Welcome to my massive list of the best marketing books of all time

I’m somewhat of a book junkie. I believe that the more you learn the more you earn, and since I’ll be marketing for the rest of my life I figured I should try to learn all I can about it and that means reading marketing books. I have heard people argue that books can’t replace real life experience and I agree with them, kind of.

Experience is the best teacher and certainly marketing over the last 5 years has been my biggest teacher but books give me new thoughts, insight and new things to try and test for myself.

Here is my list of good marketing books that I have personally read the entire way through, read the notes version or listened to as an audio book. I consider all of these a useful read, some more than others. Any books I didn’t enjoy I left off the list rather than publicly slag them off, it’s not my style.

This is an ongoing post that will be updated when I read a new marketing book that I enjoy, so bookmark this page so you can find it again later!

If you think there is a marketing book I should read, tell me in the comments below

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Old Classics

Scientific Advertising – Claude C. Hopkins

Published in 1923. David Ogilvy once said “Nobody should be allowed to have anything to do with advertising until he has read this book seven times”. Enough said

How to Write a Good Advertisement – Victor O. Schwab

Released in 1962, this book started off by listing the 5 fundamentals of a good advert and continued to hold my interest from there onwards

Confessions of an Advertising Man – David Ogilvy

Advertising gold from the king of Madison avenue

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Breakthrough Advertising: How to Write Ads That Shatter Traditions and Sales Records – Eugene Schwartz

First published in 1966, it’s a copywriting classic that comes highly recommended by many of today’s top copywriters

Tested Advertising Methods – John Caples

Published in 1932. This one has stood the test of time and for good reason, it’s a copywriting master class

The Robert Collier Letter Book – Robert Collier

Published in 1937, this is another timeless book that comes recommend by all the top copywriters

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Tested Sentences That Sell : Word Magic That Will Multiply Your Sales – Elmer Wheeler

1937. Don’t sell the steak – Sell the sizzle!

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Ogilvy on Advertising – David Ogilvy

Another classic from Ogilvy. Packed with visual examples too

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Reason-why advertising – John E. Kennedy

Over 100 years old! Published in 1905. The author introduced the world to the idea of advertising as “salesmanship in print.” Seems obvious now but not back then, just goes to show this really was one of the very first books to tackle the subject of good advertising

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How to Write Advertising That Sells – Clyde Bedell

First edition released in 1940, considered by many to be one of the greats

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How I Made $1,000,000 in Mail Order-and You Can Too! – E. Joseph Cossman

Yes it is a little outdated as it was first published in 1964 and the mail order industry has changed a great deal since then but it still had some good pieces of info relating to mail order as well as marketing in general

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Making Ads Pay – John Caples

Another John Caples classic from 1957

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Influencing Human Behavior – H.A. Overstreet

Vintage 1925 influence hand book

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My first sixty years in advertising – Maxwell Sackheim

Not so much a “how to” advertising book (although it is a little bit) than a look at the veterans personal experiences through out his career

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Copywriting/Direct Marketing/Advertising

The Copywriter’s Handbook, Third Edition: A Step-By-Step Guide To Writing Copy That Sells – Robert Bly

Easily one 0f the best “how to write copy” books ever written. Comprehensive, detailed, actionable copywriting tips through out

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CA$HVERTISING: How to Use More than 100 Secrets of Ad-Agency Psychology to Make Big Money Selling Anything to Anyone – Drew Eric Whitman

Totally over delivered. Awesome copywriting book that you need to read!

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Magic Words That Bring You Riches – Ted Nicholas

Full of tips and tricks for successful direct marketing (and other areas of life too)

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Advertising Secrets of the Written Word: The Ultimate Resource on How to Write Powerful Advertising Copy from One of America’s Top Copywriters and Mail Order Entrepreneurs – Joseph Sugarman

Every copywriter or marketer should read this. Joe is a class act and his wisdom from many decades in the business are compiled into this book

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Hypnotic Writing: How to Seduce and Persuade Customers with Only Your Words – Joe Vitale

Copywriting so good it will put your readers into a waking trance!

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Outrageous Advertising That’s Outrageously Successful: Created for the 99% of Small Business Owners Who are Dissatisfied with the Results They Get From Their Current Advertising – Bill Glazer

Actionable tips for direct response campaigns that stand out and scream for your prospects attention. It’s an exercise book too which encourages implementation

The Ultimate Sales Letter: Attract New Customers. Boost your Sales – Dan S. Kennedy

A step by step guide to writing a perfect sales letter by one of the masters

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How to Write Sales Letters That Sell – Drayton Bird

The UK’s top copywriters take on direct mail

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Web Copy That Sells: The Revolutionary Formula for Creating Killer Copy That Grabs Their Attention and Compels Them to Buy – Maria Veloso

The indispensable guide to writing emails and websites that sell

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Write to Sell: The Ultimate Guide to Great Copywriting – Andy Maslen

Brilliant copywriting manual (and very British too)

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The Adweek Copywriting Handbook: The Ultimate Guide to Writing Powerful Advertising and Marketing Copy from One of America’s Top Copywriters – Joseph Sugarman

My 3rd favorite Joe Sugarman book but only because he has two others that are very hard to beat

Winning Website Sales Letters: How To Create An Opening That Pulls Prospects In… A Message That Sells Them… And An Offer They Simply Can’t Refuse! – Robert Boduch

Specifically covers web copy and it’s on a level par with Maria Veleso’s “Web copy that sells”

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Commonsense Direct & Digital Marketing – Drayton Bird

