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The 25 best marketing books of all time to make you smarter

Discover the best marketing books (from beginner to advance) to read in 2023, regardless of which stage you are in your professional marketing career.

Over the years, I've read a lot of terrible books about marketing. But a few of them completely changed my life. In this post, I'm going to give you a list of some of the best marketing books out there so you don't have to waste time reading the bad ones.

I'm seven years into my marketing career , and nothing has ever propelled me to a new level of insight and knowledge the way marketing books have.

They've helped me find my dream 6-figure job in marketing, live a digital nomad lifestyle, and make me feel like I've finally picked the right career path.

Okay, maybe I'm being a bit dramatic in saying that books did all of that.

But they definitely did make me stand out when I had conversations about marketing.

I wasn't always an avid reader. As a kid, I hated reading. But as an adult, I grew to really like it because it completely rewired my brain and improved my mental health.

There’s just something about reading as a medium.

It’s such an active way to consume content, as compared to listening or watching (which are passive).

YouTube videos, podcasts, TikTok...

All of these have their time and place.

But, many of today’s mediums of consuming content are decreasing our attention spans .

And what I’ve come to notice about reading (for myself) is that it actually restores my attention span — allowing me to focus on other tasks ever so slightly more. There’s no scientific evidence I can provide for this, I’m just speaking from personal experience.

Why read marketing books?

In a world where digital marketing gurus constantly want to sell you information, it's tough to know whether that information is from original thought or just rehashed from elsewhere.

What's the best way to learn marketing? Take a marketing course , read a book, or both? It can be confusing.

More often than not, many of today's marketing "influencers" are simply preaching what has already been documented in books for decades, even centuries.

As mentioned earlier, reading is an active away of learning. It forces your brain to only focus on one task.

Have you ever noticed how easy it is to listen to a podcast, take a walk, and stare at nature all at the same time? It's a lot harder to do that when you're physically reading.

Your brain has to work a bit harder to read, so it takes in information in a more engaging way. A way that engrains the material into your conscious and subconscious mind.

On top of that, when people write marketing books they are a lot more thoughtful about the words they are typing. Blog posts are great too, but books seem to be more thoughtful. This is because it can take months, sometimes years, for someone to write a book.

When you read a book, you're literally consuming all the information that was deep in the authors brain. The author had to sit down and put everything on paper. Then they had to rewrite and edit the whole thing multiple times because they knew it would be published to the world.

This is why books are magical.

Which books should I read for marketing?

The best marketing books go over the fundamentals — consumer behavior, advertising, copywriting, sales, pricing, branding, etc.

They teach you what motivates people to buy, how to reach potential customers, and how to get them to be excited about you product.

If you're a beginner, it's best that you start with the fundamentals. Books one through ten in the list below should do just that.

As you progress further into your marketing career, you should aim to be the best in one particular field of marketing — be it, SEO, content marketing, advertising, email marketing, or social media.

As a marketer, you want to be somewhat of a generalist, but you also want to specialize in an area that fascinates you the most. This way you'll stand out to candidates when looking for a job.

So without further-ado, let's go over some of the top marketing books.

At the end of this post, I'll also mention my top four books to read if you're looking to pick something up today.

Top 25 best marketing books you need to read in 2023

Here's a list of the best books on marketing:

Okay, let's dive a bit deeper into each one.

1. Scientific Advertising

Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins book cover

Written by Claude C. Hopkins, Scientific Advertising is an advertising-related book that was published in 1923. It's one of those books that is so fundamental that the information revealed still applies even a century later. It's a must read for all marketers, no matter what stage you are in your career.

This is a notable book in the marketing world because it was the first documentation of processes such as split testing, loyalty programs, and coupon-based tracking. The overall summary of the book is that it goes over how to approach advertising through testing and measuring.

2. Breakthrough Advertising

Breakthrough Advertising by Eugene Schwartz book cover

Breakthrough Advertising is one of the best books on marketing — probably the most influential one in this list. Written by award winning copywriter Eugene M. Schwartz, the book was first published in 1966.

