Bob Cargill, Author at Bob Cargill

15May 2023 by Bob Cargill No Comments

Ridiculously Awesome Branding by Northeastern University

Meandering around campus at Northeastern University in Boston recently, I noticed the paw prints of the school's mascot, Paws, painted along the walkway, which made perfect sense to me. After all, the Husky is the school's official mascot and nickname. But I have to admit, I was impressed by the lengths that the school went to in putting those prints on the ground. That is branding at its absolute finest, make-believe paw prints as if the school's mascot had come to life and was actually making its way around campus with students, faculty, administrators and others. How can your business, organization or institution leave tracks so that members of your audience can't help but be reminded of your presence wherever they go? Online or in the real world (IRL), what…

13Apr 2023 by Bob Cargill No Comments

Using Social Media to Spread the Word

Marketing, Social Media

Wait! What? Yes, it's true. Believe it or not, I went to church recently. The Franklin United Methodist Church to be exact. The same church I went to as a kid growing up in the ridiculously awesome town of Franklin, Massachusetts. At the most, I go to church only a few times a year, on average. I always enjoy the experience when I'm there, though. Always. This was a particularly great day to be sitting in the pews with my wife, Barbara, and my mother - who's been going to this church for over 60 years. First of all, my sister, Cathy, was playing the organ, as she has done countless times there over the years going all the way back to when she was just a teenager. Watching her…

25Mar 2023 by Bob Cargill

Getting Customers to Wear Your Brand

Boston, Branding, Marketing

Many professional hockey fans will wear their favorite team's jersey, especially when they attend a game, like the scene I saw the other night when I was walking around outside the TD Garden in Boston. All those Boston Bruins fans milling about wearing black and gold jerseys like the players themselves. Why? Well, as fans, they're proud to wear that jersey, to wear the black and gold. They want to feel that sense of belonging to a close-knit community, a community of loyal Bruins fans. And frankly, they know they look wicked cool wearing that jersey. Tough. Rugged. Again, like the players themselves. Okay. So you're not a professional hockey team, but you do have products and services to sell. How can you do what the Bruins do with their…

17Feb 2023 by Bob Cargill

Making It a Pleasure, Not a Pain, for Your Customers and Clients

Boston, Branding, Business, Communications, Customer Service

I was on the MBTA Commuter Rail Green Line recently heading home from work from Boston's Government Center station to Woodland in Newton. I've taken this route home, this train, the MBTA's Green Line, a lot, but never had I heard the driver of the train announcing the stops the way this particular driver was announcing them. She had a ridiculously awesome personality, a tone of voice that was making me feel like we were on a happy, celebratory tour of all the stops along the route of our luxury ride home, like those stops actually meant something to us as commuters about to call it a day. She wasn't reciting those stops in a listless, monotone voice like it was just another part of her job. Quite the contrary.…

13Jan 2023 by Bob Cargill

Social Media, Samuel Adams and More

Advertising, Marketing, Podcast, Social Media

In this episode of my podcast, which celebrates its five-year anniversary next month, I talk about a number of topics. I start off by talking about how I'll be running the Boston Marathon again this year, the 15th time I have run this historic race for a charitable cause. I then share my feelings about how much I love teaching, something I've been doing a lot of at this new stage in my career, and being involved as a member of the leadership team - as president - of the American Marketing Association's Boston chapter. I talk about my new book, Twenty Jobs, Twenty Lessons - a Long, Strange Career in Marketing, from Junk Mail to Social Media. I go on about the importance of knowing how to use social…

10Jan 2023 by Bob Cargill

How to Crush It on Social Media with Kris Bryant

Content, Marketing, Social Media

In this episode of my podcast (recorded on video), Bob Cargill's Marketing Show, I talk to social media strategist, UGC (User-Generated Content) creator and public speaker, Kris Bryant, about personal branding, marketing, TikTok and much more.

23Dec 2022 by Bob Cargill

Spotify Wrapped is Ingenious Marketing

Marketing

Spotify Wrapped from Spotify is ingenious marketing. Users receive a ridiculously awesome visual presentation of the songs and artists they listened to most during the year. Along with this information comes a great deal of additional data including total minutes of listening time (my number was 47,878 minutes), top artist listened to (mine was HarryStyles), how many songs played (I played 3,598 songs on Spotify), etc. It is all such impressive data, if you ask me, data that users are inclined to share with their own respective online networks, amplifying the reach - exponentially - of Spotify's brilliant campaign. I explain a lot more how how strongly I feel about the ingeniousness of Spotify Wrapped in the video accompanying this blog post.

24Nov 2022 by Bob Cargill

Be Conspicuous in Your Presence on Social Media

Social Media

Be conspicuous in your presence on social media. After all, you never know where your customers, clients, connections and contacts are going to show up on these online communication channels (LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, etc.). You want to be there when they're there, which means you can't afford to take much time, if any, off of social media. Share as much content as possible. Check in frequently. Listen to and learn from others. If you don't have the bandwidth, that's one thing. If you know for a fact that your audience members aren't there, that's another. Otherwise, there is no reason a brand, personal or corporate, should not have some semblance of a presence on most, if not all the major social media channels in 2022 and beyond.

03Nov 2022 by Bob Cargill

Treating Your Customers to Something Free

Advertising, Boston, Business, Marketing, Public Relations, Restaurants

Boloco, a chain of restaurants founded in Boston, offered free small bowls to its customers in three of its locations in the area the other day. I saw the long line of people waiting to take advantage of this ridiculously awesome offer in front of its Longwood Avenue store. Good for those happy customers, getting such a great deal on such great food. And good for Boloco, too, for being so kind and generous to those folks. From a marketing perspective, why would Boloco do such a crazy thing? There are plenty of reasons, actually. Besides just being a nice thing to do for others, in doing so, the business may see a lot of those seeking freebies buying additional menu items at the same time. They may have the…