Alex & Books 📚
What’s the best MARKETING book you’ve ever read?
Book mentions in this thread
This Is Marketing
by Seth Godin
A game-changing approach to marketing, sales, and advertising, by bestselling author and renowned business thinker Seth Godin Over the past quarter century, Seth Godin has taught and inspired millions of entrepreneurs, marketers, leaders, and fans from all walks of life, via his blog, online courses, lectures, and bestselling books. He is the inventor of countless ideas and phrases that have made their way into mainstream business language, from Permission Marketing to Purple Cow to Tribes to The Dip. Now, for the first time, Godin offers the core of his marketing wisdom in one compact, accessible, and timeless package. This is Marketing shows you how to do work you're proud of, whether you're a tech startup founder, a small business owner, or an executive at a large corporation. Great marketers don't use consumers to solve their company's problem; they use marketing to solve other people's problems. Their tactics rely on empathy, connection, and emotional labor instead of attention-stealing ads and spammy email funnels. When done right, marketing seeks to make change in the world. No matter what your product or service, this book will teach you how to reframe how it's presented to the world, in order to meaningfully connect with the people who want it. Seth employs his signature blend of insight, observation, and memorable examples to teach you: * How to build trust and permission with your target market. * The art of positioning--deciding not only who it's for, but who it's not for. * Why the best way to achieve your marketing goals is to help others become who they want to be. * Why the old approaches to advertising and branding no longer work. * The surprising role of tension in any decision to buy (or not). * How marketing is at its core about the stories we tell ourselves about our social status. You can do work that matters for people who care. This book shows you the way.Positioning
by Al Ries
The first book to deal with the problems of communicating to a skeptical, media-blitzed public, Positioning describes a revolutionary approach to creating a "position" in a prospective customer's mind-one that reflects a company's own strengths and weaknesses as well as those of its competitors. Writing in their trademark witty, fast-paced style, advertising gurus Ries and Trout explain how to: Make and position an industry leader so that its name and message wheedles its way into the collective subconscious of your market-and stays there Position a follower so that it can occupy a niche not claimed by the leader Avoid letting a second product ride on the coattails of an established one. Positioning also shows you how to: Use leading ad agency techniques to capture the biggest market share and become a household name Build your strategy around your competition's weaknesses Reposition a strong competitor and create a weak spot Use your present position to its best advantage Choose the best name for your product Determine when-and why-less is more Analyze recent trends that affect your positioning. Ries and Trout provide many valuable case histories and penetrating analyses of some of the most phenomenal successes and failures in advertising history. Revised to reflect significant developments in the five years since its original publication, Positioning is required reading for anyone in business today.Votes: 77
Marketing
by Bernadette Jiwa
Votes: 74
The Brain
by David Eagleman
Alchemy
by Rory Sutherland
The legendary advertising guru—Ogilvy UK’s vice chairman—and star of three massively popular TED Talks, blends the science of human behavior with his vast experience in the art of persuasion in this incomparable book that decodes successful branding and marketing in the vein of Freakonomics, Thinking Fast and Slow, and The Power of Habit. When Rory Sutherland was a trainee working on a direct mail campaign at the famed advertising firm OgilvyOne, he noticed that very small changes in design often had immense effects on the number of consumer responses. Yet no one he worked with knew why. Sutherland began taking stock of each effective yet nebulous trick—”the thing which has no name”—he discovered. As he rose in the advertising industry, he began to understand why these things had no name: no one was interested in quantifying them, cataloguing them, or really investigating them. So, he did it himself. Like classic behavioral economists Daniel Kahneman and Richard Thaler, Sutherland peels away hidden, often irrational human behaviors that explain how the world around us functions. In How to Be an Alchemist he examines why certain ads work and the broader truths they tell us about who we are. Why do people prefer stripy toothpaste, and how might that help us design retirement plans that young people would actually buy? Why do we think orange juice is healthy, and how does the same principle guide our feelings about nuclear reactors? Why do budget airlines advertise services they don’t offer—and what might insurance companies learn from them about keeping healthcare costs low? Filled with startling and profound conclusions, Sutherland’s journey through the world of advertising and its surprising lessons for human behavior is insightful, brilliant, eye-opening, and irresistibly fun.Influence