Many founders and marketers have attributed this book to helping them make millions. And although the book is technically in the “copywriter” category of marketing books, it talks a lot about the state of awareness customers go through and how you should structure your messaging in your marketing efforts.

The book feels more like a dictionary, rather than one you read from beginning to end. I’ve found it to be a bit heavy of a read at times, mainly because I constantly want to put the book down to take notes.

It is a bit on the pricer side if you try to purchase this book on Amazon, but it is cheaper if you purchase it directly through the books website. If there’s one book to read from this list it’s this one.

3. Play Bigger

Marketing is about driving awareness to bring things to market. So, what's the best way to tackle a market? Create your own.

Play Bigger, by Al Ramadan, Dave Peterson, Christopher Lochhead, and Kevin Maney, is a book about just that — a guide to show you how to be a category creator, so you can dominate your market.

The book focuses on showing you how competition is an old game to play. Rather, the new game is to define a new marketing category, develop it, and dominate it over time.

It’s why some companies are always just top of mind. For example, when you think of ecommerce you might think of Shopify. When you think of search engines, you might think of Google. When you think of live streaming, you might think of Twitch. And so on.

These companies are leaders in their category (aka industry), and Play Bigger dives into how to actually become a category creator.

This is a great book to read if you’re a marketer working at a fast growing company, or one that is trying to scale.

4. Content Design

Content Design by Sarah Richards book cover

Written by Sarah Richards, Content Design is a book about designing content for the web. Published in 2017, this book feels more like a handbook rather than a book you read straight through.

It's a great read for designers, specifically web designers. But I added it to this list because marketing is about communication. And this book goes over how to design your content so it communicates your message about your product or service effectively.

If you're a marketer that deals with content (whether it's copywriting for landing pages or writing blog posts), or works with other designers, this book is one I highly recommend. I find myself picking it off my bookshelf pretty often when I'm focused on projects that involve a lot of copywriting.

5. The Greatest Salesman in the World

A favorite among many people in sales, The Greatest Salesman in the World, by Og Mandino, is an absolute must read.

Published in 1968, many of todays sales principles and books are based off of this one.

The book tells the story of Hafid, a poor camel boy who achieves a life of abundance, and serves as a guide to a philosophy of salesmanship and success.

This book is a special one, mainly because Og Mandino writes it in a way that is very inspirational and moving. It's book that's hard to put down once you start reading it, and being only 111 pages makes it a fairly easy book to finish.

6. Epic Content Marketing

Epic Content Marketing by Joe Pulizzi book cover

Originally published in 2013 by Joe Pulizzi, Epic Content Marketing is a bestseller that opened my eyes to the world of content marketing and SEO (search engine optimization) content writing for the first time.

It was the first marketing book I ever read, and was gifted to me by a former manager when I was a marketing intern. It actually set the foundation for me to work as a Content Marketing Manager in San Francisco just a few years later.

This book is a great read for entry level marketers that are looking to help small businesses or start ups acquire more customers through content. Especially if you want to be a content marketing manager.

While it may not go over everything regarding the content marketing landscape today (it does change really fast), it will definitely give you a strong base of knowledge you can build on in the future.

7. How to Launch a Brand

If you're looking to help startups with their brand identity, naming, or positioning, How to Launch a Brand, by Fabian Geyrhalter, is a must read. It's a great book for brand marketers and early stage founders.

It’s sort of like a workbook that guides you through a step-by-step process to building a strong brand identity.

Depending on your field of work in marketing, you may never have to dive deep into branding. But this is one the best brand marketing books to have around and good to refer to from time to time if you’re working at a super early stage startup that is still trying to figure out and communicate its brand message to customers. It’s also a great book to have around if you want to build your one brand one day.

8. Dotcom Secrets

Dotcom Secrets by Russell Brunson book cover

Dotcom Secrets, by Russell Brunson, is one of those books that I read early into my marketing career. It made me get excited about internet marketing and learning how to sell online. If you‘re a digital marketer, or just want to learn about general digital marketing strategies, this book is a must read.

