David Meerman Scott's Blog, page 60

The power of SlideShare for social sharing

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Less than a month ago, I released a presentation on SlideShare titled The New Rules of Selling.  Because many of you viewed the presentation and shared it on social networks, the presentation has been viewed more than 107,000 views as I write this. Thank you. 

How OPEN Cycle communicates relentless simplicity to customers

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OPEN Cycle, a company building an extremely lightweight and strong mountain bike, was founded in 2011 as a completely open company taking advantage of the new communication tools that I frequently write and speak about. As a brand-new company, the founders were able to create an organization completely around their vision of the company’s character and then set a goal to communicate that directly to the marketplace.

OPEN’s greatest assets are the fantastic engineering that goes into creating the best mountain bikes in the world, and the stories they convey to their customers about the bikes and the company they created. Everything they do is shared with customers, retailers, and vendors on social networks and via email in real time—it helps them build better products, keep existing customers happy, and grow their business.

Blog redesign on the HubSpot marketing platform

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One of the great things about Web content is that you can constantly change and improve it. I’ve just redesigned my blog, focusing on a cleaner and easier to read look.

HubSpot marketing platform

My Best Business Advice for College Students

It is the beginning of another academic year in the USA and many other parts of the world. University students who are entering their third or fourth years are planning for that first job out of school.

So I thought it a perfect time to share a video interview I did last year on Behind the Brand TV with Bryan Elliott.

Bryan and I discussed what university students can do now to stand out in the future job market. This advice isn’t just for those in their final year. In fact it is more important for those starting their university education.

Creating Ridiculously Good Content the Ann Handley way

The very clever Ann Handley has a new book due out in the next few days. I’ve seen an early copy and it is terrific.

Everybody Writes is your go-to guide to creating ridiculously good content to market you and your business.

With wisdom and an infective wittiness, Ann shows you how to take your writing from awkward or awful to electric or elegant. She’s your favorite teacher, cracking you up while her tough love gets you to do the work to improve.

Even though I’ve written ten books, I still learned a great deal in these pages and now I’m eager to flex my newfound content creation muscles.

As Ann says: “If you have a web site, you are a publisher. If you are on social media, you are in marketing. And that means that we are all relying on our words to carry our marketing messages. We are all writers.”

A writing guide for those who hate writing guides

Gathering dust on my (physical) bookshelf I have copies of the two books that my professors told me I needed to learn to write: The Chicago Manual of Style and Strunk & White’s The Elements of Style. Bo-ring! I couldn’t get through them. And I could care less about the “rules” of writing.

Ann’s book Everybody Writes is different. It is practical and approachable for those of us who just want to write well and don’t aspire to a PhD in English.

Ann doesn’t mess around with stuff you don’t need but she slaps you around (in a nice way) to get you thinking about what you can do to express well yourself using words.

Disclosure: Ann is a friend and I wrote the foreword to her previous book Content Rules(which she wrote with CC Chapman).

My Best Business Advice for University Students

It is the beginning of another academic year in the USA and many other parts of the world. University students who are entering their third or fourth years are planning for that first job out of school.

So I thought it a perfect time to share a video interview I did last year on Behind the Brand TV with Bryan Elliott.

Bryan and I discussed what college and university students can do now to stand out in the future job market. This advice isn’t just for those in their final year. In fact it is more important for those starting their university education.

Please share with the students in your world.

Direct link to My Best Business Advice for College Students on YouTube.

The best way to get hired for that first job out of college is to stand out from everyone else who is graduating at the same time by creating an awesome personal brand on the web.

Imagine when a potential employer sees 100 resumes of people who are all 22 years old and all have good grades from fine schools. How do they choose? You’re one of a hundred. (Or one of a thousand.)

Contrast that with the one person who has a great blog and YouTube channel in the subject that interests them.

To test these ideas in your world, take a look at Seth Godin's blog post Are you willing to build a trail? How would you do if you were applying for this job?

Video Interview with HubSpot CEO Brian Halligan about Inbound Marketing 2.0

The revised and updated second edition of the modern marketing classic Inbound Marketing: Attract, Engage, and Delight Customers Online by HubSpot co-founders Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah releases this week.

I wrote the forward to the first edition of Inbound Marketing, which published back in 2009. The first edition proved extremely popular with marketers and business owners around the world.

But like all books on reaching people on the Web, it needed an overhaul. Inbound Marketing 2.0 is a comprehensive guide to increasing online visibility and engagement.

I sat down with Brian to discuss what’s changed in the world of Inbound Marketing (and what's stayed the same). Brian also shares ideas for how all businesses can get found on the web and grow more quickly.

Direct link to Interview with HubSpot CEO Brian Halligan about Inbound Marketing 2.0 on YouTube.

Here are some of my favorite Brian Halligan quotes from the interview:

“Dabbling doesn’t work. You have to lean in and create great content.”

“Your success with inbound marketing is much more dependent on the width of your brain than the width of your wallet.”

“It’s harder and harder to turn dollars into interest [through ads]. It’s easier and easier to turn brainpower into interest.”

Inbound Marketing 2.0 is a must read, especially if you read and enjoyed the first edition.

