The New Rules of Marketing and PR: Book Review (Part 1)

[By Sarah Faglio]

The New Rules of Marketing and PR, written by David Meerman Scott, a Businessweek bestseller, provides people with valuable insight into how to use social media, blogs, news releases, online video and viral marketing to reach buyers directly.  Meerman talks about all the hottest insider tips on the latest tools and techniques so readers could confidently market any product, service or idea.  After reading this book, I have provided an outline of the main ideas that Scott touches upon.  However, I encourage every marketer, company or anyone else looking to learn about the evolving marketing industry and strategies to read this book.  Scott goes through every one of these strategies with details and examples that makes it very easy for anyone, those with or without a marketing background, to understand and implement in their own endeavors.

The book starts with an engaging forward by Robert Scoble who commented on his work for Microsoft and how he used some of the strategies mentioned throughout the book.

Websites
Scott begins with examples from TV ads for cars and how websites have shown to be more useful since potential buyers read consumer feedback instead of advertisements.  The Internet allows companies to reach niche buyers with targeted messages at the fraction of the cost.  Instead of being a one-way interruption, the web provides useful content at the precise moment buyers need it.

Press Releases
Press releases shared directly to the company's potential customers or clients, allow them to communicate directly with buyers instead of just focusing on the media (reporters and editors).  Companies need to understand and research the keywords and phrases that their buyers are using to search for their products or services.  After developing a keyword list, micro-campaigns, such as direct-to-consumer news releases, can be used to drive buyers to pages complete with the content that they are seeking.  Optimizing press releases with relevant keywording helps them to appear in search results - reaching buyers directly.  In a web-interconnected world, content drives action and people do their own research online on products or services they are looking to purchase.  Valuable content contributes to the education of the marketplace and press releases have the opportunity to highlight expert ideas and stories. 

Valuable Content
Website visitors want content and valuable content that describes their issues/problems and offers potential solutions.  Companies need to write content such as this while always keeping in mind that they are writing for their target audience and their needs.  Web content directly contributes to an organization's online reputation by showing thought leadership in a marketplace of ideas.  Podcasts, or YouTube videos, for products or services have a visual impact on viewers.  People can also create videos of your products and share them on their own sites - which could help build your brand and exemplify useability of your products.  When marketing a commodity product, creating interesting information can lead to people finding it, sharing your ideas as well as tell your stories.  When marketing a brand, the first thing to do is to be genuine in communicating what the brand is about, which contributes to the overall personality of the brand.  He describes the world wide rave as creating something valuable that people want to share as well as making it easy for them to do so.  When creating content it is important to keep these suggestions in mind when writing:

• No one cares about your product.  You need to share remarkable or interesting content that helps to solve a problem.
• No coercion.
• Lose control.
• Be involved.
• Create triggers that encourage people to share.
• Drive people to your stuff via search engines.
• Make stuff available for free online.

 

Content is king for websites.  Companies achieve productive use of their content by pulling together various buyer markets, media and products into one comprehensive place (their website).  Segment buyers and appeal to them based on their needs, instead of just talking about your product or service.  Basic research on buyers can help you learn a great deal about them, making your marketing more effective by knowing what they read and how to attract their buyer personas.  Effective search engine marketing strategies are created by knowing words and phrases that buyers use, essentially helping to develop a positive relationships with them online.


Internet Forums and Blogging
Companies can contribute to discussions in Internet forums, while making sure to keep sale conversations offline in order to gain trust from active participants.  Bloggers take a role in information dissemination by harnessing millions of conversations online.  These communities make it easier for companies to monitor what people say about you, while also allowing you to participate in conversations by commenting on other blogs.  Companies could also work with bloggers who write about their industry, or shape conversations by creating or writing their own blogs.