Marketing strategist David Meerman Scott often describes himself as a recovering VP of marketing for two tech companies, but the real impetus for his popular books about the new rules of engagement came long before that.
His first job was on a bond trading desk on Wall Street – “a bit of background that’s handy for what I am doing right now,” he says. With trades every few seconds and the pace of news developments, reacting quickly was essential. It was a real-time environment not unlike that which he writes about today, except today’s buzz is the immediacy of the virtual world.
Scott’s 2009 book World Wide Rave: Creating Triggers that get Millions of People to Spread Your Ideas and Share your Stories was mesmerizing. Imagine people around the world talking about you, your company and your products, an online phenomenon driving traffic – and buyers – to your virtual doorstop.
The New Rules of Marketing & PR opened people’s eyes to the new realities of marketing and publishing (now!) on the Web. Then late last year he published Real-Time Marketing & PR, driving ever more forcefully the impact of news breaking over minutes, not days, and spreading virtually to a global audience. These are eye-opening concepts for former journalists like myself, given that waiting for the next morning’s newspaper for the news long ago went the way of the dinosaurs.
Strangely, getting fired was a Scott milestone. He was a corporate marketing guy, and then his company was acquired and he was out of a job. That, he said, gave him the opportunity to do what he does now: “Observing what is going in the world of marketing and online marketing and writing and speaking about it and advising people how to take advantage of this new environment.”
That’s his niche, but it’s readily available for any businessperson, he says, “If you understand that there are things happening all the time. Keep your eyes and ears open for an opportunity as it presents itself, be the first to react, and it can be very profitable for you and your organization.”
Really, he adds, it just takes one or two people. “You create an interesting blog post, I read it, I send it to a friend … the idea that people can share your ideas and spread your story is really exciting.”
“It’s all about publishing; it’s all about creating something of value on the Web,” he says, and it starts by avoiding talking about your products and services right out of the box. “That’s very difficult for entrepreneurs, small business owners, “ he says, “because everything you have been taught and every instinct is to talk about and hype what you do.”
Instead, he recommends think about the problems of your potential customers. How can you create something of value for them and make it free on the Web? “I do believe all organizations need to think like publishers. All organizations should have valuable information on their websites. If your organization does, and you are the salesperson, you should be thinking of ways you can share that with your existing or potential clients.”
For instance, send prospects an email with a link to something they may find valuable. Don’t ask for something; give a gift first. Valuable information opens doors. Sharing that content will drive more leads and create more ways to have a conversation with someone when that lead comes in.”
Not surprisingly, Scott strongly recommends creating a network of friends in the virtual world. An online social network is as relevant in cyberspace as in the physical world and building online relationships fosters sharing. Good news for those of us who panic that we are missing out: He urges being active on a handful of social media sites and don’t worry about spreading yourself around them all.
