Book Summary – The New Rules of Marketing and PR David Meerman Scott

Dealing with how to leverage the “Word of Mouth Market” that has become so much more efficient over the last decade, this book is comprehensive in guiding you through key strategies and ideas that you can leverage to promote your business, cause, or idea, often without spending a lot of money. 

Key to understanding the major difference, in the opinion of Scott, is to recognize that the old rules do not work on the web.  Marketing and PR are converging in the new, online world.

The New Rules is very readable and offers easy to follow advice, and many, many real world examples, particularly in sending out news releases, website design, blogging and podcasting. 

Some key points and ideas:

• You don’t need flashy websites to grab people’s attention – when they arrive at your site, you already have their attention. Focus on answering their questions and building a relationship.  The web is not a “one-way” interruption tool. 

• Bloggers almost never use unsolicited press releases – they get dozens a day. Best to comment on their blog and build a relationship first.  Learn what they are interested in and become a resource for them. 

• Focus on making your web content on making the content interesting and engaging for your customers. Build your site on facts, not fluff. Use landing pages that inform.  Use multiple calls to action. 

• Bigger yields can come from cultivating many small relationships rather than focusing on one big score. Deliver information directly to your audience. 

• Building and target buyer personas is probably the most important thing you will do. Then target strategies for the personas.

• Become a thought leader in your industry. Create content that discusses your customer’s problems that does not even mention your company or product, for example, white papers. 

• Incorporate keywords into your Press Releases, online marketing, and website.

• If you want to create something that is viral, then expect to fail most, if not almost all of the time, but the successes will pay off in a big way.

• Designing your online media room to be easy to use and easily found is one of the best ways to get media traction.

Other ideas that may help your businesses that are discussed here: Wiki’s, e-newsletters, webinars, podcasts, surveys & reports.