18Aug 2009 by Bob Cargill

Who Moved My Customers?

Advertising, Blogging, Branding, Direct Marketing, Marketing, Public Relations, Social Media
To say that marketing has changed in the last few years would be to put it quite mildly.   Marketing has been rocked, shaken, stirred, knocked for a loop and turned completely upside down not just by the Internet, but by the emergence of social media as an informational, educational and conversational platform leveraged by the masses.   The authors of The Cluetrain Manifesto had it right when they said, among other things, that… “There are no secrets. The networked market knows more than companies do about their own products. And whether the news is good or bad, they tell everyone.” The cold, hard facts say that customers are simply not where they were as recently as the turn of this century...they're not waiting for the mail, reading the newspaper,…
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10Aug 2009 by Bob Cargill

Social Media is a Team Sport, Not a Solo Act

Advertising, Blogging, Branding, Marketing, Public Relations, Social Media
  As someone who spends the better part of his days – and nights, too – either reading about, talking about or working with social media, I can speak from experience when I say that as much fun as it is to spend so much time on blogs, Facebook, Twitter and other such online communications platforms, to make that time pay off is no easy task.   It’s true. Given the cacophony of content that’s being disseminated across the social web these days, anyone on the front line of their brand’s social media efforts knows they have their work cut out for them if they expect to command attention, engage constituents and win friends, fans and followers.   Not only does a social media practitioner need to be on call practically…
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03Aug 2009 by Bob Cargill

Lance Armstrong, My Wife, the Yellow Wristband and Twitter

Branding, Cause-Related Marketing, Fundraising, Marketing, Public Relations, Social Media
Having won the Tour de France a record-breaking seven consecutive times (1999-2005), Lance Edward Armstrong went a long way – literally – toward winning the world over for his athletic prowess once again when he finished third this year in the prestigious, 2,200-mile, 23-day bicycle race. But Lance is not just one of the greatest athletes of all time. He is also a tireless, tenacious advocate for cancer sufferers and their families, having beaten the dread disease himself and founded the Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF), a nonprofit organization that goes above and beyond in helping the millions of people living with cancer today. Chances are you know of the Lance Armstrong Foundation because of its ubiquitous yellow LIVESTRONG wristbands, which were sold for the first time over five years ago to…
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28Jul 2009 by Bob Cargill

The Importance of Getting Past the Social Media “Dip”

Blogging, Branding, Marketing, Social Media
If there’s one thing I enjoy almost as much as using social media in my day-to-day communications and marketing activities, it’s speaking about these relatively new online publishing tools to friends, colleagues and, frankly, anyone else who will listen to me. I’ve always liked sharing what I know with others, teaching, training, helping others get from point A to point B – regardless of the subject. But there’s something different about social media. There’s something radically transformational about it that you just wouldn’t understand – and be able to take advantage of – till you’ve actually used it yourself for a while.     If you ask me, the key to being successful with social media is patience, perseverance and pushing past the so-called “Dip,” a difficult stretch of time (invariably…
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21Jul 2009 by Bob Cargill

How to Make People Like You on Twitter

Branding, Marketing, Public Relations, Social Media
    If you’re one of the millions of people using Twitter to share what’s on your mind, you know what a challenge it is to stand out among the crowd.  To some, Twitter’s a cocktail party. To others, it’s a soap box. But to the majority of its users, Twitter’s more like an uncontrollable scrum in which everybody is competing for a greater share of the discussion.   But it doesn’t have to be that way, not if you do as much listening as talking on this social media communications platform – and, when you do put yourself out there in 140 characters or less, you pause before you post.   That’s right, like a good conversationalist, the last thing you want to do is come across as loud…
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02Jul 2009 by Bob Cargill

Retrospective: What I’ve Written about Social Media in the Last Year

Blogging, Branding, Cause-Related Marketing, Marketing, Social Media
While I haven’t posted much here on A New Marketing Commentator lately, I have been active in the blogosphere via Internet Marketing Strategies and Secrets, a blog that is published and written by the team at Nowspeed. I’ve written a number of long posts there, most about social media, something I’ve been preaching and practicing and incorporating into my everyday marketing activities – where and when appropriate, of course – like there’s no tomorrow. So as a way of kickstarting this long overdue re-launch of the blog that I reluctantly put on hiatus for so long, I thought I would share some of those posts with you here. If you have the time, reading through this retrospective of mine will give you an idea of what I’ve been up to lately and will, hopefully, help you start, or improve…
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10May 2006 by Bob Cargill

A New Marketing Commentator Goes on Hiatus

Advertising, Blogging, Branding, Cause-Related Marketing, Client Service, Copywriting, Direct Marketing, Fundraising, Marketing, Miscellaneous, Public Relations
After more than 26 months and 62,000 words, I've decided to give this blog a rest. It may not be the end for A New Marketing Commentator, but it will be at least a short hiatus. Thank you so much for your support, love and friendship. As much as you've given me, I hope I've given you even more in return. Bob Cargill Copywriter and Creative Director May 10, 2006 Bob's Bio and Contact Information Bob's Work History (Resume) Bob's Speaking History Bob's Commercial Portfolio Bob's Nonprofit Portfolio Bob's Interactive Portfolio Tags: Bob Cargill copywriter creative director copywriting creative direction blogger direct marketing advertising marketing A New Marketing Commentator
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05May 2006 by Bob Cargill

A Few Words on Word of Mouth Marketing, Part Two

Advertising, Blogging, Branding, Direct Marketing, Fundraising, Marketing, Public Relations
Two days ago, I wrote here in this space about word of mouth marketing, the Word of Mouth Marketing Association and BzzAgent. Today's post is a continuation of that same article, in which I write about my own personal use of word of mouth marketing on behalf of BzzAgent and its client, Atkins Advantage Bars... On more than several occasions, I chose to Bzz on behalf of Atkins Advantage Bars by sharing the product with others. I gave a bar to the computer technician who was kind enough to make a house call when my laptop almost crashed. I shared two – the Caramel Fudge Brownie and Chocolate Chip Granola bars – with my 17-year-old step-daughter, Sophie (who liked the latter flavor better). I gave bars to a couple of…
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03May 2006 by Bob Cargill

A Few Words on Word of Mouth Marketing, Part One

Advertising, Branding, Direct Marketing, Fundraising, Marketing, Public Relations
Unofficially, word of mouth marketing has been around for a long time, but only in the last few years has it been so formally recognized and widely embraced as a bona fide discipline and tool of our trade. Given such sudden appeal, it's understandable that a relatively new association of the same name is experiencing a similar degree of popularity. Founded in late 2004, the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) is the official trade association for the word of mouth marketing industry. WOMMA’s mission is to promote and improve word of mouth marketing by: · Protecting consumers and the industry with strong ethical guidelines · Promoting WOM as an effective marketing tool · Setting standards to encourage its use What is Word of Mouth Marketing? Word of mouth is…
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