A book written in 1999 promising to tell me the best known marketing secret?

I hesitated to read anything about marketing that had no discussion of Facebook, LinkedIn, or even email.

However, Ivan Misner and Virginia Devine, do present some universal truths about how to market your business in The World’s Best Known Marketing Secret – Building Your Business with Word-of-Mouth Marketing.

Perhaps I’ve gotten too brainwashed by social networking in this millennium. My marketing assistant, Rachel Schwarz, continues to test out and write on Hootsuite, Tweetdeck, ZoomInfo and whatever. Her reaction is mixed at best to all of the Internet savvy of today.

Misner and Devine remind me of the core truths about how to sell yourself. Here they are:

• Your best marketing is word-of-mouth (WOM) referrals.

• You get WOM by building a great network and having a great message.

• Referrals come from those who know you and trust you. You can’t be a cave dweller.

• It’s NOT net-sit, or net-eat, or net-drink. It is net-WORK.

• Good never influences bad to the same degree that bad influences good.

• Three laws of notable networking: 1) Givers gain, 2) Use networking tools effectively (I’m sure that if they updated this book this section would include online tools along with a descriptive business card), and 3) Acquired skill.

• Make your 30 to 60 second business pitch effective, including a memory hook.

• Act like a host, not a guest at mixers.

• Ask for referrals.