by Robert B. Cialdini
Praised for enjoyable writing, practical suggestions, and scientifically documented material, previous editions of this title have been widely read by business professionals, fundraisers, and those interested in psychology. This new edition includes morefirsthand accounts of how principles presented in the book apply to personal lives; updated coverage of popular culture and new technology; and more on how compliance principles work in other cultures.--From publisher description.How Brands Grow
by Byron Sharp
This book provides evidence-based answers to the key questions asked by marketers every day. Tackling issues such as how brands grow, how advertising really works, what price promotions really do and how loyalty programs really affect loyalty, How Brands Grow presents decades of research in a style that is written for marketing professionals to grow their brands.Obviously Awesome
by April Dunford
You know your product is awesome-but does anybody else? Successfully connecting your product with consumers isn't a matter of following trends, comparing yourself to the competition or trying to attract the widest customer base. So what is it? April Dunford, positioning guru and tech exec, is here to enlighten you.Votes: 17
How not to Plan
by APG Ltd
Votes: 12
Contagious
by Jonah Berger
Explains why some products and ideas go "viral," citing the roles of word-of-mouth promotion and the Internet.The 4-Hour Work Week
by Timothy Ferriss
A new, updated and expanded edition of this New York Times bestseller on how to reconstruct your life so it's not all about work Forget the old concept of retirement and the rest of the deferred-life plan - there is no need to wait and every reason not to, especially in unpredictable economic times. Whether your dream is escaping the rat race, experiencing high-end world travel, earning a monthly five-figure income with zero management, or just living more and working less, this book is the blueprint. This step-by step guide to luxury lifestyle design teaches: * How Tim went from $40,000 dollars per year and 80 hours per week to $40,000 per MONTH and 4 hours per week * How to outsource your life to overseas virtual assistants for $5 per hour and do whatever you want * How blue-chip escape artists travel the world without quitting their jobs * How to eliminate 50% of your work in 48 hours using the principles of a forgotten Italian economist * How to trade a long-haul career for short work bursts and frequent 'mini-retirements'. This new updated and expanded edition includes: More than 50 practical tips and case studies from readers (including families) who have doubled their income, overcome common sticking points, and reinvented themselves using the original book as a starting point * Real-world templates you can copy for eliminating email, negotiating with bosses and clients, or getting a private chef for less than �5 a meal * How lifestyle design principles can be suited to unpredictable economic times * The latest tools and tricks, as well as high-tech shortcuts, for living like a diplomat or millionaire without being either.Votes: 7
Building a StoryBrand
by Donald Miller
Pre-Suasion
by Robert Cialdini
The acclaimed New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller from Robert Cialdini—“the foremost expert on effective persuasion” (Harvard Business Review)—explains how it’s not necessarily the message itself that changes minds, but the key moment before you deliver that message. What separates effective communicators from truly successful persuaders? With the same rigorous scientific research and accessibility that made his Influence an iconic bestseller, Robert Cialdini explains how to prepare people to be receptive to a message before they experience it. Optimal persuasion is achieved only through optimal pre-suasion. In other words, to change “minds” a pre-suader must also change “states of mind.” Named a “Best Business Books of 2016” by the Financial Times, and “compelling” by The Wall Street Journal, Cialdini’s Pre-Suasion draws on his extensive experience as the most cited social psychologist of our time and explains the techniques a person should implement to become a master persuader. Altering a listener’s attitudes, beliefs, or experiences isn’t necessary, says Cialdini—all that’s required is for a communicator to redirect the audience’s focus of attention before a relevant action. From studies on advertising imagery to treating opiate addiction, from the annual letters of Berkshire Hathaway to the annals of history, Cialdini outlines the specific techniques you can use on online marketing campaigns and even effective wartime propaganda. He illustrates how the artful diversion of attention leads to successful pre-suasion and gets your targeted audience primed and ready to say, “Yes.” His book is “an essential tool for anyone serious about science based business strategies…and is destined to be an instant classic. It belongs on the shelf of anyone in business, from the CEO to the newest salesperson” (Forbes).Votes: 4
Understanding Indian Consumers, 1St Edition
by MAHESWARAN
Votes: 3
UnMarketing
by Scott Stratten
Votes: 2
Shoe Dog
by Phil Knight
