[ad_1]
One of the joys of living in a place with long, dark winters is having time to read. Make a fire in the fireplace, pour yourself a drink, and crack open a good book.
I usually do most of my reading for the year between October and March because that’s when it’s outdoor time (that’s not to say you can’t read outdoors).
We live in an age surrounded by marketing. Everything and everyone seems to be competing for our attention. If you work in marketing, the idea of reading a book about something you do all day long and spend every waking moment may not sound appealing. However, there are still new things to say and new things to learn about marketing.
As you head into 2024, here are six books to add to your reading list.The first thing you’ll probably notice is that they’re not actually all about Marketing. But marketing is an important part of every business, and every leader must become a marketer to be successful.
Not to be ignored: Create memorable content to influence decisions
Dr. Carmen Simon
Publisher: McGraw-Hill
The central focus of Dr. Simon’s book is on creating memorable presentations, an area where many people know just enough about PowerPoint and Google Slides to be dangerous.
The problem with many of the day-to-day presentations we see in sales and business in general is that they try to function as both a presentation and a stay. This makes them full of messages and strong visuals and stories, and these are the elements that stay in our memories and facilitate recall.
As evidence that the techniques in this book work, I like to refer to how Dr. Simon uses them in the book.
Years after first reading “Irresistible,” I still remember her anecdotes of waiting in line at a store as a child in Soviet-era Romania. Food supplies were in short supply and workers had to limit the number of people queuing. They decide to send everyone home behind the girl in the bright red coat, who is young Dr. Simon. The combination of strong visuals and powerful story left a lasting impression on my mind.
Running with Purpose: How Brooks Outperformed His Goliath Competitors and Became the Front-runner
Jim Webb
Publisher: HarperCollins Leadership
Why is a sneaker company CEO’s memoir on the list? Because the essence of marketing is to identify and create a market for the products you sell.
When Jim Weber took over as Brooks executive, the company was trying to be everything to everyone who wore sneakers. There are a lot of people in a market with a lot of big brands.
Weber and his team decided to give up much of the market by abandoning the “athleisure” business, which consists of low-cost sneakers that people wear around the house or while doing chores. They decided to focus on serious runners instead.
There’s also a great marketing campaign involving the luxury portable toilets that Brooks brought to the big game. To qualify, runners must wear Brooks shoes.
There is also a lesson about market chaos. Remember the five-finger running shoe craze? Yeah, that’s fun.
Will Guidara
Publisher: Optimistic Press
Gidara has a unique resume. His roles include: restaurateur, creative agency leader, conference presenter and author of four cookbooks.
His specialty was hospitality. One of his guiding beliefs is that hospitality does not have to be limited to what we think of as hospitality, which is restaurants, spas and hotels. Instead, businesses across industries can create experiences that delight customers and drive more business.
As Guidallah rose to prominence in New York City’s restaurant scene, his business became legendary for offering experiences like sledding in Central Park to families who had never experienced snow.
The book’s moments of brilliance and generosity can serve as inspiration for businesses across all industries. Overall, Americans have a relatively pessimistic view of big business and financial institutions. They feel much better about small businesses, which are more flexible and structured and allow for a personal touch.
Many marketers will tell you that their brand is more than just a logo or color palette, it evokes emotion and, most importantly, trust. In Unreasonable Hospitality you can see how this really works in practice.
Chip Heath and Dan Heath
Publisher: Portfolio
We cannot remember every detail of every experience. If you’ve ever seen a courtroom drama, you’ve seen this scene.
“So what you’re saying is that when you saw the suspect on that foggy, moonless night, you weren’t sure if he had a beard?”
What we remember most are the highs of our experiences. Sometimes we remember the low points we experienced. Everything else is labeled by our memory as “just not important enough to remember.”
In The Power of Moments, the Heath brothers help readers understand how our brains process and categorize experience. Once you understand how this all works on a subconscious level, it becomes easier to intentionally create these moments that matter to our audience.
As a blueprint, the book looks at events that aren’t necessarily intended to be memorable, such as the “Signing Day” ceremony for high school seniors, in which they announce which college they will attend. It then deconstructs these events to see what exactly made them memorable.
Humanizing B2B: A new truth in marketing that will transform your brand and sales
Author: Paul Cash and James Trezzona
Publisher: Practical Inspiration Press
Download the white paper. Received a call from a sales representative. Received email after email.
For years, B2B marketing brochures have been boring, even a little annoying. It has improved to some extent, but there is still a long way to go. If you have friends who work in B2C marketing, you probably know this feeling.
“Oh, are you doing a Super Bowl commercial? You must be really tired…”
What if things didn’t have to be this way? (Spoiler alert: That’s not the case.)
Cash and Trezzona say B2B shouldn’t become a boring part of marketing, but should appeal to the emotions of those trying to transform organizations and create change.
They draw heavily on research from the LinkedIn B2B Institute, which proves that B2B buyers are just as emotionally reliant as B2C buyers.
When you think about it, it makes sense. Because they are not actually opponents. They are the same people and at the end of the day they don’t take off their B2B hats and put on their B2C hats.
Clearly Awesome: How to Position Your Product So Customers Get It, Buy It, and Like It
Author: April Dunford
Publisher: Environment Press
Part of the reason I love Dunford’s story is that, like me, she never set out to be a marketer. As someone with no formal marketing education, she asked a lot of questions. The answer left her unsatisfied.
“Trust me, it works.”
“Because that’s how we’ve always done it.”
The result is “Obviously Awesome,” a book that rethinks product marketing from an outsider’s perspective.
For anyone trying to turn a product into a story that resonates with customers, the hardest part is where to start. Would you create a story based on your characteristics? Or should you focus on your customers’ needs first? What about differentiation?
You’ll have to read this book to find out.
What marketing books do you think the MarTech community would benefit from reading in 2024? Tag @MarTech in the post on LinkedIn and tell us why you think the article is worth reading.
Get marketing skills! Daily. free. in your inbox.
[ad_2]
Source link