are we handling all of this?
Darrell: Well, here’s a comparison that I wanted to make today. So, factor in the dot com boom. Everybody was investing in something on the web-
Eric: Of course.
Darrell: And creating websites and trying to make up these businesses, so you had, for example, uh, WebMD decided to spend a billion dollars on a new website that would give everybody free medical advice. Hmm… Where’s your profit margin? In other words, there was such a fever in that-
Eric: Sure.
Darrell: You know, we’re gonna make it so that your groceries can get delivered on the internet. We’ll walk your cat through the internet. We’ll- we’ll do everything through the internet, you know, and that’s it. So, some businesses, like Amazon and all that, have stood the test of time, but even Priceline, when it first came out, their IPO literally said we’re not making a profit.
Eric: Yeah. Name your own price.
Darrell: And the next day, they were bigger than the American Airlines, you know, in terms of capital and value.
Eric: Interesting.
Darrell: So, it all settled. You know, the dust all settled, and some things w- but what I’m getting at is now, with Snapchat and this new way that brands can work interactively with young people and millennials and everybody on this new type of media, it’s- some people are saying, well, this is totally new. Threw out- throw out everything that you’ve ever known. You know, people just want to have access and loyalty and all these kind of things, and I still say, yeah, but somebody’s got to be buying something at the end of the day-
Eric: Right.
Darrell: For business to still stay in business, so let’s not just make everything an interactive show of just fun stuff that people are seeing people using brands and all that that weaves into these amazing Snapchat stories.
Eric: Just because it’s-
Darrell: You get what I’m saying.
Eric: New and shiny doesn’t necessarily mean, uh, we throw the baby out with the bathwater with the old marketing techniques.
Darrell: Yeah, exactly. I mean, with what I’m doing- the work that I’m doing with Saul Reisman and at the end of every video, he says, pick up the phone and call us, and let’s take a look at, you know, what- where your breaks are, where your suspension is. I put that, the phone number in the call to action, and every time a YouTube video. Why? Because people can’t be lost. You know, you see- even you see some viral media, and you go wow, that’s cool. Those shoes look cool. Where-wh-where do you get ‘em, or what was that?
Eric: Right.
Darrell: It flashed by so fast, I don’t even know what it is, so isn’t that, in fact, losing some of that momentum in terms of – you know what I’m saying. You’re putting your brand out there. You’re investing in all these type of new, even quick, short little media clips, but you’re not- no one’s saying where to go and find out more about it.
Angel: And buy something, because you’re right.
Darrell: Exactly.
Angel: It’s- there still is a business model that we can’t just, just- it’s not just for fun and games.
Darrell: Exactly.
Angel: And for marketing, but we actually have to figure out how do we tap into the changes, ‘cuz it’s constantly changing, Darrell, all the new technology, and there is a learning curve to it, but-but underneath it all, the basis, the foundation, the principles haven’t changed.
Darrell: Right. Now, on the flipside of that, I’m-I’ve, I’ve witnessed firsthand what you would call real true social media influence. Craig Fox, flawlessfox81, he has a hashtag flawless on RME, and yesterday, they decided to start a new YouTube channel, and they said on Snapchat and all of the different groups said go there and subscribe. We want to get a thousand subscribers in a day, and they did it.
Angel: In a day?
Darrell: In a day. So, you start to say-
Angel: Don’t we all wish we could have that?
Darrell: What is the investment in building your brand-
Eric: I’ve got 151.
Darrell: Well, right. Well, what is the investment in- exactly. What is the investment in building your following, the people that are loyal to you, the people that want to tune in every day, like to this show and all that, what is the value of that? Well, the value of that comes when you want to launch a new product or you want to launch a new, you know, format in social media or something. You can pull the people from one world into the other, so there’s a lot to be said about investing the time and effort to do this. So, one more thing, so these Snapchatters, the ones that are in this entertainment industry, imagine this, every day, like you guys have to do, you have to go and create new entertainment like you guys do-
Angel: Every day.
