Bob Cargill's Marketing Show

Selling Ice Cream, Attending Church, Teaching Marketing and More

Episode 170 - Selling Ice Cream, Attending Church, Teaching Marketing and More

In this episode of my podcast, I talk about everything from an autobody shop in Florida to a dog walker in Boston, driving an ice cream a long time ago to running the Boston Marathon next month, attending church in my hometown to teaching college students in Boston. Listen in to a good half hour of stories, lessons, tips and updates. Enjoy.   

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

Episode 169 - Making It a Pleasure, Not a Pain, for Your Customers and Clients

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. She was enthusiastic. She was passionate. She was really giving it her all.

She just had a positive, upbeat tone in her announcements that made me feel good about riding the T, that lifted my spirits after a long, hard day at work. And I told her so when I disembarked. And I tweeted about it. And now I've recorded a podcast episode about it.

What can other businesses and brands learn from the driver of that train that night?

Give your customers and clients an extraordinary experience, a pleasant surprise. Give them the experience of their lifetimes. When they're engaging in one way, shape or form with your products and services, give them your all.

You want to leave your constituents feeling good about themselves and their decision to engage with you, one way or another. The better they feel while they're engaging with whatever it is you have to offer them, the more likely they'll be to think highly of you, not to mention to spread the word about how favorably impressed they are with your products and services.

A little enthusiasm on the job can go a long way towards making it a pleasure, not a pain, for the members of your audience to do business with you.

Agency Life, Qualitative Research, Walking, Flying and More with Casey Mohan

Episode 168 - Agency Life, Qualitative Research, Walking, Flying and More with Casey Mohan

In this episode of my podcast, I talk to Casey Mohan-Schulz, VP, Qualitative Insights & Strategy at CMB, a full-service custom market research and strategy firm in Boston, and President of AMA Sacramento Valley in California. 

About Casey Mohan

Casey leads CMB’s qualitative practice and brings over a decade of qualitative research experience to the CMB team. During her career she has overseen numerous initiatives for Fortune 1000 clients, delivering insights and strategic recommendations that help clients connect with their target audiences and understand business context in meaningful ways. Her experience includes designing and conducting research for global clients across a broad range of industries and among a diverse range of audiences in both B2B and consumer spaces. Well-versed across qualitative methodologies, Casey has successfully conducted and overseen traditional and online focus groups, 1:1, and ethnographies, online discussion boards, innovation and ideation, co-creation workshops, as well as led employee focused meeting facilitation and activation workshops to help companies communicate research insights across their organization.

Casey’s work spans a range of clients/industries: Northrup Grumman, Lockheed Martin, Fiserv, Bank of America, Schwab, TD Bank, GoDaddy, Clover, Meta, Google, Activision Blizzard, Microsoft, Disney, Dignity Health, Geisinger, MD Anderson, SC Johnson, Restaurant Brands International, Taco Bell, Enterprise and more. ​

In her free time, Casey volunteers with the American Marketing Association.  In 2021 she was nominated as a national Volunteer of the Year for her contributions to developing DEI educational resources for the organizations’ 1000+ professional chapter leaders, and her work co-authoring a national DEI framework and strategy. She has also led the Sacramento Chapter serving as Chapter President from 2019-2022. Casey also volunteers with local aviation related organizations throughout Sacramento including the California Capital Airshow, with her past volunteer work focusing on insights to support the International Council of Airshows.​

Casey graduated from California State University in Sacramento, earning a Bachelor’s Business Administration with concentrations in Marketing and International Business.

Social Media, Samuel Adams and More

Episode 167 - Social Media, Samuel Adams and More

In this episode of my podcast, which celebrates its five-year anniversary next month, I talk about a number of topics. I start off by talking about how I'll be running the Boston Marathon again this year, the 15th time I have run this historic race for a charitable cause. I then share my feelings about how much I love teaching, something I've been doing a lot of at this new stage in my career, and being involved as a member of the leadership team - as president - of the American Marketing Association's Boston chapter. I talk about my new book, Twenty Jobs, Twenty Lessons - a Long, Strange Career in Marketing, from Junk Mail to Social Media. I go on about the importance of knowing how to use social media effectively in 2023 and beyond, finally finishing my monologue with my take on a great, new ad from The Boston Beer Company for its non-alcoholic beer, Samuel Adams Just the Haze. 

