These Are The Best Marketing Books To Give You The Edge On Your Competition
Marketing is a sphere that has grown exponentially over the last decade. Although marketing is far from being a new concept, since the explosion of the internet — and in particular social media — many businesses have discovered audiences and avenues which were previously unreachable.
Until relatively recently, more traditional methods of attracting customers or launching products like magazine advertising or telesales could often miss the mark and even turn customers off. However what savvy marketers have found is that through the use of clever and cohesive marketing campaigns which communicate a product or service to the consumer via a variety of familiar touchpoints, surprising and impressive results can occur. In turn, marketing as a form of business promotion and customer acquisition has boomed.
Want to find out more about this increasingly popular field? Then it’s time to get reading. We’ve put together our pick of the top books on marketing so you can get the low-down on the industry.
Our Pick of The Very Best Marketing Books Available Now
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert P. Cialdini
Influence
- 18 min reading time
- audio version available
Robert B. Cialdini PhD wrote this book after spending 35 years studying the phenomena of influence and persuasion; two key skills in any marketer’s toolkit. If you’re as interested in understanding why people behave the way they do as much as in how to make them behave a certain way, then this is the book for you. But be warned: you may find yourself manipulating the decision-making of your peers before your 15-minute read is even up.
Everybody Writes: Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content by Ann Handley
Everybody Writes
- 10 min reading time
- audio version available
Ann Handley’s book focuses on the value of the written word in both our professional and personal lives as more and more of our everyday interactions become screen-based. Using a handful of easy-to-remember tips, we learn how to create the very best content to engage and delight the reader as marketers, professionals, and individuals. Although Handley covers the basics of good grammar and the art of crafting great emails, what she reinforces, again and again, is the value of the written word in the art of acquiring and keeping loyal customers; the goal of every good marketer.
Purple Cow: Transform Your Business By Being Remarkable by Seth Godin
Purple Cow
- 13 min reading time
- audio version available
Seth Godin’s Purple Cow is at heart a criticism of modern-day marketing and advertising. Rather than trying to push products onto unsuspecting consumers using surreptitious or even dubious methods, he argues that businesses and entrepreneurs should instead be focusing their efforts on creating unique and valuable products that people really want. Right now, consumers are so overwhelmed with advertising and marketing that it is extremely difficult for any single product to stand out (except purple cows, of course).
Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
Made to Stick
- 15 min reading time
- audio version available
Have you ever wondered why some ideas get enthusiastically taken on by your team while others don’t make it past the brainstorming session? In Made to Stick, Chip and Dan Heath look at exactly why some ideas have such mass appeal and others don’t. Their research uncovers the importance of memorability, or “stickiness”: some ideas are simply more interesting and therefore stay longer in the brain than those which are more mundane, irrespective of how logical or useful they might be.
Youtility: Why smart marketing is about help, not hype by Jay Baer
Youtility
- 16 min reading time
Jay Baer goes against the grain of traditional marketing speak by insisting upon the value of helping customers and providing them with great products over hyping up certain goods or services for the sake of it. Looking to the long-term, Baer offers a fresh and positive approach to marketing that puts the consumer front and center.
The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing: Violate Them At Your Own Risk! by Al Ries and Jack Trout
The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
- 12 min reading time
- audio version available
If you’re new to marketing and want to know the dos and don’ts of the field, this is the marketing book for you. Renowned marketing gurus Al Ries and Jack Trout have compiled all the laws of marketing you need to know to build successful customer-acquisition campaigns. With a strong focus on human psychology using real-world examples, these two experts have got your marketing needs covered.
Epic Content Marketing: How to Tell a Different Story, Break Through the Clutter, and Win More Customers by Marketing Less by Joe Pulizzi
Epic Content Marketing
- 12 min reading time
- audio version available
Joe Pulizzi has put together the ultimate guide to content marketing. In his book, the author puts the secret of a successful content marketing campaign down to great storytelling, but it’s not storytelling that focuses on the product that he claims is the most successful. Pulizzi claims that content marketing which uses storytelling to answer the specific needs of the customer is what ultimately leads to the best campaigns and higher engagement.
What Great Brands Do: The Seven Brand-Building Principles That Separate the Best from the Rest by Denise Lee Yohn
What Great Brands Do
- 16 min reading time
- audio version available
Denise Lee Yohn’s bestselling marketing book goes in-depth into one specific area of the field: brand. By looking at a handful of globally successful brands, she uncovers what it is that they do so well that separates them from their competitors. A marketer’s must-read.
The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell
The Tipping Point
- 15 min reading time
- audio version available
Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point looks at the phenomenon of when a small scale idea, trend or even virus shared among a small group of people suddenly becomes very widespread. He discusses the importance of people who have many social ties in different social spheres, and who are therefore able to transfer ideas across whole social networks.
This list of top marketing books should hopefully serve as an excellent introduction to the field, and may even have taught you a few new tips or tricks to take to that meeting next Monday. We’re always eager to hear your take, so let us know what you consider to be the best marketing books around!
