Right now reading : The New Rules of Marketing and PR

Went to Landmark book store, Spencer Plaza, yesterday and picked up The New Rules of Marketing and PR by David Meerman Scott.

With this , the total number of books in my library collection goes up to 1753. Quite an impressive number huh ? :-)

Well 3 reasons why i had to lay my hands on this book :

• I am Social Media Marketing Evangelist. I got infected with Social Media bug and quiet sure it aint gonna leave my system for a long , long time to come.

• This book comes highly recommended . The gurus of PR, Marketing and Social Media swear by it . It stands next only to Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies by by Charlene Li, Josh Bernoff ( Authors are from Forrester Research body ).
  

• I seem to have lost interest in Advertising for reasons i cant share it here . But after much reading and analysis of the trends in new age media and marketing , i believe Integrated PR and Corporate Communications coupled with social media tools helps in building brands and deals with image and crisis management in a much ethical and effective way. And no, this is not a crib out of bookish knowledge . I have seen my friends ( i will have to name them here : Anu, Shraddha, Nikhila ...from a very reputed PR firm ) work so well with brands using PR as a very effective tool. I am not belittling advertising at all. I think advertising is great but not if it just about writing greats ads which at the end of the day don't sell the product.
  

I love the concept of building brands . There is something awe-inspiring in the process of brand building that cant be explained here and it is something you have to experience it yourself. I just decided that advertising is not the way i would like to explore the concept of branding. PR with effective marketing strategies will unleash the potential brand in a much better way.

If you are into social media or believe in the concept of digital branding - social media, Integrated PR, corporate blogging,Online word of mouth marketing... etc , then here are few recommendations you may want to read :

The Anatomy of Buzz by Emanuel Rosen

Buzz Marketing by Mark Hughes

Connected Marketing by Justin Kirby

The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Purple Cow by Seth Godin

The Fall of Advertising and the rise of PR by Al Rise and Laura Rise

Corporate Blogging by Debbie Weil

Wikinomics by Don Tapscott and Anathony D Williams

(ps: this is not an all inclusive list .. i will update as and when i write more posts on social media, PR , Marketing and Branding)

You guys are most welcome to drop in with your book reading suggestions, criticism ... anything ..