ArcStone Spotlight - Nick Longtin

Nick Longtin

Title: Integrated Content Marketing Engineer

Start date: November 2000

Break it down for me. I create and market content for ArcStone’s customers, which can be anything from technical content to text, videos, and photos. The content is for our clients' marketing efforts, so it can be for whatever their marketing goals are.

Path to ArcStone. I met David (CEO of ArcStone) when I was just a kid. He was my guitar teacher, then when I was in high school, he hired me to do server tech stuff for a company of which he was president. I left and started my own company and freelanced, but I wanted more stable work, so I contacted David and he asked me to work with him at ArcStone. That was 14 years ago.

The Magical Wizard of Oz. I had a short stint at MCAD where I was studying fine arts in film. I only went for a year on a scholarship, then the internet movement started. And I knew how to “internet.” And if you knew how to use the internet and websites and how to market on there in the ‘90s, you were a magical wizard from the future.

The internet liberates the ability to create and market content from big companies. It gives a tool to the masses. Whenever you’re giving a major tool to the masses, it’s going to change the world.

Professional strengths. I find out the best way to tell our customer’s unique story, so their potential clients can understand what makes it special to work with them. Companies sell a lot of the same thing or service that somebody may already be selling, so they need a way to differentiate that. I help with that part by getting to know the companies and the people and what makes them stand out.

Come listen to a story about a man named Nick. People would find it surprising that I have a country, outdoorsy, farmer-like quality. I could be just as happy working on a farm as I would being around technology all day.

It makes sense. Your ultimate goal is to have a place to live and have food, so why not just build a house and raise food? There’s a whole lot of rigmarole, so as a halfway step, I raise my own eggs from chickens in my yard. You can do that in the city, and it’s a lot of fun, too.

I’m so famous, I’m infamous. I do a lot of my own independent film and art projects, music videos, independent films, and funny cat videos – I’m semi-famous on the internet for some of those cat videos.

Breakfast for lunch and dinner. If I could only eat one type of food for the rest of my life, it would be breakfast food. The Egg & I and Elsie’s in Northeast are good places to go.

I take a lot of road trips – flying over the country makes no sense. You’re flying over these things that you should be stopping to see. I get biscuits and gravy everywhere I go. I think you can learn a lot about a city just from its biscuits and gravy.

The best plate I ever had was at this place called Ike’s Quarter Cafe in Nevada City, California. Everything about it was good. It was organic and spicy. When I asked if it was organic, they looked at me as if I was insane. I don’t think they’ve ever heard of anything that wasn’t organic. Everything on that plate came from a couple of miles away, and I think that makes a huge difference. I ate those biscuits and gravy three times on that one trip.