Eric: Sure.
Angel: Yeah.
Darrell: But they’re doing it, you know, on their phone, and they have to run around, travel, go to different places, you know, tell jokes, take people on adventures every single day of their lives, and they’re being expected to, too. They practically, when they get big enough, you know, can’t skip a day, so- now here’s how this works in terms of influencers working with brands. So, what Shonduras said, he’s one of the number one people ever on Snapchat. He was recently invited by Red Bull, his whole family, out to Hawaii, to promote them at a big event they were doing out in Hawaii. What he said was no, I’m not gonna all of a sudden stand on, you know, appear here behind this sign and do my, you know, normal things that I do, and just, you’re just gonna see experienced pros in the background. His followers would be like why are you there and what does that have to do with you?
Eric: That’s a disconnect. It doesn’t make sense. Right.
Darrell: It doesn’t make sense, so he said, if I’m gonna promote Windex, for example, I’m gonna get my friends, we’re gonna put Windex in squirt bottles, and we’re gonna have a squirt gun fight and see who goes blind first. In other words, that’s what he does. He skateboards. He crashes into things. He’s-he’s just this fun, adventurous kind of guy, so when you approach them as a brand, and you’re approaching a social media influencer, let them be creative. That’s the point of it.
Angel: Okay.
Darrell: And let them kind of mold and take their- cuz they know their following.
Angel: Yes.
Darrell: They know what is expected-
Eric: Sure.
Darrell: From their audience.
Angel: Yes.
Darrell: Right? But, I gather this is the same as if you had a celebrity endorsement. No, certain actors and actresses and movie stars are not going to do what, you know, advertising agency, you know, makes up in their head, too, so-
Eric: You have to have some reason for engagement.
Angel: The brands have to match.
Eric: Yeah, that’s right. That’s right.
Angel: The brands have to match each other. We’re talking with Darrell Stern, the president of Stern DMB. You can sign up for your Stern storming session with him to talk about Snapchat, Snaphappens, Twitter. Being creative with your marketing, not just sticking up a banner, not just having a call to action, but something that is engaging and entertaining that people actually want to connect with. Darrell, what is the best way for people to follow you and connect with you?
Darrell: Sure. You can call 303-353-4354, and you can also go on my website, which is Stern, S-T-E-R-N DMB dot com.
Eric: All right.
Angel: Stern DMB dot com, and don’t you want to work with somebody who’s actually out there engaging and using the tools? This isn’t just theory, hasn’t just read about it, and remember, we had somebody come in to a previous company we used to work with, and they came in, and she goes, yeah, I hear that that social media is really where- she was the social media person. Because she heard that that’s really where the people are at, and, though okay.
Eric: Yeah, yeah, yeah. You’re not involved.
Angel: Right.
Darrell: But, we still need to bring them from that world into the rest of the world of closing a sale and, you know, and all that other stuff for business, you know.
Eric: And those older folks like us need to realize that radio didn’t- or video didn’t kill the radio star. The VCR didn’t kill movies, you know-
Darrell: Exactly.
Eric: And streaming didn’t take away the music industry.
Darrell: Right.
Eric: Uh, we’re gonna be okay in a social world as well.
Angel: But you have to learn, like Darrell said-
Eric: Adapt or die.
Angel: Right. Bring the two together-
Darrell: Exactly.
Angel: So that business is still growing and people are still buying stuff. He’s got an intensive three-hour marketing strategy session that he’ll work with, with you, as well. Stern DMB dot com, or go to Stern Storming dot com. Darrell, thanks so much for being with us today.
Darrell: It’s awesome. Thank you.
Eric: And welcome back, uh. Glad you’re back, and everybody’s taller than you.
Darrell: Exactly. I gotta- I don’t know.
Eric: We’ll be back with more positive business talk right after these messages. You’re listening to Angel and Eric on the Experience PROS radio network.
Voiceover: The Experience Pros revolutionizing the way people treat people in business.