Business Archives - Bob Cargill

06Jan 2025 by Bob Cargill

The Audiobook Version of the Book about My Career

Advertising, Branding, Business, Direct Marketing, Marketing, Social Media

In June of 2022, I published my professional autobiography, 20 Jobs, 20 Lessons - a Long, Strange Career in Marketing, from Junk Mail to Social Media. In January of 2025, I'm publishing the audiobook version of this book, recorded by my professional voice clone created by ElevenLabs. I can't tell you how excited I am to put this audiobook out there, which ironically, goes a long way towards reinforcing my point about Lesson 12 in my book, "Embrace Technology Now." When I spent about two years or so writing this book, I never could have imagined I would be able to create a recorded version of it in only about two weeks. But thanks to advances in #AI, specifically ElevenLabs' founding in 2022, here I am able to drop an…

30Dec 2024 by Bob Cargill

Episode 194 of Bob Cargill’s Marketing Show (Podcast) – Teaching, Running, ElevenLabs, Rustic Marlin and More

Boston, Branding, Business, Marketing, Social Media

In this episode of my podcast, Bob Cargill's Marketing Show, I catch you up on some of what I've been doing the last few months, including teaching marketing at two universities in Boston, hosting the Bob Cargill's Marketing Road Show conference in Boston in early November, using AI (ElevenLabs) to record an audio version of my book, Twenty Jobs, Twenty Lessons - a Long, Strange Career in Marketing, from Junk Mail to Social Media and more. I also share a couple of good marketing-related stories, one about seeing this ridiculously awesome "selfie station" in front of a store, Rustic Marlin, at Faneuil Hall Marketplace in Boston, and another about an ad I heard recently that inspired me with the words, "The World Revolves Around You."

19Nov 2024 by Bob Cargill

Does Your Business Have Its Own Selfie Station?

Advertising, Boston, Branding, Business, Marketing, Selfies, Social Media

You might call it a chair. Or a bench. In 2024, when it's right in front of a store, I would call it a selfie station. I would call it brilliant. I would call it an opportunity for this store, Rustic Marlin, to attract more prospective customers into their store and perhaps increase their sales. It's a great idea. Especially with all the stickers, in this case, emblazoned on it that say, #Boston. It's something a lot of different brands and businesses could take advantage of themselves. Think about it. This bench is located in a crowded tourist destination in Faneuil Hall Marketplace. Lots of people are walking by on a regular basis. They might want to sit down and relax. They might need to take a break for a…

13Aug 2024 by Bob Cargill

A Great Sign for Lyrik Back Bay in Boston

Advertising, Boston, Branding, Business, Marketing

I have no idea how many new commercial developments are built in Boston every year, and I hardly know the names of any of them, but I know quite a bit about this big, new office, hotel and retail development. Lyrik Back Bay. Sure, it's situated on Massachusetts Avenue between Boylston and Newbury Streets over the Mass Pike in the Back Bay neighborhood, so it's hard to ignore. But it's some of the street-level signage that really caught my eye, not necessarily the unique location punctuated by two tall buildings that will house a citizenM hotel, the LEGO Group's new US headquarters and CarGurus. Seeing a line - er, a lyric, I should say - from the Led Zeppelin classic, Stairway to Heaven, especially caught my attention, admittedly because I'm…

29Jan 2024 by Bob Cargill

Are You a Social Media Double Threat?

Branding, Business, Marketing, Social Media

It's one thing to have the skills to navigate your way around the digital world, to utilize social media effectively behind the scenes. It's another thing - and it's a big thing, too - to be able to be in front of the camera, behind the microphone, to be a content creator as a personal brand, either representing yourself as an individual or on behalf of your employer, a brand, business, etc. That's a double threat. Yes, if you can do both, if you can be both behind the scenes and in front of the camera, you would be considered a double threat, an invaluable asset to the organization for which you work. So I encourage all my students, all my clients to have both the skills to manage social…

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…

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…

08Oct 2022 by Bob Cargill

Humble Leadership – A Chat With AMA Boston President Bob Cargill by Trevor Stasik

Business, Leadership, Motivation

Humble Leadership - A Chat With AMA Boston President Bob Cargill by Trevor Stasik I had the pleasure of meeting with Bob Cargill recently. He was humble; kind yet authoritative, just the type of leader you can admire. With over 30 years of leadership experience in the field of marketing and as the current President of the American Marketing Association (AMA) Chapter for Boston, he was nice enough to let me hear his perspective and philosophy on leadership. Bob is currently on his second tour of duty as the President of the Boston AMA, having served previously several years ago. Bob is also an adjunct professor with three different universities. He has been President of Toastmasters clubs. He was President of his running club, and has ran the Boston Marathon…