The best 41 Branding books

1
Selling the Invisible

Selling the Invisible

Harry Beckwith
A Field Guide to Modern Marketing
4.2 (44 ratings)

What's Selling the Invisible about?

Services represent a significant and growing portion of the modern economy, yet marketing them remains a mystery. Selling the Invisible (1997) serves as a guide for promoting the intangible. It outlines how to set up a marketable service company, and how that business can then be advertised and promoted.

Who should read Selling the Invisible?

  • Anyone who provides a service
  • Anyone who owns a service-based business
  • Marketing or advertising professionals
  • Anyone interested in marketing or advertising 

2
Purple Cow

Purple Cow

Seth Godin
Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable
4.3 (292 ratings)

What's Purple Cow about?

These blinks explain why traditional marketing no longer works, and why to be successful you need to build Purple Cows, remarkable products and services that stand out of the crowd. They also explain how you can reach your target market once you’ve found your own Purple Cow.

Who should read Purple Cow?

  • Entrepreneurs
  • Marketing professionals and executives who believe that they can survive by not standing out of the crowd
  • Anyone interested in why traditional advertising no longer works

3
How Brands Grow

How Brands Grow

Byron Sharp
What Marketers Don’t Know
4.4 (99 ratings)

What's How Brands Grow about?

In How Brands Grow, Byron Sharp tackles conventional marketing wisdom, disproving many of the conventional marketing myths with scientific facts and establishing some scientifically proven principles marketers should use.

Who should read How Brands Grow?

  • Anyone working in marketing
  • Anyone interested in how science can affect marketing practice
  • Anyone who wants to know how advertising works

4
Positioning

Positioning

Al Ries and Jack Trout
The Battle for your Mind: How to be seen and heard in the overcrowded marketplace
4.1 (125 ratings)

What's Positioning about?

Positioning has become one of the most renowned, best-selling books about marketing strategies in the last few decades. It describes a revolutionary marketing concept developed by the authors in the 1970s after it became clear that classic advertising was no longer effective due to an increase in media and competition. Positioning focuses on how to position your product in the market to become an industry leader.

Who should read Positioning?

  • Anyone who wants to read one of the most influential books on marketing
  • Anyone who wants to create and market a product successfully
  • Anyone interested in the function of modern advertising and how it’s portrayed to the customer

5
Fascinate

Fascinate

Sally Hogshead
Your Seven Triggers to Persuasion and Captivation
3.7 (132 ratings)

What's Fascinate about?

In Fascinate, author Sally Hogshead helps us realize our potential for fascination. By explaining in vivid language exactly how fascination works and how you can trigger it in others, Fascinate provides you, your company and your brand with the tools to fascinate. These “seven triggers of fascination” can help you to increase the odds of success, both in your personal life and in business.

Who should read Fascinate?

  • Anyone who owns or works at a company interested in improving its reputation
  • Anyone who’d like to improve their own ability to fascinate others
  • Students of psychology interested in the concept of human fascination

6
What Great Brands Do

What Great Brands Do

Denise Lee Yohn
The Seven Brand-Building Principles That Separate the Best from the Rest
4.4 (109 ratings)

What's What Great Brands Do about?

In What Great Brands Do, author Denise Lee Yohn draws on her over twenty-five years of experience in brand-building to demystify the branding process. You’ll discover the main principles that have made brands such as Nike, Apple and Starbucks such iconic household names.

Who should read What Great Brands Do?

  • CEOs, executives and company founders
  • Anyone interested in marketing or branding

7
The Brand Gap

The Brand Gap

Marty Neumeier
How to Bridge the Distance Between Business Strategy and Design
4.4 (83 ratings)

What's The Brand Gap about?

In The Brand Gap, you’ll get the inside scoop on how a strong brand can give your company a competitive edge. When you learn how to implement the five branding disciplines outlined in this book, you’ll understand that in closing the gap between strategy and creativity, you’ll be able to build an irresistible brand that will make customers take notice.

Who should read The Brand Gap?

