You can search for any information you need in just seconds.
Assume you are a new start-up with no marketing experience. Imagine that you open a cafe and don’t know how to tell people about it. You probably think of calling the Internet for help.
It is possible to get lots of valuable information, and you can even apply it to your marketing strategy. It is important to assess, categorize, and decide if the information is authoritative and qualified for your business. This is the downside to internet bombardment. The good news is?
There are other ways to navigate your marketing boat. You don’t have to be a marketing professor or graduate of a prestigious business school. Let’s all learn from books.
Sometimes, a book can provide the answer to a question you have been trying to solve. You won’t be able to wait any longer. Grab a cup of tea, and let’s dive into my top 10 marketing books that you must read at least once.
1. Principles of Marketing by Philip Kotler and Gary Armstrong
Principles and Marketing by Kotler & Armstrong Reads: 4.6/5
Principles of Marketing is a huge book that will be of great value to marketers and marketing students. This classic book is a must-read in many marketing courses at universities.
This book covers all aspects of marketing including positioning, promotion pricing and distribution. The book covers traditional marketing as well as fast-growing, trending topics such digital and mobile marketing. It is well-structured with tons of real-life case studies and lots of practical examples.
Gary Armstrong and Philip Kotler work together to provide a clear explanation of all that makes this book essential reading for marketers.
Principles of marketing helps you to master today’s most difficult marketing challenge: Create value and build meaningful customer relations, build and manage brands to create substantial brand equity and harness new marketing technology in the digital age. Market with social responsibility in your mind
Principles of Marketing is written in an academic format but so easily readable. This book is useful for students and professionals in marketing.
2. Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman Recommended Readings: 4.6/5
Kahneman explains in Thinking, Fast, and Slow, the two ways our thoughts are processed. System 1 is our intuitive system that is quick, intuitive, and emotionally; System 2 is more deliberate, deliberative and logical. We will be taken on a fascinating tour by the author that includes many surprises that will change how we think about thinking.
System 1 can be useful in some situations because our brains can make split decisions in a split second and without any stumping in any situation. When we are presented with too much information, our brains tend to use system 1. This can lead to errors and cause us to get into trouble. This can also happen when we allow our overconfidence to influence our decisions.
Daniel Kahneman also provides insight into loss aversion. He reveals that losses have a greater psychological impact than gains. This is a fundamental truth about humans and the most important concept of behavioral decision-making.
This book helps us to understand how these systems interact to influence our judgements and decisions. It also explains how intuitions can sometimes be faulty (system 1) and how slow thinking can help us (system 2)
This course will cover the subject of mind and the ways in which people act. It also covers how to improve decision-making. This is a valuable skill for marketers.
3. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion Robert B. Cialdini
Influence Goodreads: The Psychology of Persuasion Goodreads 4.6/5
This classic book is about persuasion, or why people usually say yes to products. This book provides valuable insights into compliance strategies as well as the main reasons that we are persuaded. Cialdini presents all of this through six powerful tools of influence: commitment, reciprocity, consistency, social proof and liking, authority and scarcity.
They are explained by him, along with how they can be used and why they work. He draws on several sources of research as well as anecdotes to illustrate his points. This fascinating exploration of psychology of persuasion reveals how lessons can be applied to daily life and business, usually to marketing and sales.
The book is easy to read for lay people, so even if your background is not in social psychology, you will still be able to grasp the main points. You’ll be able to motivate and drive customers’ decisions if you are a marketer. This book is for ordinary people who want to be smarter decision-makers. It will help you to avoid underhanded and malicious persuasion attempts and provide tools to improve your interpersonal skills.
4. Harry Beckwith, Selling the Invisible
Selling The Invisible by Harry Beckwith Goodreads : 4.5/5
Selling the Invisible offers powerful and practical advice about marketing and selling intangibles and services. Harry Beckwith provides valuable insight to many about the idea of services as something that can be sold, much like products. This book will help you understand service marketing.
This product is invisible and requires different techniques than selling tangible products. Selling services is selling a promise. Customers cannot evaluate the service until they have tried it or bought it. To make sure your service is noticed and satisfied customers, you must have a complete process.
Harry Beckwith can help you see that service quality is the main problem in services marketing. Therefore, the first thing to do is to improve your services so they are the best and most appealing to customers. You should also invest in training your employees, from the smallest to largest. They will radiate the feeling of your service. They also improve the quality of your service. You can find valuable examples from companies like FedEx, McDonald’s and Disney to help you get the point across.