A beautiful blend of both online and offline direct response. I loved the marginal notes all the way through too, kept my mind on track

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How to Make Your Advertising Make Money – John Caples

One of Caples later works written a few years before he died after over 50 years in advertising

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The Irresistible Offer: How to Sell Your Product or Service in 3 Seconds or Less – Mark Joyner

Forgive the slightly hypey sub headline, this is a good book on constructing a rock solid offer

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Sales Letters That Sizzle : All the Hooks, Lines, and Sinkers You’ll Ever Need to Close Sales – Herschell Gordon Lewis

Copywriting lessons spliced with real life ads for you to study

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The Wizard of Ads Trilogy – Roy H. Williams

Made up of – The Wizard of Ads: Turning Words into Magic and Dreamers into Millionaires, Secret Formulas of the Wizard of Ads: Turning Paupers into Princes and Lead into Gold and Magical Worlds of the Wizard of Ads: Tools and Techniques for Profitable Persuasion. Award winning. I suggest you read them all!

Great Headlines Instantly 2.1: How To Write Attention-Grabbing Headlines That Pull In More Prospects… More Customers… and More Profits – NOW – Robert Boduch

Whenever I’m stuck for a headline I just whip this book open to get some inspiration

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Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This: The Classic Guide to Creating Great Ads – Luke Sullivan

Will help you inject some creativity into your advertising

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2,239 Tested Secrets For Direct Marketing Success : The Pros Tell You Their Time-Proven Secrets – Denny Hatch and Don Jackson

This one again is crammed with good stuff based on the premise that we are not in the business of direct marketing rather that we are in the business of acquiring new customers and then continually delighting them

The Architecture of Persuasion: How to Write Well-Constructed Sales Letters – Michael Masterson

Another modern day copywriting classic by one of the worlds leading copywriters

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7 Steps to Freedom II: How To Escape the American Rat Race – Benjamin D. Suarez

How to run a successful direct mail business. It’s golden advertising tips as well the “how to run the business side” too

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The Lazy Man’s Way to Riches – Joe Karbo

Totally different from what I expected. This more a psycho-cybernetics type self help book teaching you how to get your mind right until about two thirds of the way in when it starts to talk about writing ads!

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The Greatest Direct Mail Sales Letters of all Time – Richard S. Hodgson

It’s not cheap to purchase. Extensive collection of some of the best sales letters of all time for you to analyze (and swipe from)

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The Everything Guide To Writing Copy: From Ads and Press Release to On-Air and Online Promos–All You Need to Create Copy That Sells – Steve Slaunwhite

Very comprehensive and also covers every type of copy job or writing situation you can think of too

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Million Dollar Mailings – Denison Hatch

Get comfortable because it’s a massive book but if you’re planning on sending direct mail then it will be worth every second invested

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The Reluctant Writer’s Guide to Creating Powerful Marketing Materials: 61 Easy Ideas to Attract Prospects and Get More Customers – Tom Trush

I could have put this book in the copywriting, persuasion or marketing strategies categories because it has all three things going on in abundance. If you’ve run out of ideas then pick this book up, it will get you busy again

Cash Copy: How to Offer Your Products and Services So Your Prospects Buy Them – Jeffrey Lant

I only read this very recently (after having read many copywriting books) and I still found it crammed with money making ideas

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Elements of Copywriting: The Essential Guide to Creating Copy That Gets the Results You Want – Gary Blake and Robert W. Bly

Copywriting principles and copywriting tasks explained

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Write Right: 26 Tips to Improve Your Writing. Dramatically – Roger Shapiro

Focuses on the technical, grammatical side of effective business communications

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Method Marketing – Denison Hatch

Denny’s guide to method marketing includes real life lessons of businesses who succeeded by getting deep into the prospects minds and making an appeal to their most pressing concern

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Writing Riches: Learn How to Boost Profits, Drive Sales and Master Your Financial Destiny With Results-Based Web Copy – Ray Edwards

Ray is personally responsible for a lot of the copy you see put out by the top internet marketing gurus so he knows a thing or two about web based copy that gets results

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The Golden Mailbox: How to Get Rich Direct Marketing Your Product – Ted Nicholas

Another fantastic direct marketing book from a man who has sold over $8 billion worth of products and services

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The Well-Fed Writer: Financial Self-Sufficiency as a Commercial Freelancer in Six Months or Less – Peter Bowerman

Such a good book on how to make a living as a highly paid copywriter, not so much the technical “how to write” information but more “how to run your successful copywriting business”. If that’s something you want then pick this book up

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The Wealthy Freelancer: 12 Secrets to a Great Income and an Enviable Lifestyle – Steve Slaunwhite, Pete Savage and Ed Gandia

Another terrific book which demonstrates how to make a comfortable living as a copywriter

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Think Inside The Box – David Deutsch

David is one of the worlds top copywriters so I bought this book to help with the creativity aspect of copywriting and marketing. It helps you to come up with new ideas in a very systematic way, so you’ll never be stuck for an angle again. Not only can the system be used in marketing but actually it can apply in any area of life

Words that Sell: More than 6000 Entries to Help You Promote Your Products, Services, and Ideas – Richard Bayan

This is a book which is part learning and part reference book. I use it as my copywriting thesaurus, whenever I’m stuck for the right word to use in an advert I flick this book open and find something appropriate

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More Words That Sell – Richard Bayan

The companion book to the original “Words that sell”. This one get’s a little more niche specific. I recommend having both books to hand

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Psychology/Persuasion/Influence