  • Anyone looking to create a competitive brand that customers will notice
  • Anyone interested in developing a successful marketing strategy
  • Anyone who works in a company’s strategic or creative department

8
Paid Attention

Paid Attention

Faris Yakob
Innovative Advertising for a Digital World
4.1 (28 ratings)

What's Paid Attention about?

How can you get people interested in your brand in an age of ad-blockers, vanishing attention spans and colossal consumer choice? Paid Attention (2015) discusses the fast-changing media landscape, and maps out strategies for success that reach beyond banner placement and pop-ups.

Who should read Paid Attention?

  • Advertising creatives and executives
  • Anyone interested in how digitization is changing consumption and attention
  • People puzzled by new concepts of communication and behavior

9
Better and Faster

Better and Faster

Jeremy Gutsche
The Proven Path to Unstoppable Ideas
4.5 (51 ratings)

What's Better and Faster about?

Better and Faster (2015) outlines a specific set of tools and guidelines readers can use to outmaneuver their competition and attain success in the chaotic and unpredictable modern marketplace. Using countless real-life examples – both cautionary tales and inspiring success stories – Jeremy Gutsche lays out a path for finding opportunities and developing successful business ideas.

Who should read Better and Faster?

  • Aspiring entrepreneurs
  • Business leaders
  • People trying to successfully navigate the modern business world

10
Getting Started in Consulting

Getting Started in Consulting

Alan Weiss
3.6 (34 ratings)

What's Getting Started in Consulting about?

Getting Started in Consulting (2009) is the go-to guidebook for budding consultants. From finding your footing and learning about legal matters to mastering the dual art of marketing and branding, these blinks outline every step on your journey to building a strong consultancy firm – and maintaining it, too.

Who should read Getting Started in Consulting?

  • Experts interested in a lucrative career change
  • New consultants seeking time-tested advice
  • Established consultants looking to polish their skills

11
Marketing 3.0

Marketing 3.0

Philip Kotler, Hermawan Kartajaya and Iwan Setiawan
From Products to Customers to the Human Spirit
4.1 (87 ratings)

What's Marketing 3.0 about?

Marketing 3.0 is a handbook to the marketing strategies of tomorrow. These blinks explain how old tactics have grown outdated as people search for meaning in their lives and the companies that can provide it. Read on to learn how you can adapt your marketing strategy to the changing nature of consumer preferences.

Who should read Marketing 3.0?

  • Entrepreneurs who are interested in the newest marketing strategies
  • Business leaders curious about how companies can respond to new business trends
  • Any CEO, marketer or investor

12
Do the KIND Thing

Do the KIND Thing

Daniel Lubetzky
Think Boundlessly, Work Purposefully, Live Passionately
4.0 (22 ratings)

What's Do the KIND Thing about?

Do the KIND Thing (2015) passes along the valuable lessons the author learned while building his successful and ethical brand. These blinks guide you through the ten fundamental tenets of creating a business that benefits the individual and the world, and is prosperous too.

Who should read Do the KIND Thing?

  • Entrepreneurs interested in making a positive impact with their brand
  • Anyone that doubts the possibility of a socially conscious and financially successful business
  • Business owners who want to create a brand that people trust

13
Unconscious Branding

Unconscious Branding

Douglas van Praet
How Neuroscience Can Empower (and Inspire) Marketing
4.5 (109 ratings)

What's Unconscious Branding about?

Unconscious Branding (2012) reveals how marketers can tap into our subconscious, encouraging our participation in and support of company brands. In just seven steps, you’ll discover new strategies to guide your own company toward developing a brand with which customers can build a genuine relationship.

Who should read Unconscious Branding?

  • Marketers who want to create successful ad campaigns
  • Entrepreneurs striving to build a great brand
  • People interested in how marketers manipulate consumers’ minds

14
The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing

The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing

Al Ries and Jack Trout
Violate Them At Your Own Risk!
4.2 (106 ratings)

What's The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing about?

The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing (1994) gives you the essential knowledge to build powerful marketing strategies. With practical, real-world examples, these blinks show you how to avoid common mistakes while ensuring your marketing push will stand fast against the toughest competition.

Who should read The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing?

