Table of Contents

Foreword by Robert Scoble xix

Introduction 1

The New Rules 3

Life with the New Rules 5

What s New 7

Writing Like on a Blog, But in a Book 8

Showcasing Success 10

I How the Web Has Changed the Rules of Marketing and PR 13

1 The Old Rules of Marketing and PR Are Ineffective in an Online World 15

Advertising: A Money Pit of Wasted Resources 18

One–Way Interruption Marketing Is Yesterday s Message 19

The Old Rules of Marketing 20

Public Relations Used to Be Exclusively about the Media 21

Public Relations and Third–Party Ink 22

Yes, the Media Are Still Important 22

Press Releases and the Journalistic Black Hole 23

The Old Rules of PR 24

Learn to Ignore the Old Rules 25

2 The New Rules of Marketing and PR 27

The Most Important Communication Revolution in Human History 28

Open for Business 29

The Long Tail of Marketing 32

Tell Me Something I Don t Know, Please 33

Bricks–and–Mortar News 34

The Long Tail of PR 36

The New Rules of Marketing and PR 37

The Convergence of Marketing and PR on the Web 38

3 Reaching Your Buyers Directly 39

The Right Marketing in a Wired World 40

Let the World Know about Your Expertise 41

Develop Information Your Buyers Want to Consume 43

Big Birge Plumbing Company Grows Business in a Competitive Market 44

Buyer Personas: The Basics 45

Think Like a Publisher 48

Staying Connected with Members and the Community 48

Know the Goals and Let Content Drive Action 51

Content and Thought Leadership 52

II Web–Based Communications to Reach Buyers Directly 53

4 Social Media and Your Targeted Audience 55

What Is Social Media, Anyway? 56

Social Media Is a Cocktail Party 57

Upgrade to Canada Social Program Nabs Tourists from Other Countries 58

Social Networking and Agility 59

The New Rules of Job Search 61

How to Find a New Job via Social Media 63

Insignificant Backwaters or Valuable Places to Connect? 65

Your Best Customers Participate in Online Forums So Should You 68

Your Space in the Forums 71

Wikis, Listservs, and Your Audience 73

Social Networking Drives Adagio Teas Success 74

5 Blogs: Tapping Millions of Evangelists to Tell Your Story 78

Blogs, Blogging, and Bloggers 80

A Blog (or Not a Blog) 81

California Lawyer Blogs to Build Authority and Drive More Business 83

Understanding Blogs in the World of the Web 85

The Four Uses of Blogs for Marketing and PR 87

Monitor Blogs Your Organization s Reputation Depends on It 88

Comment on Blogs to Get Your Viewpoint Out There 89

Work with the Bloggers Who Talk about You 90

Bloggers Love Interesting Experiences 92

How to Reach Bloggers around the World 93

Do You Allow Employees to Send Email? How about Letting Them Blog? 94

Not Another Junky Blog 95

The Power of Blogs 97

Get Started Today 97

6 Audio and Video Drive Action 99

Create Goodwill with Customers 99

What University Should I Attend? 101

The Best Job in the World 102

Have Fun with Your Videos 104

Audio Content Delivery through Podcasting 106

Hack the Entrepreneur Podcast Delivers New Customers for Host s Business 107

Grammar Girl Podcast 109

7 Going Viral: The Web Helps Audiences Catch the Fever 112

Minty–Fresh Explosive Marketing 113

Monitoring the Blogosphere for Viral Eruptions 114

Creating a World Wide Rave 116

Rules of the Rave 117

Film Producer Creates a World Wide Rave by Making Soundtrack Free for Download 119

