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Clout. The art and science of influential web content. Colleen Jones.  2011. ISBN 9780321733016. A very powerful and immediately useful book for those of us recognizing the impact of content marketing .  Jones not only gives you what you need to do, but in depth discussion (and application)  of rhetoric and psychology behind influential content.  This is a foundation marketing book that will have a long life as what she says is true , relevant and based on very sound strategy.  Her website leenjones.com is full of very useful material.  Of course if your company management is content to stick its head in the sand and miss out on  the incredible opportunities out there to pull in high value clients and dramatically increase profits, then this book will just entertain you.  She is a good writer which helps make this the content book of the year so far as she lays out all the whats and whys and fully shows you the hows. If you do anything in strategic and/or  tactical marketing or web design this is the book for you. It will save you time, dollars and increase company profits.

• Content and Clout: A Chat with Colleen Jones (tc.eserver.org)
• Clout: The Art and Science of Influential Web Content (tc.eserver.org)
• Persuasive Content (tc.eserver.org)
• Community Roundtable: How Important is Content Strategy on Your Sites? (noupe.com)
• Usability Testing Content (jillchrist.wordpress.com)
• Make Your Content Make a Difference (smashingmagazine.com)
• Links for April 17 2011 (ericbrown.com)

Cover of What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures

What the Dog Saw and other adventures. Malcolm Gladwell. 2009. ISBN 978031607620.  I have finally read all of Gladwell’s books and I remain a fan.  These are a far reaching collection of New Yorker articles written as ever in his quixotic style. I was reading the one the analyzed the “choke” of professional athletes ( Golf and tennis) while the Vancouver Canucks were ‘choking” in round one of the hockey playoffs vs the Chicago Blackhawks.  The topic was completely relevant and I did not hold out that much hope that they could rise above it.   Like all his books this one is very hard to put down.

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The Micro-Script Rules. It’s not what people hear . It’s what they repeat. Bill Schley. 2010. ISBN 9780982694114.  With our current push into Content Marketing ( i.e. inbound marketing) this book is a terrific resource. No matter if  its writing the killer tweet, top notch Google summary, headline or tagline; shorter is better.  I loved the examples of micro-scripts he has taken from all over  (ads, trials, politics, salesmen, authors like hemingway, even comics). Then he goes on to show how and where to use them. Finally he ends with a great course in how to create the best content ever.  This ties into the trend for web materials requiring much more compelling copy, that can be digested very quickly. Thanks to Anne Miller for suggesting this book.  Its a must buy and must read.Check out www.micro-scripts.com

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• In Today’s World The Micro-Story is King (prolaunchmanager.com)

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Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions. Guy Kawasaki. 2011. ISBN 978-1591843795. I willingly buy and read all of Guy Kawasaki ‘s books.  This one has the feel of more crowd sourcing than his others. However it still contains some pure Kawaski that you may or may not have received thru his blog.  Eg how to set up a pro LinkedIn pp, why and how he used a Facebook product page vs a website for this book, tips on best uses of Youtube and Twitter.  He is a pro communicator so this is all useful stuff.

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• Book Review: Guy Kawasaki’s Enchantment (hubspot.com)
• Heres why Guy Kawasaki’s new book Enchantment is a must read (trendsspotting.com)
• If you build it right, buyers will come calling (theglobeandmail.com)
• Interview: Guy Kawasaki Talks With Mashable at SXSW [VIDEO] (mashable.com)
• Guy Kawasaki, Founder Alltop.com, on How European Entrepreneurs Can Enchant Funders (thenextwomen.com)

The Price of Everything. Solving the mystery of why we pay what we do. Eduardo Porter.  2011. ISBN 9781591843627.

I am burning through every resource on pricing I can find.  The author is a New York Times journalist – and I do so love to read books by journalists.  They can write clearly, succinctly and well!  This book is an incredible journey through business, anthropology  and psychology. Some snippets.

• Market transactions do not necessarily provide people with what they want; they provide people with what they think they want. Consumers often have the most tenuous grasp of why they pay what they do for a given object of their desire. (This guy must drive economists crazy!)
• Value started as a moral inquiry, a manifestation  of divine justice (back when the Church ran the World)
• The real world is plagued with search costs. It is difficult for consumers to to find out what a given product costs in all the shops in town- let alone everything available on the Internet. One of the best known market techniques is to make it difficult for customers to understand where they can get best value for their money
• People value more things they bought than what they receive as gifts
• Imposing a fine on tardy parents picking up their kids at daycare worsened tardiness.  The fine made it affordable and removed the guilt.
• Even if an investor were to correctly call a bubble, it would be expensive to bet against it
  With enough investor enthusiasm, the bubble will stay inflated longer than the contrarian could remain solvent.
• Keynes believed that most investors really do not know what they are doing.  Sort of betting on the
  average response to average events. Keynes made a lot of money in the market.
• Expect increased right wing politics as the economy worsens

The author covers off the price of slaves, women, children, global warming, religious affiliation, horsemeat .  It is an eclectic and marvelous journey. Great book for a trip.

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• The Price of Everything by Eduardo Porter (futurelab.net)
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UnMarketing. Stop marketing. Start engaging. Scott Stratten. 2010. ISBN 9780470617878.  This  is a very useful book for anyone looking to pump up their business though using the social networks.  Stratten is one of those folks who has done the work and made a conscious effort to help others to really “get it”  His short chapter on how to create, organize and publish content is far and away the easiest and most direct writing we have seen to date.  He also covers the whole gamut of  marketing from trade shows to telesummits.  His website http://www.un-marketing.com/blog/ contains much of the content of the book.  His format of many (over 50) short chapters really suits the ADD generation of readers.  The best thing – Stratten speaks the truth and puts it out there. (Of course – he’s Canadian!)

