I came across and bought the first edition of David Meerman Scott‘s book “The New Rules of Marketing and PR” just before I went on four weeks vacation in July 2007.

I had just started TBK Consult in January the same year and was pondering how to use the web and social media to reach out to our potential clients. We had a very traditional web site that was the usual electronic version of a propaganda brochure, and we did nothing to actively spread the good news about all the wonderful things we could do for our potential clients all over the world.

As I turned the last page on a fiction book and reached down in my bag for another one David Meermans Scott’s book came up. Glancing at the cover I was about to put it back again when I changed my mind and started reading.

I also managed to catch an octopus in between the chapters of “The New Rules of Marketing and PR”

On the beach in Croatia that day in July 2007 I learned things that have stayed with me ever since. I learned that I didn’t have to go through the news media to communicate with my target audience. I learned that communicating through the web is not about pushing the traditional promotional sales pitch, but about sharing your industry knowledge and experience to help solve your customer’s problems and challenges. I learned about blogging and how easy it was to get started.

I could hardly wait to get back to a decent Internet connection and in August 2007 I started my first blog and wrote my first post. It was by no means a brilliant master piece, but I had broken the code, figured out how to start a blog and got something published. In the years that followed I started three additional blogs and four additional web sites. I become a feature blogger on two industry news sites and wrote three books of which the most recent is an Amazon bestseller in the category Global Marketing. In November last year I started writing content and making videos for Microsoft’s Smart Partner Marketing portal. I definitely owe David Meerman Scott a free lunch the next time he is in Copenhagen.

As I was preparing for the redesign and consolidation of all our websites I thought I would revisit David’s book and found out that there was a 5th edition out. Having shifted from paper books to Kindle in 2010 it didn’t take me many minutes to have the book available for reading and again I am excited. David is an excellent writer and he is up to date on the subject of marketing communication. Having read the 5th edition af the book I went back and made some serious changes to our new web site.

The web and especially the social media platforms have made the playing field for marketing communication much more even. It is no longer only the budget that is the deciding factor for how much reach you can create with your content. However, it takes a certain level of insight to really take advantage of the new playing fields and this insight is what David Meermans Scott is giving us through his 5th edition of his ground breaking book “The New Rules of Marketing and PR”. The book  gives the reader a good overview of the principles behind effective communication on the web and an easy-to-read walk through of all the various channels available.

Highly recommendable for anyone who needs to communicate with the market.