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Got the idea? Don’t know how to sell it? Can barely explain it for somebody else! This is classic and yet another place where the education system could use some work on. There should really be a class teaching kids how to comprehensively describe something to others to pay attention to it, or ‘buy’ it. It would make those future work interviews a piece of cake!
When it comes to sales and marketing, you should see it as a test to fully demonstrate your mastery over the language. Tobe able to describe an offering within the confines of reality. That is to say: ‘Make it attractive, but don’t you dare lie’.
Aside from some gifted mavericks, this is a way of communication that is unheard of for most and as such, it demands some initiation. You can get yours by reading these informative books on sales and marketing that’ll allow you to creatively sell ice cubes to an eskimo and even more.
Not many books in college change your life, this one changed mine. So many businesses forget that marketing is not just ads or Facebook posts, but instead is the creation and communication of your brand through every action your business takes. I consider this to be the foundational text on marketing communications as a business solution, not a tactic.
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Will Coombe’s easy to read, straight talking approach to SEO marketing is a breath of fresh air. You can sit down and read this in a weekend and return to the office brimming with ideas and a to-do list that really do give results. In short, SEO was once a dark art only practiced by experts, but Will Coombe has shone a light on it and shown how anyone can embrace it.
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Jim Collins analyses companies that have taken their companies from good (average results) to great (exceeding profits of their competitors) and sustained it over fifteen years (long enough to show it wasn’t a fluke.) He compares the selected companies with similarly sized competitors in each industry and analysed the differences. The findings, the traits or “DNA” that were identified in all the “great” companies, were then conveyed as a potential road map for success.
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My favourite marketing book is The Ultimate Guide to Link Building, because it’s filled with actionable advice that turns around your thinking on how to build links. Eric Ward is an expert at link building, and easy to understand – his insight is invaluable. Some parts are a little hard to digest at times and require a re-read, but it’ll quickly become a great reference for any marketer looking to improve their outreach.
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An award-winning copywriter and creative veteran from on of the most prestigious ad agencies in the world, Luke Sullivan analyses the advertising industry and brings his thoughts to what makes good ads. (Or maybe more importantly, what people do to make their ads really bad.) Not just creative, its strategic. A must read for anyone wanting to get into the advertising industry or if their business uses advertising.
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I can easily recommend anything that Guy Kawasaki has written. This is one of his earlier books where he talks about “evangelism”, convincing others to believe in you and what you are doing, not just trying to sell them a product or service.
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Another favourite author: if Harry Beckwith wrote it, I can recommend it. Selling the Invisible is a collection of quick marketing ideas, each chapter is just a few pages long, making it a great book to be able to pick up and read and then put back down. In fact, he subsequently talks (I think in a later book) about how the small physical size and writing style helped make this book easy for travellers taking on planes, part of how to became a best seller. But it’s not just gimmick of style or size, lots of great ideas for marketers are in his book (and other books.)
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Pulling out all of my favourite authors in this list…this is an author that I am constantly referring to. Purple Cow is probably Seth Godin’s most famous book. A collection of ideas that builds on the idea of a having a purple cow–the idea that separates you from the ordinary. If you spot a purple cow along the side of the road, that would be quite remarkable. What can you do as a business that can make you remarkable?
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Yes, I was fascinated with this book. It takes a psychological look at triggers, the stimuli that people react to, and then draws how marketers can use those triggers to engage their audience. This is a well-written book that takes complex ideas and simplifies them. If you are a marketer, you will definitely find items that you can use in your strategic marketing concepts.
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I have been in sales for over 26 years. This is the book that I was given by my mentor in 1994, and to this day it is the foundation as to who I am as a man professionally and personally. This book, although only being under 150 pages, it takes 10 months to read if you follow the directions. It reprograms your subconscious mind to avoid negativity, to embrace positivity. It also provides the psychological principles to be successful in sales. I highly recommend this book for anyone in sales and just anyone in life!
