I was given a book last night. Free.
Free, as in I didn't pay for it, and "Free" as in the book's title.
The author is Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired magazine and author of the widely acclaimed 2006 book "The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More" (ISBN 1-4013-0237-8).
"Free" (ISBN 9781905211470) takes a look at the rise and rise in recent years of business models pivoting around the provision of stuff for free. The book has some interesting chapters for anyone involved in marketing, particularly in relation to Web search and publishing (the widely held expectation of not having to pay for Web content and the rise of free papers during the decline of traditional media).
Indeed, The London Paper was one of the sponsors of last night's event.
If you fancy a shorter read however, the MarCom Professional bloggers have some interesting insights into the world of marketing and PR as always this week. Brought to you, free :-)
Best regards, Philip and the MarCom Professional team.
So you want to write an ebook? 30 tips for success
by David Meerman Scott of David Meerman Scott
Ebooks are one of the most effective forms of new marketing. Ebooks have tremendous perceived value and therefore people tend to pass them on. They help solve problems and therefore buyers appreciate the content, branding the writer as someone worth doing business with.
Ebooks lead to sales!
Many people have achieved business success by writing an ebook. So can you.
Martin Soorjoo sent me his latest ebook The Black Book of Lie Detection: Effective techniques from a professional lie detector. More...
Google isn't really a search engine after all
by Graham Jones of Internet Psychology
Google is no longer a search engine. Instead, it is fast becoming a "short cut" engine to get to content we already know about. The fact that "Michael Jackson" is the current number-one search term on Google should not amaze us. But the remaining "searches" show a surprising trend.
Even typing in these few characters can be too much work for many people The second search term on Google is "facebook". That means you can click on the first result to get straight to the Facebook home page. More...
Unveiling the New Influencers
by Brian Solis of PR 2.0
Traditional influence has followed a systematic top-down process of developing and pushing “controlled” messages to audiences for decades, rooted in one-to-many, faceless broadcast campaigns.
Personality wasn’t absent is certain mediums, it was missing from day-to-day communications.
For the most part, this pattern seemingly served its purposes, fueling the belief that brands were in control of their messages, from delivery to dissemination, among the demographics to which they were targeted. More...
The increasingly crowded market of Social Web Analytics
by Philip Sheldrake of Influence Crowd LLP
In Brian Solis' latest post, Unveiling the New Influencers (and here on MarCom Professional), he reviews the reasons for listening to the marketplace for clues about how your organisation is doing, how it is perceived, and how the same stakeholders might regard your competition.
If you like his post, then you may like my free ebook on the topic, The Social Web Analytics eBook 2008. Of course I recognise we've reached the first anniversary of the ebook this week (and over 35,000 downloads to date!), and it was time for me to post an update on the list of vendors I'm tracking. More...
You really should stop chasing web traffic
by Graham Jones of Internet Psychology
How many Twitter followers have you got? Are you ashamed by the low number of contacts you have on LinkedIn? Do you wish you had more friends on Facebook? Have you ever wanted more visitors to your web site? Wherever you look online there is an apparent competition to reach the top in a vast array of league tables.
Do you constantly check your web statistics?But it's all nonsense; you are truly wasting your time if you worry about all of this, not to mention the stress and anxiety it is causing some people..! You can find blog posts about increasing your Twitter following and there are tools to let you know how much traffic your web site gets. More...
Adfonic launches mobile ad marketplace to rival AdMob
by Andrew Grill of Gigafone
I have been watching the Adfonic guys with interest since I met them in London prior to Mobile World Congress. I saw Paul and Wes last night at a function pre-launch and I asked them who they saw their major competitors were. “Admob” was the answer. I’m happy to give them some promotion below and enclose their launch release. Competition is a good thing and I hope they do well.
LONDON, UK – July 1, 2009. Launched today, advertisers and agencies can bid for advertising on mobile sites and apps, creating a new revenue stream for mobile publishers. More...
A snapshot of Mobile Marketing in the UK
by Andrew Grill of Gigafone
Yesterday in the Times Newspaper a great 16 page supplement from Raconteur Media was included on mobile marketing – with great quotes from a number of leading companies and figures from the UK mobile marketing scene – including a number of MMA members.
You can download the PDF or browse the document online. Either way – it is a great snapshot of what is happening in the UK from a brands, agencies and technology perspective – well worth downloading and reading at your leisure. More...
Text 100 Global Blogger Survey results are in… time to listen
by Jordan Stone of Text 100
Last week, Text 100 released the results of our Global Blogger Survey which we conducted during April and May of this year. Over 449 bloggers from 21 countries took the time to fill out the survey and tell us what they think about how PRs interact with them, and more importantly, what they want from PR professionals.
So what did we find out?
Text 100 Global Blogger Survey Report FinalView more presentations from Text 100 Public Relations.
You can review the presentation findings in full on Scribd and Slideshare, but I’ve picked out what I think are some of the key lessons from the survey: More...
Advertising and the art of unconstrained thinking
by Mark Pinsent of Mark Pinsent
I’ve been thinking about Arun Sudhaman’s article in PR Week – following his time at the Cannes Lions – and the thought that it is still advertising agencies that come up with the really big ideas rather than PR agencies. I’m sure the article will cause some controversy and hand wringing from the PR community…when it contains quotes such as: “PR agencies have historically been subordinate…” it’s somehow inevitable. But I think it’s largely accurate. More...
Free Copywriting Swipe Files and Audio Interviews
by Matt Ambrose of The Copywriter's Crucible
The simple act of copying sales letters and ads written by master wordsmiths should be part of every aspiring copywriter’s daily routine. Copying them word for word can ingrain into your mind what it feels like to compose high converting landing pages and emails. It’s almost as though you can plug into the writer’s mind and see through their eyes how they constructed a compelling argument on the page.
Studying different styles of copywriting can also help develop your own. Just as music composers are influenced by other musicians, you can evolve your writing style by sponging up the techniques and wordplay written by some of the greats. More...
The first Influence Scorecard meeting
by Philip Sheldrake of Influence Crowd LLP
Thanks to all you lovely social Web analytics people who've emailed me about your excitement and concerns regarding the Influence Scorecard. I'm also delighted that Katie Delahaye Paine and Charlene Li have expressed their desire to be part of this (although to be fair I haven't checked back with Charlene since February... are you around next week Charlene?)
I do appreciate your enthusiasm, but of course I wanted to post here about your concerns too. Once we have these concerns out of the way, it would be great to get these conversations into the public domain so I don't have to write long blog posts keeping everyone up to date!
Given that I've been asked, let me start by saying why I love this space. More...