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion – Robert B. Cialdini

This book is a contender for my best marketing book of all time. Although not necessarily written for marketers, it’s content could not be more relevant to marketing. The book reveals the 6 principles of persuasion, complete with cases studies and experiments. I can’t recommend it highly enough, do yourself a huge favor and go read it now

How To Win Friends and Influence People – Dale Carnegie

There are two personal development books that I try to read once per year. Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill and this book. It’s not a marketing book but it is the bible for influence. It will help you be successful in life in general but also every single tip can be applied to make your sales and marketing soar

Triggers: 30 Sales Tools you can use to Control the Mind of your Prospect to Motivate, Influence and Persuade – Joe Sugarman

You can’t beat a bit of Joe Sugarman. This book gives you 30 triggers that will help you to persuade and sell

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Buying Trances: A New Psychology of Sales and Marketing – Joe Vitale

Joe Vitale described this to me as the “advanced version of hypnotic writing” so thought I had better read it. You would be wise to do the same

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Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions – Guy Kawasaki

This book will show you how to influence with out having to be unethical about it. Also teaches you how to be a “Mensch”. Don’t know what that is? Then read the book or go see Guy’s blog!

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Neuromarketing: Understanding the Buy Buttons in Your Customer’s Brain – Patrick Renvoise and Christophe Morin

How to sell to the “Old Brain” which everyone uses to make decisions, including whether to buy from you or not

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Covert Persuasion: Psychological Tactics and Tricks to Win the Game – Kevin Hogan and James Speakman

Kevin Hogan wrote the book on persuasion and influence. Literally. Several of them

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Brainfluence: 100 Ways to Persuade and Convince Consumers with Neuromarketing – Roger Dooley

It’s like NLP meets marketing. Very cool book. Ranges from branding to copywriting, pricing to positioning all from the customers psychological point of view. It even includes NLP classic advice like using the all senses and anchors for selling

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Permission Marketing : Turning Strangers Into Friends And Friends Into Customers – Seth Godin

Revolutionary. Game changing. Imagine a world where people raised their hands and gave permission for you to market to them. The opposite of spamming

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Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy – Martin Lindstrom

A look into the real reasons why we buy complete with cases studies and experiments

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POP!: Create the Perfect Pitch, Title, and Tagline for Anything – Sam Horn

POP is an acronym that stands for Purposeful, Original and Pithy. If applied these three things will improve your marketing big time

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Your Gut is Still Not Smarter Than Your Head : How Disciplined, Fact-Based Marketing Can Drive Extraordinary Growth & Profits – Kevin Clancy and Peter Krieg

Buying decisions are made with the gut not with the rational mind, appeal to peoples gut instinct

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Fascinate: Your 7 Triggers to Persuasion and Captivation – Sally Hogshead

I liked this a lot. I never quite thought of fascinating people in order to sell before reading it, at least not in that way. The 7 triggers are cool too – lust, mystique, alarm, prestige, power, vice and trust

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Hot Button Marketing: Push the Emotional Buttons That Get People to Buy – Barry Feig

Far better than I had expected because I rarely hear this book talked about in marketing circles. But it was really good. It’s about 16 human “hot buttons” that boil under the surface and are the real reasons behind our buying decisions

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Yes!: 50 Secrets from the Science of Persuasion – Robert B. Cialdini, Noah Goldstein and Steve J. Martin

Not as good as Robert Cialdini’s book “influence: the psychology of persuasion” in my opinion but it’s still really, really good. All 50 persuasion principles come with specific examples and reasoning

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Authenticity: What Consumers Really Want – James H. Gilmore and B. Joseph Pine II

Talks about the importance of authenticity in your business as most people will have had a bad experience in the past or have previously been sold a lie only to be left disappointed. When selling to these people their B.S sensors will now be in overdrive to protect themselves. The book outlines how to make our marketing look (and actually be) authentic

Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping – Paco Underhill

Great insights as to why people buy in the retail industry. The latest edition has insights on online retail too

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Habit: The 95% of Behavior Marketers Ignore – Neale Martin

Human beings are creatures of habit, forget this at your marketing peril! The author even goes as far as to say we should train and condition our customers

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How We Decide – Jonah Lehrer

Scientific examples and case studies showing the psychology of how we decide

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The 48 Laws of Power – Robert Greene

It’s slightly controversial for me to put this in a marketing book list but I think it’s appropriate. It’s a book which can be applied to many areas of life and gives stories about the most powerful people of all time. It shows how to use the techniques but also how know when they are being used on you so that you can combat them. Although not all of them apply to marketing, I would say perhaps two thirds of the laws have some use in marketing

All Marketers Are Liars: The Underground Classic That Explains How Marketing Really Works–and Why Authenticity Is the Best Marketing of All – Seth Godin

Use stories that people can relate to in order to persuade (but make sure it’s a true story)

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Metaphorically Selling: How to Use the Magic of Metaphors to Sell, Persuade, & Explain Anything to Anyone – Anne Miller

First class lessons on how to use metaphors to communicate and convince

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You, Inc.: The Art of Selling Yourself – Harry Beckwith and Christine Clifford Beckwith

Over 150 important lessons in selling yourself and therefore your business

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Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning the Deal – Oren Klaff

A sales book with plenty that can be applied in marketing too. The S.T.R.O.N.G formula is genius

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The Power of Story: Change Your Story, Change Your Destiny in Business and in Life – Jim Loehr

The science of telling a powerful story

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Looking Out for Number One – Robert J. Ringer

Want to persuade someone? Then make an appeal aimed squarely at their self interests

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Techniques of Propaganda and Persuasion – Magedah E. Shabo