Today, I don‘t necessarily agree with everything this book stands for. As I've gained more marketing experience throughout the years I started to shift my mindset away from internet marketing tactics, to thinking more holistically about the art and science of marketing as a whole.

However, I do think this is still one of the best digital marketing books for an absolute marketing beginner. The book definitely had an impact on me early on which is the only reason why I added it to this list.

I came across Read Me, by Gyles Lingwood and Roger Horberry, from a TikTok video — I know lol. But it’s one I often refer to from time to time.

I highly recommend this to anyone that does work involving copy. It’ll show you how to write effective copy and how to create sticky headlines that enhance brand identity. The book includes case studies, copywriting techniques, advice from real copywriters, and tons of ad campaign examples.

Make sure to get a physical copy of this one, given it‘s full of images and you'll want to refer to them easily from time to time.

10. Building a StoryBrand

building a storybrand by donald miller book cover

Building a StoryBrand, by Donald Miller, is one of those marketing books that’s pretty hard to put down once you start reading. I have most of my books on a Kindle, but I bought this one in a physical copy so I can highlight all over it, tear pages out, and easily refer to it. Ya, that’s how much I like this book.

The main bulk of the book is about the seven-step storytelling framework Donald has developed. It gives you clear examples and frameworks on the art of storytelling, and shows you how important it is when it comes to brand marketing.

I would probably put this as my second favorite marketing book, behind Breakthrough Advertising. Every marketer should read this one.

11. This is Marketing

This is Marketing, by Seth Godin, is a cult classic among marketers.

The main message of the book is that marketers should use marketing to solve problems their customers face. Marketing is not about the business or the company they work for. But rather, a way to communicate solutions to problems people have.

This is one of those books that reminds you that marketing has a powerful role in society .

Seth has created a strong personal brand for himself writing books. He has a couple of other great books from the late 1900s and early 2000s called Permission Marketing and Purple Cow that are worth checking out.

However, if you're going to pick one of Seth's books to read for the first time, I highly recommend reading This is Marketing as it takes a lot of knowledge from his previous books and modernizes them for the digital age.

12. Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products

Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products, by Nir Eyal, is a national bestseller that shows you how successful companies build irresistible products.

Great marketing can sometimes not look like marketing at all. In fact, some of the fastest growing brand become successful because of word of mouth. But how does one capture word of mouth?

It's all about user retention. The longer someone stays on (and revisits) your website, app, ecommerce. Repeat users and customers are your greatest marketers. This is because the longer someone uses your product or service, the more likely they are to recommend it to others.

The more your products get people hooked, the more likely those people are the spread the word. And as the word spreads, new users get hooked. And those newly hooked users go to spread the word even more. It's an infinite growth loop .

13. The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing

The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing: Violate Them at Your Own Risk!, by Al Ries and Jack Trout, is a widely popular book about marketing.

The book was written pre-internet era, so it can feel a bit outdated. But I added it to this list because it's a very foundational book. While the medium in which we communicate today (i.e. the internet) has changed, the way we communicate has not.

If you're in a strategic marketing or sales role, is book is a must read.

14. Hacking Growth

Hacking Growth, by Sean Ellis and Morgan Brown, is a great book for learning more about growth marketing.

While the term "Growth Hacker" seemed like a buzzword back in 2017, one should not associate this book with "hacks." It is more about the concept of finding ways to grow a business quickly in the digital era.

If you are working at a tech startup, this is one of those books that can help you start thinking about the right things.

15. Intercom on Marketing

Intercom on Marketing, by the team at the software company Intercom, is full of lessons that helped Intercom grow to one of the top customer support platforms.

If you're responsible for launching a product and looking to get your first paying customers, this is definitely a book you should check out.

The book is completely free (just needs you to opt-in).

