17 Timeless Reads That Will Make You A Better Digital Marketer
*Updated regularly with new finds. Up to 18 now.
The internet is packed with hordes of marketers marketing to marketers about marketing. Which sucks when you’re trying to up your game.
But every once in a while, I come across an article, book, or slide deck that actually educates, with crystal-clear pragmatic takeaways.
And I love them.
So when I made the reading list for a recent content marketing course I taught, I filtered out the fluff and stuck with the gold. So in no particular order, here’s my list of required digital marketing reading.
And no, not every item here is The Marketing Bible. But every single thing will help you market better. I promise.
Eytan’s Required Digital Marketing Reading
What is Customer Jobs? What is Jobs to be Done? by Alan Klement
Job To Be Done is a brilliant way to look at what your prospects actually need, helping your craft the story.
Pirate Metrics by Dave McClure
Any decent marketing funnel relies on user lifecycles and funnels. Dave’s Pirate Metrics are the gold standard.
Traction by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares
There are a lot of ways to market. Weinberg and Mares use real-life examples to walk readers through 19 different channels for marketing, as well as a low-barrier approach to find the right one.
Growth Hacker Marketing by Ryan Holiday
Gem of a quick read for dipping your toes in real growth hacking, from the principles up.
Permission Marketing by Seth Godin
Godin’s book on permission marketing was a precursor for the explosion of inbound marketing, focused on forging a relationship with prospects so that not only do you get in the door, they open it for you.
When you’re driving through a pasture, you’ll always notice the Purple Cow. Trust me.
The Lean Startup Methodology by Eric Ries
The methodology pervasive in tech for building, measuring and iterating on startups is born to go hand in hand with iterative, adaptive marketing.
How Upworthy makes things go viral by Upworthy
Fantastic case study into how methodical testing makes things take off. Also, how two interns schooled the Upworthy team.
What Is Public Narrative (and Storytelling 101) by Marshall Ganz
An incredible read from an incredibley popular Harvard Communication 101 course
Copywriting Formulas by Buffer
Writing is hard. Take a look at some of the most popular frameworks for writing an article. Or magazine ads. Or movies. Or Laffy Taffy jokes. Or anything, really.
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Dr Robert Cialdini
This is cited by every content marketer at some point…but the principles at play in this book do exist. Just don’t be evil about it, mmmkay?
Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Work by Dan and Chip Heath
Beyond the fact that the authors rock at content marketing, this book provides some great insights into why some ideas (and marketing strategies) work when others don’t.
Growing Mint to 1 Million Users by noah kagan
Getting started is always difficult. Kagan provides a fantastic window into taking a huge goal (launch a killer app) and breaking it into smaller, achievable steps.
Brian Balfour’s Growth Machine by Brian Balfour
What if there was a framework that you could implement in order to actually control and track your growth experiments? What if? Happy birthday.
How to Make an NPR Podcast by noah kagan
Find yourself drawn into NPR podcasts? Me too. It’s because they know how to formulate a story. Read the article, download the podcast.
Growth Hacker is the new VP Marketing by Andrew Chen
The article that kicked off what being a growth hacker is. The term is overused…but the ideas live on.
Why Content Marketing Fails by Rand Fishkin
86 slides that show why so many content marketers fall flat on their face
The Three-Hour Brand Sprint by Jake Knapp
Branding is complicated. But this three hour brand sprint is a brilliant way to get quick results. Good enough for Coca-Cola? Probably not. Good way to get started for your startup? Definitely.
Next up, my list of marketing email newsletters that I read before I read emails from my mom.
Liked this list? Drop me a heart, amigo.
Originally published at Eytan Buchman.
