The New Relationship Marketing: How to Build a Large, Loyal, Profitable Network Using the Social Web [Hardcover]

Mari Smith (Author), Guy Kawasaki (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 25, 2011

One of the top social media thought leaders shares her secrets to expanding your business through relationshipsPeople have always done business with people they know, like, and trust. That's the essence of "relationship marketing." Today, the popularity of online social networking has caused a paradigm shift in relationship marketing. This book helps businesspeople and marketers master this crucial new skill set. Relationship marketing specialist Mari Smith outlines a step-by-step plan for building a sizable, loyal network comprised of quality relationships that garner leads, publicity, sales, and more.
If you're a businessman or businesswoman feeling the pressure to shift your approach to using social media marketing, to better understand the new soft skills required for success on the social web, and to improve your own leadership and relationship skills through emotional and social intelligence, this book is for you.

• Outlines how to become a significant "center of influence" for your customers and prospects
• Explains the unspoken rules of online etiquette--and the common "turnoffs" that drive customers and potential partners away
• Details the unique cultures of Facebook, Twitter, and other popular online platforms
• Shows exactly what to automate and delegate to build your social media persona, yet still retain the personal touch

Even if you currently have zero presence online, this book will help you see measurable results in a short time.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

People have always done business with people they know, like, and trust. That's the essence of "relationship marketing." But now the popularity of online social networking has shifted our methods of connecting with consumers, stakeholders, and potential partners. Businesses that master both new and traditional ways of nurturing customer relationships are gaining market share.

In The New Relationship Marketing, social marketing expert Mari Smith outlines a proven nine-step program for building a sizable, loyal network comprised of quality relationships that garner leads, publicity, sales, and more. This book will help you understand the new soft skills required for success on the social web, and to improve your own leadership and relationship skills through emotional and social intelligence. You will learn:

• How to become a significant "center of influence" for your customers and prospects

• The unspoken rules of online etiquette—and the common turnoffs that drive customers and potential partners away

• How to navigate the unique cultures of Facebook, Twitter, and other popular online platforms

• What you can automate and delegate to build your social media persona, yet still retain the personal touch

Relationships are the "new currency" in business. With Mari Smith's expert guidance, you'll get a step-by-step plan for cashing in.

From the Back Cover

Praise for the new relationship marketing
"A whole new exercise for your networking muscles! Mari Smith shows you how to bridge the gap between technical skills in the modern marketing world and good, old-fashioned people skills." --Harvey Mackay, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Swim With The Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive
"My relationship marketing strategy is quite simple: 1. Be yourself. 2. Be the best self you can be. 3. Share the best parts of yourself with the world. That strategy, while quite effective, leaves the novice with many unfilled blanks. This book is the best way I know to fill them." --Mark Joyner, Founder of Simpleology
"The New Relationship Marketing shows you how to quickly and consistently boost your sales and income with the best social media techniques ever discovered." --Brian Tracy, author of The Psychology of Selling
"The New Relationship Marketing fuses traditional and online relationship building strategies into a loyalty-generating success system." --John Jantsch, author of Duct Tape Marketing and The Referral Engine
"This is not just a theoretical look at how social media works but exactly what you need if you're stuck and want to know what to do to be successful. I fully endorse the author and recommend the book without reservation." --Michael Port, New York Times bestselling author of Book Yourself Solid
"Mari Smith GETS what social media is all about. More than any other technology, it's changing the face of business, communication, and maybe even human nature. Everything successful boils down to relationships, and Mari will show you how to leverage social media for your success." --Ali Brown, entrepreneur, mentor, andphilanthropist featured on ABC's "Secret Millionaire"

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 238 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (October 25, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1118063066
• ISBN-13: 978-1118063064
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 0.9 x 9.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #119,614 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #52 in Books > Business & Investing > Marketing & Sales > Marketing > Multilevel
  • #74 in Books > Business & Investing > Marketing & Sales > Marketing > Direct

More About the Author

Mari Smith is one of the world's foremost experts on using Facebook as a marketing channel. She is the coauthor of Facebook Marketing: An Hour A Day and the lead author of The Relationship Age. Dubbed "the Pied Piper of the Online World" by FastCompany.com, Mari is a popular Social Media Keynote Speaker, Trainer and Thought Leader.

Mari has a strong ten-year background in the world of relationships and Internet technology, making social media her ideal arena. Through her consulting and training business, Mari helps independent professionals, entrepreneurs and business owners to accelerate their business profits using an integrated social marketing strategy, with particular focus on Facebook and Twitter. After applying Mari's proven Social Marketing methods, her clients typically experience a significant increase in traffic, subscribers, clients, affiliates, lucrative strategic alliances and targeted media attention.

Mari travels the United States and internationally to share her wisdom and provide social media keynotes and in-depth training. She has shared the stage with the likes of Sir Richard Branson, the Dalai Lama, President F.W. de Klerk, Tony Robbins, Dr. Stephen R. Covey, and Paula Abdul.

A self described "bubbly Scottish-Canadian" Mari currently lives in San Diego, California and has a penchant for turquoise and bling!

