The best 37 Neuromarketing books

1
Influence

Influence

Robert B. Cialdini
The Psychology of Persuasion
4.6 (1,339 ratings)

What's Influence about?

Influence (1984) explains in detail the fundamental principles of persuasion. How do you get people to say yes? How do other people get you to say yes? How are you manipulated by sleek salesmen, clever marketing folks and sneaky confidence tricksters? These blinks will help you understand the psychology behind their techniques, enabling you to unleash your own persuasive powers, while also defending against their tactics of manipulation.

Who should read Influence?

  • Anyone working in marketing or sales
  • People who sometimes find it hard to say no to salespeople or marketers
  • Those interested in how their decision-making is constantly being manipulated

2
Smarter Not Harder

Smarter Not Harder

Dave Asprey
The Biohacker's Guide to Getting the Body and Mind You Want
3.6 (27 ratings)

What's Smarter Not Harder about?

Smarter Not Harder (2023) is a guide to biohacking your metabolic, neurological, and epigenetic systems. It will show you how to maximize your well-being by making your Meat Operating System, or MeatOS, do what you want it to do by doing less – by doing things smarter, not harder.

Who should read Smarter Not Harder?

  • Lazy people who want to make their laziness work for them
  • Anyone looking to improve their well-being
  • Tired people looking for more energy

3
Fascinate

Fascinate

Sally Hogshead
Your Seven Triggers to Persuasion and Captivation
3.8 (103 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

4
Influencer

Influencer

Joseph Grenny
The New Science of Leading Change
3.9 (129 ratings)

What's Influencer about?

Influencer (2007) distills the essence of how influence works. In addition to providing examples of real people who are highly adept at affecting change, the authors present information rooted in psychology research and give you the tools you need to increase your influence over others.

Who should read Influencer?

  • People working in customer service
  • Anyone working in public or social policy
  • Psychology and sociology students

5
To Sell Is Human

To Sell Is Human

Daniel H. Pink
The Surprising Truth About Moving Others
4.5 (247 ratings)

What's To Sell Is Human about?

To Sell Is Human explains how selling has become an important part of almost every job, and equips the reader with tools and techniques to be more effective at persuading others.

Who should read To Sell Is Human?

  • Anyone who wants to be better at influencing, persuading and convincing people, at work or in their free time
  • Anyone interested in the new ABCs of sales

6
Purple Cow

Purple Cow

Seth Godin
Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable
4.3 (263 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

7
Selling with Noble Purpose

Selling with Noble Purpose

Lisa Earle McLeod
How to Drive Revenue and Do Work That Makes You Proud
4.4 (27 ratings)

What's Selling with Noble Purpose about?

Selling with Noble Purpose (2013) is about finding the right balance between making money and doing something meaningful with your life. It allows you to reframe your work by focusing your intention on the customer and how they truly benefit from your product. It’s a perspective that also keeps employees happier, more motivated and effective. Selling doesn’t have to be focused on profits and greed; it can also be about making the world a better place.

Who should read Selling with Noble Purpose?

  • Employees who work in sales or marketing
  • Sales executives and managers seeking motivation
  • Readers who want a fresh perspective on the world

8
The Science of Selling

The Science of Selling

David Hoffeld
Proven Strategies to Make Your Pitch, Influence Decisions, and Close the Deal
4.6 (281 ratings)

What's The Science of Selling about?

The Science of Selling (2016) is a detailed handbook on the science of making a sale. Combining insights from neuroscience and social psychology, this guide presents an evidence-based approach to making a convincing pitch.

Who should read The Science of Selling?

  • Salespeople looking for an extra edge
  • Marketers interested in evidence-based approaches
  • Folks who want to learn the neuroscience behind sales

9
Made to Stick

Made to Stick

Chip Heath and Dan Heath
Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
4.6 (229 ratings)

What's Made to Stick about?

Made to Stick explains why some ideas become popular, while others wither and die.

The book lays out the most important characteristics of “stickiness”; that is, what makes ideas “stick” in the mind, and how to make them work for you.

Who should read Made to Stick?

  • Anyone with an idea to share
  • Anyone interested in why some ideas catch on and others don’t
  • Every film director, advertising executive, NGO worker and so on.

10
Subliminal

Subliminal

Leonard Mlodinow
How Your Unconscious Mind Rules Your Behavior
4.3 (100 ratings)

What's Subliminal about?