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This book reveals the dirty secrets of the traditional advertising model that no-one wants to talk about.
It should be required reading for marketers and agencies everywhere.
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Some business books focus on helping you understand your passion. Some focus on teaching you marketing strategies. A rare few link the two together. But LINGO is the only book I’ve ever read that grounds passion in the practicality of understanding your ideal client, and uses that knowledge as the foundation for uber focused relationship-based marketing. With equal parts humour, sincerity, and proven business savvy, Jeffrey Shaw has given us a new path forward towards joy, purpose, and profitability in business.
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This book offers incredible insight into how to deliver value to prospects, and how this translates to long-term successful relationships.
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I recommend this book because of all the personal insights offered that are still relevant in today’s sales and marketing world.
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Packed with marketing tips and tactics that every small business owner can utilise; this book is a must for those starting out who want to create a portfolio of marketing activities that really does lead to sales. It covers traditional sales and marketing tactics such as business and newsletters, and how to create copy and content that really packs a punch as well as the importance of online promotion and marketing tools.
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Donald Miller’s StoryBrand provides a framework for businesses to transform the customer into the hero of the business brand story. We love this book because of it’s straightforward tone and clear direction in branding. At One Week Website we believe ‘Clarity is Key’ and Donald Miller hits it home. Building a StoryBrand will transform the way you talk about what you do as a business and what you can do for the customer.
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This book gives great advice from real life experience from marketing expert Gary Vaynerchuck on how to gain the attention of your audience and connect with your customers. This book also gives great examples and strategies on how to start your marketing strategy.
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This book gives great insight in how to put all of those ideas you have swimming around in your head into action and how to translate them in a way that will interest and excite your customers. Marketing a Love Story talks about marketing from the perspective of understanding the customer and looking into solving problems that your customers are struggling with.
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Building a marketing plan can be a daunting task. This book helps you to simplify the process and to stop just doing random acts of marketing. The 1-Page Marketing Plan helps making a marketing plan simple, and quick
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The book is a must for every small business owner. It explains why most small businesses fail and what should the business owners do about them.The book is written as a long story in a simple and lucid language. There is absolutely no business jargon. It can be understood by anyone. The book painstakingly explains why small business owners should work on their business and not in it. It talks about the virtues of implementing systems and processes to run the business.After implementing the ideas written in the book, small business owners can transform their business and make it a great business.
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What sets this book apart from others is Seth Godin’s human approach to marketing. Godin believes that we are all marketers and that we have the opportunity to change things. However, the first step to creating change is to start caring about the people we’re marketing to. In this book, you will learn tactics to not only market better but also how to create a following that truly cares about what you are selling. If spam, pop-overs, and other dodgy marketing tactics make you feel uncomfortable, this book is for you.
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Digital Marketing is a fantastic source of insights for students who are new to the field, and practitioners who are looking to delve into marketing on a deeper level. Dave Chaffey draws on his wealth of experience in the industry, to discuss not only the concepts behind this form of marketing, but also its practical application to the real world. Be prepared to learn about digital marketing’s role in business, read advice from leaders in the industry, and see how Chaffey dissects the most influential online businesses, to discover how you can create your own cutting-edge digital marketing strategy.
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The most helpful marketing book I have found for my business has been The New Rules of Marketing & PR by David Meerman Scott. Social Media is such an important aspect of any marketing strategy with trends constantly changing. In the New Rules of Marketing, David Meerman Scott outlines the best way to use each platform in a creative way that can relate to any business. Using this strategy I have increased my Instagram following from 600 to over 3,700 in less than a year.
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Influence’ by Dr Robert Cialdini is THE book on the psychology of persuasion EVERY aspiring or professional marketing and/or sales person should read.. It details the six fundamental pillars of persuasion and gives details and examples of how these methods can be used. Invaluable lessons for all people who persuade people for a living.
