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The Power Formula for LinkedIn Success. Wayne Breitbarth. 2011. ISBN 9781608320936.  This is a true how to do book, with enough why attached that the reader can understand the power of this tool.  A comment I picked up on was:  ignoring LinkedIn now  is like 10 years ago ignoring email. There is only one way to learn to find out how useful it can be.  He  splits the book in two, first making yourself easy to find ( fill in a proper profile)  and then how to find and approach others on LinkedIn.  Every person in any business can make good use of this book.  Buy it, read it and use it. Well written and a quick read.

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• Do the Work! Overcome resistance and get out of your own way. Steven Pressfield. (regnordman.com)

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The Marketing High Ground. The essential playbook for B2B marketing practitioners everywhere. J. Michael Gospe Jr. 2011. ISBN 9781456439804.  I really liked this book, reading it in one sitting.  He was an engineer, but unlike me  instead of turning to sales, he went into marketing of high tech. And the man can write! You will recognize the players/politics of the tech world with his clear grasp of the industry reality.  I thought  my partner, Geoffrey Hansen could have written this book as Gospe looks at the world with a very good grasp of process. (This is likely due to his grounding at HP and Sun )  His experience allows him to simply and clarify marketing to its essence.  This makes this a very useful book to help any marketer grab the high ground earning more respect from his colleagues.  The beginner through to the master marketer can learn much from this book. He also lays out common frustrations and traces them back to the source. His approach is customer based, using that knowledge for  segmentation, positioning and creating personas. He provides a step by step process for doing this. I especially appreciated his sage advice for young marketers to not get sidetracked by fads ( e.g. social marketing) and neglect the basics. Buy it, read it and keep it close.   His website is  http://marketinghighground.wordpress.com

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The Secrets of Word of Mouth Marketing. 2nd ed.  How to trigger exponential sales through runaway word of mouth. George Silverman.2011. ISBN 9780814416686.  This book is full of extremely current material applicable to content marketing. Silverman “invented”  WoM marketing and has been at it  longer than anyone.  His idea of impact is to shorten buying decision times.
He has the stories and ideas to prove it.   Some tidbits:

1. In a believability ranking ( from 1 -21)  , a statement from a trusted adviser  ranked 1, whereas a company president giving an sales  infomercial,  ranked 18.
2. Make your message simple – so its easy to deliver
3. Make the client decisions easy
4. Use real people and real stories
5. How easy is your referral system?
6. Customer service is part of marketing
7. Are you creating raving fans?
8. When in doubt ask , what would Google or Apple do?

This is a must buy for any marketer.  Its your step by step guide to success.

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• Word of Mouth Marketing for Restaurants (gourmetmarketing.net)
• 5 Strategies to Maximize Word of Mouth Marketing (blogs.sitepoint.com)

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Killing Giants. 10 strategies to topple the Goliath in your industry. Stephen Denny. 2011. ISBN 9781591843832.  The author has put down 33 first hand stories  ( Eg Vibram barefoot runners, Dunking Donuts taste test,  Jetblue) organized under ten different strategies.   This is a book that should be in hands of every small business owner or small division owner. The stories are compelling, recognizable and very well organized  (The author has a strategy for that as well)  Smaller companies should be more nimble and market responsive than the giants.   Great line that I extracted, over time incumbent companies grow to resemble their markets ( like owners look like their dogs) .  Large companies acquire habits that smaller firms can get around and find opportunities.  Good read and well put together.

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Launch. How to quickly propel your business beyond the competition. Michael Stelzner. 2011. ISBN 9781118027233.  Wow.

So much packed into a reasonable read.

1. How Stelzner built and drove to incredible success two completely different web businesses. White papers (http://www.stelzner.com/copy-HowTo-whitepapers.php)  and social media (socialmediaexaminer.com )  From that comes online events, research papers, books and deep valuable content.
2. More than a how to do it, he also shows you why things work, the details on how to build great content, and simple progressive methods to grow any business, and when to turn down the volume.
3. Case studies, examples of best practice and personal experiences are threaded through this book.
4. Plus he refers to lots of other great content you can use to grow your expertise and success.

If you market or sell anything- this is the book on todays methods.  Its educational, thoughtful and inspirational.  He is a good writer, so  its a fine read.

I rate this a must buy.

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Voice of the Customer Marketing. A revolutionary five-step process to create customers who care, spend and stay. Ernan Roman. 2011. ISBN 9780071740838. This is a good complement to companies who wish to use buyers’ language and buyer behaviors to drive their own growth in content marketing.  Roman is very experienced in Voice Of the Customer (VOC) work and this book is immediately useful to you.  He is a pragmatist with lots of street cred in this area. Each chapter has clear and useful case studies. Some points:

• At the end of the day companies do not change because of data,. They change because of VOC.
• 68 % of customer defection takes place because customers feel poorly treated.
• 95 % of complaining customers will do business with you again if you resolve the complaint instantly.
• Are you guilty of customer manipulation? (You can’t get this data until you fill in this form and allow us to drown you in untargeted emails.)
• Companies that outsourced their call centers often fail faster .

Very good addition to your marketing library. It will prevent you from making some serious blunders.

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Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead. What every business can learn from the most iconic band in history. David Meerman  Scott & Brian Halligan. 2010. ISBN 9780470900529.   This is  more than a story about the Grateful Dead from two Deadheads.  It really does draw lessons from the Dead that are very applicable to today.  David Meerman Scott really knows todays marketing “stuff” and Brain Halligan is a founder of Hubspot.  Short but not a book to dismiss this is a very good read at the same time.

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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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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.

What Women Want. The global market turns female friendly. Paco Underhill. A new good book from the author of Why We Buy.  This is further  insight into the changing of consumers worldwide by an expert who knows how to write.  Every chapter will have you nodding your head with another few insights into the  opportunities missed to really direct your marketing to the segments that control the bulk of the money on our world.  Who? The over 50 market.  This may about what women want,  but any guy will find himself in these pages.   Very worthwhile marketing book, up to date and immediately applicable.  Good 4 hour plane ride book, it will keep your interest and get you thinking.

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