2019 - Bob Cargill

29Dec 2019 by Bob Cargill

Humanize Your Brand

Advertising, Branding, Marketing, Seth Godin, Social Media

Real success in business is achieved when you use real people in marketing and sales, real people in real time being really honest with their audience. When I saw Mark Schaefer speak earlier this year, he emphasized the importance of being human as marketers. I saw Seth Godin a few months later, and he pointed out that human marketing takes time. They're both right, of course. Consumers are tired of being bombarded by the constant cacophony of cries for their attention from brands. There must be a better way to win friends and influence people in business. That’s why I’m such a huge proponent of social media. Social media levels the playing field, making it possible for companies to engage with consumers - and vice versa - as human beings.…

13Dec 2019 by Bob Cargill

The Future of Advertising…It’s About to Get Real

Advertising, Marketing

To break through the clutter and win consumers over, advertising and marketing need to get real. That’s what Bud Light did recently. During game five of the 2019 World Series, Washington Nationals fan, Jeff Adams, took a home run ball to the chest while holding on tightly to his two cold beers. That’s when Bud Light sprang into action. Not only did they take quickly to Twitter to call attention to the moment, they tracked down the fan and by the next game, had him the star of a television campaign that featured the actual video footage of him being hit by the ball. This scenario was remarkably well played by Bud Light, to say the least. Borrowing a page out of the social media playbook, they wasted no time…

29Nov 2019 by Bob Cargill

People Don’t Like Advertising and Marketing

Advertising, Marketing, Social Media

I hate to break it to you, but people don’t want to be interrupted by advertising and marketing. That’s the last thing I want to hear, too, as I’ve earned my livelihood in this business for years. But we can’t bury our heads in the sand. We can’t look the other way. We can’t say we weren’t warned. Not after reading a recent article in The New York Times (“The Advertising Industry Has a Problem: People Hate Ads") that painted a very pessimistic picture of what my colleagues and I do for a living. Consumers are turning off and tuning out, going so far as to pay extra to receive news, information and entertainment without being bothered by brands’ incessant cries for attention and engagement. This is what I’ve been…

09Nov 2019 by Bob Cargill

Selfies on Social Media

Branding, Marketing, Selfies, Social Media

Selfies can be some of your most popular content on social media. People like to see pictures of other people, especially those with smiles on their faces. Do you remember that famous selfie that Ellen DeGeneres took at the Oscars in 2014 with Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence and a group of other celebrities? On Twitter, that selfie garnered over 3,000,000 retweets and more than 2,000,000 likes. Former Boston Red Sox slugger, David (“Big Papi”) Ortiz, took a great selfie of him and President Barack Obama on the team’s visit to the White House a few years ago. Kim Kardashian, of course, is famous for her selfies. I take a lot of selfies myself, many of them group selfies using my selfie stick at industry-related events like American Marketing Association, Boston's.…

30Oct 2019 by Bob Cargill

What’s Your Mud?

Branding, Marketing

What's your mud? What's your secret sauce? What's the one thing you can offer to your audience members that they can't get anywhere else? I read an article in Sports Illustrated recently about this guy who provides Major League Baseball with the mud that's rubbed on baseballs before they're used in games. Apparently this mud makes it possible for a pitcher to get a dependable grip on the ball. This mud is unique. This mud is valuable. This mud, according to this article, has been the only mud used by MLB for decades. Every brand and business should have the equivalent of this mud as their own product or service. Something exclusive. Something rare. Something no one else can offer. After all, there is a lot of competition in the…

05Oct 2019 by Bob Cargill

Advertising is Everywhere

Advertising, Branding, Marketing, Public Relations, Social Media

Advertising, marketing, PR and social media …all this is changing at breakneck speed. What strategies and tactics worked for us a few years ago, or as recently as last year, could easily backfire on us today. We can’t afford to have whatever messages we’re sharing with our own respective audiences be anything but relevant, timely, engaging and even amusing. Never mind the glut of content people are trying to sort through and digest, many consumers, customers and clients won’t tolerate anything that even resembles a sales pitch anymore. Stop begging for business and start earning that business. Stop trying to fool those on the receiving end of your messages and start trying to help them. Stop hitting listeners, viewers and readers over the head time and again and start listening…

16Sep 2019 by Bob Cargill

Bob Cargill’s Marketing Road Show on November 22, 2019 (3-8 PM)

Marketing, Social Media

On Friday, November 22, 2019, Bob Cargill's Marketing Road Show will take place from 3-8 p.m. at Out of Office in Hudson, Massachusetts. Sponsored by Avidia Bank, 3 Media Web, Aveli By WSI and Ideal Video Strategies, the Marketing Road Show will be an educational and entertaining event on the importance of authenticity in marketing today. Along with an action-packed agenda of speakers and panel discussions, there will be plenty of time for networking, socializing and just plain fun, too. Scheduled speakers to date include social media and marketing consultant Bob Cargill, business coach Michelle Holmes Mercier, Avidia Bank’s communication manager Katelin Cwieka, Vision Advertising's Julia Becker Collins, InVision's Richard Banfield, 3 Media Web's Lysa Miller, Rapport International's Wendy Pease and Avid's Jeff Copetas. Tickets for this event are only…

10Sep 2019 by Bob Cargill

Podcast: A Few Words with Dave Matson

Marketing, Social Media, Sudbury

In this episode of my podcast, Bob Cargill's Marketing Show, I have a ridiculously awesome conversation with David Matson on the patio in front of the restaurant, 29 Rustic Mediterranean, in Sudbury. Dave is a digital marketer who specializes in SEO, lead generation, content strategy and social media. We talk about content marketing, SEO, community management on Facebook, even some of our favorite rock bands. About David Matson (in Dave's Words, from his LinkedIn Profile) Digital marketer focused on SEO, lead generation, content strategy, and social media. I built a business that generated thousands of leads per month for criminal defense lawyers from organic search. I am the founder and organizer of one of the largest and oldest SEO Meetup groups in the country. http://www.meetup.com/BostonSEO/

25Aug 2019 by Bob Cargill

Anybody Can Write About Anything

Marketing, Social Media

Anybody can write about anything almost anywhere online. That’s what the proliferation and prevalence of social media has made possible. Anybody can position themselves as an authority if they are knowledgeable, talented and prolific. With that authority, though, comes a great deal of responsibility. If you have a blog, you need to know what you’re talking about or you risk being exposed as an amateur. If you have a YouTube channel, you need to be able to enlighten, educate and entertain viewers. Whatever social media channel you are active on – from LinkedIn to Twitter, Facebook to Instagram – if you try to fake it till you make it, chances are you’ll be ignored or worse yet, called out eventually for mediocrity. And you’ll give social media a bad rap.…