Subliminal (2012) shows us as we are, under the bonnet. It’s about how the unconscious mind is in charge, working away like an efficient yet imperfect machine, while we go on with our lives unaware. The reader finds studies, examples and anecdotes about the peculiarities of the unconscious mind, such as the pitfalls of memory recall, choosing a mate, buying a stock or scheduling a project. These are mined from historical events, science experiments and the authors’ own experiences, as well as from his friends in the scientific community.

Who should read Subliminal?

  • Anyone aiming to improve their social skills or persuasiveness
  • Anyone who always wanted to know the causes, benefits and flaws of the subliminal mind
  • Anyone interested in neuroscience or social psychology

11
Branding Between the Ears

Branding Between the Ears

Sandeep Dayal
Using Cognitive Science to Build Lasting Customer Connections
4.4 (155 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

12
Alchemy

Alchemy

Rory Sutherland
The Dark Art and Curious Science of Creating Magic in Brands, Business, and Life
4.4 (157 ratings)

What's Alchemy about?

Alchemy (2018) makes a case for irrational thinking in a world enraptured by logic. Drawing on his first-hand knowledge of the advertising industry and insights from behavioral psychology, Rory Sutherland argues that the world is far too complex to be viewed through a single lens. To solve everyday problems, we must move past superficial analysis and open ourselves up to even the most seemingly nonsensical ideas – which often turn out to be very powerful. Only then can we be true alchemists. 

Who should read Alchemy?

  • Advertisers and brand managers seeking to understand their customers better
  • Budding innovators and business strategists looking for new ways to hatch ideas
  • Creators stuck in logic overload

13
The Art of Influencing Anyone

The Art of Influencing Anyone

Niall Cassidy
The classic must-read for anyone who wants to learn how to sound more convincing and persuasive
4.1 (75 ratings)

What's The Art of Influencing Anyone about?

The Art of Influencing Anyone provides detailed information on how to influence people to do what you want. An invaluable read for salespeople, it is also useful for anyone who wants to learn how to sound more convincing and persuasive.

Who should read The Art of Influencing Anyone?

  • Anyone who works as a salesperson
  • Anyone interested in how to influence others

14
Unconscious Branding

Unconscious Branding

Douglas van Praet
How Neuroscience Can Empower (and Inspire) Marketing
4.6 (98 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

15
All Marketers Are Liars

All Marketers Are Liars

Seth Godin
The Underground Classic That Explains How Marketing Really Works – and Why Authenticity Is The Best Marketing of All
4.4 (112 ratings)

What's All Marketers Are Liars about?

All Marketers Are Liars explains how telling your customers authentic, meaningful stories about your business helps you sell your products and build a strong, long-lasting relationship with them.

Who should read All Marketers Are Liars?

  • Marketers and marketing students
  • Anyone who wants to connect with their customers
  • Anyone who wants to know why wine tastes better in a Riedel glass

16
Brainfluence

Brainfluence

Roger Dooley
100 Ways to Persuade and Convince Consumers with Neuromarketing
4.0 (83 ratings)

What's Brainfluence about?

Brainfluence (2012) explores the unconscious thoughts and motivations that influence our decision-making process, and offers tips and tricks on how savvy marketers can exploit them. By understanding the mechanisms that cause us to buy (or not buy), you can increase your sales while keeping your customers happier.

Who should read Brainfluence?

  • Marketers, managers and business owners, as well as those in the nonprofit sector
  • People whose jobs depend on making sales
  • Anyone interested in how to best get their message across

17
The Science of Why

The Science of Why

David Forbes
Decoding Human Motivation and Transforming Marketing Strategy
4.3 (57 ratings)

What's The Science of Why about?

The Science of Why (2015) is an insightful and sometimes surprising guide to a question that only the best marketers can answer: why does a customer buy? Read through these blinks to explore the various types of consumers in the marketplace, and give your own marketing greater depth and perspective.

Who should read The Science of Why?

  • Businesses struggling to gain a strong customer base
  • Marketers who want to approach their target market in a more nuanced manner
  • Shoppers interested in how brands entice them to buy

18
Buyology

Buyology

Martin Lindstrom
Truth and Lies About Why We Buy
4.2 (83 ratings)

What's Buyology about?

Day in and day out we’re bombarded by thousands of brand images, logos and commercials enticing us to buy their products. However, only some ads actually motivate us to whip out our wallets. Why? Using cutting-edge neuromarketing methods, Buyology answers that question and explores the hidden motivations behind our purchasing decisions.

Who should read Buyology?

