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