5. Jonah Berger: Contagious: Why Things Catch on by Jonah Berger
Contagious – Why Things Catch on Goodreads: 4.7/5
Contagious is a well-written book for marketers that combines groundbreaking research with exciting stories. This book will help you understand why people talk more about certain products or new ideas than others.
This book will give you specific and useful techniques to make information viral. Contagious can help you make your product or idea popular, regardless of the industry or business you work in.
Berger argues that the majority of communications about products don’t happen online, but via word-of mouth. You will be guided through six principles of STEPPS to help you promote your products: Social Currency (Triggers, Emotions), Public, Practical Value and Stories). It’s all about psychology and human behavior. This makes it fun to read.
6. Ann Handley: Everybody Writes: Your go-to guide to creating ridiculously good content
Everyone Writes: Your go-to guide to creating ridiculously good content Goodreads 4.6/5
Ann Handley has written a book about how to create and publish content that will attract audiences and help businesses succeed. The types of content that we can create in a content-driven society aren’t limited to words. It can also include video, photos and gifs.
It doesn’t mean writing is irrelevant. What we write is a reflection of who we are, and what our audience sees. Words can make you look intelligent, trustworthy, and engaging. Or narrow-minded, boring, and dull. This book will help you choose the right words, how to write and what style to use. This means that you are writing authentic stories that communicate specific messages to the audience and effectively communicate those messages with them.
Ann Handley provides expert guidance and insight into the strategy and process of content creation and publication. These lessons can be applied to all of your online assets, such as blogs, landing pages or emails. Digital marketing is now more effective than traditional marketing.
7. Joe Pulizzi, Epic Content Marketing
Epic Content Marketing By Joe Pulizzi Reads: 4.6/5
Joe Pulizzi, a leading expert in content marketing and founder of the Content Marketing Institute, is a key figure in the field. Joe Pulizzi discusses how to get prospects and customers to create content they love.
Epic Content Marketing teaches you how to create stories that are entertaining, informative, and compelling without having to market too much. This course will teach you how to create a content marketing plan with epic content that is distributed to the right people at just the right time.
It is important to select a niche in which you can retain customers and then become the best content producer. It is also important to define your content marketing goals and create a process for creating great content. Emails and social media are powerful tools in your content marketing. Make the most of them. Track and measure your effectiveness. Epic Content Marketing provides you with actionable, useful advice about all these aspects.
8. Chad.S White – Email Marketing Rules
Email Marketing Rules By Chad.S White Greatreads: 4.8/5
Email Marketing Rules is a book that provides all the information you need to make email marketing work for you. This book will guide you in setting up an effective and strategic email marketing program.
This book will guide you through the steps to maximize this channel. It includes tactical checklists and strategic frameworks as well as 150 real-life examples. Understanding deep metrics like your campaign, channels and subscriber metrics will help you to identify and set the right goals for your program. To deliver better and more relevant content, segment your valuable subscribers into high performance lists.
The book also teaches you how to create targeted messages using effective subject lines and attractive design. This book covers automation in email marketing and is a must-read. This is a must-read article for anyone who is interested in email marketing.
9. Martin Lindstrom – Buy.ology
Buy.ology by Martin Lindstrom Greatreads: 4.
Have you ever stopped to think about the factors that influence your purchasing decisions after you have bought something? Perhaps the clever design of the item, a catchy call to action, or a friend’s review are some of the motivators. Or it could be something you don’t even know you need.
Martin Lindstrom, the founder of Buy.ology will share his insights into why we buy. This was done through an extensive, groundbreaking study that involved 2,000 volunteers from around the globe who were exposed to advertisements, commercials and logos. You will learn what drove our interest and why buying behavior. Learn about the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of various types of advertising.
10. Marketing 4.0: Moving From Traditional to Digital by Philip Kotler
Marketing 4.0: Moving from Digital to Traditional Goodreads:
Marketers in next-generation marketing need to have this book. It was written by a leading expert in marketing. Marketing 4.0 offers practical advice and actionable marketing strategies that allow marketers and business leaders to respond to customers’ changing needs in a technology-driven market.
This book not only contains the most effective marketing concepts and information, but also includes many well-known and unexplored realities of the digital age. It illustrates how digital transformation has affected traditional marketing and how people adapt. Marketing 4.0 is the evolution everyone wants, and it’s very well-received.
One last thought
This concludes my list of top marketing books. This list is a result of my own personal research, reading, experience, and sharing this information with others. Some books were written long ago but are still highly effective in marketing. This list is a good one to have on hand in case you need it. At least one book should leave you with something when you finish the last page.