Reveals how the media persuade us but all very applicable for marketers and students of influence

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Resonate: Present Visual Stories that Transform Audiences – Nancy Duarte

How to craft a persuasive presentation. Read this before my first ever speaking gig and it helped a lot

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Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery – Garr Reynolds

Another good look at effective, simple, communicative presentations

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The Greatest Salesman in the World – Og Mandino

Not what I was expecting, it’s more of an inspirational story but I enjoyed it very much. Take away thought would be to have confidence in yourself and believe in what you have to give to the world if you want to succeed/sell etc

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100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People – Susan Weinschenk

A look at psychology as it applies to design. Important if you have a website or use any type of marketing materials for that matter. The look and feel makes a difference

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The Art of Selling to the Affluent: How to Attract, Service, and Retain Wealthy Customers and Clients for Life – Matt Oechsli

How to persuade rich people

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Market Research/Niching

The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More – Chris Anderson

The internet and more specifically search marketing has given the ability for unlimited demand. People can get really bespoke now rather than just having to settle for something mass produced. This means millions of little niche markets are now springing up, smart marketers and business owners should take full advantage

Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant – W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne

Don’t get bogged down in trying to compete in a crowded marketplace, create your own uncontested niche market with no competition at all

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Consumerology: The Market Research Myth, the Truth About Consumers, and the Psychology of Shopping – Philip Graves

A very different take on market research and why traditional market research can be unreliable

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Tuned In: Uncover the Extraordinary Opportunities That Lead to Business Breakthroughs – Craig Stull, Phil Myers and David Meerman Scott

Get tuned in to what your market really want and then give it to them. You could argue that is the definition of marketing, and that’s what this book is all about

How Customers Think: Essential Insights into the Mind of the Market – Gerald Zaltman

It’s extremely important to know exactly how your market thinks and feels, this book gives some useful insights

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How To Be #1: Why you should dominate a niche, what you need to do to get there and how to go about it – Ben Hunt

The online world has given everyone the opportunity to be a publisher and position themselves as an expert in their niche. This book is a step by step guide to helping you target the right sized niche, 41 ways to occupy it and then 19 ways monetize it. All this helps you become the top dog within your niche online

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The Niche Expert: Harness the power of the internet to attract perfect clients, publicity and opportunities – Rachel Henke

I could also have put this book in the social media or strategy section of this blog post as well as the niche section. This book is geared towards helping anyone looking to become an” online expert”. It will help you pick the right niche for you, then it give’s you practical strategies on finding the right people to communicate with and building a magnetic internet presence using blogs, email marketing, social networking etc

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Online Marketing

Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs – Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah

One of the best books for online marketing strategy. Includes search, social media, blogs, landing pages, conversion, tracking and more

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The Cluetrain Manifesto: The End of Business as Usual – Christopher Locke, Rick Levine, Doc Searls and David Weinberger

Outstanding. Based upon 95 theses that revolve around how the internet changed business forever. Markets have returned to being conversations once again like they were anciently, all thanks to Tim Berners-Lee!

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Landing Page Optimization: The Definitive Guide to Testing and Tuning for Conversions – Tim Ash, Maura Ginty and Rich Page

The best book I’ve read on creating a landing page that does it’s job – convert

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Meatball Sundae: Is Your Marketing out of Sync? – Seth Godin

All the shiny tools of the internet (and other new technologies) won’t work unless you have a few fundamentals in place. Get the foundations correct, only then can new media help you

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Call to Action: Secret Formulas to Improve Online Results – Bryan Eisenberg, Jeffrey Eisenberg and Lisa T. Davis

How to be more persuasive and increase online conversions

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World Wide Rave: Creating Triggers that Get Millions of People to Spread Your Ideas and Share Your Stories – David Meerman Scott

Gives 6 steps to going viral online

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Web Marketing For Dummies – Jan Zimmerman

Awesome overall training on web marketing strategies that will grow your business

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Chronic Marketer: Confessions Of A Half-Baked (But Highly Paid) Internet Marketer (Volume 1) – Brad Gosse

I love the casual, internet lifestyle vibe to this book. Brad shares internet marketing strategies as well as giving you the motivation to make your online business work

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E-Mail Marketing For Dummies – John Arnold

A very good guide to email marketing in a non spammy way. Composing, optimizing and tracking all covered

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The Super Affiliate Handbook: How I Made $436,797 in One Year Selling Other People’s Stuff Online – Rosalind Gardner

A guide to making a full time living a super affiliate. I can’t honestly say I applied everything I read in the book as affiliate marketing is a side income for me, but those looking to get into it seriously may find it helpful

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Ultimate Guide to Google Ad Words: How To Access 100 Million People in 10 Minutes – Perry Marshall and Bryan Todd

When first starting out, much of what I learned about PPC was from this book and Perry Marshall’s courses, it’s fared me pretty well

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Google AdWords For Dummies – Howie Jacobson and Kristie Mcdonald

Another excellent guide to Google PPC, make sure you get the most recent edition

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Affiliate Program Management: An Hour a Day – Evgenii Prussakov

If you’re thinking about running your own affiliate program, you would be wise to read this first and save yourself a massive learning curve

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The Constant Contact Guide to Email Marketing – Eric Groves

Okay, so this one is slightly self promotional but I didn’t mind, it still had lot’s of tips and best practices for effective permission based email marketing

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Web Analytics: An Hour a Day – Avinash Kaushik

There is no point doing online marketing unless you can get traceable results for everything you do. Don’t be like the majority of online business owners who ignore the analytics and fly in the dark

