I started reading “The new rules of Marketing and PR” yesterday, and I like it. I’m at Chapter 3, and so far it’s a good summary of things I’ve discovered. Reinforcing experiences which I’ve been calling Low Budget Internet Marketing.

A couple of notes:

• Today’s search engine setup means you can reach buyers directly.
• One-way interruption advertising is over.
• Good content will help buyers decide. There’s people like you and me that do their own research and consider a decision over a period of time before buying.
• There’s a “long tail” effect for news announcements as well.
• The lines between PR and marketing are blurry.

Meerman’s right about the way consumers and buyers do their own research, ignoring the advertising to a large extent. And evaluating on their own. Take me as an example: I’m in the marketplace looking for an entry-level DSLR and I’m reading review sites, asking questions, watching the news and prices.

(Yes. My evaluation process is long. And I overdo it sometimes. But then I’ve been working in IT for the past 9-10 years. 6 months minimum.)

The Learning Effect of Blogging:
There’s one effect I’d like to highlight: by setting up my own blog, posting short tumble blog-like entries, and keeping track of a couple of marketing bloggers, the new rules aren’t that new to me. Blogging is a great way to learn. Instead of watching from the sidelines, my advice is to dive in.

I’ll try to post a summary as I go along… Mlle. A. is reading the same book. Between the two of us, we’ll get some two-way discussion going. Feel free to join us.