“Because it’s my business strategy,” I answer — a strategy that I’d like to share with you today.

Competing in a Crowded Marketplace

When I started writing Read This First in the fall of 2008, the concept of “social media” was finding its way into the cultural lexicon. Instead of raising their eyebrows whenever I explained what I do for a living, normal people (those not in the social media fishbowl) began asking thoughtful questions. Throughout 2009, their curiosity grew as more and more businesses added social mediums into their communications plans.

When my book was released in November 2009, not only were bookstore shelves packed with new books on the subject, but an endless stream of social media consultants began hanging shingles on their virtual front doors. It didn’t take me too long to see Read This First as an opportunity to distinguish myself from something that my good friend Rob Shore calls, “a sea of sameness.”

What Business Are You In?

Many years ago I read What they Don’t Teach you in Harvard Business School by Mark McCormick. In it, he told a story about someone who asked Andre Heiniger, the Chairman of Rolex, for an assessment of the watch business.”

Heiniger replied that he had no idea about the watch business because Rolex was in the luxury business.

The story has helped guide many of my business decisions. So, while assessing my strengths and weaknesses in this rapidly crowding competitive landscape, I found myself asking, “What business am I in?”

I looked at the problem from a customer risk perspective. If someone wanted to mitigate the financial risk of buying my book, what did I have to offer them? Chris Anderson’s book Free convinced me to record and release a costless audio version of the book– a decision based on my faith in the marketplace. I figured that:

• if the book was good, people would listen.
• if someone didn’t want to invest the 5 hours required to listen to the entire book, they had an option to purchase a hard copy of it.
• if someone liked the audio book, they could either refer it to a friend or purchase a hard copy for them.
• and if they liked my business perspective on new/social media, they could hire me as a consultant or a speaker.

So, how is it working? Since I’ve I released the book:

• a professor at a college in Tennessee has made Read This First required reading for one of his PR classes.
• A consultant in Australia gives copies of the book to his social media seminar attendees.
• Weekly, I receive emails, tweets, and DMs, thanking me for letting them sample the book. Many tell me how they’ve since purchased multiple copies of the book for co-workers or senior management.
• And most importantly, both audio downloads and book sales have generated solid leads that I’ve converted into both consulting and paid speaking engagements.

So, What Business am I in?

I’m in the business of sharing my perspective with as many people as possible. Some people will prefer just to sample my perspective. Others will choose to pay for a customized version of that perspective. Either way, I’ve learned that the more people I have in each category, the healthier my business.

So, what business are you in?

Chapter 1: The Economic of Influence

Download audio file (Read_This_First_01.mp3)

Chapter 2: Listening is Free

Download audio file (Read_This_First_02.mp3)

Chapter 3: Talking and Participating

Download audio file (Read_This_First_03.mp3)

Chapter 4: Bambi’s Got an AK-47

Download audio file (Read_This_First_04.mp3)

Chapter 5: Trust and Faith

Download audio file (Read_This_First_05.mp3)

Lastly, if you’d prefer to subscribe to the podcast, you may do so through the following iTunes or RSS Feed buttons:

Tags: Read This First Business Book: New Media Social Media Executive’s Guide Executive Ron Ploof ronamok audio book free podcast

I completed the manuscript in March and although it has taken forever to transform it into a book, here it is!

• If you are an executive who is trying to understand how to incorporate New/Social Media into your organization, then you need to Read This First.
• If you are an employee who is trying to explain the benefits of New/Social Media to your boss, purchase a copy and have your boss Read This First.
• If you work for an agency and are trying to convince your clients to adopt New/Social Media, hand them a copy and have them Read This First.

For more information, please checkout the book’s web page located at http://ronamok.com/readthisfirst

The book offers a step-by-step approach for making important business decisions with regards to technology adoption. It teaches managers how to measure and evaluate the effectiveness of their New/Social media endeavors. And lastly, it outlines the organizational changes that upper management must consider before blindly presuming that these technologies must reside within the staid confines of marketing or public relations.

With the ink-and-paper version of Read This First soon to be released, I’m excited to share the fruits of my labor by releasing the audio book for free. My hope is that if you like what you hear, you just might decide to purchase one (or ten!) copies of the physical version when it’s available in late November 2009.

The entire book was recorded a few weeks ago and I’m in the process of editing those audio files. My goal is to complete one chapter per week for the next eleven weeks until I’m done.

So, without further ado, I present to you: Chapter 1: The Economics of Influence.

Download audio file (Read_This_First_01.mp3)
Note: The chapter is 26 minutes long.

If you’d prefer to download the file, please right-click on the following link to save it to your computer:

Read This First: Chapter 1: The Economics of Influence

Lastly, if you’d prefer to subscribe to the podcast, you may do so through the following iTunes or RSS Feed buttons:

Feel free to share this audio book with anyone who is trying to make business sense out of New/Social Media. For example, do you have a boss or a client that you’ve been trying to convince to use New Media tools? Perhaps Read This First will help you make your case:-)

I’ve established both the Twitter hashtag #ReadThisFirst, and the bit.ly URL http://bit.ly/ReadFirst for your convenience. Please feel free to use them liberally:-)

Tags: Read This First Business Book: New Media Social Media Executive’s Guide Executive Ron Ploof ronamok audio book free podcast

• Levine, Locke, Searls, and David Weinberger’s seminal The Cluetrain Manifesto, predicting that the power of communication would reside in the hands of the consumer
• David Meerman Scott’s, The New Rules of Marketing and PR, that taught how to harness the power of online communications,
• Paul Gillin’s The New Influencers, that taught about a new breed of online content creator, who has as much (if not more!) influence on our brands as we do
• Debbie Weil’s The Corporate Blogging Book, that taught the importance and role of the company blog.

But as I attempted to incorporate the ideas contained in these great books, I encountered something that none of them prepared me for–huge internal resistance to their innovative ideas. For example, marketing wasn’t willing to release control of corporate messaging; PR fretted over rogue bloggers; and gatekeepers such as the “Web Team” and Information Technology (IT) were terrified by opening a technical Pandora’s box–the fact that anyone within the organization could post text, audio, or video onto the corporate website…without going through them!

The experience did two things for me:

1) taught your New Media Evangelist much about the political ramifications of introducing New Media channels to those wedded to Old Corporate Communications thinking

2) provided the inspiration to share the lessons that I’ve learned.

I’m happy to announce that the fruits of my labor are nearly complete. Last week, I got the news that my book, Read This First: The Executive’s Guide to New Media–from blogs to social networks has gone into production.

• If you are an executive looking to adopt New Media technologies into your corporate communications strategies, I suggest that you Read This First.
• If you are a Social Media consultant who’d like to help your prospects understand the fundamental foundation by which to build their Social Media strategies upon, I highly recommend that you have them Read This First.

I don’t have an exact publishing date yet, but I do know that it will be available in October of this year. Please subscribe to this blog for updates as we get closer.

Tags: Read This First New Media Evangelist Traditionals Debbie Weil Paul Gillin David Meerman Scott Cluetrain Ron Ploof