As the ways we communicate continue to evolve, keeping pace with the latest technology - including generative artificial intelligence (AI) like ChatGPT - can seem an almost impossible task. How can you keep your product or service from getting lost in the digital clutter? The ninth edition of The New Rules of Marketing and PR offers everything you need to speak directly to your audience, make a strong personal connection, and generate attention for your business.
An international bestseller with half a million copies sold in twenty-nine languages, this revolutionary guide gives you a proven, step-by-step plan for deploying the power of social media, AI, and content to maintain your competitive advantage and get your ideas seen and heard by the right people at the right time. You'll discover the latest approaches for highly effective public relations, marketing, and customer communications - all at a fraction of the cost of traditional advertising!
The latest edition of The New Rules of Marketing and PR has been completely revised to present highly effective strategies and tactics to help you get found by your buyers. The most important and comprehensive update to this international bestseller yet shows you details about the pros and cons of using generative AI, the most significant development in modern marketing and public relations since the first edition of this book was published back in 2007. The definitive guide on the future of marketing used as a primary resource in thousands of companies and hundreds of university courses, this must-have resource will help you: - Incorporate the new rules that will keep you ahead of the digital marketing curve - Make your marketing and public relations real-time by incorporating techniques like newsjacking to generate instant attention exactly when your audience is eager to hear from you - Gain valuable insights through compelling case studies and real-world examples, showing you how to use the latest AI tools without losing the personal touch in your communications
WThe ninth edition of The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use Content Marketing, Podcasting, Social Media, AI, Live Video, and Newsjacking to Reach Buyers Directly is the ideal resource for entrepreneurs, business owners, marketers, PR professionals, and managers in organizations of all types and sizes.
Table of Contents
Introduction 1
The New Rules 4
Life with the New Rules 6
What’s New 8
Writing Like on a Blog, but in a Book 10
Showcasing Success 11
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
PR Used to Be Exclusively About the Media 21
PR and Third-Party Ink 22
Yes, the Media Are Still Important 23
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 Communications Revolution in Human History 28
Open for Business 29
The End of Mass Marketing 31
Tell Me Something I Don’t Know, Please 33
KOREAZ Social Media Channels Deliver Digital Public Diplomacy as Entertainment 34
The End of Mass 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 42
Let the World Know About Your Expertise 43
Develop Information Your Buyers Want to Consume 45
Big Birge Plumbing Company Grows Business in a Competitive Market 46
Buyer Personas: The Basics 47
Think Like a Publisher 51
Know the Goals and Let Content Drive Action 52
Real-Time Business at American Airlines Reaches Buyers Directly 53
II Web-based Communications to Reach Buyers Directly 59
4 Social Media and Your Targeted Audience 61
What Is Social Media, Anyway? 62
Social Media Is a Cocktail Party 63
“Upgrade to Canada” Social Program Nabs Tourists from Other Countries 64
Social Networking and Agility 65
Do You Allow Employees to Send Email? How About Letting Them Use Social Media? 67
The New Rules of Job Search 68
Brewing Authenticity: How Kolkata Chai Co. Uses Instagram to Reach Interested Buyers 70
5 The Content-Rich Website 75
Political Advocacy on the Web 76
Content: The Focus of Successful Websites 78
Reaching a Global Marketplace 78
