Bob Cargill, who was named the New England Direct Marketing Association's "Direct Marketer of the Year" for 2009, is an independent social media director, content marketer, copywriter, storyteller, creative director and public speaker...available for hire. You can follow Bob on Twitter at @cargillcreative.
In this conversation, Julia and I talk about her role as Chief Operating Officer (COO) at Vision Advertising, her "work hard, play hard" spirit, her accomplishments as an athlete and how she's overcome the many challenges she's faced in both her personal and professional lives.
Do you have a fear of missing out? Lots of people do. Otherwise known as FOMO, a fear of missing out is when you are afraid that something is not going to be available when the time comes for you to experience it. Ephemeral content preys on that fear. Ephemeral content – the focus of attention on Facebook Stories, Instagram Stories and Snapchat – is content that disappears after being available for consumption for only a short period of time. Like the limited-time offer used by traditional direct marketers for years, ephemeral content creates a sense of urgency among its audience which leads to greater interest, desire and engagement. Because it comes and goes so quickly, people tend to react more quickly to it when they see it, not wanting…
What’s your Studio 54? What’s your big, brilliant idea, the one thing you’re doing to do that’s going to break through the clutter and make you a star? What’s your plan for success? The brainchild of Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager, Studio 54 was a nightclub on 254 West 54th Street in New York City that was ridiculously popular in the late 1970s. It is home to the Roundabout Theatre Company today. During the heyday of the disco era, Studio 54 was the place to be for stars, celebrities and anybody who wanted to dance the night away in the city that never sleeps. Rubell and Schrager were ingenious in creating such a hot spot for people who wanted to enjoy the nightlife and bask in the limelight in Manhattan.…
Thanks to social media, every brand and business today is a publisher. The people within those organizations are usually the ones who are responsible for those publishing efforts, though. They are the rock stars, the lead magnets, the only way – in many cases – their employers would have any worthwhile content to share with their constituents in the first place. I listened to a ridiculously awesome podcast recently, the Digiday Podcast hosted by Brian Morrissey, in which the host spoke to Barstool Sports’ CEO, Erika Nardini. You can listen to this episode here. Among other things, Nardini talked about the success of her company’s many podcasts, monetizing content and building a subscription business that isn’t necessarily dependent on advertising. “Personalities are the new publishers,” she said at one point…
Far too many brands and businesses are trying to fit a square peg into a round hole on social media. They’re using LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and the like as broadcast channels, places to promote themselves instead of to share and engage with others. They're not posting nearly enough, either. They're still not getting it. Marketing, advertising, sales, PR, heck, whatever line of business you're in…it’s all changing rapidly before our very eyes. Consumers don’t believe anything anymore. So, transparency wins. You want to have your audience’s attention? You want to earn their trust and loyalty? Stop manipulating them and start listening to them. Put yourself out there on a frequent basis and let them get to know you as a human being, not a corporate logo or a company…
I’m not going to lie. Advertising is interruptive. Advertising is annoying. Advertising is a waste of time unless you’re doing it differently than you did back in the day. You can only throw so much money into advertising before those on the receiving end are going to completely ignore you. I read a ridiculously awesome article written by Frank McKinley recently, "Why Advertising Doesn’t Work." You can read it for yourself on Medium here. In this article, Frank talks about how much the world has changed and how ineffective “buying interruptions” is these days. Stop the insanity, I say. Personally, I love advertising. I love marketing. I love social media. But the same old same old simply isn't working anymore. You. Me. Everyone of us in this business has to…
Marketing today is as much about supporting people as it is about changing their minds. In a blog post recently (which you can read here), Mark Schaefer “politely” disagrees with something from Seth Godin's latest book, This Is Marketing: You Can't Be Seen Until You Learn To See. I previewed some of Seth’s book online, but I haven’t read it in its entirety. According to Mark, though, Seth writes, “Marketers make change.” Yet Mark feels differently. He feels that marketers should be “coming alongside” customers, not changing them. I think they’re both right. I think that by supporting our customers, clients and constituents, we have a better chance of wining them over and earning their business. Frankly, I have always agreed with anything either of these iconic, grandmasters of marketing…
Age doesn’t matter on social media. In a recent issue of AARP The Magazine, there’s a series of profiles on “older Americans” who are crushing it on social media. People like Lili Hayes, Scott Wadsworth, Herbie Russ, Irvin Randle, Judith Boyd, Angie Schmitt and others. These people are looked up to like rock stars and celebrities on YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. They’re influencers and authorities, thought leaders and entertainers, gurus and trendsetters. And yes, they’re all over 50 – like me. Age doesn’t matter on social media. Age shouldn’t matter anywhere. Nobody should be looked at differently because they are older than you. No one should be judged, stereotyped, underestimated or treated unfairly because of their age, young or old. There are no boundaries to talent and ability. There…
He is outgoing and outspoken, transparent and transformative. He is not afraid to put himself out there and show he’s human just like us. He is a ridiculously awesome example of how senior-level business executives should use social media, if you ask me. He is John Legere, CEO of T-Mobile. Not only does he know how to call attention to himself and the company he presides over, he is also very thoughtful of others, altruistic and philanthropic. In fact, this super successful UMass Amherst grad recently raised $4.5 million for Boston’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, thanks in large part to the large, loyal following he has on social media. John Legere knows what he’s doing, folks, in the C suite and on social media. Follow him and learn from the best.
