It was not until I read a little more than half of David Meerman Scott’s book, The New Rules of Marketing and PR, that I fully understood the importance of delivering useful content. The web has totally transformed the ‘rules’ of marketing. Flashy, obnoxious advertising is an interruption and intrusive. The new way is described by providing meaningful content that niche users are actively seeking. This content is valuable and authentic.
“The Internet gives you opportunities you never had before.”
-David Meerman Scott, pg 17
Reading that quote made me really think about how marketing has changed. How brands now have the opportunity to engage and create dialogue with consumers. Why spend outrageous amounts of mass-media advertising when there is an opportunity to create an online ‘community of passionate fans?’ By the way, the channels to create and engage in these online communities are [usually] free!
Source: PhotoPin
What are the channels to create this intimacy, you ask? Social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter), blogs, video sharing sites (YouTube), Podcats, and Wikis, just to name a few.
If you ask me, it sounds almost too good to be true. FREE marketing tools are the secret to engaging with consumers, directly interacting with them, and creating brand-loyal, lifetime customers. Don’t believe me? Believe Brian Halligan, co-founder and CEO of Hubspot, who says that “search engines, blogs, and other Internet trends have fundamentally transformed the way people and business purchase products.”
Scott says that his key marketing tool is his blog. The more I blog, the more I read blogs, the more I believe this to be true. According to a Hubspot slideshare, an estimated 1/3 of US companies use blogs for marketing purposes. This same slideshare tells us that more than 57% of businesses have acquired their customers through company blogs.
With a quick Google search, I discovered some of the best corporate blogs of 2012. The Cleanest Line of Patagonia really caught my eye. Patagonia, a leader in outdoor clothing and gear, has created a blog that allows customers to tell stories about their crazy outdoor adventures around the world with their Patagonia gear. Sharing thrills with other adventure seekers and engaging in dialogue with the Patagonia experts- sounds like a win-win.
Screenshot of The Cleanest Line taken by Ashley Bunting
Sharing: More than Toys
Source: PhotoPin
When we were rugrats, our teachers and parents told us more times than we can count: Share with your friends. Years down the road, this message still applies. This time I am encouraging you and your business to share content on the web. Sharing free online content is truly powerful. Sharing information with your followers and friends is what gets people talking. It is what makes content go viral.
It all sounds great, right? Well, first you have to ensure what you want to be shared is:
- Sought After and Accessible
- Valuable and Authentic
- Free
In Scott’s blog post The art of asking, he encourages organizations to give away their content. You heard me. He is actually suggesting giving away (such as videos, PDFs, and images) for FREE?!?
Here’s why: Don’t worry about the ROI now. The ROI will come in the future. Scott is advocating that we should ask for the fans support, after we have provided them with the content. Scott and Amanda Palmer (guest incorporated in the post) are certain that fan support will build. Marketing specialist Ms. Molly McGinn also supports this reasoning. In a guest lecture, McGinn told our class that in her eyes, sharing online content is like an expression of an identity, or an online “journal entry.”
The take away message here is that companies need to provide meaningful content online because it is important to the customer; they are actually searching for it! In the words of Mr. Scott, the web has forever changed marketing and the ‘new’ rules are all about online discussion provoked by sharing authentic content.
Don Draper would not be happy about this, but Peace Out!, mass media.
Sources:
The New Rules of Marketing and PR, David Meerman Scott
This blog post is a part of a series of assignments for Integrated Marketing Communications at Elon University.
Blogging with Bunting 
Ashley,
You do a great job of presenting the case and so many others make — the online arena offers platforms to engage not interrupt and in do doing, opportunities to engage customers with relevance and staying power — if done correctly and with authenticity! I do think that Scott would offer that traditional outbound marketing still has power and still has impact — but brands need to make the shift to integration of offline and online and to a real-time mentality. I am sure Scott would appreciate the well-articulated case you make!