🎶 This Is How You Do It 🎶

LEGEND... WAIT FOR IT...

Is that Montell Jordan rocking a Trainual tee? 👀

Stay tuned - multi-platinum recording artist Montell Jordan is bringing you a legendary new song. And it features us! (No, this is not a joke.)

It's been over 25 years since "This Is How We Do It" first hit the charts (and got forever stuck in your head). Now, Montell is remixing his 90's hit alongside Trainual and turning it into an anthem for entrepreneurs.

"This Is How You Do It" drops this Friday, August 20, at midnight. Hear it wherever you stream music.

👉 Preview the track now.

Spoiler: There's a cameo on the full-length track that you don't want to miss!

DEMI FREAKIN' MOORE

OOH should be every SMBs go-to play right now

Today's top play in marketing? Put people's pictures in a public place, and (hopefully) their friends post about seeing it and tag them.

This strategy isn't exactly new. Adidas' viral "change is a team sport" campaign in 2020 was literally built on it. But that didn't stop the bathing suit brand Andie from making a massive splash with this out-of-home (OOH) strategy this summer. 

Melanie Travis, Andie CEO and Playbook 2020 speaker, bet if less recognizable influencers made noise, household celebrities would be deafening.

So, in July, the D2C company put up a massive billboard on Sunset Boulevard featuring early investor and actress Demi Moore alongside her 3 daughters (Scout, Tallulah, and Rumer).

And sure enough, Demi's high-profile friends proved that influencers and celebrities are regular folks just like us... only with bigger followings. The likes of Jamie Lee Curtis (who has 3.3M Instagram followers) and Melanie Griffith (532k) shared the billboard as they drove by and tagged Andie. 

But getting Demi's friends to tag the brand was no accident. Melanie asked Demi and her daughters, "Which of your friends would want to try Andie?" Then, she gifted those friends a few suits, putting the brand top of mind just before the ad went up. 

And the campaign couldn't have come at a better time. Before the pandemic, 1 in 4 adults had posted about a brand on Instagram after seeing an OOH campaign. And now, 45% say they notice OOH ads after being cooped up during COVID. 

As a result, Andie blew up on Instagram. The small business already had a sizable social following before the launch. But after being tagged by Demi's friends and fans alike, Andie now brags 143k followers (and counting). Plus, they saw a healthy boost to their Q3 sales. 

👉Want even more top plays? Watch Andie's Playbook 2020 session on-demand.

Plus, tune in live to Playbook 2021 for even more top plays from today's biggest names in small business. Shaquille O'Neal and Gary Vee included. Register for free.

5 STARS

Does your Yelp rating even matter anymore?

Yelp boasts 224M reviews and a monthly average of 31M unique app visits. But unlike other review platforms, 97% of people actually make a purchase after visiting the review site.

So, yes – your Yelp rating is still important, especially if you’re operating with a modest marketing budget. That’s because it’s a totally free way to boost your company’s visibility. And they can lead to more traffic, which leads to more sales. 

But to do all this, you need to play the numbers game. The review platform shows the top-rated businesses that match whatever someone searched for. And the top spot is usually given to someone who has a bunch of really positive reviews. 

Don’t love your Yelp rating? Here are a few totally legal (and totally free) ways to encourage people to rave about you on Yelp:

1. Give 5-star service. This one sounds obvious. But you need everyone on your team to deliver the same incredible experience every time. And that comes down to making sure everyone has the same top-notch training. (We’re biased - but we love Trainual for getting our team aligned.)
2. Activate your Yelp page. Meaning, don’t just let it passively exist on the site! Take control of how folks see you on Yelp by going to biz.yelp.com to claim your business. Then, add product photos, your hours, and contact info. 
3. Respond to reviews. All reviews - not just the good ones. At the very least, thank the people who rave about you and (respectfully) address bad experiences. That way, prospective customers know you really care.
4. Share stellar reviews on your site. That'll give people the final push they need to buy. Plus, when customers see others rave about your business, it creates a herd mentality. And they’re more likely to rave about you too.

👉 See all 6 ways to boost your Yelp rating. Plus, what to do about bad reviews.

TL;DR

This week's highlight reel

• This again? Airbnb shares fell after reporting nearly 300% YOY growth in Q2, giving early signs about how the delta variant might affect business. 
• Worth it! Companies like Google are threatening pay cuts if employees choose to keep working from home. But roughly 65% of US workers said they’d be willing to take a 5% pay cut to stay remote.
• Zuck gets pushed. A global survey confirms that TikTok officially passed Facebook as the most downloaded app in 2020. 
• Opening back up. DTC beauty brand Glossier opens its first permanent store in Seattle since shutting all its in-person locations last year. And they’ve announced plans to open two more locations in Los Angeles and London before the year ends.
• Still surging. Ridesharing prices stay high, despite drivers returning. Current pricing is more than 50% higher than what people paid in January 2020.