The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use Social Media, Online Video, Mobile Applications, Blogs, Newsjacking, and Viral Marketing to Reach Buyers Directly

by David Meerman Scott

Marketing is more than just advertising. PR is for more than just a mainstream media audience. You are what you publish. People want authenticity, not spin. People want participation, not propaganda. Instead of causing one-way interruption, marketing is about delivering content at just the precise moment your audience needs it. Marketers must shift their thinking from mainstream marketing to the masses to a strategy of reaching vast numbers of underserved audiences via the web. PR is not about your boss seeing your company on TV. It's about your buyers seeing your company on the web. Marketing is not about your agency winning awards. It's about your organization winning business. The Internet has made public relations public again, after years of almost exclusive focus on media. Companies must drive people into the purchasing process with great online content. Blogs, online video, e-books, news releases, and other forms of online content let organizations communicate directly with buyers in a form they appreciate. Buyers want information in language they understand, not gobbledygook-laden jargon. Social networks like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn allow people all over the world to share content and connect with the people and companies they do business with. In our always-on world, buyers expect instant, 24/7 communications. On the web, the lines between marketing and PR (and sales and service, too) have blurred.