While many aspects of marketing have changed little over the years from a theoretical or fundamental perspective when it comes to execution tactics, marketing campaigns, and digital marketing strategies, much has and continues to change at seemingly breakneck speed. Keeping up-to-date with the best marketing resources will help you get your head around the ever-changing landscape that is marketing today. Any B2B marketer will enjoy the following five highly recommended marketing resource books.
Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action
Author: Simon Sinek
In “Start with Why”, Sinek explains his concept of ‘the golden circle,’ advocating that in order to inspire someone with an idea, you need to first communicate the “why”, then the “how”, and then follow up with the “what”. According to Sinek, this “golden circle” is what differentiates good leaders from poor leaders. Whether you are a leader, founder, or marketer, this highly-recommended business book will help you peel back the layers of your company’s “why” and get back to the fundamentals.
Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
Authors: Chip and Dan Heath
Have you ever wondered why some marketing campaigns are so successful, while others are not? In “Made to Stick”, the Heath brothers examine the concept of ‘stickiness’ and take a look at why some marketing campaigns, concepts, and ideas resonate and ‘stick’ with an audience more than others. They provide a variety of engaging examples and case studies to help understand what makes a specific idea stick and they provide tools to replicate this magic formula for your own branding success.
This I Know: Marketing Lessons from Under the Influence
Author: Terry O’Reilly
Big companies can afford to spend a fortune on marketing budgets, which most small businesses can’t, so how is a smaller business to compete? Terry O’Reilly, host of the popular radio show Under the Influence, gives the inside scoop on this conundrum by sharing lessons he learned in his exemplary career in advertising and marketing. O’Reilly shares coveted marketing secrets in this page-turner that will benefit any company, no matter their size or budget.
Why Johnny Can’t Brand: Rediscovering the Lost Art of the Big Idea
Author: Bill Schley & Carl Nichols, Jr.
According to Schley and Nichols, you must follow and apply 17 rules in order to create a number-one brand. These rules, which they have tested over the past 25 years were crafted by marketers over the past century. Filled with practical steps to follow in order to correctly apply the theory to build a great brand, it uses the Dominant Selling Idea (DSI) to showcase how to grow your brand and company successfully. Whether you want to improve your existing brand or build one from scratch, the hands-on nature makes this book engaging and relevant to all businesses.
The Art of SEO: Mastering Search Engine Optimization
Author: Eric Enge, Stephan Spencer, Jessie C. Stricchiola
This massively popular book (now in its third edition) starts with the basics of Search Engine Optimization (SEO), explaining SEO theory while detailing the important steps you need to master to plan and execute an effective SEO strategy, and then delves into what is required to build a competent SEO team and execute complex SEO projects. Every question you can think of about the topic of SEO is covered, as well as questions you haven’t even thought of yet.
