Account-Based Marketing for dummies. Sangram Vajre. 2016. ISBN 9781119224853.  I am always surprised how this series of books does the job. Well written clear and concise , it is useful to the  all levels of ABM knowledge as a first read.   IT may downplay how much work this method really is and the importance of the very early work to success later on.  What the author decries today is very true and without a material change of approach by sales and marketing the waste of dollars and effort with continue.  ABM is not new, (I used to call it Key Account Management)  but it  can be very effective with the tools and approaches we know about.

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A Practitioner’s Guide to Account Based Marketing. Bev Burgess & Dave Munn.  2017. ISBN 9780749479893.  A very thorough treatment on the topic.  It would be my go to book for anyone wanting a deeper dive.  The numerous case studies  are well written and illustrate the point. Perhaps it is a bit too much on the very large companies as now the tools are available for this methodology to be used effectively by smaller firms.  Supplement this book with the steady stream of blog posts  on the topic and you will be all set. IMHO ABM is the way to go to make best use of your sales and marketing resources.

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Content Inc. How entrepreneurs use content to build massive audiences and create radically successful businesses. Joe Pulizzi. 2016 ISBN 9781259589669.   This could be called the Content Bible on building any content based business.  The author is a successful  pioneer in this field and he knows how to make it work.  The book is full of get to the point quickly content and a plethora of case studies and examples of how others have done or are doing it.  With this book and the requisite hard work you are more than 3/4 of the way to a successful business.  Having read his other books  I am a fan, but you will find it a very worthwhile use of your time to get this book.

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WordPress Made Super Simple.  How anyone can build a professional looking website from scratch: Even a total beginner. Jack Davies & Sarah Wiley 2014.   This book does exactly what it proposes to do.  I have looked a few of these books this year and can not recommend this one too highly.  Like Jack  “just the facts ma’am”  Palance , the author does not stray very far from the essentials.  The first book to read on the subject IMHO.

Don’t Be Such a Scientist. Talking substance in an age of style. Randy Olsen. 2009. ISBN  The author, a PhD in marine biology , left his professorship after 20 years to learn to be a filmmaker. In doing so he discovered the gulf between what scientists did wrto communication and what the public needed in order to understand science. Unfortunately, there are very few Carl Sagans. If you are analytical and literal minded you might enjoy this book as you experience the vast gulf between story and science.  This book is very important as the antiscience , gut feeling decisions are being made by what you would expect to be educated people .   Its an easy read that does the job quite well.

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Buyer Personas. How to gain insight into your customers expectations, align your marketing strategies and win more business. Adelle Revella 2015. ISBN 9781118961506.  A very well considered book that provides a thorough analysis and playbook on building successful personas for your business.   .  Chapter 10 brings it together on how to help guide sales teams with buyer insights and decision  criteria to allow salespeople to do a much faster and better job of selling.   The pages are full of insights and good practice on this subject.   This is the authoritative text on the subject today and a must buy for all marketers.

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Duct Tape Selling. Think like a marketeer- Sell like a superstar.  John Jantsch. 2014. ISBN 97811591846338.  I have been a fan of John’s work since Duct Tape Marketing first came to market. Now John has built up a substantial sales and marketing consultancy based on his work helping companies build up their programs. John is a customer oriented marketeer/writer and his material reflects this new reality for  sales and marketing.  Much of what we find/use in our practise aligns with John’s point of view.  His sales and marketing hourglasses approach is invaluable.  This is a must have book for the 20% of the salespeople/sales managers who want to grab 80% of the market.  It is not an easy task, what you learn in this book is so valuable that I say just get over it and get to work.   Kudos to John for making this book a thorough, well researched yet easy read.  I suggest this book for a 4 hr round trip air flight.

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The One Week Marketing Plan. The  Set It & Forget It Approach For Quickly Growing Your Business.  Mark Satterfield. 2014. ISBN 9781939529787.  The book is exactly as the title says.  This is a very updated compilation of successful direct marketing approaches that are tested and effective in the world of content marketing.  It can be just this simple ,especially for a start- up that sees so much that needs to be done. By following this book you will have a rudimentary program up and running that will give you feedback on much of your marketing content.   Now its never this easy, as many of us are incapable of creating the type of effective copy needed for this to really work. But by following these ideas you will have much better idea of what will work and an appreciation of those who can write compelling copy.  Easy to read and very well laid out. So its a good resource.

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The Social Employee. Success lessons from IBM, AT&T, Dell and Cisco on building a social culture. Cheryl & Mark Burgess. 2014. ISBN 9780071816410.  Very thorough job on what the four firms have done in this space. A very useful book when you are a large firm looking to benchmark your initiatives.  The early chapters give any company good ideas about how to engage your employees and the benefits of spreading the social work around. I appreciated their guidelines to help put bounds around what can be done.   Good easy to read style.

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LinkedIn Marketing Blueprint. 21 days to building an influential LinkedIn presence. Edmund Lee. 2013. ISBN  Edmund sent me this book to review and I am pleased he did. I have previously  boiled down for my clients a four weeks to LinkedIn mastery checklist. However I intend to have them buy this book from now on. In an easy to read and logical style the author shows you what to do to get a strong LinkedIn presence.  There are enough tips and ideas her to get you to put up  decent pages that will perform well for you.   The role of LinkedIn “expert” is a moving target as more people use the site and learn tips and tricks.   My only quibble is that I get my clients to look at groups sooner , to see if there are relevant conversations that are going on in their space.  I liked that the author looks at setting early metrics

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