Book Review - The New Rules of Marketing and PR Third Edition by David Meerman Scott

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The New Rules of Marketing & PR by David Meerman Scott

Recommend: Yes

Star Rating (1 through 5): 3+

Genre: Business/Marketing

There is no doubt about it that within the last 5 or 6 years corporate marketing/public relations strategies that are not adapting to the newest internet technologies are going to be left behind. But old mindsets are hard to change and even companies that have adopted some of the new cyberspace tools are having a hard time understanding the needs and behaviors of the new consumer/buyer/customer. In The New Rules of Marketing and PR, David Meerman Scott walks the reader through the traditional attitudes of marketing and PR activities and shares with readers an updated viewpoint on marketing and PR due to the shift in our present web-enabled communications environment.

The book spends a great deal of time validating the need for a change in attitude towards marketing and PR because of the way that consumers now get their information, which is shifting heavily towards internet and social media outlets. The New Rules of Marketing and PR shares several examples of how outdated traditional marketing and PR methods are becoming very costly and inefficient. The book also shares several examples of companies that have broken away from traditional marketing and PR to achieve positive results using new improved methods related to internet and social media.

The New Rules of Marketing and PR covers several key areas of web based communications approaches that are becoming industry standards in marketing for a business of any size. Scott also touches on the process of pulling several of these methods together to target your specific market and/or customer and again, shares some successful industry examples.

This book is currently on its third edition and I believe this speaks to the overall theme of the book which is that change is inevitable in today's virtual environment and companies that educate and experiment with the newest tools are quickly becoming the leaders in their markets.

Best impacts target selective audience

Companies that are looking to learn and expand upon their current marketing strategies and enhance their public relations in general are good reading candidates for this book. Overall the methods and processes described are generically described. A more detailed explanation of the processes needed to implement these methods are not covered in the book, but the book is comprehensive in regards to the various methods that comprise the "new" rules of marketing and PR.

The benefits of reading The New Rules of Marketing and PR are getting a 30 thousand foot view of an ever expanding virtual environments and being presented with some industry leading examples on utilizing the "new" tools and technologies.

It's unbelievable that today there are still PR companies or profitable corporations that are not aggressively focusing efforts into the latest and greatest internet and social media tools available, but according to Scott, this appears to be the case. So accordingly, I would recommend reading this book to those professionals and corporate executives that are still toying around with spending the effort or the costs of updating to these new strategies.

I have listed a couple of other high points for me from the book:

? An exceptionally well done Marketing Strategy Planning Template (and this template is available for downloading too - which is great).

? Valuable links to industry leaders in media press kits, media rooms and industry blog sites.

? Methodology and focus on buyer personas and marketing to them

Small business bang for their buck?

While I think this is a valuable book for those to understand the need for changing/expanding your marketing or PR strategies from traditional "interruption" style to inbound or content based web-enabled communications, I believe that the target buyer for this book was not the local small business.

Most of the clients I work with in the local business communities would not have a "PR" strategy or even would consider this aspect of marketing/advertising. Since there is a good deal of material in this book specifically related to Public Relations methods and enhancements to those methods, I think some of the readership would not appreciate this aspect of this book.

Additionally, along that same line of thought, I felt that most of the industry examples for social media, blog, video/audio content, etc - where mid to larger businesses that may have a substantial budget to experiment or initiate many of these types of methods.

However, I might add that just because your small business does not have a "PR" strategy today, after reading this book, some level of PR work done internally could net your small business some big benefits. For instance, using some of the ideas related to online press releases, media rooms, or even reaching out to your local newspaper could be a profitable endeavor. The mindset is that these PR strategies are for big businesses only, but one thing that the internet is excellent at, and that is equalizing ALL businesses based on valuable and useful web content as opposed to big PR budgets and advertising sponsors.

Summary

I am recommending this book overall to any person who owns, is responsible for, or interested in marketing and public relations trends as it relates to social and web-based communications. The book is detailed enough to cover the various tools and techniques, but broad enough to be educational/instructional but not technical.

