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

The book is a an excellent introduction to the new e-PR and e-marketing techniques, and full of concrete methods on how to tackle these issues.
The only catch is that it is full of repetition: same advices and same examples repeated over and over again. I think is the repetitions are taken off, the book could be shrunk down to 100 pages

The New Rules of Marketing and PR. The subtitle is "How to use news releases, blogs, podcasting, viral marketing and online media to reach buyers directly."

That last bit about reaching customers directly is a key point about the difference between the old rules of PR and the new rules. Traditionally, PR agents wrote press releases in certain style, and sent them to journalists with the hope of some resulting press coverage. The author says "the Internet has made public relations public again." Customers can find your news releases on your web site, so you should write with that in mind. "In PR, it's not about clip books. It's about reaching our buyers."

The author recommends establishing a reputation of thought leadership in your industry. Too often organizations wag the dog by focusing on technology and design, but it is content that will get you traffic from search engines, and it is content that will help customers make buying decisions. Web sites, blogs, podcasts, wikis, etc. are simply delivery vehicles for the content.

Quality content is written clearly without gratuitous jargon and what the author calls "gobbledygook." (Or as one of my professors used to say, eschew obfuscation.)

Audience segmentation is not a new concept, but I liked the author's term "buyer personas" because it gives the various target groups more of a human face. Learn about each persona, and create separate content to address their specific needs.

The New Rules of Marketing and PR will change the way you think about your marketing strategy. It is marketing and PR 3.0 for the 21st century.

For any business with a Web presence that is looking to take their PR to a new level, this book is a must-read.

This is an extraordinary book that belongs on the desk of every MBA grad in America. It gives you specific tips rather than just jargon and theories that you can put into practical use. It's caused me to rethink my whole marketing plans for my novels and has given me ideas of what I need to do to change my approach and become even more successful. (Jeff Rivera - Author of FOREVER MY LADY - Warner Books/Grand Central Publishing)

SEO techniques are good to learn. However, if you run a business or are serious about your business, odds are you do not have the time to handle everything that is required for internet marketing. I would strongly suggest utilizing a professional service such as what is offered by www.novelconceptstudio.com
In any case, it's good to understand the process so that you can know what is happening with your site and your competitors.