  • People interested in marketing psychology
  • CEOs, business managers and marketing executives
  • Entrepreneurs looking to energize their marketing strategy

15
Hello, My Name is Awesome

Hello, My Name is Awesome

Alexandra Watkins
How to Create Brand Names That Stick
4.1 (21 ratings)

What's Hello, My Name is Awesome about?

Hello, My Name is Awesome (2014) is about the most important decision a new business faces: choosing a brand name that will launch the company into the stratosphere where it belongs. You might think picking a name is straightforward, but you have a lot to learn! This is your guide to negotiating the snakes and ladders of the brand-naming process – and coming out on top.

Who should read Hello, My Name is Awesome?

  • Anyone who’s trying to come up with a great brand name
  • Anyone who wants to better understand branding
  • Business owners who suspect that their company name may be alienating potential customers

16
Zombie Loyalists

Zombie Loyalists

Peter Shankman
Using Great Customer Service To Create Rabid Fans
4.5 (21 ratings)

What's Zombie Loyalists about?

Zombie Loyalists (2015) gives you the inside scoop on the customers that every company dreams of attracting. These blinks, illustrated with insightful stories from a wide range of businesses, provide you with simple steps that your brand can take to establish, grow and maintain a faithful, enthusiastic customer base.

Who should read Zombie Loyalists?

  • New brands hoping to build a stable and loyal customer base
  • Managers seeking strategies to lift their employees’ customer-service skills
  • Representatives in customer support interested in ways to improve their work

17
YouthNation

YouthNation

Matt Britton
Building Remarkable Brands In a Youth-Driven Culture
4.2 (12 ratings)

What's YouthNation about?

YouthNation (2015) offers essential insights on modern-day youth – a generation, lifestyle and rising phenomenon that will be essential to any business’s success in the future. These blinks will teach you the ins and outs of YouthNation and help you build an up-to-date strategy for your company.

Who should read YouthNation?

  • Marketers who want to understand the youth-driven economy
  • Readers curious about the status symbols of the post-internet world
  • Millennials who want to better understand the fundamental cultural changes taking place during their lives

18
The Mom Test

The Mom Test

Rob Fitzpatrick
How to Talk to Customers and Learn If Your Business is a Good Idea When Everyone is Lying to You
3.8 (170 ratings)

What's The Mom Test about?

The two most important types of conversation you’ll have when founding a business are those with potential customers and those with potential investors. The Mom Test (2013) offers advice on nailing the information you really need from these meetings, and ensuring your business has the best possible foundation for success.

Who should read The Mom Test?

  • Entrepreneurs just starting out
  • Anyone with a business idea
  • Anyone interested in customer communication

19
The Global Code

The Global Code

Clotaire Rapaille
How a New Culture of Universal Values Is Reshaping Business and Marketing
2.9 (16 ratings)

What's The Global Code about?

The Global Code (2015) is about a recent worldwide phenomenon: a global unconsciousness, or code, that contains a new system of values, beliefs and principles. This code is formed and shared by the Global Tribe, a highly mobile and cross-cultural group of people who are setting trends, shaking up the old status quo and becoming the target demographic for global luxury brands.

Who should read The Global Code?

  • Sociology and anthropology students
  • People interested in cultural differences and similarities
  • Marketers and advertisers who want to make their brand a global success

20
Personality Not Included

Personality Not Included

Rohit Bhargava
Why Companies Lose Their Authenticity and How Great Brands Get it Back
3.9 (15 ratings)

What's Personality Not Included about?

Personality Not Included (2008) explains how to build an awesome public face for your company. These blinks teach you how to develop a strong personality for your business, explain why that’s so important and help you clear the barriers between you and business success.

Who should read Personality Not Included?

  • Entrepreneurs and leaders who want to build or improve their businesses
  • CEOs who want to put a face on their company
  • Marketing novices and experts alike

21
Rethinking Prestige Branding

Rethinking Prestige Branding

Wolfgang Schaefer and J.P. Kuehlwein
Secrets of the Ueber-Brands
4.5 (43 ratings)

What's Rethinking Prestige Branding about?