Using Creative Commons to Facilitate Mashups and Spread Your Ideas 120

Viral Buzz for Fun and Profit 121

The Virgin Mary Grilled Cheese Sandwich and Jerry Garcia s Toilet 122

Clip This Coupon for $1 Million Off Fort Myers, Florida, Home 123

When You Have Explosive News, Make It Go Viral 124

8 The Content–Rich Website 127

Political Advocacy on the Web 128

Content: The Focus of Successful Websites 130

Reaching a Global Marketplace 131

Putting It All Together with Content 132

Great Websites: More Art Than Science 134

9 Marketing and PR in Real Time 137

Real–Time Marketing and PR 138

John Green Thumps Tom Cruise 141

Develop Your Real–Time Mind–Set 142

Real–Time Blog Post Drives $1 Million in New Business 144

The Time Is Now 147

Chronicle Your Life and Business with Live Video Feeds 152

Crowdsourced Support 155

III Action Plan for Harnessing the Power of the New Rules 159

10 You Are What You Publish: Building Your Marketing and PR Plan 161

What Are Your Organization s Goals? 162

Buyer Personas and Your Organization 164

The Buyer Persona Profile 165

How Beko Develops Products Global Consumers Are Eager to Buy 169

Reaching Senior Executives 170

The Importance of Buyer Personas in Web Marketing 171

In Your Buyers Own Words 172

What Do You Want Your Buyers to Believe? 174

Developing Content to Reach Buyers 176

Marketing Strategy Planning Template 179

The New Rules of Measurement 183

Asking Your Buyer for a Date 184

Measuring the Power of Free 184

What You Should Measure 185

Stop Thinking of Content Creation as a Marketing Expense 186

Obama for America 188

Stick to Your Plan 192

11 Growing Your Business: How Marketing and PR Drive Sales 194

It s Time for a Sales Transformation 194

How Web Content Influences the Buying Process 196

Tips for Creating a Buyer–Centric Website 198

Step 1: Sales Begin with Informational Content 203

Step 2: A Friendly Nudge 204

Step 3: Closing the Deal 205

An Open–Source Marketing Model 205

Salespeople as Content Curators 207

Your Company s Salesperson–in–Chief 209

Educating Your Salespeople about the New Buying Process 210

Registration or Not? Data from an E–Book Offer 211

Close the Sale Continue the Conversation 213

Measure and Improve 213

How a Content Strategy Grew Business by 50 Percent in One Year 214

12 Online Thought Leadership to Brand Your Organization as a Trusted Resource 219

Developing Thought Leadership Content 219

Forms of Thought Leadership Content 220

How to Create Thoughtful Content 225

How Raytheon Uses Journalists to Create Interesting Content 226

Thought Leadership in Highly Regulated Industries 228

Leveraging Thought Leaders outside Your Organization 231

Who Wrote That Awesome White Paper? 232

How Much Money Does Your Buyer Make? 233

13 How to Write for Your Buyers 235

An Analysis of Gobbledygook 236

Poor Writing: How Did We Get Here? 237

Effective Writing for Marketing and PR 239

The Power of Writing Feedback (from Your Blog) 240

Injecting Humor into Product Descriptions 241

Brand Journalism at Boeing 242

14 Mobile Marketing: Reaching Buyers Wherever They Are 245

Join the Revolution 246

Make Your Site Mobile Friendly 248

Build Your Audience via Mobile 249

Geolocation: When Your Buyer Is Nearby 250

QR Codes to Drive People to Your Content 251

The Mobile Media Room 254

An App for Anything 255

Cyber Graffiti with WiFi Network Names as Advertising 256

15 Social Networking as Marketing 259

Television s Eugene Mirman Is Very Nice and Likes Seafood 260

Facebook: Not Just for Students 261

How to Use Facebook to Market Your Product or Service 262

Increase Engagements with Facebook Groups and Apps 265

Why Google Plus Is Important for Your Business 267

Check Out My LinkedIn Profile 268

Tweet Your Thoughts to the World 271

Social Networking and Personal Branding 272

The Horse Twitterer 275

The CIA Joins Twitter 276

The Sharing More Than Selling Rule 277

Connecting with Fans 280

How Amanda Palmer Raised a Million Dollars via Social Networking 281

Which Social Networking Site Is Right for You? 283

You Can t Go to Every Party, So Why Even Try? 285

Optimizing Social Networking Pages 285

Integrate Social Media into an Offline Conference or Event 286

Build a Passionate Fan Base 287

Social Networking and Crisis Communications 289

Why Participating in Social Media Is Like Exercise 292

16 Blogging to Reach Your Buyers 295

