The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing and Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly

As a small business owner, I'm always looking for ways to do things more efficiently and at a lower cost. This book is filled with ideas to help you accomplish both. If I can take away at least one gem from a book, I consider it worth my time. This book gave me many new ways of thinking about the way I'm currently looing at my own strategies.

Many local governments are just now beginning to leverage the vast potential of online resources in promoting civic engagement. David's guide to the "new rules" contains a number of gems that are easily implemented at a minimal cost. His discussion of the uses for online newsrooms is worth the price of the book by itself. Every government communicator should have a copy.

The New Rules of Marketing and PR is one of the few business books that present information that both the small business owner and larger corporation can gain from. The advice is thoughtful and actionable and tied together with real world examples. It will lay the foundation for any PR novice or marketing person that's trying to understand the shift away from traditional PR to engaging with consumers in an authentic way using a variety of social media tools including forums, blogs, videos and podcasts.

Insightful and practical look at how modern marketing mavens are leveraging the Internet to reach their best customers.

Should be on the required reading list for anyone involved in marketing a product or service.

David Meerman Scott practices what he preaches. He used his blog, Web Ink Now (www.webinknow.com), to develop content for this book.

The book's thesis is that the Web offers companies and organizations of all sizes the ability to get, "...the right message to the right people at the right time." Its main strategic point is that marketers should focus on buyers and their problems (rather than hyping products and services), and think like a publisher by, "...delivering content when and where it is needed and, in the process, branding you and your organization as a leader."

To me, the book's greatest value is its in-depth examination of new media tactics and channels, such as blogs, podcasts, videos, search engines, online media rooms, and more. The book is structured like a blog, and divided into three sections: 1) How the Web Has Changed the Rules of Marketing and PR, 2) Web-Based Communications to Reach Buyers Directly, and 3) Action Plan for Harnessing the Power of the New Rules.

If you are just dipping your toes into new media marketing, read the whole book. While information in some sections is redundant, it will be worth your time. If you are already involved in new media marketing, dive right into section three's action plan, where information is cross-referenced (like a blog) to earlier sections in case you want to dig deeper into any specific subject.