Strategies for Personal and Career Growth - The GaryVee Audio Experience

Summary

Summary of "Strategies for Personal and Career Growth" Episode of The GaryVee Audio Experience

Podcast Information:

Title: The GaryVee Audio Experience
Host: Gary Vaynerchuk
Episode: Strategies for Personal and Career Growth
Release Date: November 27, 2024

Introduction

In the "Strategies for Personal and Career Growth" episode of The GaryVee Audio Experience, Gary Vaynerchuk leads a comprehensive discussion with VaynerMedia creators. The episode delves into themes of personal development, career progression, and the evolving landscape of creative agencies. Gary emphasizes the importance of clarity, creativity, and understanding the underlying "why" in content creation to foster both individual and organizational growth.

Staying Close to the Team and Creating Clarity (00:18 - 04:00)

Gary begins by expressing his appreciation for the VaynerMedia team, highlighting the challenges of maintaining close relationships within a large, globally distributed company. He underscores the importance of creating personal connections and clarity in the company's vision to ensure that each team member understands their role and the broader objectives.

Gary Vaynerchuk [00:18]: “I really just appreciate you all being in here. I just want to honestly spend some time, make myself available for any maybe, potential Q and A... to really create clarity for anybody individually in here.”

Gary acknowledges the logistical challenges of managing a 2,000-employee organization but credits the team's dedication for maintaining cohesion and effectiveness.

Evolution of VaynerMedia: Best of Both Worlds (04:01 - 08:30)

Addressing the company's strategic direction, Gary discusses VaynerMedia's transition from a leading social media agency to a hybrid model that integrates classic creative agency strengths. This evolution aims to position the company as a "Social First Creative Agency of Record" (SOC), blending social media expertise with traditional campaign work.

Gary Vaynerchuk: “In the last three years, we're on the journey now of being the best of both worlds, kind of, right? Social media at the Social First Creative Agency of Record.”

He elaborates on the fluctuating perceptions of social media within the industry, noting the initial skepticism and the subsequent recognition of its indispensability in modern marketing strategies.

Personal and Career Growth Insights (08:31 - 10:20)

Gary emphasizes the significance of personal growth and career development within the agency. He encourages team members to envision their long-term trajectories, whether they remain within VaynerMedia or pursue other ventures.

Gary Vaynerchuk [08:31]: “You may realize you don't want to do this. You may realize you want to be an account. You may realize you want to be an airplane pilot. I don't know.”

Gary stresses that fostering an environment where creative directors can emerge from within the agency is crucial for its sustained success and legacy.

The Importance of Understanding the 'Why' in Content Creation (10:21 - 13:00)

A central theme of the discussion revolves around the necessity of comprehending the "why" behind every piece of content. Gary advocates for creating content that serves a strategic purpose rather than merely aiming for aesthetic appeal or trendiness.

Gary Vaynerchuk [10:21]: “I don't even go into meetings without, like, Pepsi. And I'm like, mug. I'm like, who are we selling it to?”

He encourages creators to ask analytical questions about their target audience and the relevance of their content, ensuring that each piece aligns with broader business objectives.

Balancing Engagement and Impressions (10:51 - 14:17)

During an interactive segment, Abby raises concerns about content performance, noting high engagement rates but low impressions. Gary responds by highlighting the importance of volume and consistency in content creation to drive meaningful results.

Gary Vaynerchuk [10:51]: “If I had your job... you've got to get into that, like, space where you're just fluid and Zen...to get there you have to... be unstoppable.”

He emphasizes that while engagement is valuable, scaling content output is essential to amplify reach and impact, especially in a competitive digital landscape.

Leveraging TikTok for Branding and Sales (14:17 - 15:02)

Russ brings up the challenge of utilizing TikTok for driving direct conversions, given the platform's strength in brand awareness rather than immediate sales. Gary acknowledges this limitation but reframes the perspective by linking brand building to long-term sales growth.

Gary Vaynerchuk [14:57]: “The number one way to sell something is to build brand.”

He advises leveraging TikTok to enhance brand presence while integrating other channels with stronger direct sales capabilities to achieve a balanced marketing strategy.

Future Opportunities and Skill Development (15:02 - End)

Concluding the session, Gary motivates team members to develop versatile skill sets that will remain relevant as the industry evolves. He underscores the importance of mastering new media channels and staying adaptable to secure leadership roles in the future.

Gary Vaynerchuk [15:02]: “The future CCO of the entire company globally could be sitting in this room right now.”

Gary's vision is to cultivate a generation of creative directors who are not only proficient in current trends but also pioneers in shaping the future of marketing and advertising.