Rethinking Prestige Branding (2015) is your guide to the radically transformed world of prestige brands. These blinks explain how the practice of building a prestige brand has changed, what customers want today and what you need to do to make your brand a coveted object.

Who should read Rethinking Prestige Branding?

  • Marketing and branding professionals
  • Readers curious about how today’s brands got to where they are
  • Entrepreneurs looking to boost their brand’s growth

22
Eating The Big Fish

Eating The Big Fish

Adam Morgan
How Challenger Brands Can Compete Against Brand Leaders
4.0 (17 ratings)

What's Eating The Big Fish about?

Eating the Big Fish (2009) gives a strategic overview of how second- and third-tier brands can challenge industry leaders and climb to the upper echelons of the business world. These blinks are full of concrete advice to help emerging brands make a name for themselves in competitive markets.

Who should read Eating The Big Fish?

  • Business owners who want to excel in their industry
  • Marketing professionals
  • MBA students

23
The Fortune Cookie Principle

The Fortune Cookie Principle

Bernadette Jiwa
The 20 Keys to a Great Brand Story and Why Your Business Needs One
4.1 (40 ratings)

What's The Fortune Cookie Principle about?

The Fortune Cookie Principle (2013) is a practical guide to building a successful brand through powerful storytelling, a compelling vision and a clear purpose. These blinks explain how to tie your product to the meaning that potential customers seek.

Who should read The Fortune Cookie Principle?

  • Entrepreneurs and business owners
  • Marketing and communications strategists

24
Crushing it!

Crushing it!

Gary Vaynerchuk
How Great Entrepreneurs Build Their Business and Influence – and How You Can, too.
4.2 (187 ratings)

What's Crushing it! about?

Crushing It! (2018) explains and explores why having a strong personal brand is crucial in business. Following up on his 2009 best seller, Crush It!, the author draws on both his own experiences and those of readers to illustrate why having a strong presence across multiple digital-media channels is a blueprint for success.

Who should read Crushing it!?

  • Aspiring or established entrepreneurs ready to take their business to the next level
  • Employees who want to increase their professional opportunities
  • People who recognize the game-changing nature of digital and social media

25
The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding

The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding

Al Ries and Laura Ries
4.6 (107 ratings)

What's The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding about?

The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding (1998) is a practical, hands-on guide to the dos and don'ts of branding. Covering 22 memorable bite-sized nuggets of wisdom, these blinks provide an overview of the all-too-common mistakes made by marketers and showcases the tricks of the trade used by the most successful brands to assert their dominance in ultra-competitive markets.

Who should read The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding?

  • Entrepreneurs looking for tips on positioning their brand
  • Anyone who’s ever wondered how advertising works
  • Anyone interested in communication and marketing

26
Fusion

Fusion

Denise Lee Yohn
How Integrating Brand and Culture Powers the World’s Greatest Companies
4.5 (15 ratings)

What's Fusion about?

Fusion (2018) advises businesses to bring together two corporate realms that are often regarded as separate: brand and culture. If fused into one, these two areas can create a new and powerful driving force in any business.

Who should read Fusion?

  • Managers, business experts and consultants
  • Branding and human-resources employees
  • Leaders curious to know how strong culture can propel a business to new heights

27
Top of Mind

Top of Mind

John Hall
Use Content to Unleash Your Influence and Engage Those Who Matter to You
4.2 (75 ratings)

What's Top of Mind about?

Top of Mind (2017) offers readers an exciting new perspective on marketing by helping them break free of old, outdated methods and embrace the new “You Marketing” movement. Author John Hall provides the tools and insight necessary to navigate the new world of marketing, focusing in particular on how to gain an audience’s trust and target their needs.

Who should read Top of Mind?

  • Entrepreneurs curious about You Marketing
  • Readers interested in marketing and brand success
  • Business owners who want to take their brand to the next level

28
We’re All Marketers

We’re All Marketers

Nico De Bruyn
20 Go-To Principles to Help You Market Like a Marketer
4.4 (110 ratings)

What's We’re All Marketers about?