There is some redundancy throughout the book and a few points that were overstated, but overall I thought the book was very readable, nicely formatted and had a good flow to it. It was pretty long (over 300 pages), which is tough for some of us short attention span learners. I felt that the material could have been covered easily in less than 300 pages, but nevertheless, I did not find it tedious.

I felt the book leaned toward the mid-size to larger corporate audience more than it did to my local small business friends, but I still feel the book is worth reading for both. Make no mistake though, once you pick a few methods or topics that interest you based on your business needs, further reading/learning will be required. This book is a general overview of the current web-based, content driven marketplace, not a manual for implementing new practices.

Joleen Halloran is an executive for ZoomIT Marketing, an internet, mobile, and social marketing company. Joleen has extensive business experience in project management, leadership, and specializes in motivational techniques and corporate culture.

Beyond Joleen's professional life, she is an avid reader and researcher of books and other materials related to her profession, but also to her special passion, which is metaphysical and spirituality topics. Ms. Halloran has read over 100 books related to metaphysics, spirituality, Western and Eastern religion, and law of attraction. Joleen is currently working on her how book, Finding Home - Breaking Free from Limits, which she hopes to have finished later this summer.

Free Book Summary - The Thank You Economy - Written by Gary Vaynerchuk

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This book is about building a one to one relationship with your prospect to go from customer satisfaction to customer loyalty. For a quick review, customer loyalty means that they will not leave and even forgive mistakes. Customer Loyalty is the holy grail of any organization. Loyal customers do the following:

1. Refer more business by word of mouth.
2. Spend more money with you.
3. Are at the high end of your life time value
4. Forgive mistakes and offer real suggestions for improvement

Now the key is - how do we do this with Business Social Media? We will dive into this with Gary's book.

Simple! You need to understand this or you will lose to your competition. The good news is social media is wide open and most businesses, regardless if they are B2C (business to consumer) or B2B (business to business), do not use this effectively. This means that you can gain a huge competitive advantage over your competitors by simply being first.

Are you a business small business owner and think Social Media is not important? Perhaps you think it is not important because you do not have time to learn it. This is not uncommon in the small business world. I can attest to the fact that you can spend so much of your time in the business that you forget to work ON THE BUSINESS.

Do you run a large organization and simply afraid of the openness of Social Media? This is not uncommon. You see corporate speak that do not allow employees to use Twitter, Facebook and other social mediums. The problem here is that people are talking about your brand and you don't even know it. Take the blinders off and get educated. This has to start at the top of any organization. We will dive into more details now.

I normally dive into the book contents at this point but need to add this section to drive home a point. Here it is in BOLD - TAKE OFF THE BLINDERS AND EMBRACE THE SOCIAL MEDIA PARADIGM AND THE THANK YOU ECONOMY

1. Stupid Quote 1: "This telephone" has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication." Western internal memo 1876
2. Stupid Quote 2: "While theoretically and technically TV may be feasible, commercially and financially it is an impossibility." Lee De Forest, radio pioneer, 1926
3. Brilliant Quote: "If I had a nickel for every time an investor told me this wouldn't work........" Jeff Bezos, Founder of Amazon

Ok - on with the show....

There are excellent examples in the book on how Social Media can enhance your business or leave you in the dust. I will touch on three points:

1. Thank You Economy Defined - Gary makes a point here to be real with your customers and engage them. This is a pull strategy and not a push strategy. Being real means apologizing when you screw-up, being humble and having a mindset of the customer. This does not mean simple push great deals and your products and services to your customers all the time. What Gary shows, time and again in the book, is that when you build a relationship then the money follows. People understand passion and sincerity. The bull shit meter will go up if you engage people and you are not sincere.

