Are you looking for great marketing books to read? Are you looking for tips and strategies to do better at your marketing job?
During the time I have had during my stay at home orders, I have read many marketing books to help me succeed in my school communications job. Five titles have bubbled to the top. I feel these are the best marketing books you should read in 2020.
We are looking to do better in our jobs. And times have certainly changed as more platforms are emerging to promote our business and organizations. As audiences continue to change, we must refine our skills. These five marketing books give great insight into marketing strategies and our changing demographics.
The Best Marketing Books You Should Read in 2020
Here is my list of the best marketing books I have read in 2020:
1. Brand Storytelling by Miri Rodriguez
Despite understanding essential storytelling techniques, brands continue to explain how their product or service can help the customer, rather than showcasing how the customer’s life has changed as a result of them. Brand Storytelling gets back to the heart of brand loyalty, consumer behavior and engagement as a business strategy: using storytelling to trigger the emotions that humans are driven by. It provides a step by step guide to assess, dismantle and rebuild a brand story, shifting the brand from a ‘hero’ to ‘sidekick’ mentality, and positioning the customer as a key influencer to motivate the audience.
Written by the award-winning storyteller Miri Rodriguez at Microsoft, Brand Storytelling is a clear, actionable guide that goes beyond content strategy, simplifying where to begin, how to benchmark success and ensuring a consistent brand voice throughout every department. Inspiring with interviews, advice and case studies from leading brands like Expedia, Coca Cola, McDonalds, Adobe and Google, it clarifies why machine-learning, AI and automation only tell one side of the story. Aligning an emotive connection with the customer’s personal values, experiences and aspirations will enable brand leaders, employees and influencers to celebrate and strengthen brand engagement for long-term growth, rather than trying to win it. – Amazon
Get to Know Miri Rodriguez
How Can I Engage with Miri Rodriguez
- Click Here to Visit Her Webpage
- Click Here to Engage on Twitter
- Click Here to Engage on Instagram
- Click Here to Engage on LinkedIn
- Buy Her Book Here
2. Fanocracy by David Meerman Scott & Reiko Scott
How do some brands attract word-of-mouth buzz and radical devotion around products as everyday as car insurance, b2b software, and underwear? They embody the most powerful marketing force in the world: die-hard fans.
In this essential book, leading business growth strategist David Meerman Scott and fandom expert Reiko Scott explore the neuroscience of fandom and interview young entrepreneurs, veteran business owners, startup founders, nonprofits, and companies big and small to pinpoint which practices separate organizations that flourish from those stuck in stagnation. They lay out a road map for converting customers’ ardor into buying power, pulling one-of-a-kind examples from a wide range of organizations, including:
– MeUndies, the subscription company that’s revolutionizing underwear
– HeadCount, the nonprofit that registers voters at music concerts
– Grain Surfboards, the board-building studio that willingly reveals its trade secrets with customers
– Hagerty, the classic-car insurance provider with over 600,000 premier club members
– HubSpot, the software company that draws 25,000 attendees to its annual conference
For anyone who seeks to harness the force of fandom to revolutionize his or her business, Fanocracy shows the way. – Amazon
Get to Know David Meerman Scott & Reiko Scott
Reiko Scott earned a neuroscience degree from Columbia University and is now a medical student at Boston University. In her spare time she writes and publishes fan fiction based on her favorite fantasy worlds and loves to cosplay at Comic Con.
How Can I Engage with David Meerman Scott
- Click Here to Visit His Website
- Click Here to Engage on Twitter
- Click Here to Engage on Instagram
- Click Here to Engage on LinkedIn
- Buy Their Book Here
3. Instabrain by Sarah Weise
Move over Millennials, there’s a new kid in town. Today, Generation Z (ages 13-24) outpaces Millennials by 3 million. They represent 40 percent of consumers and $44B in direct buying power. This generation is wielding their mighty influence on every other generation, in every industry. Yet marketing departments are still focusing on Millennial research and are missing the massive potential of Generation Z. This generation of digital natives is an entirely different type of consumer—one that you need a completely new type of marketing strategy to reach. How confident are you that you can connect and engage this audience in a way that will resonate?
This book by internationally-acclaimed researcher and speaker Sarah Weise will teach you the new rules for marketing and brand-building for Generation Z. Packed with stories and insights from dozens of youth research projects, you’ll find out what you need to know about how this next generation of customers wants to learn, transact, and engage with brands like yours. In InstaBrain, you will learn:· Where they go for different types of content· What draws them in· How they make a buying decision· What keeps them coming back· How to tailor your marketing strategy for this new generation If you don’t know this about Generation Z, you’ll be out of business before you can say “IG.”
