The Age of Engage: Reinventing Marketing for Today’s Connected, Collaborative, and Hyperinteractive Culture
Marketing has undergone a cataclysmic shift. Blogs, comment sites, and social networks have given your audience unprecedented power in their relationship with you and your products. How can you deploy today’s new marketing tools to break through, build momentum, and gain recognition?
Contrary to popular belief, adding a blog, podcast, wiki, or widget to your Web site won’t automatically draw crowds. Fundamental change is required. Real-world examples from companies such as Volcom, Ryanair, IBM, Viking, Adidas, Proctor & Gamble, and many others show you how to open meaningful interactions with your customers, develop authenticity, share recognition, and engage.
Whether you’re a marketer, communications expert, CEO, or business owner, you face the daunting challenge of marketing with your customers, not to them. In The Age of Engage, widely respected marketing strategist Denise Shiffman lays out a provocative blueprint for how you can
- Create persuasive value so that your products stand out in this new era
- Build trust by reshaping audience interactions
- Expand social currency and extend your sphere of influence
- Deploy new marketing vehicles to capture the hearts, minds, and wallets of your customers
The Age of Engage will transform the way you think about marketing. It will inspire you to engage audiences by interacting with them in new and inventive ways. And, it will help you reshape or reinvent your company culture, products, and marketing to entice audiences and catalyze markets.
Praise for The Age of Engage:
‘The Age of Engage is an amazing and essential guide for business, defining the strategic path companies must take for product success. To master the profound changes in marketing forged by the evolution of the Web, every marketer must read this book!’ –Eric Schmidt, CEO, Google
‘The Age of Engage is revealing and straightforward and envisions a way for all of us to move easily into the open, interactive business and marketing practices Web 3.0 and beyond will require.’ –Pat Sueltz, CEO, SurfControl PLC
‘An illuminating text that assembles in one place the vast changes the Web is driving across marketing and explains today’s requisite paradigm for reinventing your brand. It’s Google Maps for marketers in this era.’ –Tracey Stout, senior vice president and chief marketing officer, Fair Isaac Corporation
‘The Age of Engage is astute and inspiring. It has given me a host of creative approaches for marshalling the Live Web as a fundamental part of my brick and mortar business.’ –Amanda West, CEO, Amanda’s Restaurants
‘The Age of Engage offers a blueprint for infiltrating the ongoing conversations of the Live Web that move a product from a mere commodity to a powerful brand.’ –Ben Elowitz, CEO, Wetpaint
‘Shiffman’s conversational style embodies the authentic dialogue she believes companies must have in order to engage their audiences and succeed in the interactive age.’ –Sam Yagan, CEO, OkCupid.com
User Ratings and Reviews
4 Stars A Great Primer
Keeping in mind that this book was published in March 2008, this is a great primer for people who are still just dipping their tow into social media and Web 2.0. While many of us live in this world on a daily basis, there are still a lot of people working in business today who have absolutely no idea as to the different between a static website, and a “Live Web” presence as Shiffman likes to refer to it.
No, she is not the best writer in the world, but she gets her point across, and she does provide numerous examples to help the reader better understand the concepts that she desires to emphasize. The book is an easy read, and it keeps you engaged throughout, and upon completion, it provides a great beginner’s look at the way the digital world is changing the way we operate our businesses.
If I were reviewing this book in April 2008, it probably would get five stars. Today it is a bit outdated, but still rates four stars as a primer. Well worth reading, but do so quickly before it is all a bit old.
3 Stars Decent introduction
I would have given this 3.5 if I could. It is an entirely decent introduction to the world of online community building; a few decent examples and so forth.
Of course, this is such a fast moving sector that it’s hard to feel fresh after even a year - so it’s a little unfair to judge on that - but the reality is this barely mentions facebook or twitter, for example, and will feel like old news pretty soon. In fact, it already does.
That said, there is plenty to be gained from a read-through if you are new to this world, and it doesn’t intimidate you with the intense fizz that is rapidly leaving us all feel totally at sea in this new world.
2 Stars Not very insightful
If you have not had any (or very little) exposure to digital marketing, by all means buy the book and read it. However, for anyone who has had some experience with digital marketing the last 5 years, this book offers very little new thinking (unless you are really bad at your job).
While the book is full of examples, if flows poorly. The author’s points seem to get lost in a somewhat poor structure, and too many points thrown at the user without a proper flow to it. The author should definitely look into pyramid consulting techniques in order to present better. And given the author’s savvy in online marketing, it does make me wonder whether the other reviews are legitimate.
But again, if you are a CEO, or non-marketing exec, or an “old school” marketer, this books seems like a useful intro to you. But you should be out reading Techcrunch, Marketing 2.0, Mobilemarketer, Mashable etc etc on a daily basis, and you would not only learn just as quick, you’d stay more current.
4 Stars Age of Engage is the rage
For marketers that haven’t grasped the fundamental changes occurring in our industry, The Age of Engage will be an eye opener. For the rest of us, it’s an aid to realign our approach and remain relevant in today’s conversational, connected and collaborative culture.
Over the past two months, I’ve gotten to know Denise Shiffman, the book’s author by reading her book, blog and tweets. Experiencing the author in this The Age of Engage fashion confirmed to be that: she gets it; she speaks it; and she lives it. That’s an admirable achievement for a 23-year marketing veteran.
“Social media will eventually become a part of every company’s DNA. Anyone in marketing without this knowledge and skill set will be left behind,” Shiffman told Social Meteor in a recent interview. “At some point we will come out of the economic downturn and companies that have set the stage for growth will rebound the quickest. Success will be determined by today’s priorities. And companies that prioritize customer experience, loyalty and affinity high will gain in market influence and momentum.”
Social media is a cost-effective way to reshape customer experience, build loyalty and increase positive word-of-mouth. And, Shiffman told us there’s no more important time to do it than now.
The Age of Engage is a strategic manual for marketers, public relations professionals and other communicators who have honed their skills in the `Age of Influence’ and want to remain relevant professionals in the current culture, which Shiffman deems appropriately as the `Age of Engage.’ At less than 200 pages, it’s one of the easiest ways for a professional to remain relevant during a challenging economy. After reading the book, they’ll be able to describe new tactics and thought processes companies need to deploy to be enduring, relevant and successful.
Read a full review of this book, the author’s blog and her tweets at:
http://socialmeteor.com/2009/03/10/the-age-of-engage-is-the-rage/
5 Stars Very informative in regard to the organizational issues
This book is very very good in regard to the organizational issues that Marketing 2.0 companies should take into account to thrive in this new era. You should read it beacuse it is short and very informative.
However, if you are looking for digital marketing explanations, DigiMarketing is extremely better. This book complements DigiMarketing, although DigiMarketing is a lot better.
Filed under: Making Money on the Internet Book Reviews