Priceless. The myth of fair value (and how to take advantage of it). William Poundstone. 2010 ISBN 9780809094691.  A fascinating, useful and well written book.  This author is an expert in this area.   If you have ever bought a car, negotiated with your child or been to an auction, the author is talking directly to you.  The field is called psycophysics and Poundstone brings it to life.  After you read this you will understand how anchoring your sell with a very high price is better for getting the highest price, why he who sets his price first has the advantage, how web pages are using background images to prime readers to make decisions and where union negotiators have a winning plan regardless of the outcome.  Ever wonder how the Sierra Club negotiates and will always come out ahead of the resource companies?   He tells you why you ignore what clients say they want and watch what they do.  This is a must read for the CEO, CFO, CMO  and every consumer.

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Marketing resources for the complex sale.

eMarketing Strategies for the Complex Sale.  Differentiate yourself with attraction marketing,. Create contagious content. Drive qualified leads to sales.  Ardath Albee. 2010. ISBN 0071628649, 9780071628648. In the  B2B complex sale, marketers are increasingly being pressured to deliver results during the lengthy sales process. This  is a  marketing book designed to solve this problem.

The author  explains how to create and use online content and communication strategies to catch and hold the attention of prospects to the degree of engagement necessary for sales readiness. Readers will then learn how to sell their strategies to the sales force in order to create a unified overall sales strategy. This is not a simple story nor a short approach. It fits closely with our idea that execution is the weak link in most programs.  If you use this guide, it will help you omit many common execution errors.  In her words, measurement of engagement is purely how many people take action.

Perspectives on Marketing. Get both sides of the story. Jason I Miletsky & Michael Hand.   2009. ISBN 9781598638714.  This is a companion to Perspectives on Sales . I like theses books as they give the client side and the sell side ( in this case an agency side) to the common. I think you will read this book and immediately understand ways to get more from your agency.  Plus the views of the two sides are unbiased as they have not collaborated.   Easy interesting read, especially if you are new to the agency/client relationship

The Four Pillars of Profit-Driven Marketing: How to Maximize Creativity, Accountability, and ROI.   2009. Moeller, Edward Landry 0071615059, 9780071615051

As budgets tighten, marketing managers are feeling the pressure to come up with quantifiable results for every dollar spent. The ability to determine marketing ROI has long been desirable; now, it is critical. ..This book  offers a framework that helps marketers capture the metrics essential to determine accurate ROI and use them to develop an overall marketing strategy. The authors, (Booz & Co execs)  reveal 4 pillars of marketing,” : ..

1. Understand, classify, and choose Analytics.
2. Put the analytics to work with the right decision-support Systems And Tools.
3. Establish Processes that integrate the analytics and tools into operations .
4. Use Organizational Alignment to assure company-wide acceptance and execution of the system ..

The authors provide a simple six-step process usng a case study of the Kellogg Company.   If you are struggling with getting real ROI numbers from your marketing, this book should be a good place to start.  This is not a book for triflers however,  if you read it you really should want to implement.

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Repositioning. Markeitng in an era of competition, change and crisis. Jack Trout and Steve Rivkin.  2009. ISBN 9780071635592. This is an update after 30 years.   With “Repositioning,” you can conquer the “3 Cs” of business: Competition, Change, and Crisis . . .

• BEAT THE COMPETITION: Challenge your rivals, differentiate your product, increase your value, and stand out in the crowd.
• CHANGE WITH THE TIMES: Use the latest technologies, communications, and multimedia resources to connect with your consumers.
• MANAGE A CRISIS: Cope with everything from profi t losses and rising costs to bad press and PR nightmares.

I really like Trouts writing style.  He always tries to simplify marketing for all of us. This is the mark (to me)  of someone who really understands what he is talking about.

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B2B Brand management.  Phillip Kotler, Waldermar Pfoertsch. 2006.  ISBN 3540253602.  This book really looks at brand management for industrial companies.  I appreciated their comment about two moments of truth wrto brand management. The first is when the prospect buys the product/pays for it.  The second is when the product is when they use the product.  Good B2B companies focus intensely on winning these moments of truth.  eg, Apple comes to mind.  Lots of relevant case studies with a very thorough academic  treatment make this an important book for senior brand managers in the larger enterprise.