  • Anyone exposed to advertising
  • Anyone who wants to learn more about the brain
  • Marketing strategists and consumer advocates

19
Drunk Tank Pink

Drunk Tank Pink

Adam Alter
And Other Unexpected Forces that Shape How We Think, Feel, and Behave
4.2 (56 ratings)

What's Drunk Tank Pink about?

Drunk Tank Pink probes the hidden psychological and social influences that shape the way we see, think, feel, and act in the world.

Who should read Drunk Tank Pink?

  • Anyone who wants to learn about the hidden influences that shape their perceptions and behavior
  • Anyone interested in how the weather and scenery affect their moods
  • Anyone who thinks their behavior is mostly rational and free of influence from random factors

20
Neuromarketing

Neuromarketing

Patrick Renvoisé & Christophe Morin
Understanding the “Buy Buttons” in Your Customer’s Brain
4.4 (74 ratings)

What's Neuromarketing about?

By drawing from brain research and innovative marketing techniques, Neuromarketing (2002) offers insights into how we make buying decisions. Understanding the brain’s ancient decision-making processes will equip you with the tools necessary to close deals and motivate people.

Who should read Neuromarketing?

  • Anyone in sales and marketing
  • People interested in how our brain affects our decisions
  • Those wanting to become more influential

21
Cashvertising

Cashvertising

Drew Eric Whitman
How to Use More Than 100 Secrets of Ad-Agency Psychology to Make BIG MONEY Selling Anything to Anyone
4.5 (51 ratings)

What's Cashvertising about?

Cashvertising (2009) shows how you don’t need a million dollar ad campaign to bring in the customers. All you need to know is how and why we make buying decisions. Full of instantly actionable tips, this book tells you everything you need to know about how to turn your ads into profits.

Who should read Cashvertising?

  • Businesspeople who want to know more about consumer marketing
  • Anyone interested in the psychological secrets behind advertising
  • Professionals eager to become savvier marketers

22
The Brain Sell

The Brain Sell

David Lewis
When Science Meets Shopping
3.6 (43 ratings)

What's The Brain Sell about?

The Brain Sell (2013) reveals innovative tactics that’ll help marketers draw in customers by using the powers of neuroscience. These blinks explore strategies of psychological marketing, body language and sensory allure that every retailer should know, and that every customer should know how to avoid!

Who should read The Brain Sell?

  • Marketers interested in encouraging their customers to buy more
  • Customers who’d like to defend themselves against marketing tricks

23
Paid Attention

Paid Attention

Faris Yakob
Innovative Advertising for a Digital World
4.2 (27 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

24
Small Data

Small Data

Martin Lindstrom
The Tiny Clues That Uncover Huge Trends
4.0 (48 ratings)

What's Small Data about?

Small Data (2016) is a guide to utilizing minor details about people’s lives to connect with them and sell them on your brand image. These blinks incorporate observations of cultures all over the world to point to the emotions and desires that help brands become household names.

Who should read Small Data?

  • Marketing professionals and students of human behavior.
  • Anyone working to establish a brand.

25
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 (94 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

26
Enchantment

Enchantment

Guy Kawasaki
The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions
4.3 (20 ratings)

What's Enchantment about?

Guy Kawasaki’s Enchantment teaches you how to change the hearts, minds and actions of the people around you, turning them into spirited advocates of your cause. It also provides key steps on the path to building a lasting fascination with your product and company, as well as useful advice on how to resist the enchantment of others.

Who should read Enchantment?

  • People who want to motivate others to join in their life’s mission
  • Anybody who manages or works with others
  • Anyone who wants to regain control of their purchasing habits

27
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

28
You May Also Like

You May Also Like

Tom Vanderbilt
Taste in An Age of Endless Choice
4.1 (13 ratings)

What's You May Also Like about?

You May Also Like (2016) dives into the ever-changing world of taste, or what you like and why you like it. Trying to guess whether a consumer will enjoy a movie or buy a product is both tricky science and big business, as a myriad of different factors influences the decisions you make daily.

Who should read You May Also Like?

  • Pop culture enthusiasts
  • Social psychologists
  • Marketers or consumers curious about what influences taste

29
Why We Buy

Why We Buy

Paco Underhill
The Science of Shopping
4.0 (30 ratings)

What's Why We Buy about?

Why We Buy draws on observations of real shoppers' behavior to understand the way people make purchases. It presents advice on how to design and tweak stores to optimize the shopping experience for customers, and thereby increase sales.

Who should read Why We Buy?