In this candid and riveting memoir, for the first time ever, Nike founder and CEO Phil Knight shares the inside story of the company’s early days as an intrepid start-up and its evolution into one of the world’s most iconic, game-changing, and profitable brands. In 1962, fresh out of business school, Phil Knight borrowed $50 from his father and created a company with a simple mission: import high-quality, low-cost athletic shoes from Japan. Selling the shoes from the trunk of his lime green Plymouth Valiant, Knight grossed $8,000 his first year. Today, Nike’s annual sales top $30 billion. In an age of startups, Nike is the ne plus ultra of all startups, and the swoosh has become a revolutionary, globe-spanning icon, one of the most ubiquitous and recognizable symbols in the world today. But Knight, the man behind the swoosh, has always remained a mystery. Now, for the first time, in a memoir that is candid, humble, gutsy, and wry, he tells his story, beginning with his crossroads moment. At 24, after backpacking around the world, he decided to take the unconventional path, to start his own business—a business that would be dynamic, different. Knight details the many risks and daunting setbacks that stood between him and his dream—along with his early triumphs. Above all, he recalls the formative relationships with his first partners and employees, a ragtag group of misfits and seekers who became a tight-knit band of brothers. Together, harnessing the transcendent power of a shared mission, and a deep belief in the spirit of sport, they built a brand that changed everything.Votes: 2
The Personal MBA
by Josh Kaufman
'A business classic. You're pretty much guaranteed to get your money's worth - if not much, much more' Jason Hesse, Real Business This revised and expanded edition of the bestselling book, The Personal MBA by Josh Kaufman, gives you everything you need to transform your business, your career or your working life forever. An MBA at a top school is an enormous investment in time, effort and cold, hard cash. And if you don't want to work for a consulting firm or an investment bank, the chances are it simply isn't worth it. Josh Kaufman is the rogue professor of modern business education. Feted by everyone from the business media to Seth Godin and David Allen, he's torn up the rulebook and given thousands of people worldwide the tools to teach themselves everything they need to know. The Personal MBA teaches simple mental models for every subject that's key to commercial success. From the basics of products, sales & marketing and finance to the nuances of human psychology, teamwork and creating systems, this book distils everything you need to know to take on the MBA graduates and win. 'File this book under: NO EXCUSES' Seth Godin, author of Purple Cow and Linchpin 'Josh Kaufman has synthesized the most important topics in business into a book that truly lives up to its title. It's rare to find complicated concepts explained with such clarity. Highly recommended' Ben Casnocha, author of My Start-Up LifeBuyology
by Martin Lindstrom
Draws on a cutting-edge brain-scan study of people from around the world to shed new light on what stimulates interest in a product and compels us to buy it, refuting common assumptions and myths while answering questions about product placement, subliminal advertising and more. Reprint. A best-selling book.Hacking Growth
by Sean Ellis
That methodology is called Growth Hacking, and it'spractitioners include not just today's hottest start-ups, but also companies like IBM, Walmart, and Microsoft as well as the millions of entrepreneurs, marketers, managers and executives who make up the community of GrowthHackers.com, Think of the Growth Hacking methodology as doing for market-share growth what Lean Start-Up did for product development, and Scrum did for productivity. It involves cross-functional teams and rapid-tempo testing and iteration that focuses customers: attaining them, retaining them, engaging them, and motivating them to come back and buy more. An accessible and practical toolkit that teams and companies in all industries can use to increase their customer base and market share, this book walks readers through the process of creating and executing their own custom-made growth hacking strategy. .Never Split the Difference
by VOSS/RAZ
'A master of persuasion.' Forbes'This book blew my mind.' Adam Grant, bestselling author of OriginalsA former FBI hostage negotiator offers a new, field-tested approach to negotiating - effective in any situation. After a stint policing the rough streets of Kansas City, Missouri, Chris Voss joined the FBI, where his career as a kidnapping negotiator brought him face-to-face with bank robbers, gang leaders and terrorists. Never Split the Differencetakes you inside his world of high-stakes negotiations, revealing the nine key principles that helped Voss and his colleagues succeed when it mattered the most - when people?s lives were at stake. Rooted in the real-life experiences of an intelligence professional at the top of his game, Never Split the Differencewill give you the competitive edge in any discussion.'Filled with insights that apply to everyday negotiations.' Business Insider'A stupendous book.' The Week'It's rare that a book is so gripping and entertaining while still being actionable and applicable.' Inc.Votes: 1
Predictably Irrational, Revised and Expanded Edition
by Dr. Dan Ariely