Strategy
10 (or so) Marketing Books for Your Reading List

10 (or so) Marketing Books for Your Reading List

May 26, 2017
3 min read

Here I’ve listed a few of the best marketing books out there for you to take along wherever business, pleasure, or life leads you.

1. John Hall, “Top of Mind

Newly released “Top of Mind” has been getting a lot of attention as one of the best marketing and leadership books to help you build better business relationships. It starts off as a step-by-step guide to building lasting trust before discussing how you can use content to scale that trust to reach and engage large audiences. John is one of the dynamic marketing speakers who loves to educate others, and you see that in this book.

2. Robert Glazer, “Performance Partnerships

Affiliate marketing isn’t a channel that most people easily understand or know a ton about. Even most marketers find its method hard to grasp. But in Robert Glazer’s new book, he dives into the roots of the industry, describing what motivated it, where it’s headed, and why it should be one of the top marketing initiatives you use for your company.

3. Jay Baer, “Hug Your Haters

So many companies claim to be consumer-focused and to put their consumers first. Consumers, however, seem to disagree. In Jay Baer’s marketing book, he describes what you should and shouldn’t be doing, as well as how customer service translates beyond phone and email in the modern world.

4. Marcus Sheridan, “They Ask You Answer

What makes for an effective advertising strategy? So many brands spend unnecessary amounts of money on traditional forms of advertising and generate far less return than if they were just doing what everyone in the marketing world is talking about: content marketing. In Marcus Sheridan’s book, he describes why high-quality content and digital marketing is the missing link in your advertising strategy.

5. Elise Mitchell, “Leading Through the Turn

I think most people can agree that who you become has everything to do with the path you took to get there. In Elise Mitchell’s book, she shares her journey to success in entrepreneurship and brand-building — and how what she learned can help you discover your own road to success.

6. W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne, “Blue Ocean Strategy

After studying 150 strategic moves over more than 100 years and across 30 industries, business gurus W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne explain what all lasting successes have in common: tapping into new market spaces ripe for growth. Kim and Mauborgne refer to this as creating “blue oceans” in which marketers can carve their own spheres outside the cutthroat market. As your competitors fight over a shrinking market pool, you’ll have the tools to execute a winning strategy.

7. Joe Pulizzi, “Content Inc.

Focused on a completely new and groundbreaking strategy, “Content Inc.” provides a detailed model that goes against convention but promises better results. In this book, Joe Pulizzi shares a more “radical,” yet simple, approach to product launching. Instead of relying on the traditional route of creating a product first and foremost, Joe outlines how to first create content, build an audience, and then develop a product that meets the audience’s needs. Finally, he explains how this approach is much more effective at helping you achieve the success you’re after.

As your competitors fight over a shrinking market pool, you’ll have the tools to execute a winning strategy.

8. Thomas Barta and Patrick Barwise, “12 Powers of a Marketing Leader

Thomas and Patrick set out to find out what successful marketing leaders are doing these days?

The book is the result of a detailed survey of over 8,600 leaders in more than 170 countries. The authors found that most marketers can handle marketing execution but lack greatly in skills when it comes to being leaders.

This is a topic I’ve been thinking about a lot lately and cannot wait to see what these two have to say about marketing and leadership.

9. Seth Price and Barry Feldman, The Road to Recognition

Seth and Barry have done a great job of defining how you already have a personal brand and the steps you need to take to empower full ownership of your brand. They define the results that can come by earning recognition for your passion and expertise. And they provide a useful roadmap for achieving recognition in a simple A to Z guide.

10. Sean Ellis and Morgan Brown, Hacking Growth

Sean and Morgan define the methodology used by famous disruptor brands like Uber, AirBnB, Pinterest and LinkedIn. They dispel the myth that these companies had found some untold secret and exploited it, but instead carefully implemented growth hacking techniques to build explosive growth and massive adoption.

Taking lessons from their site GrowthHackers.com they talk about how cross-functional teams and rapid idea iteration that focuses on attaining, engaging, and retaining customers.

I hope you enjoy this list of marketing books! Let me know which ones made a difference to your business, career, or agency life!

2 thoughts on “10 (or so) Marketing Books for Your Reading List

  1. jay baer

    Thanks my friend. A great list!

  2. Michael Brenner

    Well-deserved my friend. I hope you were eating BBQ somewhere and enjoying this past weekend.

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Michael Brenner

Michael Brenner is an international keynote speaker, author of "Mean People Suck" and "The Content Formula", and Founder of Marketing Insider Group. Recognized as a Top Content Marketing expert and Digital Marketing Leader, Michael leverages his experience from roles in sales and marketing for global brands like SAP and Nielsen, as well as his leadership in leading teams and driving growth for thriving startups. Today, Michael delivers empowering keynotes on marketing and leadership, and facilitates actionable workshops on content marketing strategy. Connect with Michael today.

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