When it comes to books on marketing to read, the list is never-ending. Choosing the right ones at the right time can be a smart choice to save you lots of time and improve your marketing knowledge.
And you can always benefit from the wisdom of those who have walked similar professional routes by checking out some of the books they have written about various aspects of marketing.
That is why I have compiled some of the best marketing books of all time for marketers, business owners, and would-be entrepreneurs.
The list: 10 best marketing books you should be reading
(all links provided for purchasing books from Amazon)
- Contagious, Why Things Catch On by Jonah Berger
If you are a marketer, you must read this book. Contagious was written by Jonah Berger, a professor at the Wharton School.
In the book, Bergen comes with a full explanation of why some things go viral while others do not. After studying the psychology of how things become popular, Berger explains how six basic elements drive something to become contagious among a group of people. He provides examples of how a company can apply that idea of contagion to their marketing strategy
- Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini
Influence is a book by The New York Times best-seller Robert Cialdini that is useful to both salespeople and marketers.
He learned the psychology of why people say “ Yes” and found out how to apply these understandings.
He mostly talks about and explains the importance of “ Six Principles of Influence” – 1) Reciprocation, 2) Commitment and Consistency, 3) Social Proof, 4) Liking (does that ring any bells in the digital age?), 5) Authority and 6) Scarcity. These principles can reveal how actions and words can profoundly affect the desires and needs of customers, colleagues, and even competitors
“Shoe Dog” is a story of the world’s most famous iconic brand “Nike”’s early days as a start-up and its evolution into one of the world’s most profitable and dominant companies.
The story of “Nike“ how the company managed its financial struggles in the early days and became the most recognizable athlete brand among competitors like Adidas is a valuable lesson for today’s start-ups.
In the book, Phil Knight gives some insightful pieces of leadership advice such as “ don’t tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with the results”.
- Top of Mind by John Hall
I think another must-read book for marketers is “ Top of Mind” because the book reveals secrets about how the company can make their service or product stays at the top of customers’ mind when they need it.
This is not an easy task… but after reading this book marketers may understand why some companies can keep their brand truly at the top of their minds and why some content easy to keep in mind.
5. Building a Story Brand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen
This is a book especially appropriate for content marketers.
Donald Miller’s StoryBrand process is a demonstrated solution to the struggle business leaders confront when talking about their businesses.
This advanced way of connecting with customers provides readers with the ultimate competitive advantage, exposing the secret for helping their customers understand the compelling benefits of using their products, ideas, or services.
Building a StoryBrand does this by teaching readers the seven universal story points all humans respond to; the real reason customers buy; how to deliver a brand message so people understand it; and how to create the most actual messaging for websites, and social media.
Whether you are the marketing director of a big company or a small business owner, Building a StoryBrand will forever change the way you talk about who you are, what you do, and the unique value you deliver to your customer.
- Made to Stick By Chip Heath & Dan Heath
Why do some ideas thrive while others die? And how do we improve the chances of worthy ideas? Made to Stick is one of the most important business books ever written.
In this book, they reveal the anatomy of ideas that stick and explain ways to make ideas stickier like applying the “ human scale principle,” using the “Velcro Theory of Memory” and creating “curiosity gaps”. With this book, marketers can design messages that will stick to and affect what people do. This will completely change the way marketers communicate ideas
- Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind
Although it has been a decade since “Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind” book was released by Al Ries and Jack Trout, it still has a spot on the marketers’ shelves as one of the top marketing books.
Overall, the book reveals a new approach to getting a position in a consumer’s mind, one that represents the strengths and weaknesses of a brand, and its competitive market.
Al Ries and Jack Trout show how the positioning is used as a communication tool to reach target consumers in a crowded marketplace
In today’s market, all brands are competing for space in consumers’ minds, this book is absolutely useful for marketers for understanding the process and applying principles in the book to their marketing strategy.
- Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products by Nir Eyal
The ideal book for marketers working with habit-forming products. The book “Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products by Nir Eyal “ answers how to create and market products that get consumers’ attention and keep them coming back.
As we know, consumer attention is a big business, and making people habitually use a company’s product is the frontier task of business.
Nir Eyal uses The Hook Model to explain a four-step process embedded into the products of numerous successful companies to subtly encourage customer behavior.
- Blue Ocean Strategy, Expanded Edition: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant
Blue Ocean Strategy is a highly recommended book by many well-known business owners and marketers. It is a strategy that supports the concept of opening up a new market space and creating new demand by pursuing differentiation and low cost. The idea behind this strategy is that competing with others does not lead the company get succeed in the market, instead identifying new market space ready for growth. The competition is irrelevant.
- Permission Marketing By Seth Godin
Reading all books written by American marketers and Author Seth Godin is recommended to all marketers. Because Seth Godin has been able to take The Marketing field to the next level by writing fascinating marketing books.
Permission Marketing is one of them that reveals valuable lessons about developing long-term relationships with customers and greatly increases the chances of making a sale.
Books by Seth Godin such as The Icarus Deception, This Is Marketing, and Purple Cow is also recommended for marketers to read
In Conclusion
In today’s article, it is provided the top 10 marketing books that all marketers or salespeople should be reading.
In today’s market, customers are bombarded with thousands of content or offers every single day. Learning from some of the best marketing books to think differently, understand customers, and know how to capture a space in customers’ mind and sell them is essential and give a competitive advantage. The more you read the more you learn
