The 4 Books Every Marketer Needs

Every company has a story to tell. From the Fortune 500 to the corner deli. The problem is that most companies can’t properly story tell. They have to worry about running their business, paying taxes, dealing with customers, tackling the minutia. They figure a website with a mission statement will suffice. Unfortunately, that’s not true. If you want more customers you’ll have to put out more content. Luckily there are a couple of talented practitioners who’ve shared their secrets on how to make content that resonates. I have a bookcase filled with marketing books and I want to share the top 4 books that can help you get started in content marketing.

Purple Cow by Seth Godin

Seth Godin is the philosopher king in the marketing community, he invented email marketing. Through his daily blog, he’s become a teacher to marketers and creatives. He’s written 18 bestselling books, many of which sit on my shelf, and has a knack for simplifying his thoughts into highly valuable content.

Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable is the perfect book to start with if you’re new to content marketing. The general thesis is this: if you’re driving along a country road and keep seeing cows you won’t think anything of it — but if you saw a purple cow you’d slam on the brakes and stare in wonder. This is how your company should position itself, as something to be remarked about.

In the book, Seth provides examples of companies that are making themselves remarkable, from JetBlue to Tide to Starbucks.

“A brand (or a new product offering) is nothing more than an idea. Ideas that spread are more likely to succeed than those that don’t.” pg. 38

Use this book to think about how to make your product or service remarkable.

Tribes by Seth Godin

Godin’s next popular book, Tribes: We Need You To Lead Us, is about leadership. It’ll make you rethink how you interact with your employees, friends, customers, investors, and followers. This is an important book because it offers a foundational mindset to how you should think about your company’s brand on social media.

Before your company can start promoting its products you’ll need to know whom you’re speaking to and more importantly, decide why they should follow you.

Technology is segmenting us into tribes. Godin defines a tribe that has a shared interest and a way to communicate. This is what changes a group of people into a tribe. After that communication can be done in four ways (pg.24):

• Leader to tribe
• Time to leader
• Tribe member to tribe member
• Tribe member to outsider

Brands now have a tribal following. Whether you recognize or not, you’re in a tribe, several in fact. Love HBO’s Game of Thrones? You’re in that tribe. Are you a SoulCycler or CrossFitter? How about a corgi lover or a Starbucks loyalist? All are tribes.

This book is powerful because it stresses the point that you need to lead us. Don’t roll your eyes. Even if you work at a humongous company you can still form a tribe. I’ve seen interns form tribes that impact business with what Seth calls micro movements (pg.102). It’s possible.

Think about your customer, who is she? Why does she want to follow your company? Are you doing something worth following?

Use this book to think about how to get the right people to follow as you lead.

Growth Hacker Marketing

The next book is Ryan Holiday’s Growth Hacker Marketing. This book is the most tactical of them all. Ryan Holiday is a media strategist and former director of marketing for American Apparel.

The book provides case studies of companies who used growth hacking tactics to leap above their competition and experience explosive growth. The book starts by defining exactly what growth hacking is, then moves on to defining product market fit. From there you’ll learn to identify your growth hack, how to make that go viral, and then close the loop for “retention and optimization”

An example from the book is Hotmail’s use of word-of-mouth marketing. They simply put this tagline: “Get Your Free Email at Hotmail” at the bottom of every single email that was sent. A web 2.0 recreation of this was Dropbox’s referral program, they would provide more space, for free, if you referred Dropbox’s services. Your content can leverage similar tactics.

Use this book as a playbook for your next product launch.

The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition

The final book was written 98 years ago. It’s very simple and should be followed to the letter. It’s William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White’s The Element of Style. This is essential for any team member who will be handling copywriting in your business.

My favorite rule is #17: Omit needless words. This goes for your marketing and day-to-day email. If you can make your thoughts clear and concise you’ll be loved forever.

Use this book to be a concise writer.

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