Conclusion

Gary Vaynerchuk's discussion in the "Strategies for Personal and Career Growth" episode offers invaluable insights into navigating personal development within the dynamic environment of VaynerMedia. By emphasizing clarity, understanding the purpose behind content, balancing engagement with reach, and preparing for future industry shifts, Gary equips his team with the strategies necessary for sustained success and leadership in the creative and marketing sectors.

Notable Quotes:

Gary Vaynerchuk [00:18]: “I have a knack for staying close, and it's because of reps like this.”
Gary Vaynerchuk [10:21]: “I don't even go into meetings without, like, Pepsi. And I'm like, mug. I'm like, who are we selling it to?”
Gary Vaynerchuk [14:57]: “The number one way to sell something is to build brand.”
Gary Vaynerchuk [15:02]: “The future CCO of the entire company globally could be sitting in this room right now.”

This comprehensive overview captures the essence of Gary Vaynerchuk's strategies for personal and career growth, providing actionable insights for listeners aiming to excel in the fields of marketing, social media, and creative content creation.

Transcript

Gary Vaynerchuk (0:00)

This is the GaryVee audio experience.

Mike (0:03)

What's up, everybody? Welcome back to another episode of the GaryVee audio experience. I'm Mike from Team GaryVee, and on today's episode of the podcast, we're sharing a meeting that gary had with VaynerMedia creators. I highly recommend you listen to this one all the way to the end, and I hope you all enjoy Team.

Gary Vaynerchuk (0:18)