Disclosure: I am on the HubSpot advisory board and I wrote Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead with my friend Brian Halligan.

Agile, Real-Time Customer Service [free ebook]

This week, my new book The New Rules of Sales and Service: How to Use Agile Selling, Real-Time Customer Engagement, Big Data, Content, and Storytelling to Grow Your Business begins to ship from USA and Canada booksellers. The print edition will ship in the coming weeks from booksellers in other countries. The ebook formats like Kindle, Nook, Apple iBook, and Google Android are all available now.

Today I’m releasing a new free ebook titled Agile, Real-Time Customer Service that includes some excerpted material from The New Rules of Sales & Service. The ebook is under a creative commons license, so feel free to share it.

Agile, Real-Time Customer Service

The ways customers interact with the companies they do business with is being radically redefined like never before so today anyone working in customer service (and those who manage them) must possess entirely new skills. With Agile, Real-Time Customer Service, you will learn how to use the new rules of engagement to grow your business.

Download Agile, Real-Time Customer Service now. There's no registration required!

Special offers this week only

Until September 5, there’s still time to book me for a free Webinar or to get $5,000 credit on a live speaking engagement. See details about this offer here.

And if you haven’t seen my SlideShare presentation yet, do check out The New Rules of Selling. As of this writing, The New Rules of Selling has been viewed more than 70,000 times in its first week.

Thank you for your support of my book launch

I’d like to thank everyone who has helped with the launch of The New Rules of Sales and Service.

I'm stunned that in just a week you have spread the word with some 400 tweets, 1,500 LinkedIn shares, and 400 Facebook likes plus many blog posts and reviews.

And many of you have purchased the book too. As a result, The New Rules of Sales and Service has been in the top handful of sales and customer service books sold on Amazon in the past week.

Now if that isn't evidence of the new ways to market and sell products, I don't know what is!

I deeply appreciate your help and support! Thank you.

The New Rules of Selling [SlideShare]

Early this week I posted on how Sales is Broken. There are many examples of traditional sales tactics that don’t work when buyers have access to a tremendous amount of information.

The old rules of selling...

Just because you have my email address, it doesn’t mean you should email me your sales message. Just because you have my phone number, it doesn’t mean you should call me with your sales pitch. Just because we’re connected on LinkedIn, it doesn’t mean you can add me to your distribution list. Just because I follow you on Twitter, it doesn’t mean you can try to sell me something via Direct Message.

But you know the old rules already.

When buyers have more information than sellers

I’ve worked up a SlideShare to discuss The New Rules of Selling. I provide details on how to succeed in a world where buyers have more information about the products and services they’re interested in than sellers and why buyers are now in charge of the buying cycle.

Many of the ideas in the SlideShare came from interactions on my blog and social networks with people like you who are making it happen, defining the new rules that work in our ongoing communications revolution. Thank you.

The New Rules of Selling!

1) Authentic storytelling sets the tone

2) Content is the link between companies and customers

3) Big data enables a more scientific approach to sales

4) Agile selling brings new business to your company

5) Real-time engagement keeps customers happy

If you enjoy the SlideShare and haven’t already done so, please consider buying the book that the ideas in the SlideShare are based on: The New Rules of Sales and Service: How to Use Agile Selling, Real-Time Customer Engagement, Big Data, Content, and Storytelling to Grow Your Business.

The book is available in e-book formats now. It will release the first week of September as an audiobook and the print editions will ship September 2 in the USA (a few weeks later in other countries).

Thank you for your support.

Free SlideShare: The New Rules of Selling

Early this week I posted on how Sales is Broken. There are many examples of traditional sales tactics that don’t work when buyers have access to a tremendous amount of information.

The old rules of selling...

Just because you have my email address, it doesn’t mean you should email me your sales message. Just because you have my phone number, it doesn’t mean you should call me with your sales pitch. Just because we’re connected on LinkedIn, it doesn’t mean you can add me to your distribution list. Just because I follow you on Twitter, it doesn’t mean you can try to sell me something via Direct Message.

But you know the old rules already.

When buyers have more information than sellers

I’ve worked up a SlideShare to discuss The New Rules of Selling. I provide details on how to succeed in a world where buyers have more information about the products and services they’re interested in than sellers and why buyers are no in charge of the buying cycle.

Many of the ideas in the SlideShare came from interactions on my blog and social networks with people like you who are making it happen, defining the new rules that work in our ongoing communications revolution. Thank you.

The New Rules of Selling!

1) Authentic storytelling sets the tone

2) Content is the link between companies and customers

3) Big data enables a more scientific approach to sales

4) Agile selling brings new business to your company

5) Real-time engagement keeps customers happy

If you enjoy the SlideShare and haven’t already done so, please consider buying the book that the ideas in the SlideShare are based on: The New Rules of Sales and Service: How to Use Agile Selling, Real-Time Customer Engagement, Big Data, Content, and Storytelling to Grow Your Business.

The book is available in e-book formats now. It will release the first week of September as an audiobook and the print editions will ship September 2 in the USA (a few weeks later in other countries).

Thank you for your support.