What Should You Blog About? 296

Blogging Ethics and Employee Blogging Guidelines 298

Blogging Basics: What You Need to Know to Get Started 299

Pimp Out Your Blog 302

Building an Audience for Your New Blog 303

Tag, and Your Buyer Is It 304

Fun with Sharpies (and Sharpie Fans) 305

Cities That Blog 306

Blogging outside North America 308

What Are You Waiting For? 309

17 An Image Is Worth a Thousand Words 310

Photographs as Compelling Content Marketing 310

Images of Real People Work Better Than Inane Stock Photos 312

How to Market an Expensive Product with Original Photographs 314

Why I Love Instagram 315

Sharing with Pinterest 317

The Power of SlideShare for Sharing Your Ideas 319

Infographics 321

18 Video and Podcasting Made, Well, as Easy as Possible 324

Video and Your Buyers 324

Business–Casual Video 325

Stop Obsessing over Video Release Forms 326

Your Smartphone Is All You Need 327

Video to Showcase Your Expertise 328

Getting Started with Video 330

Video Created for Buyers Generates Sales Leads 332

Podcasting 101 333

19 How to Use News Releases to Reach Buyers Directly 337

News Releases in a Web World 339

The New Rules of News Releases 339

If They Find You, They Will Come 340

Driving Buyers into the Sales Process 342

Developing Your News Release Strategy 343

Publishing News Releases through a Distribution Service 344

Reach Even More Interested Buyers with RSS Feeds 345

Simultaneously Publish Your News Releases to Your Website 346

The Importance of Links in Your News Releases 346

Focus on the Keywords and Phrases Your Buyers Use 347

Include Appropriate Social Media Tags 349

If It s Important Enough to Tell the Media, Tell Your Clients and Prospects, Too! 349

20 Your Newsroom: A Front Door for Much More Than the Media 351

Your Newsroom as (Free) Search Engine Optimization 352

Reaching Reporters and Editors and Telling Your Story 353

Best Practices for Newsrooms 354

Ontario University Shines Spotlight on Faculty Researchers 361

A Newsroom to Reach Journalists, Customers, and Bloggers 364

21 The New Rules for Reaching the Media 366

Re:, Nontargeted Pitches, and Other Sleazy Tactics 367

The New Rules of Media Relations 368

Blogs and Media Relations 369

How Blog Mentions Drive Mainstream Media Stories 370

Launching Ideas with the U.S. Air Force 373

How to Pitch the Media 375

22 Newsjacking Your Way into the Media 379

Journalists Are Looking for What You Know 381

Get Your Take on the News into the Marketplace of Ideas 382

How to Find News to Jack 385

When the Story Is Already (Sort of) about You 390

Twitter Is Your Newsjacking Tool 391

Beware: Newsjacking Can Damage Your Brand 392

Newsjacking for Fun and Profit 393

23 Search Engine Marketing 395

Making the First Page on Google 397

Search Engine Optimization 398

The Long Tail of Search 399

Carve Out Your Own Search Engine Real Estate 400

Web Landing Pages to Drive Action 401

Optimizing the Past 404

Search Engine Marketing in a Fragmented Business 405

24 Make It Happen 407

Your Mind–Set 409

The Journey from a Traditional Marketing Executive to a Modern CMO 409

Manage Your Fear 411

Getting the Help You Need (and Rejecting What You Don t) 412

Great for Any Organization 416

Now It s Your Turn 419

Acknowledgments for the Fifth Edition 420

About the Author 422

Preview: The New Rules of Sales and Service 424

Index 443

Have David Meerman Scott Speak at Your Next Event! 458

About the Author

DAVID MEERMAN SCOTT is the author of ten books including Real–Time Marketing & PR, The New Rules of Sales & Service, and Newsjacking. His books open people′s eyes to the new realities of sales, marketing, and public relations. David′s popular blog, advisory work with fast–growing companies, and hundreds of speaking engagements around the world give him a singular perspective on how businesses are implementing new strategies to reach buyers directly and in real time.

Reviews

If there is only one book out there that the marketing departments have on the must–read list, this is it .for those wading into social media space, give this a read and pass it along to your in–house head of comms for maximum benefit (Entrepreneur Middle East, January 2016)

an essential reference book that offers value to all working in this field ..for seasoned professionals it offers an excellent benchmark for a range of marketing channels (B2B Marketing, February 2016)