Hi folks,
The holiday season always puts me in the mood for list making. So I thought I’d start my holiday list making with my fallback gift of choice: books. Here are eight marketing and business books that influenced me recently.
I’ve asked Mitch (cofounder of Interspire) to join me in sharing some of his favorite reads too. If you have marketing books you’d recommend, new or classic, feel free to leave a comment below.
So here they are, in no particular order:
Marketing Warfare by Al Ries and Jack Trout
An oldie
but a goodie. The premise of this book is to go after your competitors
as if you're conducting a military campaign. It talks about going after
the market leader in a particular space and using all of your resources
to do it. This book provides an interesting twist on more modern day
marketing tactics and is a fascinating read, complete with examples of
companies who've successfully implemented the tactics outlined in the
book.
The
New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use News Releases, Blogs,
Podcasting, Viral Marketing and Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly by David Meerman Scott
This
book focuses on how a company can use social media marketing (such as
blogs, podcasting and other viral marketing methods) to increase brand
awareness and traffic to their website. Although basic in some areas,
it's a good read if you're just starting out online or haven't yet
looked into social media marketing as part of your marketing mix.
Permission Marketing: Turning Strangers Into Friends And Friends Into Customers by Seth Godin
This is
the 1999 new classic that propelled Godin from his VP office at Yahoo!
to rock-star marketer status. His message will surely remain timely for
years to come: People are bombarded by too many messages. If you want
to make a real connection, you need to get permission through an
exchange known to many through direct marketing
tactics—giveaways, discounts, contests, surveys. He offers
great examples from the likes of American Express, Amazon, American
Airlines, and more. The book is informative and fun to read.
Godin’s style is what you want in a your hired marketing gun:
the right mix of brash confidence and shrewd advice.
Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable by Seth Godin
We have
two by Godin in our little list. This book talks about why making your
business different by being remarkable in one or more areas is so
important - because most of your competitors wont do it. By being
remarkable you get a competitive advantage, more referrals and more
repeat buyers.
iCon Steve Jobs: The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business by Jeffrey S. Young and Willian L. Simon
This
book talks about the rise and fall of Steve Jobs at the helm of Apple,
then NeXT, then Pixar and back to Apple again. It details his almost
obsessive fascination with making technology beautiful and usable and
after reading this it's not hard to see why the iPhone is now the best
selling mobile phone in the world and why the Mac is gobbling up a
larger share of the desktop computer market every year.
The Culture Code by Clotaire Rapaille
Marketing
consultant and psychoanalyst Rapaille is on retainer with a good
percentage of the Fortune 50. He’s helped launch and redefine
some of the best-known brands in the world through his own methodology
for truly understanding what drives an audience to purchase or use a
product based on their cultural understanding. In this book he shares
his methodology and experience with phenomenal marketing stories. I was
hooked on page one.
The Brand Gap by Marty Neumeier
For a number of years
I’ve shared this book with colleagues and clients. If
policing your brand is part of your working routine, I highly recommend
taking a peek at this one. Neumeier understands brand; but even more
relevant, he understands how to explain the principles to bridge the
gap of strategic execution and creative, tactical development. He
offers quick, simple, witty, powerful messages that drive home the
nuances of brand development far beyond just logo and tagline.
The Essential Drucker: The Best of Sixty Years of Peter Drucker's Essential Writings on Management by Peter F. Drucker
The
subtitle says it all. I believe this is one of the best survey books on
business management available. Certainly Drucker was one of the best
business management minds in the 20th century. If you’re a
fan of his work, you’ll love this book. It was published as a
Collins Business Essentials and just came out in paperback this year.
It starts with articles from 60 years ago and spans much of the last 50
years, but so many of the classic business theories are just as
powerful and true today, especially when Drucker is the one sharing the
ideas with his intellect and laser insights.
Have you read any of the books above? What are your recommendations? Why not
post a comment and share your thoughts with our community?
Hope to chat with you soon!
