Not one to remain standing still, Vaynerchuk has opened a media company called VaynerMedia with his younger brother. They are currently representing the NHL and Forbes amongst others.

‘Crust It!’ is written in the same style as Vaynerchuk’s podcast, it is confident and to the point. Vaynerchuk inspires readers to build a personal brand and build a fan club around whatever it is you love the most no matter if you are an entrepreneur or an employee. In this book he talks about his life and development as an entrepreneur and he also tells stories of those people he’s influenced who are, in his words “crushing it”. Vaynerchuk does give some good tips about how to build a personal brand with specific steps, but I still think the biggest value of his book is that it lifts the reader out of a negative mindset and leaves them with the notion that anything is possible if you want it bad enough.

I’m a student of human nature and it is fascinating to me to see how certain marketing techniques seem to really work on the human brain. One of these techniques is the Starbucks card. On many occasions I’ve been out with a friend to Starbucks and they’ve whipped out their Starbucks card when it came time to pay pronouncing that they would get it as they had a card. I always find myself hesitate when this happens because it is not like the card is a coupon, it is still the person’s money, no different than if they were going to pay with a debit/credit card. I think the lure of the Starbucks card is that by putting money on the card in advance it sort of negates the guilt of buying a sinful cappuchino and treat at the moment of purchase (for an expensive $7.50). It is completely illogical though as 1. it is no more convenient than using a debit/credit card and 2. all the card money collected by Starbucks cards sits in their account rather than in the consumers.

I’d be interested to hearing any other thoughts you might have as to why the Starbuck’s card is so effective in getting consumers to buy into it?

But the media-saturated climate of the twenty-first century is causing problems for this tried and tested sales method. People are starting to tune out of traditional forms of marketing: units exist for cable and satellite channels that block ads on TV, and the popular Adblock Plus plugin for Firefox does an amazing job of cleaning up websites as you browse.

So how do you get people interested in your product? You let them interact with it!

Threadless is an excellent example of the success of this approach. In eight years they have gone from being a two person startup (after entering a t-shirt designing contest) to being one of the hottest sites on the web. They have now also opened up their own store. All this from a simple, fun concept: t-shirt designs are submitted by users, voted on by users, and then the winning designs are printed. There are other highly successful examples as well, like Build a Bear. The success of their business is based on enabling kids to wander in and build their own teddy – the one they’ve ‘always wanted’.

It is so crucial that you invite clients to give their honest feedback about your product. Even further, like Threadless, you can let your clients in on the creative process. Customers are experts in the field of what they want – they are the ones paying your bills, so let them show you how you can fit their needs. If they have a choice between a product that is close, and a company that let’s you play with the product so that it is perfect, it’s no surprise that the latter is the one which will be chosen more times than not.

The other advantage of this form of customer/business interaction comes in the form of marketing. Word of mouth is a powerful tool, and both good and bad buzz spread quickly, especially in this age of immediate international commentary via blogs, forums, and feed services like Twitter. By encouraging your customers enjoy and customize experience, you immediately improve the reputation of your company – the word spreads that you ‘get it.’

By letting your customers tell you exactly what they want, letting them use the product, and then changing it into exactly what they need, everyone leaves the table happy – the customer has the product that is perfect for them, and you know that they will recommend your business to others. A perfect cycle, for smart growth.