The New Rules of Marketing and PR, 8th Edition

3Reaching Your Buyers Directly

The frustration of relying exclusively on expensive advertising and high‐priced PR agencies to deliver your organization's story is long gone. Today smart entrepreneurs and marketers craft compelling stories and tell the world directly via the web. Existing and potential customers as well as members of the media will see this content. It brands you as an expert. The tremendous expense of relying on advertising to convince buyers to pay attention to your organization, ideas, products, and services is yesterday's headache.

When the coronavirus pandemic began in March 2020, Russell Alexander was just beginning a trip with his family. Alexander is founder and senior partner at Russell Alexander Collaborative Family Lawyers based in Ontario, Canada. He was in Atlanta's Hartsfield–Jackson Airport waiting for a connecting flight to Florida when he noticed on an airport TV that Canada's prime minister was recommending that Canadians not fly internationally. Alexander decided to turn around and go home. Soon after he and his family returned, the U.S.–Canada border had closed, schools and businesses were on lockdown, and his law firm went to full‐time remote work. Things were changing quickly, almost hourly, as the pandemic took hold in North America.

Alexander, whose firm specializes in the Canadian legal issues related to divorce, knew that the pandemic was creating fear—and a leadership vacuum. He and his team quickly realized they had an opportunity ...