16. Blue Ocean Strategy

Blue Ocean Strategy, by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne, aim to change your view on go-to-market strategies.

There are lots of marketing campaigns out there that try to talk down on competitors and fight for their piece of the pie.

However, the Blue Ocean Strategy, similar to the book Play Bigger, aims at showing you that competition should be irrelevant.

Rather than competing in a red ocean, you should go after a blue ocean where their is a potential for you to have the biggest piece of the pie.

17. The 1-Page Marketing Plan

The 1-Page Marketing Plan: Get New Customers, Make More Money, And Stand out From The Crowd, by Allan Dib, isn't just a marketing book — it's a business book.

If you're a founder, or someone in charge of strategic marketing, you need to read this book.

It's one of those books that's clear and to the point, and can seriously help you break through if you're stuck thinking about your quarterly marketing planning .

18. Upstream Marketing

Upstream Marketing: Unlock Growth Using the Combined Principles of Insight, Identity, and Innovation, by Tim Koelzer, offers a refreshing take on marketing strategy.

This is one of those foundational books that shows you that digital marketing is just one piece of the equation.

For a business to succeed, it needs to provide the best solution to its potential customers. And it must think about all the different principles of marketing and corporate strategy.

This is a must read for any marketer, regardless of what position they hold.

19. CMO to CRO

CMO to CRO: The Revenue Takeover by the Next Generation Executive, by Mike Geller, Rolly Keenan, and Brandi Starr, is a book about revenue operations.

In the most simple business sense, marketing exists to make a business money. The money that a business makes is what keeps it alive to supply products to its customers, and to supply its employees with salaries and benefits.

If a business is not making money, it will eventually die.

If you're in charge of revenue growth, this is a must read.

20. Crushing It!

Crushing It!: How Great Entrepreneurs Build Their Business, by Gary Vaynerchuk, is a classic.

Gary V is coined for predicting the way brands should operate to get the most attention.

This is a great book, with lots of valuable information. But, it should be noted that Gary does promote himself quite a bit as he runs a multi-million dollar marketing agency in New York.

It can be a bit hard to know if Gary wrote this book to attract clients to his agency or if he wrote it for the genuine best interest of marketers.

Regardless, it offers a great view on what's happening now in social media marketing.

21. Invisible Influence

Invisible Influence: The Hidden Forces That Shape Behavior, by Jonah Berger, is a book about how things influence peoples beliefs, behaviors, and lifestyles.

The book offers tons of different examples to help you grasp the hidden forces that shape consumer behaviors.

It does feel like this book is mainly for an American audience, so if you're outside of the US you should do your own research before deciding to read this book.

Jonah does have another popular book called Contagious: Why Things Catch On, which could be a viable option to read if you decide to take a pass on this one.

22. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

A cult classic, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, by Robert Cialdini, is national bestseller.

Influence is all about persuasion, and core fundamental to marketing and sales.

Literally everything we do involves persuasion. Asking someone on a date, interviewing for a job, selling a product — all of these require someone to say "yes" to us.

This book is an absolute must read for everyone, not just marketers or business owners.

23. Made to Stick

Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die

A New York Times bestseller, Made to Stick, by brothers Chip Heath and Dan Heath, is an insightful book on why some ideas are more "sticky" than others.

I would put this book in the same category as the other book we mentioned, Hooked.

This is a great book if you're in the early stages of product development, or you're working as the first marketer at a small startup.

If you need a blueprint to creating sticky ideas, this book is definitely one to check out.

24. The ONE Thing

The ONE Thing, by Gary Keller (with Jay Papasan), is not a marketing book per se, but rather a book on productivity.

I included it in this list because the concepts in this book have helped me a lot in figuring out what I need to prioritize on a daily basis.

It can feel like a long book that basically explains a somewhat simple topic — find the one thing you need to do to be successful.

But the details in the book make you realize that less is more. It makes you think deeper about how you spend your time and what will actually move the needle forward for your business.

After reading this book, my daily task list has decreased dramatically. I highly recommend this book if you want to run a successful business or lead a marketing team.