2. Ping / Pong effect - This is where traditional marketing (TV, Direct Mail, Radio) meets Social Marketing (Twitter, Facebook etc. like engagement and marriage). To put this in real perspective, think of traditional marketing as a one night stand. Companies spend millions on a 30 second Super Bowl add and hope they earn enough money to pay for it. As we have seen in the dot.com craze this did not work and wasted millions. Now if you view traditional and social marketing in the same plan then it becomes a marriage. You do a TV spot but with a call to action that people need to go to Facebook, Twitter etc. to continue the chat. This is an effective call to action. This allows you do measure your results and know the numbers of highly engaged prospects / customers. Once this happens then it is up to you to CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION and build a relationship.

3. Avaya Example: This really cemented it for me. We sell our software solution business to business and it is hard to visualize how Social Media will work. It is easy to see the benefits if you are a doctor or dentist. You have the content and expertise to engage your patients through social media to grow your business. The good news is this is wide open because 95% of doctors & dentists don't do this. Avaya sells solutions to businesses. In the book, Gary profiles how Avaya engages their user base and some of the payoff. In a nutshell, they use Twitter to answer technical questions and head off complaints before they mushroom. Avaya received a $250K deal because a happy Twitter subscriber recommended them.

The real power of the Thank You Economy comes from sheer numbers. Remember one thing: 60% of Americans right now use Social Media and the percentage is growing daily. Of those 60%, they also buy Business to Business stuff.

I hope you have found this short video summary useful. The key to any new idea is to work it into your daily routine until it becomes habit. Habits form in as little as 21 days.

One thing you can take away from this book is to get educated right now on Social Media. If you don't then you will lose ground. Remember that human nature does not change but the way to engage has throughout history. Don't miss the Social Media wave.

Joe Mosed invites you to subscribe to http://www.successprogress.com/ to receive free video book summaries. Our vision at Success Progress is to provide relevant & meaningful content to our user community. To view the video summary of this article please visit http://www.youtube.com/successprogress

(c) Copyright - Joe Mosed / Success Progress All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

Beach Money - A Review of Jordan Adler's Book

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If you have ever thought, that the average person can't achieve success and realize their dreams then I recommend you read "Beach Money". A book about "Creating Your Dream Life Through Network Marketing," written by one of the most inspiring and most humble people I know, Jordan Adler.

Show me any network marketing leader who hasn't struggled in his or her career. Most of them had to overcome tremendous obstacles on their way to the top. There's no such thing as overnight success. They usually have been years in the making.

"Beach Money" is such a story. Jordan Adler's very personal story of struggles and failure and overcoming obstacles until he finally reached success. It will grab hold of you and you won't be able to put it down until you reach the last page.

Jordan's honest, giving demeanor comes through in "Beach Money" where he shows you a step-by-step success formula. The very same formula he used himself to grow an organization of thousands of people and generate a massive passive income. The kind of income you only work for once and get paid over and over again.

That is "Beach Money," money you get paid whether you get up in the morning or not; whether you're out shopping at the mall, traveling across the country or just lying on the beach.

Once you start reading his book, you will find that Jordan is much like you. If fear of failure or doubt that you'll ever have any success in network marketing has a grip on you, let Jordan's words inspire and encourage you. He knows what you're going through because he has lived it. He has been there and done it.

He will show you that you already have everything you need to succeed in network marketing. You just need a little push, a shift in your thinking and a roadmap to follow. That's all!

"Beach Money" will show you how you can grow your network marketing business even if the only time you have available is your lunchtime. And it will show you how you can turn your yearly income into your monthly income.

Jordan Adler is the top income earner in one of today's fastest-growing network marketing companies. But in spite of his tremendous success, he is very much down to earth.

So go ahead, grab a copy of "Beach Money." Let it inspire you. Let it encourage you to push on and to never, ever give up until you reach the lifestyle of your dreams.

So Beach Money is on the top of my list of book recommendations if you have a network marketing business. However if you want to create massive growth for your business, make sure you learn how to generate leads like the pros. You may be surprised and even shocked how well this can work for you.