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Attention! This Book Will Make You Money: How to Use Attention-Getting Online Marketing to Increase Your Revenue – Jim Kukral

A basic but good guide to overall online marketing strategy

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Get to the Top on Google: Tips and Techniques to Get Your Site to the Top of the Search Engine Rankings — and Stay There – David Viney

This is the first book I ever read on SEO and it was good at the time, however be warned, it was published in 2008 and a lot has changed since then. This is pre-penguin and pre-panda so a lot is irrelevant now. Unfortunately I have no new recommendations for an SEO book as I have not read one recently. I recommend searching for something newer

Get into bed with Google: Top ranking search optimisation – Jon Smith

The same applies here, although a nice basic intro to SEO, it was published in 2010 which in the search engine world is a very long time ago. I recommend searching for something newer

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Social Media Marketing & Blogging

Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies – Charlene Li & Josh Bernoff

“The groundswell” is the term which the authors coined to describe the online dialogue that is empowering the customer and often leaving businesses with less control over the conversations which are taking place about them online. This can be a good or bad thing depending on what is being said. This book shows how businesses can embrace the groundswell and use it to their advantage rather than fearing it

The Social Media Bible: Tactics, Tools, and Strategies for Business Success – Lon Safko

This book is an A-Z of Social media, it’s over 700 pages and is a perfect reference book. It changed my own personal view/definition of social media. I used to mainly consider blogs and social networking as the be-all and end-all when it came to social media but this book taught me that social media is much bigger than that

Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust – Chris Brogan and Julien Smith

This book has a reputation that precedes itself and for good reason in my opinion too. As a social media book it is not focused on technology but about building a good reputation and trust within your market. Trust is currency on the web and with out it the technologies will be ineffective marketing tools

Engage!: The Complete Guide for Brands and Businesses to Build, Cultivate, and Measure Success in the New Web – Brian Solis

Perhaps one of my favorite books on overall social media marketing strategy. It covers understanding the digital consumer, the tools and how to measure the success. Quite simply, buy this book if you want to learn how to engage better with your market

Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion – Gary Vaynerchuk

An inspiring book telling how Gary V was able to have huge success with his wine business thanks to new media. Most importantly he was making money doing something he loves. I agree with his sub headline, now really is the time to cash in on your passion and I don’t know how long that window will last. I’ve heard people slag this book off because it encourages a bit of risk taking and tells people to quit their day job if they don’t like it. Whilst I don’t encourage people to put themselves in a financially risky situation, I most certainly am not a proponent of living your whole life working in a job that makes you miserable just so you can survive and perpetuate your unhappy existence. Fortune favors the brave. If you want to have the business of your dreams I believe you can do it, just be smart about it about it not reckless. And Gary is right, with the amazing new technologies we have access to, there has never been a better time than right now

The New Rules of Marketing & PR: How to Use Social Media, Online Video, Mobile Applications, Blogs, News Releases, and Viral Marketing to Reach Buyers Directly – David Meerman Scott

I really liked this book. It covers how the marketing game has changed and then goes on to give a practical guide to using social media for business. It also shows how social media relates to search as well which is one of the keys to social media success in my opinion

Six Pixels of Separation: Everyone Is Connected. Connect Your Business to Everyone – Mitch Joel

Another social media book that I really enjoyed. It’s not just me either, this book is considered among lot’s social media experts to be one of the best there is

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UnMarketing: Stop Marketing. Start Engaging – Scott Stratten

Basically because of social media we should be doing the opposite of traditional marketing. Tells us the 7 deadly sins of social media too

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The Like Economy: How Businesses Make Money With Facebook – Brian Carter

Outlines in detail the 5 best ways to profit from Facebook and a variety of strategies to use when FB marketing. Definitely a good place to get started if you are new to Facebook

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Engagement from Scratch!: How Super-Community Builders Create a Loyal Audience and How You Can Do the Same! – Danny Iny

Danny did a great job of gathering wisdom from the best community leaders and marketing brains out there. A seriously awesome collection of people, in fact. Exceeded my expectations

Content Rules: How to Create Killer Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, Ebooks, Webinars (and More) That Engage Customers and Ignite Your Business – Ann Handley and C. C. Chapman

You can’t have a digital marketing strategy unless you have a content strategy. This book shows you how to create content that attracts prospects to you

Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking – Andy Sernovitz

I’m putting this book in the social media section even though it’s information is just as relevant in the real world as it is in the electronic one. Gives insights on how we can engineer word of mouth marketing by creating super satisfied customers who spread our message on our behalf

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Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business – Erik Qualman

Fairly basic introduction so not for the advanced user but good for the newbie. The book also uses a lot of case studies of businesses that have used social media successfully

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Likeable Social Media: How to Delight Your Customers, Create an Irresistible Brand, and Be Generally Amazing on Facebook (And Other Social Networks) – Dave Kerpen

Short, concise and full of good of good information regarding Facebook marketing and social networking in general. I found this easy to read, fun and to the point

The Thank You Economy – Gary Vaynerchuk

Social media means companies have to raise their game or face the wrath of on an online backlash. It means taking care of our customers is more important than ever

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Viral Loop: From Facebook to Twitter, How Today’s Smartest Businesses Grow – Adam L. Penenberg

Examples of how and why some of the most successful web-based companies went viral and had their customers spread their message for them

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Naked Conversations: How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers – Robert Scoble and Shel Israel

My favorite book on business blogging

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The B2B Social Media Book: Become a Marketing Superstar by Generating Leads with Blogging, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Email, and More – Kipp Bodnar and Jeffrey L. Cohen

