Building a brand the Gary Vee way

For many people, Gary Vaynerchuk is an acquired taste.

Brash, in-your-face and passionate to the max, with Vaynerchuk what you see is what you get. He calls it “embracing your DNA”, and he freely admits that a percentage of people turn off him straight away. But he ain’t gonna change for them!

“I execute against my DNA. When you are yourself and you garnish results, people respect that,” Vaynerchuk he tells Jay Berkowitz in this podcast interview.

Pic source

Vaynerchuk is pure SWEAT EQUITY! Having guided his father’s retail wine shop on to the internet and into a $50 million business, Vaynerchuk has extended his personal brand into books, consulting and public speaking.

However, he’s probably best known from his daily internet webcast Wine Library TV. Episodes consist of wine tastings plus discussion about other wine related topics.

While content is important to Vaynerchuk, his success has largely come from marketing and hustle and proactively extending his personal brand through the social web.

“I spend about 11 to 12 hours a day engaging my community,” he says in the Jay Berkowitz podcast interview.

So what is Gary Vee’s advice? Here are some tips, gleaned from the aforementioned podcast interview:

Embrace your DNA – “You are who you are, you have strengths and weaknesses.”

Vaynerchuk recommends you know what you’re good at and don’t pretend to be something or someone you’re not.  ”Evolve a business plan around your strengths”, he says.

Build up street cred – “Hustle. You’ve got to work your ass off. This is not the minor leagues,” he says (in the podcast).

Interact with your community – Vaynerchuk believes it’s important to have the right balance between content and interaction (“Probably the 30 best television shows ever made got cancelled in the first season, so marketing is imperative,” he says).

Use (social media) tools that help extend your brand and your message. “That’s the game,” he says. “Build brand equity…word of mouth is what builds business.”

Mitch Joel refers to Vaynerchuk as a “personal branding juggernaut”!

Check out Joel’s podcast interview with the Veemeister here – it’s excellent!

The video below shows Vaynerchuk in full flight and is recommended.

Oh, and if you’re interested in purchasing the book CRUSH IT, I suggest you get it on audio – most authors stick to the exact book manuscript but Vaynerchuk, being Vaynerchuk, tends to wander off the script! Hilarious, plus added value!!

I’d love to hear whether Gary Vee’s ideas and advice works for your brand.