Get to Know Sarah Weise
She lectures at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business on marketing strategy, is a LinkedIn Learning instructor, and speaks at conferences and corporate events worldwide including MozCon, Content Marketing Conference, Digital Summit, and UXPA International.
How Can I Engage with Sarah Weise
- Click Here to Visit Her Website
- Click Here to Engage on Twitter
- Click Here to Engage on Instagram
- Click Here to Engage on LinkedIn
- Click Here to Buy Her Book
4. Non-Obvious Mega Trends by Rohit Bhargava
Introducing the highly awaited tenth edition of The Wall Street Journal bestseller and trend report featuring ten bold new megatrend predictions that will shape our world in the coming decade.
What if you could predict the trends that will change your business?
For the past ten years, Rohit Bhargava’s signature annual Non-Obvious Trend Report has helped over a million readers discover more than 100 trends changing our culture.
Now for the first time, Rohit and his team of Non-Obvious trend curators reveal ten revolutionary new Megatrends that are transforming how we work, play and live.
— How might the evolution of gender fluid toys change our culture?
— What can the popularity of handmade umbrellas and board games teach us about the future of business?
— Why do robot therapists and holographic celebrities actually demonstrate the importance of humanity?
The answers to these questions may not be all that obvious, and that’s exactly the point. This completely revised 10th Anniversary edition of Non-Obvious also offers an unprecedented look behind the scenes at the author’s signature Haystack Method for identifying trends, and how you can learn to curate and predict trends for yourself.
You don’t need to be a futurist or innovator to learn to think like one. The key to growing your business or propelling your career into the next decade lies in better understanding the present. The future belongs to non-obvious thinkers and this book is your guide to becoming one.
Get to Know Rohit Bhargava
He believes in listening before talking and helps his readers to be more interesting. According to his business card, Rohit is a “Trend Curator, Storyteller and Nice Guy.”
How Can I Engage with Rohit Bhargava
- Click Here to Visit His Website
- Click Here to Engage on Twitter
- Click Here to Engage on LinkedIn
- Click Here to Engage on YouTube
- Click Here to Buy His Book
5. What Customers Crave by Nicholas J. Webb
Think you know your customers? You better be more assured than just thinking you do, because your success depends on it! The best companies in the world first research exhaustively what their customers desire, and then they deliver it in memorable and deeply human experiences–resulting in success previously believed to be unachievable. So once again, how well do you know your customers?In a hyperconnected economy that is radically changing consumer expectations, this vital expectation for any successful business is not always easy.
But in What Customers Crave, author and business strategist Nicholas Webb simplifies this critical task into being able to confidently answer two questions: What do your customers love? What do they hate?
Jam-packed with tools and examples, this must-have resource helps businesses reinvent how they engage with customers (both physical and virtual). Learn how to:• Gain invaluable insights into who your customers are and what they care about• Use listening posts and Contact Point Innovation to refine customer types• Engineer experiences for each micromarket that are not only exceptional, but insanely relevant• Connect across the five most important touchpoints• Co-create with your customers• And more!It’s time to reinvent the ways you engage with your customers. Because when you learn to provide for them exactly what they want, they not only bring along their wallets but those belong to their friends as well!
Get to Know Nicholas J. Webb
For the past 40 years Nicholas has been a serial entrepreneur, launching startup companies and products into many markets and industrial categories.
Long before he became one of the most in-demand futurist speakers in the world, Nick Webb was a successful entrepreneur and inventor, working on the front lines and competing against many of the biggest companies – and winning!
Despite a calendar packed with global speaking and media engagements, he’s still very much involved in business. “You cannot give advice to others,” he says, “unless you’re standing shoulder to shoulder with them in the trenches!”
As the founder and CEO of LeaderLogic® goleaderlogic.com, Nick works with Fortune 500 companies throughout the world to help them lead their industries in innovation, strategy, and customer experience (CX) design.
How Can I Engage with Nick Webb
- Click Here to Visit His Website
- Click Here to Engage on Twitter
- Click Here to Engage on LinkedIn
- Click Here to Engage on Vimeo
- Click Here to Buy His Book
Conclusion
We all need help with our marketing. New and exciting trends are popping up each day as our customers continue to change. I hope you find excellent tips and strategies in my five must read marketing books of 2020.
