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

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.…
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Treating Your Customers to Something Free

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…
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How to Satisfy a Dissatisfied Customer

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,…
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PR and Corporate Communications with Maura FitzGerald

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…
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Boston-Area Agencies on Twitter

Boston-Area Agencies on Twitter

Advertising, Boston, Marketing, Public Relations, Social Media
Hey, Boston-area agencies involved in marketing, advertising, PR and social media. I see you. I see which ones of you are on Twitter and I’ve added you to my list there. I read the content you share there and take notice of how often you post. I like a lot of your tweets and even retweet some of them. I may not have found all of you on Twitter yet, but I’m constantly on the lookout. I invite you and anybody else who’s interested to take a look at this list I’ve put together of agencies in the Boston area. Use it to learn more about who you may want to partner with or hire. Use it to you learn more the industry in which you earn your livelihood. Use…
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I’m Running the 2020 Virtual Boston Marathon

I’m Running the 2020 Virtual Boston Marathon

Boston, Boston Marathon, Fundraising
I’m psyched. I’m in. I’m participating in the Boston Marathon Virtual Experience. Of course, the Boston Marathon was cancelled this year due to the pandemic. Those of us who were entered to run this historic race were disappointed, but we totally understood. There was no way the race could have been held given the coronavirus crisis. The Boston Athletic Association (BAA) came up with a virtual version of the marathon, however, giving official entrants the opportunity to go the 26.2-mile distance on their own course, on their own time, sometime between September 5-14, 2020. So after having trained in the cold temperatures all winter to run this thing, I picked up where I left off a couple months later and trained all summer under the hot sun. I’m ready. I’m…
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200 Boston-Area Agencies on Twitter

Advertising, Boston, Marketing, Public Relations, Social Media, Twitter
Who knows how many marketing, advertising, social media and PR agencies are located in and around Boston? I doubt anybody knows exactly how many there are around here, but I have found 200 of them on Twitter for you to follow. Large, small, old and new, together these agencies represent the best and brightest our industry has to offer. Seriously! Under their roofs right here in Beantown, you could arguably find enough talent, prowess, knowledge and expertise to launch the most sophisticated and successful campaigns in the world. While what they can they do in 280 characters or less on Twitter, of course, isn’t quite the same as what they can do on a blank canvas and an unlimited budget for their clients, that doesn’t mean they’re not worth following…
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12 Boston-Area Marketers to Follow on Twitter, Part II

Boston, Marketing, Social Media, Twitter
Of course, there are far more than just a dozen marketing professionals in the Boston area who you and I should be following on Twitter. There are hundreds, if not thousands who deserve our attention. That’s what couldn't have been more obvious to me after finishing up my last post for this blog. And while I can’t possibly write about every single one of them here in this space, I can certainly give it another whirl. So, to continue the conversation about some of the most ridiculously accomplished people in our industry on Twitter who just happen to work around here – that is, Boston – here are another 12 local rock stars of marketing, advertising, PR and social media. You can follow them individually on Twitter by clicking on…
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12 Boston-Area Marketing Pros to Follow on Twitter, Part I

Boston, Business, Marketing, Social Media, Twitter
There are roughly 330 million monthly active users of Twitter, and who knows how many of them work or live in and around Boston. I’ve identified a dozen of those users who not only fall into the latter category, though, but who also happen to have proven themselves to be ridiculously accomplished marketing professionals. If you’re not following these rock stars of marketing, advertising, PR and social media yet, get after it now. Here is a little information about each of them, including their respective Twitter handles and an aggregated stream of their latest tweets from a public list I’ve added them to on Twitter. You can follow them individually by clicking on their handles below and subscribe to my list, which includes all 12 of them, here. 1. Beth…
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