My latest hero is David Meerman Scott, who’s written a fantastic new book called "The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing and Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly".  Yes, the title is a mouthful, but it’s a must-read for any blogger or businessperson who wants to understand how to market online.  David also writes a blog called "Web Ink Now" that I read every day.

In his book, David explains the difference between old-school "Public Relations" and the NEW RULES.  Traditional PR professionals spent their time sending press releases to small, closely-guarded lists of media contacts, then praying for snippets of attention in the form newspaper or magazine articles.  In contrast, businesses who understand the new rules of online marketing use what he refers to as "news releases", which are cheaper, more direct, and more effective. 

Check out this cute video (produced by PRWeb, a social media company that provides news release distribution services).  PRWeb’s cartoons and solar toaster examples do a good job of explaining what these new-fangled "news releases" are, and why we should pay attention to the possibility of using them: