If you’re a marketer, entrepreneur, or running a business, you need to know all you can to stay ahead of your competitors. Of course, you probably know that. But what most of us don’t know is that marketing keeps changing, particularly in this digital age.
Strategies that worked six months or a year ago may not work now. The best marketers are, therefore, the ones that constantly keep ahead of their competitors. And they’re able to do so because they’re always adding to their knowledge.
Fortunately, you can (and should) learn from the best marketers who have written their experiences to avoid mistakes and ensure your success. That’s what this guide does. Let’s go through the best marketing books you should read in 2021.
1. Icarus Deception – Seth Godin
Do you remember Icarus’s disastrous flaw? He didn’t head to Daedalus’ warning about not flying too close to the sun. Also, his father cautioned his son not to fly too low because he was afraid that the saltwater would damage the wings.
Godin’s book takes a cue from Greet mythology and pushes you to think drastically outside the box and move forward without a roadmap. This critical skill is essential for any marketer who wants to see constant growth.
Godin emphasizes that conformity, conventional wisdom, and fitting the mold are guaranteed paths to mediocrity.
2. Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products – Nir Eyal
You’re probably aware that it’s not the best products that get the attention of the masses or go viral. Sometimes, the best products are those that were deliberately designed to keep you engaged.
In this book, Eyal discusses a four-step process through which businesses can guide human behavior. In other words, these processes can bring back your customers without depending on any other marketing or advertising.
According to the author, when you flawlessly execute these steps, you can increase your customer’s lifetime value, provide flexibility in pricing, increase growth, and get a competitive advantage.
3. Trust Me, I’m Lying: Confessions Of A Media Manipulator – Ryan Holiday
If you don’t know, have a critical understanding of how the media works, you can’t understand how to position a client or your brand in the media landscape. Holiday’s book dives deeper to help you have a firm grasp of the matter.
The book is two in one. The first part talks about how blogs push news and how it can be manipulated. The second part explains what happens when it’s done, and it includes famous examples.
According to Holiday, he wrote the book so that people can know how media manipulators work, how to fight them, how you can spot their fingerprints, and how you can imitate their tactics if you must.
Even though the book’s main intention was to warn people, it’s pretty hard to read it and not develop actionable ideas.
4. Contagious: Why Things Catch On – Jonah Berger
Remember the last time you saw something online and shared it immediately? Maybe it was a meme, a YouTube video, an article, etc. What made you share with your colleague? What motivated you?
The author of the book, Jonah Berger, has studied how social media shapes our decisions. And it also includes why some things go viral, and others don’t. Berger’s work has become a seminal marketing book.
If you’re a marketing professional, this book is a must-read as it will help you find out how to get ahead of the curve.
5. Influence: The Psychology Of Persuasion – Robert B. Cialdini
Marketing, at its core, is how to get people to buy your products and services, which can be difficult. Yet, millions of businesses worldwide are seeking people’s attention and money every time. And the social media pressures add more strain to an already complex and saturated competition for customer’s attention.
But Cialdini analyses how brands can influence people to say yes through thoughtful persuasion. The book contains 35+ years of research on persuasion and influence that looks into why people say yes.
The book contains six principles that can help you become better at persuading. Aside from that, it can also help you defend yourself when someone uses it against you. Therefore, it’s essential to understand psychology and human behavior in marketing.
This book will show you how thoroughly. Now, you can choose the book you want or buy all of the books to help you get the results you seek. After usage, you can keep them or find various ways to recycle those books. Regardless, make sure you get the best out of the book before recycling.
Final Thoughts
You can find lots of marketing books out there, with more coming out almost every time. However, this list outlined in this guide will help you get started and produce positive results.
Read the books over and over again until you fully get every page. Then follow through with the steps and get the desired results you seek.
