Product Description

The Internet has profoundly changed the way people communicate and interact with each other. But it has also changed the way businesses communicate with their customers (and those who they want to be customers). In the old days, companies could only communicate through the filter of expensive advertising or media ink placed by a PR firm. Today the rules have changed entirely.

The New Rules of Marketing and PR shows you how to leverage the potential that Web–based communication offers your business. Finally, you can speak directly to customers and buyers, establishing a personal link with the those who make your business work. You can reach niche buyers with targeted messages that cost a fraction of your big–budget ad campaign. Rather than bombard them with advertising they’ll likely ignore, you can focus on getting the right message to the right people at the right time.

When people visit your company’s Web site, they aren’t there to hear your slogan or see your logo again. They want information, interaction, and choice—and you’d be a fool not to give it to them. This one–of–a–kind guide to the future of marketing includes a step–by–step action plan for harnessing the power of the Internet, showing you how to identify audiences, create compelling messages, get those messages to the right people, and lead those consumers into the buying process. Including a wealth of compelling case studies and real–world examples, this is a practical guide to the new reality of PR and marketing.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1674 in Books
• Published on: 2007-06-12
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 304 pages

Review
Though it may not yet have affected the value of 30 seconds of Super Bowl advertising, PR insider Scott argues that understanding the growing irrelevance of marketing′s "old rules" is vital to thriving in the new media jungle. Already apparent in newspapers and magazines (with sharp downturns in circulation and ads), radio (on the losing end of the iPod revolution) and direct mail (digitally replaced by spam), the imminent fall of traditional mass media marketing means new opportunities for legions of smaller companies and independent professionals who need to reach niche markets cheaply and effectively. The way Scott sees it, this is also good news for consumers: the online culture of integrity and information tends to produce quality content for less, as opposed to the vapid, one–sided and pricey advertising of print media and television. Scott provides the technical novice a thoughtful and accessible guide to cutting–edge media arenas and formats such as RSS, vodcasts and viral marketing, without neglecting the fact that technological wizardry can′t substitute for a well–thought out marketing program. Besides emphasizing fundamentals like defining one′s audience, Scott also drills home the ethos and etiquette of the web, encouraging content that′s both useful and unobtrusive. This excellent look at the basics of new–millennial marketing should find use in the hands of any serious PR professional making the transition. (July) (Publishers Weekly, August 6, 2007)

"a valuable source of inspiration" (Brand Strategy, November 2007)

"This book is useful if you would like to learn more about new formats such as RSS, vodcasts and viral marketing."  (Gulf Business, Vol. 12/ Issue 7)

Review
"This excellent look at the basics of new millennial marketing should find use in the hands of any serious PR professional making the transition." (Publishers Weekly, December 31, 2007)

"a valuable source of inspiration" (Brand Strategy, November 2007)

"...is useful if you would like to learn more about new formats such as RSS, vodcasts and viral marketing."  (Gulf Business, Vol. 12/ Issue 7)

Synopsis
The Internet has profoundly changed the way people communicate and interact with each other. But it has also changed the way businesses communicate with their customers (and those who they want to be customers). In the old days, companies could only communicate through the filter of expensive advertising or media ink placed by a PR firm. Today the rules have changed entirely. "The New Rules of Marketing and PR" shows you how to leverage the potential that Web based communication offers your business. Finally, you can speak directly to customers and buyers, establishing a personal link with the those who make your business work. You can reach niche buyers with targeted messages that cost a fraction of your big budget ad campaign. Rather than bombard them with advertising they'll likely ignore, you can focus on getting the right message to the right people at the right time. When people visit your company's Web site, they aren't there to hear your slogan or see your logo again. They want information, interaction, and choice and you'd be a fool not to give it to them.

This one of a kind guide to the future of marketing includes a step by step action plan for harnessing the power of the Internet, showing you how to identify audiences, create compelling messages, get those messages to the right people, and lead those consumers into the buying process. Including a wealth of compelling case studies and real world examples, this is a practical guide to the new reality of PR and marketing.

Customer Reviews

Authoritative and eminently readable
Reputed consultant and keynote speaker David Meerman Scott hits the bull's eye with a timely, well-written and thoroughly enjoyable book that does just 'what it says on the tin'.

Full of relevant examples and in a conversational tone, Mr Meerman Scott reveals the new rules of PR and online marketing and shows how to engage in a meaningful dialogue with clients and stakeholders bypassing the traditional media stronghold on information.

Not to be missed.

Excellent resource for online marketing
My business targets pre-start ups, new businesses and established businesses and I have found this book extremely helpful in its extensive detail about the ever-increasing opportunities for companies to promote themselves online. If you have a limited marketing budget this book will give you lots of ideas which can be implemented at a manageable cost. As a marketing strategist who always insists on goal setting and target audience definition as a starting point for any business or business project, I particularly liked Section III, which deals with establishing organisational goals and identifying buyer personae for products and/or services. An excellent resource which is very relevant to the modern world of online marketing.

New lamps for old
There are some real gems and lots of good, solid, practical insights in this book. And I have to admit after some initial scepticism, this book is the first to provide me with real insight into how the Web, and blogging more specifically, can be used to aid PR and marketing strategies.

This said, I found Scott less good with the underpinning theory; he has a tendency to make a few too many assumptions and is a bit too loose with the generalisations. This isn't necessarily a bad thing in itself, as it can make the writing `pacy' and accessible. However, I would certainly take issue with the way he defines marketing. It's a pretty one-eyed view, and to make matters worse its advertising he focuses on in the list he draws up detailing its shortcomings. At the best of times resorting to `man of straw' arguments is dubious rhetoric, and initially this made me doubt the book's `authenticity' or thought leadership, as Scott would perhaps call it.

I would also argue that `interruption advertising' still has its place both of itself and when integrated into Web-based strategies. The creative variations of Cadbury's `Gorilla' advertisement on YouTube offer an intriguing insight to what can be achieved.

The issue I have with Scott's book is, that to begin, he is so concerned to argue the old marketing and PR rules are dead, that he dilutes the message about how the old and the new might be better integrated to deliver more effective communications, at whatever level of access. But by the end of the book, his more measured, thoughtful and practical approach had turned me around.

For me, Scott sums up his book in the following statement. The new publishing model on the Web is about. . . delivering content when and where it is needed and, in the process, branding you or your organization as a leader. When you understand your audience, those people who will become your buyers, you can craft an editorial and content strategy just for them. . . . In order to implement a successful strategy, think like a publisher.

Two final comments: understanding your audience is classic, `old marketing'. Secondly, thinking like a publisher is not exactly easy, but it's what conventional PR attempts to achieve when crafting messages for its audiences. So, let's be careful not throw out the baby with the bath water.