We’re All Marketers (2019) offers a helpful overview of the tactics and principles that are guiding the world of digital marketing. Whether you’re part of a small business or a giant corporation, or you’re simply curious about how ideas are sold online, these are tips that can change the way you think about marketing.

Who should read We’re All Marketers?

  • Students of marketing, branding and advertising
  • Entrepreneurs and small business owners
  • People interested in how ideas are sold on the internet

29
The Post-Truth Business

The Post-Truth Business

Sean Pillot de Chenecey
How to Rebuild Brand Authenticity in a Distrusting World
4.3 (40 ratings)

What's The Post-Truth Business about?

The Post-Truth Business (2018) addresses a question that’s been keeping marketing and advertising agencies up at night for a while now: How do you persuade consumers to trust your brand in an increasingly distrustful world? Drawing on Sean Pillot de Chenecey’s first-hand knowledge of the industry known as “adland,” these blinks show how today’s most innovative companies are strengthening consumer engagement and making sure that their brand doesn’t end up with a credibility gap.

Who should read The Post-Truth Business?

  • Marketers, advertisers and brand managers
  • Leaders worried about their company’s image 
  • Business strategists interested in the latest trends

30
Disruptive Branding

Disruptive Branding

Jacob Benbunan, Gabor Schreier and Benjamin Knapp
How to Win in Times of Change
4.3 (178 ratings)

What's Disruptive Branding about?

Disruptive Branding (2019) explores the importance and nature of branding in our disruptive, technology-driven world. Drawing on best-in-class examples and practical how-to-guides, it’s a clear blueprint for anyone who wants to utilize a strong brand to drive business results.

Who should read Disruptive Branding?

  • Business leaders who want to build an enduring and authentic brand 
  • Marketers looking for practical brand strategy tips

31
Equity

Equity

Minal Bopaiah
How to Design Organizations Where Everyone Thrives
3.7 (154 ratings)

What's Equity about?

Equity (2021) is your guide to building equitable systems in the twenty-first century. It was designed to help socially conscious leaders with the challenging task of creating fair and inclusive organizations that work for everybody.

Who should read Equity?

  • Leaders who want to embed their values into their business or nonprofit
  • Diversity officers tasked with promoting a diverse and inclusive office culture
  • Anyone who wants to be more mindful of bias in their thinking and behavior

32
The Hidden Psychology of Social Networks

The Hidden Psychology of Social Networks

Joe Federer
How Brands Create Authentic Engagement by Understanding What Motivates Us
4.2 (96 ratings)

What's The Hidden Psychology of Social Networks about?

The Hidden Psychology of Social Networks (2020) describes how brands can create effective and authentic content by understanding the basics of human psychology. Drawing on Freudian psychoanalysis, it gets to the bottom of our online habits and shows brands how to connect with people on a deeper level.

Who should read The Hidden Psychology of Social Networks?

  • Brand strategists at companies big or small
  • Content creators of any type
  • Those curious about how brands are trying to get their attention

33
Likeable Social Media

Likeable Social Media

Dave Kerpen
How To Delight Your Customers, Create an Irresistible Brand, & Be Generally Amazing On All Social Networks That Matter
4.3 (155 ratings)

What's Likeable Social Media about?

Likeable Social Media (2011) is a handy guide to promoting your business on social media. This manual shows the best strategies for garnering positive attention on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and more.

Who should read Likeable Social Media?

  • Business owners looking to catch some positive attention
  • Marketers learning to ropes of online advertising
  • Anyone who wants to get the most out of their social media pages

34
Get Different

Get Different

Mike Michalowicz
Marketing That Can't Be Ignored!
4.3 (263 ratings)

What's Get Different about?

Get Different (2021) is a practical guide for entrepreneurs who want to leverage their market strategies and set themselves apart from the competition. Using an established framework, it offers step-by-step guidance on how to turn a marketing experiment into a strategic plan that gets you noticed and generates leads.

Who should read Get Different?

  • Business owners seeking new leads
  • Marketing professionals and enthusiasts 
  • New entrepreneurs

35
Marketing Made Simple

Marketing Made Simple

Donald Miller
Step-by-Step StoryBrand Guide for Any Business
4.2 (222 ratings)

What's Marketing Made Simple about?