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars If You're New to Modern Marketing Theory this Book Provides Guideposts January 25, 2012

By CMOS

Format:Hardcover

PLATFORM
I purchased the iPad version of this book, not the Kindle or paper version from Amazon. In case anyone is wondering, the reader experience on that platform in terms of managing bookmarks, highlights, notes and general readability, is outstanding.

CONTENT
Overall I would say this book is a worthwhile purchase for the following groups of people:
1) Folks in their 20s who are starting a business and don't have a lot of academic background in the world of marketing or public relations.
2) Seasoned business people who until now have ignored "social media" like Twitter or Facebook.
3) People who have been trying to do "social media" by the seat of their pants / without much research up front.

If you're in one of those three groups you are likely to pick up on several important points and tips for doing things the right way online, as you represent yourself and your business. If you already have read works by people like Seth Godin and Gary Vaynerchuk (who she mentions often in the book), I think you will find that this book is largely a collection of familiar tips and anecdotes. In short, it's "the same thing you heard before, told by a different person with a slightly different perspective." IMHO all of the marketing gurus basically work from the same playbook and create "variations on a recipe" with each book. Very lucrative and hey, more power to them! Seth Godin in particular seems to be a master at this, creating 12 or however many books he has now, with what probably amounts to 2 or 3 books worth of completely original material / ideas.

Basically, the book can be distilled down to three or four major points:
1) Do your homework - watch how other companies successfully employ the technology (Zappos is often cited as an example).
2) If you're going through the motions of social media and not genuinely caring about the people that follow or "fan" your pages, it won't work. Like all marketing books, this one takes chapters of touchy-feely language to reinforce a very simple idea: treat people kindly and be visibly responsible in how you respond to requests and complaints. Don't hide stuff and don't ignore problems.
3) Try to strike a balance between doing all your networking and communication online, and doing some in person every month. Tech only won't work for most people.

Beyond that there is quite a bit of filler that falls into the realm of what I call "new age marketing philosophy". Surround yourself with successful people, do everything you can to get facetime with people you're "enchanted by", etc etc. I can boil that down to a sentence for you also: carefully pick some role models in your industry who are not only successful but good people, and try to emulate them and even find ways to meet them if you can.

CONS AND OTHER POINTS
One major con of this book is that it is not well organized IMO. There are many lists and recurring topics that probably could've been expanded upon on more direct ways, and consolidated in more direct ways respectively. For example, you'll have spots where a list of points lead not to a list of corresponding larger descriptions and actions, but another list. This is less the author's mistake than the editor's. But again if you don't have any background in these areas, you can still glean some useful tips for your social media strategy.

After reading books like this one though, I am reminded that I should write my own book... focused on the critique of modern marketing and the mastery of repurposing the same stuff over and over, so the same small collection of marketing gurus can continually make money off it, and from each other by constantly name dropping and patting each other on the back in their books. But hey, that's what marketing and PR is. Less about substance than it is about making us feel good about people or products. ;-)

20 of 24 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Timely, Strategic Wisdom from a Giant in Her Field October 19, 2011

By Dave Carpenter VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This latest book by the prolific writer and speaker Mari Smith is her best book yet. Among the blizzard of books on social media and the various social media platforms (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Linked-In, etc,) being published, this book stands head and shoulders above the others (many of which I have read in order to stay current in an area so important to my clients).

What makes this book so special is Mari's focus on relationships. Anyone can use the social media platforms, as so so many do, to create a stream of one way communication that is quickly lost in the millions of posts every hour. The seemingly better strategy is to put the "social" back in these social media tools and Mari does a great job of laying out how to do this on both a strategic and tactical basis. And she manages to do so with a writing style that is supportive for relative "newbies," while still offering valuable insights to very experienced social media aficionados.

The book is very smartly organized into two parts: the first part describes relationship marketing basics, and the second then goes into detail on nine specific steps for growing your business (or your personal visibility) through relationship marketing. I was pleased to see just how current the book was on the latest developments, no easy chore at the speed of change in social media.

What I liked most was the way that Mari illustrated her concepts with personal stories about what has worked (and not worked) for her. In a world where so many proclaim to be social media experts, few - if any - have the demonstrated track record that Mari enjoys on the various major social media platforms. Her role modeling of that which she teaches in this book (and in her courses, which I have had the pleasure to attend) makes her someone worth listening to, if not emulating. Mari advocates "radical strategic visibility"... and enjoys the benefits of having achieved exactly that. Having her share how she has accomplished this might seem pretentious coming from some, but not from Mari whose writing style reflects the delightful spirit and wonderful grace that one experiences when meeting her in person or communicating with her on one of the platforms.

If you want to learn the latest from someone who is widely regarded for "knowing her stuff," communicates her wisdom in an easy to read and to understand style, and walks her talk, this is a must read on this important topic. A definite Five Star+. Don't just read this book; implement Mari's nine steps and you will begin to experience the benefits of "radical strategic visibility."

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Relationship Marketing Perspective January 19, 2012

By Evergreen Goddess

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I purchased the Kindle edition of Mari's relationship marketing gem in early December. I was feeling pressured to create a massive online presence for my teeny, tiny business (yep, smaller than small) and quite honestly, I was freaking out! Mari put everything into perfect perspective for me. I plan to do everything that Mari recommends - properly, one step at a time. "Thank you Mari - social media marketing is now not so scary".