Different. Escaping the competitive herd. Youngme Moon. 2010 ISBN 9780307460851. Sub sub head , Succeeding in a world where conformity reigns but exceptions rule.   This author has really nailed todays marketplace.  In her words, “ Differentiation is a way of thinking. It’s a mindset. Its a commitment  …It is not a tactic. It’s not a flashy advertising campaign; it’s not a sparkling new feature set ”

I enjoyed her indentification of types of brands:

• Todays vast all the same stuff, Minstrel marekting – the pursuit of maximally agreeable ( from Grant McCracken
• Breakaway brands , like Swatch or AIBO
• Reverse -positioned brands like Google
• Hostile brands like Red Bull or Marmite

Her identification of aggressive competition and endless market data forces companies to become more and more alike as they pile more and more features ti create more

• Hyatt-like hotels
• Boring airlines
• A plethora of choices for a TV

So that working like crazy to beat the competition does exactly the opposite – making the product mediocre and more like the competition.

If you are responsible for a product of any kind or want to become a more aware consumer, this is wonderful book for you. It starts differently, from the uneven cut pages,  and avant garde layout. Yet the content over delivers, with an easy insightful read, that will grip and hold your attention.  This is the 2010 marketing book so far.

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Rework. Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson. 2010 ISBN 9780307463746. These are the two  chaps of 37 signals who started  Basecamp and a host of other tools.  They were also early advocates of Ruby on Rails.  A breathless book that runs through the gamut of pragmatic business advice. You will find your self agreeing with them much more than disagreeing. Their comments on software design ( It should be simple, practical, easy to use but often is not) resonated today as I was running through Microsoft Office 2010. sigh, I can see why Open Office is attractive – Microsoft changed the paradigm yet again, breaking all of Don Norman’s rules.  37Signals say marketing is not a department which is bang on since it is something every one in your company is doing 24/7. For example:

• Every time you answer the phone its marketing
• Every time you send an email its marketing
• Every time someone uses your product, its marketing
• Every word you write on your website is marketing
• If you build software, every error message is marketing
• If you are in the restaurant business. the after-dinner mint is marketing
• If you are in the retail business, the checkout counter is marketing
• If you are in the service business, your invoice is marketing

Marketing is the sum total of everything you do.

Buy it read it and pass it on to someone you like. Its short but right on. Website www.37signals.com/rework

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The Design of Everyday Things. Donald A. Norman. 1988. ISBN 9780465067107. This is the classic text on design. All players in the tech industry need to read this.  An early quote,”  Each time a new technology comes along, new designers make the same horrible mistakes as their predecessors. Technologists are not noted for learning from the errors of the past. They look forward, not behind, so they repeat the same problems over and over again.”

Norman spent a lot of time in Apple’s early days as VP Advance Products Group, and the rest is history.  A fascinating easy to read writer, he fills the book with concrete examples of horrid mis design, drawn from all around us.  And he is right, present wireless devices are horrid.  While reading this you will become sensitized as to how bad design permeates our life.  From the huge (Chernobyl and Challenger) to the almost trivial (bathroom taps), you will start to see what he sees. Computer programs of course come in for a lot of abuse. (My favorite is the brutal treatment we receive from telco and Revenue Canada voice mail systems.  Enjoy. (He has other  books , Emotional Design, The Design of Future Things and Living With Complexity)  By the way his website http://www.nngroup.com/ is a bit of a surprise.   a sample of his writing https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://jnd.org/dn.mss/LWCChapter1.pdf

• How to get better at UI design (ui-patterns.com)
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The 1 % Windfall. How successful companies use price to profit and grow. Rafi Mohammed. 2010. ISBN 9780061684326. Rafi  is the guru on pricing as he has been consulting on it for over 20 years.  His previous book ,  The Art of Pricing, was a good book, but this one goes much further into the topic with great examples , worksheets and a step by step plan for a pricing strategy . Did you know that when it comes to pricing there are :

• Four fundamental pricing strategies
• Fifty pricing tactics
• Two offensive pricing blossom (his model) strategies
• Six defensive pricing blossom strategies and
• Thirteen culture-of-profit principles?

This is a very thorough study and it is so clearly written that you can read it like a novel. I could not put this one down. It is the best writing on pricing I have ever come across. if you run a business you need this book.

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Putting the Public Back in Public Relations. How social media is reinventing the aging business of PR. Brian Solis & Deirdre Breakenridge.  2009. ISBN 9780137150694.  The two authors have served their time as PR pros and have written a very definitive book on how to meld PR with the social media to create  much stronger  customer/reader conversation.  From mentions of the beginning pof PR in 1906 through to the most recent innovations this is a very good book. It makes good use of case studies, examples and market truths. As well it is a good easy read.  I especially enjoyed the very thorough treatment of metrics which show numerous ways to bring ROI to the social media space as well as accountability to PR.  A must have book for your marketing dept. In our practise we stress teh effectiveness of good PR to your customers, investors, prospects and employees. It certainly beats out advertising on every level.

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The New Rules of Marketing & PR. Second ed. How to use social media, blogs, news releases, online video, and viral marketing to reach buyers directly David Meerman Scott.  2010 ISBN 9780470547816.    I reviewed the first edition in June 2007, and really found it ground breaking.   This Second Edition is even better than the first.  His original truths are still true, however he has added the smart use of social media to the arsenal of marketers.   His examples are updated,  pithy, timely and very useful.  Recommended to anyone who thinks they know anything about marketing and also for those who do not.  As ever a well written speedy book. You will remember what he says – it just makes so much sense.

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Flip The Funnel. How to use existing customers to gain new ones. Joseph Jaffe.2010 ISBN 9780470487853. This is a game changing book for marketing. Jaffe is a prolific writer, blogger and customer care advocate. This thoroughly researched book illustrates the winning metrics that tell us we spend way too much on customer acquisition and way too little on customer retention. Since the social media wave dramatically affects the impact of WOM marketing, he speaks about some very serious stuff. In our efforts to drive new sales, and close new clients, we can lose sight of the tremendous value in getting more work from present clients. Jaffe delves into using social media to help your present customer base become enthusiasts who drive more business through referrals than you ever get through your acquisition campaigns. See lots at www.jaffejuice.com. www.youtube.com/jaffejuicetv , www.facebook.com/jaffejuice, @jaffejuice and www.flipthefunnel.com

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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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