How to Crush It on Social Media with Kris Bryant

Episode 166 - How to Crush It on Social Media with Kris Bryant

In this episode of my podcast, I talk to social media strategist, UGC (User-Generated Content) creator and public speaker, Kris Bryant https://crushitwithkris.com/, about personal branding, marketing, TikTok and much more. 

 

 

Embrace Technology Now

Episode 165 - Embrace Technology Now

This time around, I talk to you about the importance of Lesson 12 in my new book, Twenty Jobs, Twenty Lessons - a Long, Strange Career in Marketing, from Junk Mail to Social Media, which is "Embrace Technology Now." Turn up the volume. And enjoy.

Episode 164 - My Marketing Monologue

Episode 164 - My Marketing Monologue 

In these 30+ minutes or so, I talk about my teaching, a great presentation I saw by Google's Head of Industry, Don Batsford, recently at an event co-sponsored by Suffolk University and the American Marketing Association Boston, some good example of brands that have successfully "humanized" themselves and the need for all of us as human beings to be good to each other, among other things. Turn up the volume. And enjoy. 

Carhartt: A Great Brand in More Ways Than One

Episode 163 - Carhartt: A Great Brand in More Ways Than One

Workwear. Work clothes. Work gear.

All of the above is what Carhartt makes. All of it is very high quality and very popular.

Popular because it is so good-looking and long-lasting, but also because the brand itself is just so damn cool.

I mean, I feel like I'm always seeing the logo somewhere on what people are wearing, from complete strangers on the street to the college students I teach to my own two sons.

And now I'm proudly displaying it on a new hat I recently bought.

Now I'm one of the cool kids.

My point is this. Carhartt may say what they have to offer is for the tough and hard working among us, but I'm sure they know that their stuff is being bought for its looks as well by people from all walks of life.

I'm sure they've taken the pulse of their brand and audience enough times to know why they're so super successful.

To a great degree, their brand is not what they say it is, it's what those who are scooping it up left and right say it is. Right? I'm sure they know that, but what about you and every other brand out there?

How close are you to those who practically worship (hopefully) the products and services you have to offer Listen to your audience.

Observe how - and why - your brand is being consumed so much (or not) and take it from there. Don't ever lose touch with those on whom you depend.

The Dairy Queen Brand Extension

Episode 162 - The Dairy Queen Brand Extension

My wife, Barbara, and I recently had lunch recently with my mom at the same Dairy Queen in Bellingham, Massachusetts that my family went to back in the day. Only now it is a Dairy Queen Grill & Chill, not just a place to get soft-serve ice cream, milk shakes and other frozen treats.

Talk about a big brand extension.

I mean, this company has been around since 1940 and has over 7,000 locations today.

When I was a kid, we'd get whatever we wanted for our birthdays. That was awesome.

This time around, we got whatever we wanted, too.🙂 And I thought it was great. And the service, too.

We got cheeseburgers. No ice cream. Times have changed. We went there for a meal, not dessert.

The consumer in me was certainly pleased.

The marketer in me observed how much this place has changed over the years, expanding and rebranding to become the perfect example of a successful brand extension.

Good for Dairy Queen. Good for their customers, too.

 

Attracting the Attention of your Audience

Episode 161 - Attracting the Attention of your Audience

If you don't attract the attention of your audience in advertising and marketing, you won't have any customers and clients. It's that simple.

And in this day and age, it's more difficult than ever to stand out among the competition and clutter, to get people to notice what you have to offer them.

However, I couldn't help but notice a truck recently that was conspicuously parked in the huge, empty parking lot along Sudbury Street outside of Mill & Main, the old, historic mill complex in Maynard.

Bull Spit. That was the name on the truck. Bull Spit. Catchy name for a business. Right? Attention-getting to say the least.

Both the double entendre of the name of this brewing company and the fact that this truck was so strategically parked in that lot where you couldn't miss seeing it certainly captured my attention. I'm sure many others have noticed it as well.

Turns out that by no coincidence, of course, one of their locations is situated right there in the mill, so this truck serves as a convenient call to action, a reminder that they're there and open for business.

That's no bull. That's outstanding advertising and marketing.