An essential read if you are in the B2B arena and are using social media

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The Digital Handshake: Seven Proven Strategies to Grow Your Business Using Social Media – Paul Chaney

Explores the current state of marketing and advertising (and how the game has changed) before moving onto the 7 types of social media which we can use for conversation and participation with our market

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The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web – Tamar Weinberg

A nice introduction for a social media marketing newbie. I enjoyed it but having read a lot about social media, I didn’t have too many light bulb moments of my own. However if you are new to the whole “social media” thing, then this is a good place to start

Social Media ROI: Managing and Measuring Social Media Efforts in Your Organization – Olivier Blanchard

Perhaps more geared towards the larger organization but still largely applicable for smaller ones. If you have struggled to understand what benefits social media marketing can provide for a business then this book explores those different ways

Social Media Marketing All-in-One For Dummies – Jan Zimmerman and Doug Sahlin

Stuffed with “how to” social media marketing implementation and measurement. No fluff just good stuff

Engagement Marketing: How Small Business Wins in a Socially Connected World – Gail F. Goodman

I was pleasantly surprised by this one. Particularly relevant for the small biz owner, it explores that famous social media buzz word “engagement”. But it really does give reasons why it’s so important and usable tips on how to actually do it

Facebook Marketing All-in-One For Dummies – Amy Porterfield, Phyllis Khare and Andrea Vahl

If you use Facebook for marketing then you should read this because it goes deep into all the nitty gritty details. It’s pretty up to date too, last publication being Aug 2011 with another one to be released in 2013

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Wild West 2.0: How to Protect and Restore Your Reputation on the Untamed Social Frontier – Michael Fertik and David Thompson

With the internet being uncensored and unregulated people can say what they want, sometimes what they say can be unfair or even an outright lie. The book is a decent guide to reputation management, keeping the online conversation under control and even tackling those pesky trolls

MicroMarketing: Get Big Results by Thinking and Acting Small – Greg Verdino

I liked this because it came at social media from a different angle. Key takeaway would be that mattering a lot to a small, loyal group of people is better than mattering very little to lot’s of people

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Facebook Marketing: An Hour a Day – Mari Smith and Chris Treadaway

Very clear and detailed guide to FB marketing. Mari Smith is arguably the top Facebook marketing expert out there

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Twitter Power 2.0: How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet at a Time – Joel Comm

Probably the most popular guide to Twitter marketing ever published

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YouTube for Business: Online Video Marketing for Any Business – Michael Miller

One of the first business books I ever read because video marketing was one the things that first caught my eye when getting into online marketing. If you want to get good at producing good videos and then promoting on YouTube there a lot of courses I could recommend but as far as books go this is one of the best on the subject

Twitter Marketing For Dummies – Kyle Lacy

One of the first social media books I ever read. Much has changed on twitter since it’s 2009 publication but flicking through it now the majority of the information is still relevant. Tools and technology moves fast but good marketing practices are timeless

What the Plus!: Google+ for the Rest of Us – Guy Kawasaki

If you are looking to get into Google+ more seriously then this is a good place to start. I think it will need new editions as G+ evolves though, but certainly still full of relevant info at the time of writing this post

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Grouped: How small groups of friends are the key to influence on the social web – Paul Adams

Insights into the structure of social networks and how they are naturally evolving to reflect the offline world. How and why we talk, pass on information, form groups and influence each other is covered

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Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Social Media, but were afraid to ask…: Building Your Business Using Consumer Generated Media – Hilary JM Topper

Relevant at the time I read it but not so much now because the information is very specific regarding certain social networks (which is a good thing) however it was published in 2009 so much of the information is outdated now. I think they should consider publishing a new edition

Branding

The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding – Al Ries and Laura Ries

If you only buy one book on branding, buy this one. Make sure you buy the newest edition which includes the 11 laws of internet branding as a bonus too

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Brandwashed: Tricks Companies Use to Manipulate Our Minds and Persuade Us to Buy – Martin Lindstrom

A look at how the biggest brands use things like fear, peer pressure, addiction, celebrity and sex in their ruthless pursuit to sell us things. Uses real life examples

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Brand Sense: Sensory Secrets Behind the Stuff We Buy – Martin Lindstrom

How companies use our five senses: sight, sound, taste, touch and smell to sell to us and create an experience that remains with us long after the purchase. Less applicable to me because most of the products I sell are intangible but certainly sight and to some degree sound are applicable to online marketing. If you are involved in the packaging of a product or the overall brand of a physical product/service, I think you may find it a worthwhile read

Brand Against the Machine: How to Build Your Brand, Cut Through the Marketing Noise, and Stand Out from the Competition – John Morgan

Written from the perspective of building your own personal brand rather than some big fortune 500 type of brand. Small business owners using the internet to build a personal brand will benefit most

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StoryBranding: Creating Stand-Out Brands Through The Power of Story – Jim Signorelli

Creating a brand people can relate to via stories (funnily enough!)