Marketing Made Simple (2020) is a handy guide to growing your brand. This practical manual teaches a five-point system for effectively funneling new customers to your business.

Who should read Marketing Made Simple?

  • New entrepreneurs looking for a strong start
  • Experienced business owners seeking new ideas
  • Anyone interested in the fundamentals of marketing

36
Renegade Marketing

Renegade Marketing

Drew Neisser
12 Steps to Building Unbeatable B2B Brands
4.2 (154 ratings)

What's Renegade Marketing about?

Renegade Marketing (2021) is an incisive guide to becoming a cutting-edge B2B marketer in today’s frenetic corporate climate. It distinguishes four key characteristics of very successful marketing executives and shows you how you can apply them in your own company. Most importantly, it demonstrates how to create meaningful brands that are embodied at every level of your organization.

Who should read Renegade Marketing?

  • CMOs who want to learn how to bring their teams on board to implement new ideas
  • Marketing buffs interested in learning new insights from one of the most influential B2B marketing gurus
  • Anyone interested in how to create purpose-driven brands

37
Branding Between the Ears

Branding Between the Ears

Sandeep Dayal
Using Cognitive Science to Build Lasting Customer Connections
4.4 (165 ratings)

What's Branding Between the Ears about?

Branding Between the Ears (2021) explores how marketers can apply the latest scientific insights to their branding strategy. It explores how the human brain responds to advertising, and how consumers really make the decision to buy or not to buy.

Who should read Branding Between the Ears?

  • Marketers and salespeople
  • Budding entrepreneurs keen to get their venture off the ground
  • Psychology buffs looking for fresh insights

38
Traffic Secrets

Traffic Secrets

Russell Brunson
The Underground Playbook for Filling Your Websites and Funnels with Your Dream Customers
4.4 (21 ratings)

What's Traffic Secrets about?

Traffic Secrets (2023) reveals an explosive truth: your dream customers are primed and ready. Learn how to analyze your target audience, locate their hotspots, and capture them with evergreen growth-hacking strategies. This game-changing guide unveils precise techniques for driving consistent traffic to your funnels, laying the foundation for unstoppable online growth.

Who should read Traffic Secrets?

  • Starving startups
  • E-commerce entrepreneurs
  • Online course creators

39
12 Months to $1 Million

12 Months to $1 Million

Ryan Daniel Moran
How to Pick a Winning Product, Build a Real Business, and Become a Seven-Figure Entrepreneur
4.0 (226 ratings)

What's 12 Months to $1 Million about?

12 Months to $1 Million (2020) serves as your catalyst for creating a seven-figure business within just a year. By uncovering a mixture of pragmatic strategies and hard-earned wisdom, it places you, the aspiring entrepreneur, in the driving seat. Your journey to financial independence and business success starts here.

Who should read 12 Months to $1 Million?

  • Aspiring entrepreneurs seeking practical strategies for financial independence
  • Existing business owners aiming to scale their ventures
  • Individuals interested in e-commerce and product innovation

40
Emotion by Design

Emotion by Design

Greg Hoffman
Creative Leadership Lessons from a Lifetime at Nike
4.0 (36 ratings)

What's Emotion by Design about?

Emotion by Design (2022) explores the creative philosophies that can differentiate your brand from the rest. It features lessons and stories from the author’s design and marketing experience at Nike.   

Who should read Emotion by Design?

  • Business owners and leaders
  • Brand marketers
  • Anyone interested in marketing and design

41
Ogilvy on Advertising

Ogilvy on Advertising

David Ogilvy
3.3 (4 ratings)

What's Ogilvy on Advertising about?

Ogilvy on Advertising (1983) offers insights into the world of advertising from the Father of Advertising himself: David Ogilvy. With practical tips on copywriting, design, and media – and a showcase of iconic ad campaigns – it serves as both a guide and a manifesto for aspiring advertisers.

Who should read Ogilvy on Advertising?

  • Copywriters looking to up their advertising game
  • Marketing maestros and branding buffs
  • General ad enthusiasts

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