23Sep 2005 by Bob Cargill

Yvonne DiVita’s Lip-Sticking

Blogging, Direct Marketing, Marketing
If you’ve ever read Yvonne DiVita’s Lip-Sticking, you know what I mean when I say it’s arguably one of the best blogs in the blogosphere. It’s a prolific, practical account of what’s what and who’s who in online marketing to women – and much, much more. Yvonne – as Jane, her alter ego – is able to provide her readers with almost as much humor as business insight and intelligence, and as she herself would say, what’s not to like about that? I was very fortunate – and honored – to have just been interviewed by Yvonne for a series of profiles she posts regularly of online marketing professionals. In this interview, Jane asked me if I thought that blogging could really be as personal as, say, a phone call,…
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12Aug 2005 by Bob Cargill

Donald Trump Has a New Blog

Blogging, Direct Marketing, Fundraising, Marketing
The blog has come a long way in just the last year alone, but with Donald Trump now waxing eloquently in the blogosphere, a good argument could be made that this revolutionary self-publishing and marketing platform has gone from the outhouse to the penthouse. Read all about it here in Information Week. Elsewhere…DIRECT magazine reports that DM hiring is on the rise. The NonProfit Times issues its 8th annual Power & Influence Top 50. FundRaising Success magazine weighs in on the state of online fundraising today ("From Buttons to Blogs" by Paul Barbagallo). Bob Bly pits blogs versus white papers in his most recent reader survey. Mike Westfall, on Annual Fund Inc. (August 11, 2005), shares some best practices for e-solicitations to college and university alumni. And finally, for the…
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21Jul 2005 by Bob Cargill

The Cure for the Common Headline

Advertising, Copywriting, Direct Marketing, Marketing
If you were a neighbor of mine, you’d know what I mean when I say my lawn isn’t going to win any beauty contests. It’s so thin, brown and malnourished, it’s embarrassing – especially during the dog days of summer. So when The Scotts Company wrote to me recently about growing a thicker, greener lawn, its timing – and targeting of me as a potential customer – couldn’t have been better. After all, like any other proud homeowner in this day and age, I need to be doing everything I can to keep up with the Joneses, no? Which reminds me of a direct mail package Scotts sent out a few years ago, bearing the words, “Now the grass can be greener on your side.” While these folks didn’t earn…
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14Jul 2005 by Bob Cargill

What Pauly Shore May Have Learned from Direct Marketing

Advertising, Direct Marketing, Marketing
I may not be a big Pauly Shore fan, but he scores big points in my book for putting his money where is mouth is and guaranteeing his new TV show, Minding the Store, (which is premiering this Sunday, July 17, at 10 PM EST on TBS). “I am so confident that my new series will make people laugh,” said Shore in a press release, “I’ve convinced the network heads at TBS to let me offer this special guarantee. It’s our way of saying we value people’s television-viewing time, and we know they’ll feel their time spent watching Minding the Store is well worth it.” Viewers who fail to laugh after watching the first episode of Minding the Store are invited to mail a self-addressed, stamped envelope to Shore, care…
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22Jun 2005 by Bob Cargill

The Power of Loyalty Marketing

Branding, Direct Marketing, Marketing
Every shopper likes to belong, to feel like an insider, to get a good deal that can’t be had anywhere else. At least, those are the cravings that retailers are counting on – and playing to – by asking their customers to use so-called loyalty cards, those small pieces of plastic so many of us have been conditioned like sheep to carry around in our wallets or on our key chains. I don’t know about you, but I have a handful of them, three for groceries alone (Stop & Shop, Shaw’s and Price Chopper), one for books (Barnes & Noble) and one for, well, this and that (CVS/Pharmacy). And while I sometimes feel like I’m being subjected to undue scrutiny when asked to produce one of these cards at the…
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08Mar 2004 by Bob Cargill

True Believers

Marketing, Miscellaneous
Monday, March 8, 2004 – The similarities between politics and entrepreneurialism have always intrigued me, so it only makes sense that I found a Howard Dean documentary (True Believers: Life Inside the Dean Campaign) on CNN last night so engrossing. It was right up my alley. Of course, it was disillusioning to see the Dean campaign crash so hideously, but there’s no question it struck a chord with many Americans, thanks in large part to the indefatigable Joe Trippi, Dean’s campaign manager and the central character in True Believers. I don’t know what Joe has more of, energy or insight, but his supply of both appears infinite (even though his guy went down in flames). No wonder Dean was able to build an online community of some 600,000 constituents (including…
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