David Meerman Scott, author of The New Rules of Marketing and PR and several other books, collaborated with Hubspot CEO Brian Halligan to write Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead.

The iconic jam band – the most successful touring band in history – innovated a variety of business practices unheard of for recording artists, from incorporating and establishing a board of directors that included road crew and office staff to establishing its own merchandising and ticket sales organizations. More famously, though, the Dead employed a variety of methods to more closely connect their fans – known as Deadheads – to the band, many of which are discussed today as elements of social marketing.

Scott and Halligan’s book examines these activities and demonstrates how other businesses can take advantage of them to create fans as loyal as Deadheads.

In this FIR Interview, avowed Deadhead Shel Holtz talks with Scott about the book’s origins, experiences writing the book and some of the lessons the book covers.

Be sure to read two posts from David, one on the release of the book and one on the Follow the Band book tour.

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About our Conversation Partner

David Meerman Scott’s book The New Rules of Marketing & PR opened people’s eyes to the new realities of marketing and public relations on the web. Six months on the BusinessWeek bestseller list and published in more than twenty languages, New Rules is now a modern business classic. Scott’s popular blog and hundreds of speaking engagements around the world give him a singular perspective on how businesses are implementing new strategies to reach buyers.

His first Grateful Dead show was January 17, 1979 in New Haven, CT, when he was in High School.

Follow David on Twitter: @dmscott.

The book, Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead, is available at Amazon US, Amazon UK and Amazon Canada.

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This FIR Interview is brought to you with Lawrence Ragan Communications, serving communicators worldwide for 35 years. Information: www.ragan.com.

Podsafe music – On A Podcast Instrumental Mix (MP3, 5Mb) by Cruisebox.

(Cross-posted from For Immediate Release, Shel’s and my podcast blog.)