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Not necessary a sales and marketing book but a book about communication, copywriting, and the ability to understand and connect with an audience. All these are skills you really do need to understand and master in order to do well in marketing and sales online.
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What can Superman, Moses and Steven Seagal reveal about the art of public relations? Plenty, in Bite the Dog. Schneeberger’s book is an entertaining and insightful guide for building and executing a PR strategy to make news that matters. He shares 30 years of wit and wisdom about how authors, experts, speakers, consultants and business leaders can turn their message into headlines. Anyone who wants to change hearts with what’s in their heart will find this an invaluable guidebook to creating “man bites dog” stories – those that exceed and upset the expectations of the press and their audiences.
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21 Days to a Big Idea uses idea-creation processes the author has invented to help Fortune 500 companies create and successfully market over $3 Billion in new products and services.
Inspired by a request from a professor at Columbia Business to help his MBA entrepreneurial students invent better ideas for new ventures, “21 Days” leads the reader through a fun, and easy-to-learn and apply 21-day process to invent and develop “the next big thing!” Ideation Techniques in the book include: Target-Market Wishing, Silly/Worst Idea, Questioning Assumptions, Problem Redefinition, Patent Prompts, Billboard Concept Development, etc.
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This book covers everything you need to get into the proper mindset for sales as well as the fundamental techniques that no sales person should violate. Grant is an expert in sales with one of the most successful sales programs on the planet so the results speak for themselves.
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Every company needs to communicate with customers or audience. With so much information hitting them every day, what makes you think your message will stick? Made to Stick shows marketers how to take their messaging to the next level. This book breaks down infectious writing into easy and applicable steps. It’s a fun read, full of academic studies and real-life marketing examples. This book is an industry staple and one I would refer to anyone wanting to be a better communicator.
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I am suggesting this book, because as an entrepreneur, the moment my great idea passed its honeymoon stage and I started to measure every effort being poured into my startup or business, I paused and measured the successes of the company, what channels had been working, what channels had not, and I admitted that I needed help. I needed a bit more guidance and resources. I paused my company for two weeks while I re-sketched and reflected where we were going, and during that time, I asked my team to read Traction by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares. As a team, we looked at our marketing efforts and tested multiple channels that the book suggests until we found which one was the best one for URNX. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is starting their business or feels like they need to invest in new approaches to lead in their market space. I could not recommend this book enough.
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You can’t successfully sell or market your services if you don’t have anyone to sell or market to. That’s why networking is so important for business owners and professionals. Growing your network amplifies your brand, giving you increased exposure through referrals and recommendations – that’s the kind of marketing you can’t buy! Unfortunately, so many of us are networking without awareness of our goals and objectives. We’re joining groups, attending events, and having coffee with people and organisations who may or may not support our sales and marketing goals. This book helps you define your current goals in your business and career, and then shows you strategies for evaluating the right groups and events, and finally gives you loads of tips on how to make those oh-so-important personal connections with the people who most want to hear your message.
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This is an incredible resource to any copywriter, marketer, or anyone in sales. The examples mostly withstand the test of time, but it’s the concepts discussed are the true gems and focus on timeless principles of human nature and purchasing behaviour. It’s required reading at our agency marketing agency, and the results we deliver our clients consistently improve while using these techniques.
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Now in its 4th edition, *Guerilla Marketing* (a national bestseller) has been updated to include ‘guerilla tactics’ for: Internet marketing, using automated marketing technology, podcasting strategies, and managing the contributions of freelancers. And when combined with the book’s original groundbreaking ideas, it can be considered the entrepreneur’s ‘Marketing Bible.’ Formerly a vice president and creative director at J. Walter Thompson Advertising, Jay Levinson has authored more than a dozen books on marketing, and specialises in marketing tactics that easily can be utilised by small businesses. Levinson is currently the chairman of Guerrilla Marketing International and does consulting work for businesses worldwide.
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