Brand Digital. Simple ways top brands succeed in the digital world.  Allen P.  Adamson. 2008. ISBN 9780230606043.  The book these  revolves around the question. ” How do you stick to a simple, credible, and compelling brand promise while addressing the multitude of consumer touch points. He has many interviews  (100) with top companies as to what they are doing to harness the multiple functions of social networking, digital word-of-mouth, consumer-generated ideas, “green” branding, and new technologies such as the Blackberry and iPhone. Topical and useful book on something we believe goes to the core of IT marketing, your brand promise. His chapter on the importance of brand promise is well done.  A good e.g. is Doves, “Campaign for Beauty” as a successful ongoing initiative.  You might howl with some of the prehistoric thinking evident in some companies, the thought being that their increasing irrelevance dooms them to failure. He has an easy simple writing style which helps your learning.

Developments in cross-cultural communications, PR and social media. Silvia Cambie’ and Yang-May Ooi.  2009. ISBN 9780749453299. ” International Communications Strategy” is about the cross-cultural challenges currently facing PR practitioners. Providing information on alternative communication approaches as well as cross-cultural case-studies and examples, “International Communications Strategy” will give readers points of reference and ideas to use every time they are asked to provide strategic communication guidance to senior management or clients.

The authors are sensitive to how technology and social media create new online cultures and new communication audiences. This poses a real challenge to the present generation of PR specialists.  I was sensitive to theri idea that we must enter international markets without any preconceived baggage. Examples are taken from around the world and really reflect a view into how one needs to change to be successful in Europe and Asia.  If these are your markets, this is a great book for you.  The writers are clear and do not getlost in jargon , making your reading experience pleasant.

The Next Evolution of Marketing. Connect with you customers by marketing with meaning.  Bob Gilbreath. 2010. ISBN 9780071625364.  Interruptive marketing’s time is a over as we see customers increasingly tuning out.  Gilbreath unveils a  new approach to business that fills the gaping voids left in bottom lines when people started tuning out. He describes the marketing change now underway and the powerful forces driving it.

Inside, he provides Marketing with Meaning success stories, including: Samsung’s laptop and cell phone charging stations, which are now found in more than 50 airports throughout the United States Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty and its viral video “Evolution,” which has been viewed more than 100 million times,  Burger King’s Xbox advergames, which helped boost the company’s profits by 40 percent in one year.   Lots of success stories and also failures ( GM’s Saturn) . The author has the creds to talk about these things, being a seasoned ad guy who has worked with the largest clients. His marketing campaign outline is very clear and thoughtfully laid out.  I appreciate him asking the question, “Is your marketing adding value to the customer so its worth his time to interact with it? His copy is easy to read and digest.

The Complete Idiots Guide to Target Marketing.

Susan Freidmann. 2009. ISBN 9781592579037. I do so love this book series. Its kind of a Coles notes for marketing basics for  those who do not have big budgets. As well the authors are careful not to steer you wrong so the guides help the range of businesses from start up to mature. You’ll learn:

• Five easy steps to identify the most lucrative niche markets
• Tech-savvy tips on using online surveys and other e-tools to identify your customers’ needs
• Powerful pointers on viral marketing, blogging, webinars, and other web marketing ideas
• Highly-effective and low-budget advertising strategies and customer retention techniques

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Shoptimism. Why the American consumer will keep on buying no matter what.  Lee Eisenberg.2009. ISBN 9780743296250.  This the author of the Number.  This is an entertaining tour of America’s love/hate affair with shopping,something that remains a true national pastime. Eisenberg chronicles the dynamics of selling and buying from almost every angle. Neither a cheerleader for consumption nor an anti-consumerist scold, he explores  the vast machinery aimed at inducing us to purchase everything from hair mousse to a little black dress. He leads us, with understated humor, into the broad universe of marketing, retailing, advertising, and consumer and scientific research–an arsenal of powerful forces that combine to form what he calls “The Sell Side.”

Through the rest of the book, Eisenberg leads us through the “Buy Side” — a journey directly into our own hearts and minds, asking among other questions: What are we really looking for when we buy? Why are we alternately excited, guilt-ridden, satisfied, disappointed, and recklessly impulsive? What are our biases, need for status, impulses to self-express, that lead us individually to buy what we buy?

This book is fun, serious, well written and pokes some serious holes into some of the other books I have reviewed.  It is a good diift for your children/young adults as well as yourself as we are all in there. I really liked it. Find out if you are a classic buyer or a romantic buyer? What is a Great Buy? Lots there for the retailer to learn from as well.