  • Anyone interested in how retailers manipulate us into buying more
  • Anyone who wants to open their own shop
  • Anyone working in retail or hoping to work in retail

30
Priceless

Priceless

William Poundstone
The Myth of Fair Value (and How to Take Advantage of It)
4.3 (22 ratings)

What's Priceless about?

Priceless (2010) explores the psychological reasons behind the value and price we give to things. Through numerous experiments and case studies in pricing, the author explains how prices influence our purchasing decision and exposes companies that use pricing to increase profit.

Who should read Priceless?

  • People curious about pricing their products
  • Anyone interested in the psychology of value and price
  • Customers interested in reviewing their purchasing decisions

31
Brandwashed

Brandwashed

Martin Lindstrom
Tricks Companies Use to Manipulate Our Minds and Persuade Us to Buy
4.1 (20 ratings)

What's Brandwashed about?

Brandwashed explains the different psychological effects that influence our buying decisions and shows how marketers use them to sell their products. Brandwashed reveals the marketing tricks of the world’s largest companies, which play an increasingly important role in our everyday lives. Lindstrom’s exposé will help you to avoid manipulation the next time you go shopping.

Who should read Brandwashed?

  • Anyone who wants to know why they prefer certain products
  • Students of marketing
  • Anyone who wants to make better, less emotional product choices

32
The Global Code

The Global Code

Clotaire Rapaille
How a New Culture of Universal Values Is Reshaping Business and Marketing
3.0 (13 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

33
The Attention Merchants

The Attention Merchants

Tim Wu
The Epic Scramble to Get Inside Our Heads
4.3 (16 ratings)

What's The Attention Merchants about?

The Attention Merchants (2016) details the history of the fascinating field of advertising. These blinks will teach you all about the “attention industry,” offering a historical account of how advertising has arrived at its modern incarnation.

Who should read The Attention Merchants?

  • Entrepreneurs and aspiring businesspeople
  • Veteran marketers, or those new to the industry
  • Tech industry employees, including programmers and developers

34
Twitter Is Not A Strategy

Twitter Is Not A Strategy

Tom Doctoroff
Rediscovering the Art of Brand Marketing

What's Twitter Is Not A Strategy about?

Twitter Is Not A Strategy cuts through the mess of hashtags and handles to get to the meat of effective marketing, outlining the core principles that make up the foundation of a successful company brand. Although social media is all the rage, this book shows that traditional marketing still matters, and that the secret to success is – as it always has been – having a good brand idea.

Who should read Twitter Is Not A Strategy?

  • Anyone interested in how companies create and promote brands
  • Anyone who questions whether “traditional” advertising techniques still matter
  • Business owners or executives in charge of company marketing efforts

35
Cool

Cool

Steven Quartz & Anette Asp
How the Brain’s Hidden Quest for Cool Drives Our Economy and Shapes our World
4.1 (14 ratings)

What's Cool about?

Cool (2015) explains how a social desire to fit in and be acknowledged propels humans to consume. Drawing on everything from neuroscience to evolutionary biology to economics and history, Cool explains why the drive to buy is natural.

Who should read Cool?

  • Every marketer, everywhere
  • People interested in neuroscience
  • Anybody who wants to know what “cool” really means

36
Cheap

Cheap

Ellen Ruppel Shell
The High Cost of Discount Culture

What's Cheap about?

Cheap is an investigation of the prices we truly pay for low cost items. It outlines the history of America’s obsession with finding bargains and cheap goods. Cheap also explains how humans are irrational, and how companies manipulate us into buying things we don’t need or even want. Our thirst for cheap products is hurting the entire globe; we need to educate ourselves, stand up and do something about it.

Who should read Cheap?

  • Anyone interested in the psychology behind bargain hunting
  • Anyone interested in consumerism
  • Anyone who wants to be a more mindful shopper

37
Youtility

Youtility

Jay Baer
Why smart marketing is about help, not hype
4.4 (10 ratings)

What's Youtility about?

Youtility (2013) goes against the grain of accepted marketing methods by declaring that information, not promotion, is the way to win customers. Counterintuitive and refreshing methods are presented, repositioning the relationship between businesses and consumers. The book outlines examples from a wide spectrum of companies, big and small, driving home the message that by helping people and being useful instead of chasing sales, companies can prosper in the long-term.

Who should read Youtility?

  • Anyone wanting to start or grow their own business
  • Anyone interested in how social media is changing our personal and business relationships
  • Anyone looking for a fresh perspective in marketing

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