The Most Effective Marketing Books
Marketing and Selling is an art that demands charisma, persuasion, and natural intuition, but in a world where marketers continue to compete aggressively for people's attention and money, sometimes even those qualities aren't enough to close a sale. Fortunately, many of the world's greatest marketers and thought-leaders have written some incredible books to share their mistakes and experiences, in order to teach us tactics and strategies that work vis-à-vis those that don't. Here are some of the best marketing books you can read to crush your marketing strategy and gain an edge over your competition in 2020.
1. This is Marketing: You Can't Be Seen Until You Learn To See by Seth Godin
Marketing guru Seth Godin is the author of over 19 books on the subject of selling, branding, and advertising. Over the last 50 years, Seth has coached thousands of entrepreneurs, marketers, and leaders rethink their marketing strategies with his online courses, lectures, best-selling books, and his blog. In This is Marketing Godin condenses his marketing wisdom with advice that will continue to work for decades to come, regardless of how marketing tactics continue to evolve. Godin believes that marketers in the digital age need to be relevant, not loud and that truly effective marketing is rooted in trust, consent, empathy, and emotional attachment. The goal, Godin stresses, is to become an organization that markets with people, not at them.
2. Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen by Donald Miller
American Author and Public Speaker Donald Miller helps businesses clarify and reinforce their message with the immense potential of storytelling. In Building a Story Brand, Miller shows readers how to use the seven universal elements of compelling stories to make your advertising and branding simpler and more effective. The book offers common-sense, straight-forward, and easy to adopt advice that can dramatically improve the way you engage and connect with customers. Whether you're a marketing manager of a multi-billion dollar company or a small business owner, this is a revolutionary book that will forever change the way you talk about who you are and what you do.
3. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini
Influence is a psychology book that explores how people can be persuaded. Robert B. Cialdini, the book's author, is a Professor of Psychology at Arizona State University and is an expert in the field of influence and persuasion. The book examines how in an increasingly complex world replete with information overload, people tend to make decisions based on generalizations. These generalizations are helpful as they allow people to make the right decision without investing a lot of time or thought. Backed by empirical studies and evidence-based research, the book examines what makes people say 'yes' and how people can be easily manipulated by those who understand how people arrive at their decisions. The book teaches the six universal principles of influence, how to use them to become a skilled persuader, and how to avoid being exploited by others.
4. The 1-Page Marketing Plan: Get New Customers, Make More Money, And Stand out From The Crowd by Allan Dib
To build a successful business, it's a prerequisite to stop doing random acts of marketing that don't line up and work on a long term, coherent strategy that aligns with your goals and overall business strategy, however, creating a marketing plan can be a painstaking task, which is why many small businesses lack one. In The 1-Page Marketing Plan, highly sought after business coach, consultant, and public speaker Allan Dib presents an elegantly simple and revolutionary way to create and implement a marketing plan for your business. A single page plan split into nine squares, Dib's strategy turns the time-consuming task of creating a marketing plan into an ordered, fun process, one you can easily draw up and implement to propel your business into growth.
5. Fanatical Prospecting: The Ultimate Guide to Opening Sales Conversations by Jeb Blount
From the pen of sales and customer experience thought-leader, Jeb Blount comes an extremely helpful guide on lead building and prospecting for salespeople all over the world. Blount uses a step by step approach to outline a pathbreaking method of prospecting and talks about what works and what doesn't in the prospecting world today. With the help of personal examples, anecdotes, and case studies, Blount shows how there is no one-size-fits-all formula in prospecting and that different tactics work on different mediums such as voice mails, emails, calls, or in-person meetings. A book that will help novices and experienced sales professionals alike, Fanatical Prospecting will help you understand the intricacies of prospecting and will help you go from under-performing to tremendously improving your sales productivity.
