Summaries of Communications & Marketing Books I have read – mainly for my own reference so I can review the ideas & strategies I have come across
Made to Stick Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die By Chip & Dan Heath As a communicator, creating ideas that stick in a world where people are exposed to hundreds of ideas, thoughts, and pitches every day is one of the biggest challenges. How do you create memes that Read more
Risk: The Science and Politics of Fear by Dan Gardner Fear sells. It is a marketing tool. It is a funding tool. This book is the best compact summary of the challenges faced by communications professionals who need to decrease “fear” around a project or idea. People are pre-disposed to Read more
The New Rules of Marketing and PR How to use Blogs, News Releases, Podcasting, Viral Marketing, & Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly By David Meerman Scott Dealing with how to leverage the “Word of Mouth Market” that has become so much more efficient over the last decade, this book Read more
Buy-ology Truth and Lies about why we buy By Martin Lindstrom “In fact, scientists have found an area in the frontal cortex of the brain called Brodmann Area 10, which is activated when we see products we think are “cool” Neuro-Marketing: interesting, enlightening, taboo, and perhaps one of the best Read more
All Marketers are Liars Persuading Customers when they ignore your marketing By Bryan and Jeffrey Eisenberg “Any conversion process is like a leaky bucket – you pour water in and water spurts out all the holes. You can keep adding more and more water, to the bucket, or you can Read more
All Marketers are Liars The power of telling authentic stories in a low trust world – By Seth Godin “Successful Marketers don’t talk about features or even benefits. Instead, they tell a story. A story we want to believe.” This book lays out the strategy behind storytelling – Godin argues Read more
Influence The Psychology of Persuasion By Robert B. Cialdini, Phd This book on “the psychology of compliance” is a classic, and may well be referenced in half of the other books I have reviewed here. There are very influential ideas here. One of the largest values of reading this book Read more
Call to Action Bryan Eisenberg & Jeffery Eisenberg Secret Formulas to Improve Online Results This book is very dense on online marketing information – just about every page has a good idea, cites a useful study, or strong recommendations based on experience. The same conversion goal or singular conversion path Read more
Ca$hing in with Content By David Meerman Scott How Innovative Marketers use Digital Information to turn Browsers into Buyers Looking at a number of top web sites, Scott makes the case that: “Marketers working at companies with innovative web sites know that first and foremost, site visitors want access to Read more
Web Copy That Sells By Maria Veloso The Revolutionary Formula for Creating Killer Copy Every Time First off, this book gets top marks for actually providing a simple, straightforward “Blueprint” for actually writing good copy. One that you can apply with your next client. This book also focuses more on Read more