Breaking Through The Web to Real World Barrier

A common complaint I hear from colleagues online is that translating what they do online to the real world often seems impossible. When I talk to my friends and colleagues offline, they tell me they feel the online world “shuts them out”, like a giant high school clique only accessible to people with the “right” contacts, connections and abilities. Bridging the gap often seems impossible, but it is essential to have a thriving future economy.

Some big name retailers are successfully bridging the gap, like Starbucks, Coke, Mountain Dew, Apple and others. All of these retailers enjoy a thriving on and offline presence, utilizing Web 2.0 tools to brand themselves on and off line and promote themselves to consumers in both worlds. But big retailers have unlimited budgets that most Web 2.0 start ups don't have. They also offer a tangible real world product, something many Web 2.0 start ups lack.

In the face of big budgets and huge marketing departments, how can companies and people online use Web 2.0 to bridge the gap between the online and offline world, without a big ad budget, and without resorting to spam and other black hat tactics that are half the reason off line users don't even check their email anymore in the first place? The answer is to take a cue from internet personality Gary Vaynerchuk.

Gary has managed to grow an off line, old world business (his family's liquor store) into a huge, shining example of real life retail that coexists with an online presence (now known as the Wine Library). The Wine Library has become well known throughout the country to people of all walks of life with and without connections online. How has this business bridged the gap? The force of a true personality and savvy business mind utilizing Web 2.0 marketing techniques in a way that promotes word of mouth advertising both online and off.

Gary has become well known throughout the internet world for his online video blog, Wine Library TV. He has also branched out, creating another video blog centered around himself and his non-wine related ideas, Gary Vay•Ner•Chuk. What is even more interesting than his video presence is his accessibility. He goes out of his way to be available to people on and off line, working tirelessly to promote his products and his ideas.

He has tapped into the social media firestorm of Twitter, MySpace, FaceBook, and more. He updates constantly, he keeps a positive attitude (this is key in this age of anonymity breeding rudeness and hate). If you contact him, he will contact you in return (though as he gets more popular, the wait time is a little longer). If you follow him, he will follow you. He projects a persona that says he cares, truly cares, that you like what he does. Even better, he took the social aspect of the internet to heart and started Cork'd, a wine network affiliated with the WineLibrary and WineLibraryTV.

It is this personal approach, this accessibility, that makes him able to draw people away from their computer desks and into the WineLibrary or out to a local meet up when he travels. He did a tasting experience at the Wine Library recently that had people coming from as far away as Massachusetts and beyond. More importantly, these online people brought their off line friends. Because of his persona, he has leapt across the divide of Web 2.0 versus “real life” and it shows in the good will his company enjoys, as well as their bottom line (WineLibrary has grown into a nearly $60 million dollar a year business with both on and off line sales.

Gary also has something to teach online start ups and marketers about good will and positive attitude. In an age where the internet is very off putting to a new internet user because of clique-y behavior and infighting amongst the internet heavy hitters, Gary is consistently positive - a rarity. I often find myself taking 20 minutes out of my day that I don't have just to watch his blog - it lifts my mood after hours spent reading negative news feeds and seeing arguing tweets. I tell my friends about the vlog and the WineLibrary, and I know they now log on just to see it as well, because they are interested in wine and find his attitude refreshing.

Imagine how easy crossing over from online presence to off line sales would be for other Web 2.0 companies if they took a page (or several) from Gary's book? Instead of lamenting that this or that portion of the Internet is “dead” because there is a lack of interest, what would happen if those negative web people turned their attitudes around and made the internet a better place? We talked about the internet being like high school before, and I suppose that is an apt analogy for some of the things that go on, but I find my off line friends are more often put off of the web as a whole because of the aura of negativity.

Any person who can start a meme called Good People Day and compare Web 2.0 of 2008 to Rap/Hip-Hop of 1985 has his finger on the positive pulse. If every start up included 1) positive attitude, 2) accessibility, 3) clarity, 4) use of other social media than their own to their marketing plan, imagine the difference. I think there are ways to bridge the gap and carry us into the digital economic future. No one should be left behind - the internet should be something everyone can embrace, so that we can all grow.