I really. I just appreciate you all being in here. I just want to honestly spend some time, make myself available for any maybe, potential Q and A, maybe touch on some important points. But I think, you know, a lot of things that are on my mind is using this as an opportunity to really create clarity for anybody individually in here and really start to, like, think through some of the things that I want to speak to the whole company on and, like, in all hearts. And so it's always fun to, like, you know, for me, the most important stuff is for me to stay close. And, you know, it's hard when you have 2,000 employees and Wei's on a different time schedule than I am when he's in Singapore. And as you can imagine, it's challenging. On the flip side, I'm sure you've heard it, or maybe you've heard it, or maybe you're like, Abby and been around long enough to know it. Like, I have a knack for staying close, and it's because of reps like this. And I have many different versions of meetings like this. Plus, it's what I do for a living. So I'm trying to pay attention. The themes I'm seeing from my perspective is. And you've been. I'm sure you've been feeling it already because I've been pushing it a little bit. But when I say you've been feeling it because I've been pushing it a little bit. Let me give you some insight to how I think I'll see something like, hmm, I'll literally be on a flight from a client meeting at, like, 10:30 at night, go look at 29 accounts, look at the content, and say to myself, I wonder if I went to every creator and asked them, why did you make this, what the answer would be? And it doesn't come from, like, a cynical or, like, negative. Like, I'm, you know, it comes like, do I think, like, when I see it, I've been doing it for so long, and I feel like I've been doing it well for so long that sometimes it's just easy. Think about anything you've been doing long enough to Know, like, you can see it if you know it or not. You don't know every detail. But if, like, you play the piano well and somebody sits down and starts playing piano, you're like, mmm, you know what I mean? Like, you just know, whatever that may be. So enough of what we put out into the world. I'm like, and then you started seeing things over the last hundred days of things like, we don't need a creator in every piece of content. Of course you've been in your own content before. You got like, some people are naturally better at it, even if you're great at it. Right? That's like, if I was the creator, literally, actually me, with my actual audience for Blue Bottle, I still should only be in 50% of the creative. So you can imagine. And when you're doing what I was doing, just to take you a step back, 40 years ago, this company could not do social media. We had gone full pledge from being the best at it in 2011, 12, 13 in the world, to being much more like a classic creative agency, because I was bringing that element into the agency. And then in the last three years, we're on the journey now of being the best of both worlds, kind of, right? Social media at the social First Creative aor. Right. Preference being we're winning with ccs. They're giving us insights. We do campaign work, but not demonizing us. Being forced to have Wanda and Wei, you know, come up with a campaign idea for Subway in Singapore. Right? Not preference, because they're guessing, but not demonizing it. We go through the ebbs and flows in the last three years of teaching that at first nobody cared about social at all. Then a year ago, it would be like, whoa, you can't come up. That's bad if you do classic. So we're just going through it. We're just in a process. You guys are all in the perfect age of understanding, of going through the process of life. You're different than you were 24 months ago. You're going to be really different in five years, I promise you. And so that's the agency. I want to get together with a core group of creators because it's incredibly important that this group is successful. To me, if this agency in seven years does not have all of its creative directors come from the place you all started, then it's not the company that I wanted to build. So I have a very deep passion of this group being highly successful both for Vayner, but honestly for all of you. You chose this career for a reason. It might not even be what your destiny is. You might realize you don't want to do this. You may realize you want to be an account. You may realize you want to be an airplane pilot. I don't know. But many of you will stay in this field. And here's what I know, and this is something I fucking know. In 15 years when the majority of you are still gonna be just in the prime of your career, most of the industry is gonna look like us. And that is very good for all of you. My preference is most of you are here and we're that big 40,000 people. But my understanding and common sense and like living life knows many of you won't. But I'm gonna feel awesome in 15 years when many of you email me when you just got your ECD role at XYZ and you remember this conversation like you fucking said it. So I know that to be true. That excites me because then I feel like I'm doing the right thing. I wanna do well. But it feels good that there's gonna be a lot of collateral upside for the people along the way. And I know that to be true for 100 different reasons. But it's. But again, having somebody like Abby in the room, like Abby knows how many people started here as entry level as well and have gone into other places and doing things. And that was off a zero base. Like, that was 25 years away from what I think is going to happen. We're now starting to get into striking distance. So my thinking is the following. I have a very big responsibility to create as much clarity which is going to be there is a macro clarity of what we're trying to accomplish. And then you're gonna walk out of here and there's gonna be the day to day thing that Todd Kaplan or Frito or, you know, Ford is making you do. There. There is. And what we have to do is not be devastated by that, but always remember what we're trying to do. And that's the journey we're on. You know, I think the normal day to day politics of like, my creative director doesn't let me do this or the client doesn't let us do cool shit. That's you signed up for agency life. That's our life, right? People are always like, oh, but you can always convince them. I'm not convincing them because I'm Gary Vee. I'm Gary Vee. Because I convinced them. Because I knew why I was posting. Let me say it nice and slow one more time. And I See that? And I see that it landed. But I want you to hear this because this is how you can do what I did. When everyone's like, yeah, but you come in and you convince them. I'm like, and because you're Gary Vee, this is the senior execs talking to me, I'm like, no, no, no. I became GaryVee the way you're saying this, because I convinced him because I knew the why. It's very hard to be like, oh, we can't do any cool shit. And then when there's any poke and prod of like, why do you want to do this? There's no answer. I want to use this meeting to start the process for you to be able to answer that, which then changes everything. Right. And let me give you a deeper insight. Well, this will be cool. Is like, has validity. Cool to me is a slang term for. It will be relevant. But is it relevant to the right audience? Are they even looking for more of those customers? Do you know. Do you know if Doritos is looking for more young male customers or have they, like, get. And then asking those questions, even if they aren't answered in email form, is massive for your career because it's. It's practice for what you always want to know. There's. I don't even say words without knowing why I'm saying them, let alone doing content. So that's. That's the exciting part for me, the why. One of the biggest areas that we're not doing well, that I'd love this group to take the lead on, because I believe it can, is creating content for the sake of answering a question. We want to know. The number one reason I have confidence in SOC right now is because I don't know if this has hit everyone's radar. I know we're in motion, but we're going to be doing kind of a relevance report each month for clients. That strategy is going to lead. I think it's going to pretty much put the nail in the coffin in a great way of like sock being something everybody wants to work with. Russ. Because it's going to give people consumer insights. If you think about all the times of your time here, if this has happened, there's a reason. It got the best reaction. When you were able to speak to. Did you know that a lot of people think X or Y or Z that is highly valuable to somebody that's running a business. Right, Right. So a. Just the concept of creating content for the sake of understanding. This is why I love Instagram polls and stories, very lightweight. Nobody gives a fuck about their stories, you know what I mean? So the politics aren't there. You slap a little poll on top of whatever creative you have and then you can come back and be like 83% of people like orange, you know, so that's something to think about that I highly, highly recommend. The other thing is creativity is a challenge. One of the reasons I find that I'm good at creativity is because I spend the majority of my time listening. But if you're not spending like an hour reading like the comments going into Reddit Google Trends, you need to stay curious because the curiosity will trigger the things you'll make. Another thing to give a lot of thought to, you know, if you're finding yourself like fuck, you know, like anytime I'm like fuck, it goes right into I gotta go listen. And so search and social is profoundly strong. TikTok and Instagram searching. I really like looking at Google Trends, you know, I think I might have shared that with the whole company the other day or something, you know. So those are some other things on my mind questions and you can go very narrow because that's when I think there's the most learning. So don't think it's too niche or doesn't matter or he won't know. Like just ask my friend, what are your feelings on?