I visited a client last week who had six copies of David Meerman Scott‘s The New Rules of Marketing & PR on his desk. He has made it required reading for his staff so of course, I ordered two copies on Amazon, one for me and one for my staff (okay, so I’m cheap!). When the books arrived, I added it to my growing stack of B2B books I “planned” to read. The truth is that I loath biz books especially ones on marketing. Of the 100 or more I felt compelled to buy, I’ve started half and finished two. Frankly, I get more out of historical fiction and it doesn’t put me to sleep as fast (currently reading The Physician, an epic circa 1000 AD.)
But then I got sick and used some of my down time to start Scott’s New Rules. Before I knew it, I was half way through and determined to finish it. While much of it was familiar (after all, we do a lot with social media at Renegade) the book was crammed with fresh case histories and useful links. It was also an ode to the concept of Marketing as Service. Whether reaching out to the press or Twittering, creating podcasts or blog posts, Scott prescribes creating “thoughtful content.” Says Scott:
Do not write about your company and your products. Thought leadership content is designed to solve buyer problems or answer questions and to show that you and your organization are smart and worth doing business with.
Or in other words, create something of value by providing genuine utility instead of mere messaging. Scott’s book aggregates a number of cost-effective ways to deliver Marketing as Service with enthusiastic zeal encouraging marketers “to jump in and see what you can do.” Here. Here.
Wow, what a cool story. Six books at your client’s office and two with you. Glad that you liked my book. I appreciate you writing about it here. Best, David Meerman Scott
I like the term thought content. I refer to it as writing content that people will read. On the other hand, for us writers, in todays web-based market, you have to write what readers will read and search engines will find. That means that the content (your writing) has to be couched in the current, common language being searched for on the web. As an example, I wrote an article for a magazine on Police Vehicle Technology. Later, using it as “second run” material I posted it on one of my websites (www.police-technology.net, if you are interested). It sat there – for a long time, no readers; however, when I changed the entire article to “police car technology” well, people, as it turns out, search more commonly for the term car than vehicle. An early, valuble lesson on web-based marketing.