Boston Archives - Bob Cargill

24Apr 2024 by Bob Cargill No Comments

WHOOP, There It Is

Make people aware of what you have to offer. That's of the utmost importance in advertising. If nobody knows about you, nobody is going to do business with you. You have to call attention to yourself. You have to build an audience for your products and services. You have to get the word out. Your brand name can help do that alone. WHOOP, "the human performance company," certainly stands out. To say it's a catchy name for a company would be an understatement. Locational excellence can be a competitive advantage in business as well. WHOOP's 121,000 square-foot office space in Boston's Kenmore Square is certainly conspicuous in its presence, especially with the huge sign on top of it and the spectacular promotional banner I saw across the front of the…

28Aug 2023 by Bob Cargill

The Importance of Having a Strong Personal Brand

Boston, Branding, Marketing, Social Media

My wife, Barbara, asked me recently why it was so important to have a strong personal brand on social media. Among other things, I told her that you can't be in front of people in real life, IRL, all the time, but you can be in front of them and heard by them almost all the time on #socialmedia. So you want to share content online on a steady, continuous basis that is a positive, accurate reflection of who you are as both a professional and a human being. I had a lot more to say about the topic, of course. Here's my answer to Barbara's question in its entirety...

13Jun 2023 by Bob Cargill

Teaching, PR, Inspirational Stories and More with Kim Ring

Boston, Business, Leadership, Marketing, Podcast

In this episode (Episode 173) of my podcast, Bob Cargill's Marketing Show, I talk to Kimberley Ring about her very inspirational career journey from founding her own PR agency, Ring Communications, over 15 years ago to her unbridled passion for teaching today as a faculty member at Suffolk University. About Kimberley Ring Allen Kimberley Ring is the founder of Ring Communications - one of the fastest growing integrated marketing firms in Boston. She is known as one of the leading public relations professionals and social media influencers in Boston and is known for her work with high profile brands in the lifestyle, hospitality, and sports industries. A self-made publicist and business owner that has built a successful career around joining “old school ethics” with “new school techniques,” she has been…

15May 2023 by Bob Cargill

Ridiculously Awesome Branding by Northeastern University

Boston, Branding, Marketing

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…

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.…

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…

12Aug 2021 by Bob Cargill

How to Satisfy a Dissatisfied Customer

Boston, Branding, Business, Customer Service, Instagram, Leadership, Marketing, Public Relations

How do you satisfy a dissatisfied customer? Ask Norm Laviolette, CEO of Laugh Boston. He knows. He demonstrated recently what a business should do when a customer complains. He went above and beyond to turn a bad customer experience into a good one. When someone complained on social media about the chicken wings she ordered at his establishment, he went out of his way to resolve the issue. He personally delivered to this customer not just another order of chicken wings, but free tickets to an upcoming show, a $100 food and beverage voucher and a T-shirt. Good for you, Norm. Kudos, props and cheers to you and Laugh Boston for providing such an exemplary example of ridiculously awesome customer service. P.S. Thanks to Maureen Dahill's Caught In Southie article,…

30Jun 2021 by Bob Cargill

PR and Corporate Communications with Maura FitzGerald

Boston, Business, Communications, Marketing, Public Relations

In this episode of Bob Cargill's Marketing Show, Episode 131, I talk to Maura FitzGerald, Co-Founder and Partner at V2 Communications, a Boston-based public relations and digital communications firm. During our conversation, we touch upon the challenges that businesses have faced during the pandemic, the importance of a solid internal communications program, hiring practices, employee empowerment and much more. About Maura FitzGerald Maura is one of Boston’s most seasoned public relations veterans. With decades of experience and not one, but two, high-growth PR agencies under her belt, Maura was the 2019 recipient of Boston PR Club’s John J. Molloy Crystal Bell Lifetime Achievement Award. Over her career, Maura successfully founded and grew one of the premier U.S. brands in strategic technology communications, FitzGerald Communications. Under Maura’s direction, the agency immediately…