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Zag: The Number One Strategy of High-Performance Brands – Marty Neumeier

If you want a memorable brand, do everything you can to avoid getting bundled in with all the forgettable, samey looking brands. I plan to read his first book the “Brand Gap” too

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Marketing Strategy

The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing: Violate Them at Your Own Risk! – Al Ries and Jack Trout

Few marketers have a resume as good as that of Ries and Trout. Required reading for anyone involved in marketing

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Getting Everything You Can Out of All You’ve Got: 21 Ways You Can Out-Think, Out-Perform, and Out-Earn the Competition – Jay Abraham

A really good guide to unlocking the hidden money makers that are most likely already sitting dormant in your business. Things like increasing customer life time value, increasing money spent per transaction, connecting with past customers and all that good stuff

The Ultimate Marketing Plan: Target Your Audience! Get Out Your Message! Build Your Brand! – Dan S. Kennedy

Get the right message, to the right people, using the right media is the formula for marketing success. From there on it’s nothing but detailed and thorough marketing tactics organized in a way that makes sense

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Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die – Chip Heath and Dan Heath

Loved this book. Outlines the 6 principles necessary to make an idea stick instead of die

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The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference – Malcolm Gladwell

Describes the phenomenon where popular movements or ideas start slowly at first but then reaches a “tipping point” where it takes on a life of it’s own and spreads like wildfire. Shows real life examples where “word of mouth” went crazy

Duct Tape Marketing: The World’s Most Practical Small Business Marketing Guide – John Jantsch

Exactly what it says on the tin

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How To Make Maximum Money With Minimum Customers: 21 Proven Direct-Marketing Strategies ANYONE Can Use! – Craig Garber

This one is a gem. It’s one of the most expensive books I ever bought but it has paid for itself many times over. I bought it because I was scheduled to interview the author and I needed to read up, and I’m very glad I did. It’s full of strategies you can use to make more money as well as being infused with direct marketing tactics. Craig is a no nonsense kind of guy with a direct marketing background, so if it doesn’t result in a direct ROI he’s not interested

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The You Effect: How To Transform Ego-Based Marketing Into Captivating Messages That Create Customers – Tom Trush

Once I got into this book I zipped through it fast because it was so readable and every tiny chapter was earning it’s place by teaching a mini marketing lesson. Highly relevant and explains advanced marketing concepts in a way that a total novice could understand. This book gives strategy after strategy for you to improve your marketing messages into ones that people will love to read because it’s all centered around exactly what they want!

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Marketing Warfare – Al Ries and Jack Trout

Often the reason why one competing company outdoes another one is superior marketing. This book includes real life examples like the burger wars and cola wars. Also gives you the strategy you should take depending on your businesses position within the market

Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable – Seth Godin

Make your business difficult to ignore by design. Be a business that truly stands out and therefore remarkable

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Selling the Invisible: A Field Guide to Modern Marketing – Harry Beckwith

This is the bible for service based business marketing. I loved the style it was written in too, every paragraph earning it’s place as a mini lesson. Top marks

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The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It – Michael E. Gerber

I admit this is more of a business book about franchising than a marketing one however there are some important marketing pearls in here too especially when it comes to customer experience

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Become a Key Person of Influence – Daniel Priestley

I read one half on a flight to Portugal and the other half on the return flight. Quick to read but very valuable info. It gives the 5 step blueprint for becoming a key person of influence within your niche who attracts all the best opportunities

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Guerrilla Marketing: Easy and Inexpensive Strategies for Making Big Profits from Your Small Business – Jay Conrad Levinson

Lot’s of ideas for small biz owners. Also introduced me to the concept of minimedia and maximedia marketing, you learn something new everyday! There are quite a few other spin off books in the guerilla marketing series, all of which I plan to read at some point

Pow! Right Between the Eyes: Profiting from the Power of Surprise – Andy Nulman

Shows you how to use “surprise marketing” for more impact

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The Referral Engine: Teaching Your Business to Market Itself – John Jantsch

Teaches you how to create a business that markets itself through word of mouth referrals. It taught me that word of mouth referrals and content is the most trusted form of advertising, something that I have certainly found to be true as I have gained more experience in business

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Value Merchants: Demonstrating and Documenting Superior Value in Business Markets – James C. Anderson, Nirmalya Kumar and James A. Narus

Don’t give discounts, demonstrate higher value

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Kotler on Marketing – Philip Kotler

Marketing strategy by one of the worlds foremost marketers

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The Next Evolution of Marketing: Connect with Your Customers by Marketing with Meaning – Bob Gilbreath

How and why our marketing must have meaning or will go to waste

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Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind – Al Ries and Jack Trout

A classic on carving out a position for your business both within your market and within your the mind of your prospects

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Repositioning: Marketing in an Era of Competition, Change and Crisis – Jack Trout and Steve Rivkin

How to give your business mini face-lifts when needed in today’s fast changing world

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Free: How Today’s Smartest Businesses Profit by Giving Something for Nothing – Chris Anderson

Highly acclaimed, justifiably in my opinion. Us online marketers have understood giving things away free to build our lists or get leads but offline businesses need to get on this too

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Waiting for Your Cat to Bark?: Persuading Customers When They Ignore Marketing – Bryan Eisenberg, Jeffrey Eisenberg and Lisa T. Davis

Explains how to see things from your customers point of view and use “persuasion architecture” to market in today’s world

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Storytelling: Branding in Practice – Klaus Fog, Christian Budtz, Philip Munch and Stephen Blanchette

Developing a story for your business will do wonders for your marketing, this books shows you how to do it

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Get Slightly Famous: Become a Celebrity in Your Field and Attract More Business with Less Effort – Steven Van Yoder

Having a good reputation that proceeds you will make selling far easier. People will seek you out just because they have heard of you or seen you in the media and assume that means you are credible

Book Yourself Solid: The Fastest, Easiest, and Most Reliable System for Getting More Clients Than You Can Handle Even if You Hate Marketing and Selling – Michael Port

An entire marketing system for the service based business owner

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Ready, Fire, Aim: Zero to $100 Million in No Time Flat – Michael Masterson

