I cannot say enough praiseworthy things about Scott's 200-page treatise.
In it, he makes an iron-clad case for why today's marketers—if they want a fighting chance of staying competitive—have to go real-time.
"Scale and media buying power are no longer a decisive advantage," he writes in the opening chapter. "What counts today is speed and agility." (If we were taking things a tad slower and checking grammar, that last sentence would read, "What count today are speed and agility." But I nitpick.)
Readers will find much more in Real-Time Marketing and PR than clever arguments favoring the wider use of social media.
Between the covers are important lessons in how to:
- Profit from the public's curiousity
- Grab more mainstream media attention
- Interact with customers the way they want you to
- Engage friends and enemies—and win the hearts of both
- Analyze your online reputation
- Tap the "wisdom of crowds"
- Come out ahead after a "PR crisis"
- Transform your organization, so it can begin marketing in real-time
That doesn't make the advice wrong-headed. In fact, the many examples of real-time marketing successes—and blunders—Scott offers should convince you he's onto something.
We mustn't let overplanning, caution and bureaucracy stand in the way of connecting. "We need to unlearn what we've learned in the last half century about communication,' Scott writes.
Pick up Real-Time Marketing and PR. Let the unlearning begin.