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Spanning Silos. The New CMO Imperative. David Aaker. 2009. ISBN 1422128768, 9781422128763. This is a specialist’s book.  After interviews with over 40 CMOs Aaaken has laid out how larger companies can better use their central marketing resources and eliminate the silos of marketing efforts that are often the norm.  This is not an issue that our clients have as they are more often worried about the silos called sales and marketing.  His ideas on how to achieve this cross silo agreement are also useful for the spanning of other silos in any company. As an academic the author is well researched and documented.  I would not rsuh out to buy this book, but it is certainly worth a library read. I appreciated his company stories.

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Managers Guide to Marketing , Advertising and Publicity.  Barry Callen. 2010. ISBN 9780071627962.  Callen explains:

• The 14 principles of marketing communications strategy
• Common marketing mistakes to avoid
• Techniques for creating powerful marketing messages
• The many choices for delivering your marketing message How to take full advantage of digital platforms

Today, you must come up with a bigger, better, brighter marketing campaign, or you’re guaranteed to be lost in the noise. This primer is ideal for anyone looking to position his or her organization as a powerful competitor in the twenty-first century.Briefcase Books, written specifically for today’s busy manager, feature eye-catching icons, very useful checklists,and sidebars to guide managers step-by-step through everyday workplace situations.  The text is simple, pragmatic  and a pretty good “Coles Notes” for marketing guide.

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socialnomics. how social media transforms the way we live and do business. erik qualman. 2009. ISBN  9780470477236.  I confess my first thought  was  not another fluffy book on social media.  This is anything but that. I consider this the sober second wave type of book that helps us determine where a technology change will really make a business difference. Examples:

The impact of having your profile available to the many and how that impacts your social behavior (What foes on in Vegas stays on Facebook)

LinkedIn is a defacto monopoly on business social networking. Once you have collected a set of references on LinkedIn why would you ever go to another site?

It is no good railing against the walled garden approach of Facebook, companies need to embrace it as another venue to meet and communicate with its target market.

Google is right to be scared of Facebook, people care less what Google thinks and more what their ‘friends” think about products etc. I just bought two items from Facebook marketplace that a few years ago I woudl have looked to ebay for. Facebook was easier, much faster and now I know the seller.

Books are being written as a crowd sourcing experiment – ask your followers a question on Twitter and write down what comes back.

Robert Murdock wanting to get his stuff not as easily searched by Google is another example of “Its my ball and I will play with it my way” thinking.  Did not work for AOL, Hasbro and Scrabulous won’t work for him

I advise you to pick this book up, it will help us dinosaurs come to grips with why the youth are embracing this media. You will enjoy his easy reading style and thoughtful analysis.

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Energize Growth Now. The marketing guide to a wealthy company. Lisa Nirell.2009. ISBN 9780470413920. From the foreward by Guy Kawasaki to the appendix pages full of sample plans and templates, this book give full value. Written in an easy style, it is very useful to those of you who may be starting to feel a bit overwhelmed and tired of the multi- year struggle that building a successful company entails. Yes you wiull start with an overview of the impact that marketing can make , but the author also goes into things that are very relevant today , for instance where social media marketing can help but what you have to decide first before you launch in.  She gives you road maps, relevant examples and the pitfalls along the way.  Pragmatic and a very useful book. Eg. In trying to identify the economic buyer:

• Who has the most to gain from this project
• Who has the most to lose if it is canceled or fails
• Which exec will sponsor this
• Who will report your results and succcess back to the board
• Who budget will support this project
• Which dept or div will be most supportive
• Who in the org tried to solve this in the past and with what results
• Whose bonus and performance will be most affected by the success of this project?

Check out more at http://blog.energizegrowth.com

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Just read an interview with Samantha Hartley (Enlightened Marketing) who spent several years working for Coca-Cola helping build the brand.

She feels that there are six big benefits from having a clear, authentic and compelling brand:

1. A shorter sales cycle
2. A lower cost of customer acquisition
3. You attract perfect clients
4. Your brand can carry a premium price
5. Brand Loyalty creates repeat business
6. Referrals flow more easily

I agree, even without the compelling examples she details.

You can read more in Lisa Nirell’s new book, Energize Growth Now.(Review to follow)

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