Today I’m going to go through 7 marketing books that you need to read.
You’ve probably heard of some of them, but these are books that I have found very inspirational not only just in business but also in life.
So today I’m going to give you something a little bit different. I’m going to go through 7 books I that have had a big impact on my business and on me personally.
Table of Contents:
The Guerrilla Marketing Revolution
I’m going to start with The Guerrilla Marketing Revolution by Jay Conrad Levinson. This book was actually given to me by my father and it is kind of what kick-started the whole direct marketing thing for me. Up until that point I was consumed with technology; the coding and design aspect of marketing.
And this is what really changed my mindset from the technology stuff to understanding and appreciating the psychological aspects of marketing.
In my teens I read the A-level study books for psychology, I absolutely loved it and even though I dropped it for a few years, this is what brought everything back to me. If you’ve read this book you know how powerful it is.
Ogilvy on Advertising
The next one is Ogilvy on Advertising. David Ogilvy was a marketing genius. It’s rumoured that in Mad Men the TV series, Don Draper was based on Ogilvy. This book has got some of his best adverts in there and I would recommend buying this just for the copy and use it as a swipe file because some of the best-known adverts in history are in this book – and they were created by Ogilvy.
Tricks of the Mind
This is where things start to veer off a little bit into the unusual. This book is by Derren Brown.
Derren is a magician but he uses some pretty cool psychological techniques to influence his audience, and he shares some of them in this book.
Now bearing in mind that the guy is a magician, he does put a few magic tricks in here but he also uses a lot of psychology, NLP and stuff that we can use in our marketing. This has been very inspirational to me.
Now, the thing about Derren Brown is that when he makes it look like mind control, it’s actually a magic trick. So you have to understand that most of what he is doing is an illusion and that the real mind control stuff is the stuff that looks like a magic trick.
He does it back to front to make it harder to figure out exactly how he is doing his tricks, but he does reveal some of the psychological as well as manipulation stuff. I suppose manipulation is a funny thing. It comes out of the intent really. I think of course we can use anything as a weapon if we choose to. It all comes down to our internal code and ethics and this book will give you a toolset that you can use to make your message clearer.
The Art of War
Another one that I would like to show you is The Art of War by Sun Tsu. If you’ve watched The Sopranos for more than five episodes you’ve probably heard about this book because they keep talking about it and for good reason.
In The Sopranos, they’re obviously a mafia family and they’re at war in different ways. One of my friends who recommended that I read this book summed it up really nicely.
He said, “The Art Of War is a book that teaches you how to get more of what you want without pissing anyone off.”
Basically, how to get more of what you want without annoying anyone or making enemies in the process.
And I found this to be a very easy to read book. There are a lot of little parables that will give you solid advice and help change the way you think about things, especially conflict.
In this business thing that we do, there is a lot of conflict, not just with the competition. In fact, I think that is really an old way of viewing things but sometimes we come up against it. So The Art of War by Sun Tzu is worth checking out. It will help you deal with people in a nicer way.
The Prince
The next one is called The Prince by Nicola Machiavelli. I’m sure you’ve all heard of the phrase ‘Machiavellian’, this is where it comes from. It is essentially a series of letters that Machiavelli had written to a prince and it is advice.
At the time this book was deemed almost satanic for the advice that it delivers but in today’s society, it is almost like a manual on how to survive.
Again, it comes down to the intention. Obviously, this stuff can be used for bad. Bad politicians use it in a negative way to deceive and to lie but again it’s all about the intention.
Words That Sell
We are coming to the end of this. Now, this isn’t the last book. It’s the second last book. It is Words That Sell and it is essentially a list of words, power words that you can use to grab attention and help your prospects feel a certain way. For example, it starts with the word authentic. So it gives you alternative words to use.
You could use the real thing, real life, true to life, value, legitimate, genuine.
These are all alternative words to authentic. It’s got hundreds and hundreds of words to help you improve your copywriting.
Breakthrough Advertising
The final book I’ve got for you. It is the big daddy of digital marketing even though it was written in 1966, Breakthrough Advertising. You’ve heard me talk about this before. It is by Eugene Schwartz and we probably wouldn’t have the modern day marketing funnel without it because it maps it all out. It describes the different segments of every market and it gives you the tools you need to communicate with every segment of that market more effectively.
Summary
I’ve gone through this book previously a couple of times on Profit Copilot but if you are interested in that one in particular, and it is an expensive book. I’ve got free videos and podcasts for you, to give you a flavor of what the book is about and to help educate and inform you of some of the valuable lessons you will find in the book.
If you are customer-centric, if your focus is on delivering value and making the world a better place these books will help you achieve it quicker.
That’s because you are coming from a place of positivity, and if you are in the mindset of what you can give instead of what you can get, then you can use all these books in a very positive way.
So there you go, that’s 7 books that have had a massive impact on me personally and in my business. I hope you found this useful.