Make Your Site Mobile Friendly 79
Blogging to Share Your Passion 81
A Blog (or Not a Blog) 82
Not Another Junky Blog 84
Why You Need a Blog in the Age of Social Networking 86
Audio and Video Drive Action 87
How to Poop in the Woods 88
Putting It All Together with Content 89
Great Websites: More Art Than Science 91
6 Marketing and PR in Real Time 95
Real-Time Marketing and PR 96
Real-Time Customer Communications from Cubby Oil & Energy 98
Develop Your Real-Time Mind-Set 100
Real-Time Blog Post Drives $1 Million in New Business 103
The Time Is Now 105
Real-Time Video for Business 110
Crowdsourced Support 111
7 Artificial Intelligence for Marketing and PR 117
AI-Powered Marketing and PR 120
Your Marketing May Already Be AI-Powered 123
Find Ways for AI to Benefit Customers 125
Creating an AI Project 127
Making AI a Part of Your Marketing 129
Unlocking the Potential of AI for Use with Your Own Content 131
Remaining Human in a World of AI 134
Clams, Wagoneers, and Harings: Creativity Is Even More Important in an AI World 135
AI Companies and Content Creators Fight, or They Learn to Work Together 137
III Action Plan for Harnessing the Power of the New Rules 141
8 You Are What You Publish: Building Your Marketing and PR Plan 143
What Are Your Organization’s Goals? 144
Buyer Personas and Your Organization 146
The Buyer Persona Profile 147
Doritos Silent “Crunch Cancelling” Plug-In for Gamers 150
How Beko Develops Products Global Consumers Are Eager to Buy 151
Modern-Day Hippies! Meet Stoned Immaculate’s Unique Buyer Persona 152
The Importance of Buyer Personas in Web Marketing 154
In Your Buyers’ Own Words 155
What Do You Want Your Buyers to Believe? 157
Developing Content to Reach Buyers 159
Marketing Strategy Planning Template 162
The New Rules of Measurement 166
Asking Your Buyer for a Date 167
Measuring the Power of Free 168
What You Should Measure 168
Stop Thinking of Content Creation as a Marketing Expense 170
Stick to Your Plan 171
9 Growing Your Business: How Marketing and PR Drive Sales 173
It’s Time for a Sales Transformation 173
How Web Content Influences the Buying Process 175
Tips for Creating a Buyer-Centric Website 177
Step 1: Sales Begin with Informational Content 181
Step 2: A Friendly Nudge 182
Step 3: Closing the Deal 183
Triathlon Coach Delivers Content for All Ability Levels 184
Why Salespeople’s LinkedIn Profiles Don’t Sell 185
Salespeople as Content Curators 187
Your Company’s Salesperson-in-Chief 189
Educating Your Salespeople About the New Buying Process 190
Registration or Not? Data from an E-book Offer 191
Close the Sale - Continue the Conversation 193
Measure and Improve 194
How a Content Strategy Grew Business by 50 Percent in One Year 194
10 Strategies for Creating Awesome Content 199
Ways to Get Your Information Out There 200
How to Create Thoughtful Content 206
Using AI to Make Content Creation Easier 207
How RTX Uses Journalists to Create Interesting Content 208
Your Web Content Must Be Accessible 211
Content Creation in Highly Regulated Industries 212
Content Ethics and Employee Guidelines 215
Thought Leaders from Outside Your Organization 217
Who Wrote That Awesome White Paper? 217
How Much Money Does Your Buyer Make? 218
11 How to Write for Your Buyers 221
An Analysis of Gobbledygook 222
Poor Writing: How Did We Get Here? 223
Branding Gone Amok™ 225
Effective Writing for Marketing and PR 225
The Power of Writing Feedback (from Your Blog) 226
Injecting Humor into Product Descriptions 228
Brand Journalism at Boeing 229
12 Social Networking as Marketing 231
How to Use Facebook to Market Your Product or Service 232
Increase Engagements with Facebook Groups 235
Check Out My LinkedIn Profile 238
Tweet Your Thoughts to the World 241
Social Networking and Personal Branding 242
Write Your Biography in First Person 245
The Sharing More Than Selling Rule 246
Which Social Networking Site Is Right for You? 249
Nextdoor, the Social Network for Local Businesses 251
You Can’t Go to Every Party, so Why Even Try? 252