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• Top 15 Recommended Social Media Books of 2010 (windmillnetworking.com)
• Recommended books for the CIO / IT Leaders for 2011 (ericbrown.com)
• Social Media and Blogging: The Common Sense Approach (webpronews.com)
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speak human.  Outmarket the big guys by getting personal. Eric Karlaluoto. 2010. ISBN 9780981348209.  A Vancouver marketing firm SmashLAB was started by Eric and his partner Eric Shelkie.  This book is a compendium of lessons learned  (perhaps ordeals by fire) working  in the industry. What results is a very human book that contains his unique views on the communication business. His comments resonate well with what Rocket Builders has found over the years, as we seem to share a common world view with the author.  Good phrases that stuck with me (likely I have mashed them together  in my memory) :

• positioning means…to get known for one thing
• selling is all about numbers and sincerity
• social networks give you access to a broader set of great individuals with different and unique skill sets
• marketing is a long haul endeavor

Unlike many younger authors, Eric creates a very good set a of chapter notes  that provides good “proof” to what he is saying.  It speaks to a thoughtful work that is worth you taking the time to read it.

Content Rules. How to create killer blogs, podcasts, videos, ebooks, webinars.  Ann Handley & C.C. Chapman. 2011. ISBN 9780470648285.   Book 2 in the New Rules of Social Media Series, this book answers the question, ” So how do I make that good content I keep hearing about?”  It does a good job because of the real examples shown and the experience of the authors.  Their journalism experience makes this an easy to read, immediately useful book.  The point of view agrees with what our company sees as essential to client success in the Go2Market space.  This is a sales and marketing bookshelf keeper. Tell your friends to buy their own.

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• Podcast: Interview with C.C. Chapman, co-author of “Content Rules” (jchutchins.net)
• Book Review: Content Rules (jchutchins.net)
• Content Rules (webinknow.com)
• “Interview with Authors of Content Rules” and related posts (findandconvert.com)
• FIR Interview: Content Rules co-authors C.C. Chapman and Ann Handley (holtz.com)
• Content Rules Takes A Look At A Strange Word And A New World (adpulp.com)
• Social Media Breakfast: Content Rules with C.C. Chapman (socialmediabreakfast.com)

Sell Yourself First. The most critical element in every sales effort. Thomas A. Freese. 2011. 978-1591843658.   I am a fan of Freese’s work and his approach – because it works.  This book offers a bit if everything to the reader.  A good review of Question Based Selling, good strong examples and stories to reinforce, and something new.   The new part is how to approach a  potential client  and/or employer with a very strong opening statements that immediately makes you unique from all others and puts the rest into a commodity situation.  In our practice we use variants of this approach all the time and it results in clients telling us we are different from all others and we get the high value work.  People do not trust  or believe most sales people and Freese nails why  it happens and what to do about it.  He does it by talking about the elephant in the room and getting right at  why people have learned not to trust salesfolks.   I also enjoyed his chapter on selling value, not on price. Easy clear read  (the guy is good at this).  Useful for a coast to coast flight – but take notes and review. Simple yes, easy to do , no since you must change  sales behaviors.

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• What is it About Salespeople? (psychologytoday.com)
• So what can a CEO, Marketer, Salesperson, or CFO do to improve your pricing? Pricing part 11 (regnordman.com)

Training your customers for regular price increases. Pricing part 12.   If you want to be one of the successful companies who are able to regularly raise prices, through value selling plus other methods you have to start now.  Start when they first become a new customer.  i.e. start Day1 by reinforcing how to prevent late fees, change of terms costs, change order costs, decision delay charges, partial ordering charges and so on.

Use  psychology 101.

• Stepwise small price increases are more palatable than one large one.
• The power of 9 still reigns in setting price (sets a reference price).
• Large cuts are seen as better than a series of small ones (increase the  perception of saving).
• Humans love to see that they have avoided a cost versus having one forced on them ( The sense of something gained vs something lost).
• Take an offer away when you say you will. ( Increase sense of loss)
• Communicate your price increases many months ahead – see what the competition does

Use the power of stories

• The need for vendors to remain viable
• A mutual need for survival
• All competitors will be treated equally

Be prepared for those who went to buyers school (e.g. Lowes, WalMart, IKEA, Safeway)

• Run lots of “what ifs” prior to any large bids/contracts
• Never volunteer you give price exceptions
• Resist being bulled – cause they will try to
• Maintain price integrity
• Be ready to walk – they are talking to you because they want something from you.
• Be prepared to let someone else go broke selling to them

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• When does the customer first ask about price? Pricing part 2. (regnordman.com)
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• Pricing survey indicates you are dropping prices, but for the right reasons? Part 1. (regnordman.com)
• What generates the highest profit margin, product or service? Pricing part 3 (regnordman.com)
• Make Customers Pay Extra With a Great Customer Experience (customerthink.com)
• The Competitive Edge: Differentiating Your Product or Service (pamil-visions.net)
• Customer history, is it helpful in raising prices? Pricing part 5. (regnordman.com)
• Examples of Companies That Use Cost Leadership Strategies (thinkup.waldenu.edu)
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