Connected Marketing

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it is a must for anyone working in communications - Rated
Paul, congratulations. It is a very insightful book. I am managing my own opinion-leader panel in Hungary, to implement wom-campaigns. The chapter written by Paul: Seed to spread always come in to handy when I persuade clients to use our wom-services.

Marketing but not as we know it! - Rated
Having waded through my share of marketing texts, it was extremely refreshing to come across this excellent book on word-of-mouth marketing. Before buying the book, I read the sample chapter on the publisher's website (see previous review). I read this on a Friday evening and could hardly sleep all weekend thinking about the possibilities for my own business. I couldn't wait to get back to the office to put into practice what I had learned.

Admittedly not all the chapters are as good as the sample chapter but even in the introduction, I was picking up useful tips that have already provided me with business insights. I would thoroughly recommend this text to anyone wondering why their traditional marketing is not delivering a satisfactory return on investment and is looking for a new approach. Definitely worth every penny!

Essential in updating your marketing skills - Rated
This is an excellent book and reawakened my dwindling interest in marketing (just as well as I work as a marketing consultant). It helped me understand why traditional approaches were simply not working anymore. The book is neatly sectioned into a number of easy-read articles by different experts. Some articles are better than others but even in the worst there is seem thought provoking concepts. With the world now swamped by a vast range of media competing for our attention and growing cynacism amongst consumers, we need to try a different approach and this shows you more effective alternatives.

this is the anatomy of cool marketing - Rated
I found this book immensely helpful. Buzz injects some much needed adrenalin into marketing and this book is absolutely packed with good working examples of how it all shakes down. It's a must for both consultants wanting to fast track their knowledge and awareness and for brand owners needing to put some memorable fizz into their communications strategies. It's great that the contributors to this book have actually done it - they are practitioners not preachers and they know what works and what doesn't. In particular, there's an excellent chapter by Justin Foxton from CommentUk on live buzz marketing which looks at the company's corporate theatre work with brands like GlaxoSmithKline. Once you've read this book everything else just seems to be covered in cobwebs.

Stop panicking. - Rated
The ad industry, as we all know, is prone to a bit of a panic. The thirty-second spot is dead! They cried. The industry is doomed! They wailed. Only the bloggers will survive! They shuddered. And the path to 21st Century marketing enlightenment is far from smooth. Even this week’s issue of America’s Finest News Source The Onion pokes fun at brand advocacy done badly – this is how not to do it:

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/43456

So it’s nice that someone (apart from us, obviously) is taking a rational, reasoned and in-depth look at the efficacy of the new marketing techniques gaining ground in the midst of all that ham-fisted renting of hair and gnashing of teeth. Marketing consultants Justin Kirby (Digital Media Communications) and Paul Marsden (Spheeris / London School of Economics) have put together Connected Marketing, a collection of analyses and opinions provided by the pioneers at the forefront of the new wave, examining properly (and in many cases, for the first time) the ways in which buzz, WOM and viral can really affect a brand. Some high profile contributors including Schuyler Brown of Buzz@Euro RSCG and Steve Curran of Pod Digital set out their thoughts on a wide range of topics, like how best to create reliable and dynamic brand advocates, how to harness the power of the internet with a successful viral presence, and how to monitor the wildfire-like spread of a triumphant buzz campaign. The book is divided into two sections examining practice and principles, and hypotheses are backed up with clear case studies, looking at brands all along the consumer spectrum from Sportka to Slendertone.

‘Hype surrounding these terms was just adding to client confusion,’ explains Kirby of the motivation behind the book. ‘Campaigns will never be judged by how well they conform to a marketer’s definition. We’re trying to demystify the basic principles, which are all the same – it's about connecting with people via a network. Buzzword bingo doesn’t help anyone.’

We couldn’t agree more. So – if you’re tired of talking and pissed off with panic, grab yourself a copy of Connected Marketing, a concise and useful way not only to see how things work – if at all – but also to pick up some valid tricks of the trade. We also suspect that this handy tome might prove a valuable tool to coerce even the most reluctant client into some of the more creative possibilities on offer. Get yourself to www.connectedmarketing.org for more info, and then get cracking.

Review from www.contagiousmagazine.com