A book about business strategy and growth as well as marketing and selling. The main premise of the book; get your product out there and see if it sells, then worry about perfecting the product after

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Unleashing the Ideavirus – Seth Godin

A big idea is the key to word of mouth, customer to customer marketing

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Endless Referrals – Bob Burg

The guide to networking (which is something I really should do much better) so I might revisit this one. There’s also a fair bit about network marketing towards the end, which isn’t really my thing, but if it’s your thing this book will be right up your street

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Differentiate or Die: Survival in Our Era of Killer Competition – Jack Trout

Differentiation strategies to make your business stand out from the crowd

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Found Money: Simple Strategies for Uncovering the Hidden Profit and Cash Flow in Your Business – Steve Wilkinghoff

To be honest this one is more a business book than a marketing book but the two things are inextricably linked right? This books tells you how to find areas in your business where you could be missing out on making money, losing money or not taking full advantage of. When you identify these areas for improvement this will then in turn affect how you run and market your business

Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us – Seth Godin

Human beings have sought tribes and community since they were painting in caves. With the rise of the internet we can reap the benefits by using community as a marketing tool and position ourselves as the tribal leader

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The Sticking Point Solution: 9 Ways to Move Your Business from Stagnation to Stunning Growth In Tough Economic Times – Jay Abraham

Gives the 9 possible reasons that your business might “get stuck” and what to do about it. Some of these reasons are marketing related

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The Ultimate Sales Machine: Turbocharge Your Business with Relentless Focus on 12 Key Strategies – Chet Holmes

Would be more accurately described as a business book but as I’m sure you can guess by the title there’s tons of sales and marketing stuff in there too. Contains 12 key strategies to turning your business into a well oiled sales machine

The Go-Giver: A Little Story About a Powerful Business Idea – Bob Burg and John David Mann

One of the most exceptional business books I’ve ever read and it only takes a few hours to read. Not a marketing book, it outlines the 5 laws of success. Keeping these principles in mind (especially the first 4) whilst marketing certainly will help you

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Go-Givers Sell More – Bob Burg and John David Mann

The follow up book to the Go-Giver. It’s not a story like the first one, this time round it give specific examples of the 5 laws being put into action

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1001 Ways to Market Your Services: Even If You Hate to Sell – Rick Crandall

The title is quite self explanatory. Contained some useful nuggets I hadn’t considered before

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(7L) The Seven Levels of Communication: Go From Relationships to Referrals – Michael J. Maher

Leads you through the 7 levels communication from informational to influential which are – advertising, direct mail, electronic communication, handwritten notes, phone calls, seminars/events and 1 on 1 meetings

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The Art of Pricing: How to Find the Hidden Profits to Grow Your Business – Rafi Mohammed

Examines how pricing can affect the buying decision but also a look at the practical side of how pricing strategy directly affects your businesses profitability. Discounts can serve a purpose but overall don’t sell yourself short by underpricing. It’s all about value not price

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Get Clients Now!: A 28-Day Marketing Program for Professionals, Consultants, and Coaches – C.J. Hayden

If you’re a coach or consultant of some kind, this book is one you won’t want to miss

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The Anatomy of Buzz: How to Create Word of Mouth Marketing – Emanuel Rosen

Another pretty useful book on creating buzz, word of mouth and products that are contagious

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In Search of the Obvious: The Antidote for Today’s Marketing Mess – Jack Trout

Getting back to basics. Marketers and advertisers often make their own lives more difficult by making simple concepts, complicated. It doesn’t need to be and shouldn’t be, this book shows how to recapture the obvious

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Be Unreasonable: The Unconventional Way to Extraordinary Business Results – Paul Lemberg

Another book on my marketing book list that isn’t a marketing book (sorry about that). It’s an amazing business book which teaches you how to think very differently from everyone else, to be unreasonable to get far superior results. I think that my marketing should be unreasonable. This blog post is an example of unreasonable content marketing, it’s far too long but it might just work because it’s totally unreasonable

The New Experts: Win Today’s Newly Empowered Customers at Their 4 Decisive Moments – Robert H. Bloom

In today’s world with technology and information, the buyer/seller relationship has changed. Today the buyers are in control. This book shows you how to deal with people at their 4 decisive moments so you can make the sale in today’s information environment

Over promise and Over deliver: How to Design and Deliver Extraordinary Customer Experiences – Rick Barrera

Ever heard the phrase “under promise, over deliver”? Well forget you ever heard this flawed logic. In today’s super competitive environment you can’t afford to sell yourself short and then hope to please people afterwards. It’s folly because you won’t have any customers to please in the first place. You need to over promise and then back it up with an outstanding customer experience, fulfilling your promise

Personality Not Included: Why Companies Lose Their Authenticity And How Great Brands Get it Back – Rohit Bhargava

Inject some personality into your marketing because consumers do not want to buy from dull, faceless businesses

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Sticky Marketing: Why Everything in Marketing Has Changed and What to Do about It – Grant Leboff

How to stop bombarding and interrupting people with your message and attract them to you instead

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Getting Business To Come to You – Paul Edwards, Sarah Edwards and Laura Clampitt Douglas

A vast collection of marketing ideas for small businesses

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The Event Marketing Handbook: Beyond Logistics & Planning – Allison Saget

If you are planning on running an event and want to get bums on seats then give this a read first

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Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling Disruptive Products to Mainstream Customers – Geoffrey A. Moore

All about marketing for hi-tech companies so not the most relevant for what I do but still had some interesting advice especially as I move further into the software market