Optimizing Social Networking Pages 253
Integrate Social Media into an Offline Conference or Event 254
Build a Passionate Fan Base 255
Social Networking and Crisis Communications 257
Why Participating in Social Media Is Like Exercise 260
13 Blogging to Reach Your Buyers 263
Understanding Blogs in the World of the Web 265
The Four Uses of Blogs for Marketing and PR 267
Monitor Blogs - Your Organization’s Reputation Depends on It 268
Comment on Blogs to Get Your Viewpoint Out There 269
Bloggers Love Interesting Experiences 270
What Should You Blog About? 271
Blogging Basics: What You Need to Know to Get Started 272
Bling Out Your Blog 275
Building an Audience for Your New Blog 276
Tag, and Your Buyer Is It 277
Cities That Blog 278
What Are You Waiting For? 280
14 An Image Is Worth a Thousand Words 281
Photographs as Compelling Content Marketing 281
Images of Real People Work Better Than Inane Stock Photos 283
How to Market an Expensive Product with Original Photographs 285
Sharing Beautiful Images on Instagram 286
Marketing Your Product with Photos on Instagram 288
Sharing with Pinterest 290
The Power of SlideShare for Showcasing Your Ideas 292
Infographics 294
Infographics as a Marketing Asset 296
15 Video and Your Buyers 299
What University Should I Attend? 299
Business-Casual Video 300
Have Fun with Your Videos 302
Stop Obsessing Over Video Release Forms 303
Your Smartphone Is All You Need 304
Video Made for Just £100 Grows Fans of a Welsh Hardware Store 305
Facebook Live Is Great for Real-Time Content Marketing 306
Create and Connect Through Live Video 308
Video to Showcase Your Expertise 309
A Lawyer with Seven Million TikTok Followers 311
Creating a Great Virtual Event 314
Getting Started with Video 316
Building a Business One YouTube Video at a Time 318
16 Audio Content via Podcasting and Social Audio 323
Grammar Girl Podcast 324
Podcasting 101 326
Clubhouse and Other Social Audio Apps 329
Creating Elegant Calls to Action in Social Audio and on Podcasts 333
17 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
If It’s Important Enough to Tell the Media, Tell Your Clients and Prospects, Too! 349
18 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 362
A Newsroom to Reach Journalists, Customers, and Bloggers 365
19 The New Rules for Reaching the Media 367
“Re:” Nontargeted Pitches, and Other Sleazy Tactics 367
The New Rules of Media Relations 369
Media Relations Using X 370
Working with Brand Advocates 372
How Blog and Social Media Mentions Drive Mainstream Media Stories 374
Launching Ideas with the U.S. Air Force 376
Legal Caution Versus PR Clarity: Navigating Media During Crises 378
How to Pitch the Media 379
20 Newsjacking Your Way into the Media 383
Journalists Are Looking for What You Know 385
Get Your Take on the News into the Marketplace of Ideas 386
How to Find News to Jack 388
X Is Your Newsjacking Tool 394
Beware: Newsjacking Can Damage Your Brand 395
Newsjacking for Fun and Profit 396
21 Search Engine Marketing 399
Making the First Page on Google 401
Search Engine Optimization 402
Own Your Marketing Assets Instead of Renting Them 403
All Search Is Niche 404
The Importance of Voice Search 405
How to Get Found in LLM AI Chatbot Search 406
Carve Out Your Own Search Engine Real Estate 409
Using the Amazon Search Engine as Marketing 410
Web Landing Pages to Drive Action 412
Optimizing the Past 415
Search Engine Marketing in a Fragmented Business 416
22 Make It Happen 419
Your Mind-Set 421
The Journey from a Traditional Marketing Executive to a Modern CMO 421
Manage Your Fear 422
Mixing Business with Your Personal Life on Social Networks 423
Getting the Help You Need (and Rejecting What You Don’t) 425
Bringing It All Together: Brand Journalism at Cleveland Metropolitan School District 430
Great for Any Organization 432
Now It’s Your Turn 435
Acknowledgments for the Ninth Edition 437
About the Author 439
Index 441
Master Newsjacking the Online Course 459
Have David Meerman Scott Speak at Your Next Event! 461