25. Good to Great

Good to Great, by bestselling author Jim Collins, isn’t necessarily a marketing book, but it’s a great business book. In fact, it’s a business owner’s must read.

I like to think that the best marketers are the ones that truly understand business strategy and entrepreneurship. The more you can think like an entrepreneur the better.

It’ll help you see clear business problems and make you think on the same level as leaders in business, which is always a good thing if you’re working in marketing.

The book goes over the fundamental reason why most businesses plateau. And knowing that as a marketer is key to not only navigating your way through a company, but also knowing how to think at the executive level.

What is the best book for online marketing?

The best for marketing on our list will probably be Breakthrough Advertising.

It's, in my opinion, the best marketing book ever written. While it wasn't written during a time when the internet existed, it's a book that will help you think about the right things when you start marketing online.

Pair this book up with a more digital marketing focused book like Dotcom Secrets, and you'll be ahead of most marketers today.

Reading more will help beyond your marketing career

Reading marketing books won’t just make you a better marketer. It will make you a better thinker, a better writer, a better executor, and a faster reader.

It may even inspire you to take leaps in your career, as I know it has for me.

If you need just 1-4 books that you should read this year I recommend these (in order):

Building a Storybrand

Starting with any of these books should be a huge help when trying to craft a successful marketing strategy in 2023. Hopefully you have some new books to add to your marketing reading list!

Become a smarter marketer for $0.

The 50 Best Marketing Books Of All Time

50. Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds by Charles Mackay

Featured online programs.

49. Buy-ology by Martin Lindstrom

48. the long tail: why the future of business is selling less of more by chris anderson, 47. ultimate guide to google adwords: how to access 100 million people in 10 minutes by perry marshall and bryan todd, 46. the anatomy of buzz by emanuel rosen, 45. the art of the pitch: persuasion and presentation skills that win business by peter coughter, 44. the cluetrain manifesto by chris locke, doc searls, david weinberger and rick levine., 43. here comes everybody: the power of organizing without organizations, by clay shirky, 42. hey whipple, squeeze this: the classic guide to creating great ads by luke sullivan, 41. influence: the psychology of persuasion, revised edition by robert cialdini, 40. the innovator’s dilemma: the revolutionary book that will change the way you do business by clayton christensen, 39. life after the 30-second spot: energize your brand with a bold mix of alternatives to traditional advertising by joseph jaffe, 38. the little red book of selling: 12.5 principles of sales greatness by jeffrey gitomer, 37. made to stick: why some ideas survive and others die by chip and dan heath, 36. never eat alone, expanded and updated: and other secrets to success, one relationship at a time by keeith ferrazzi, 35. the new rules of marketing and pr: how to use social media, online video, mobile applications, blogs, news releases, and viral marketing to reach buyers directly by david meerman scott, 34. re-imagine: business excellence in a disruptive age by tom peters, 33. the tipping point: how little things can make a big difference by malcolm gladwell, 32. waiting for your cat to bark: persuading customers when they ignore marketing by bryan and jeffrey einsenberg, 31. web analytics 2.0: the art of online accountability and science of customer centricity by avinash kaushik, 30. where the suckers moon: the life and death of an advertising campaign by randall rothenberg, 29. great leads: the six easiest ways to start any sales message by michael masterson, 28. breakthrough advertising by eugene schwartz, 27. marketing warfare by al ries and jack trout, 26. cashvertising: how to use more than 100 secrets of ad-agency psychology to make big money selling anything to anyone by drew eric whitman, 25. brainfluence: 100 ways to persuade and convince consumers with neuromarketing by roger dooley, 24 .the ultimate sales machine: turbocharge your business with relentless focus on 12 key strategies by chet holmes, 23. marketing white belt: basics for the digital marketer by christopher penn, 22. getting everything you can out of all you’ve got: 21 ways you can out-think, out-perform, and out-earn the competition by jay abraham, 21. words that sell: more than 6000 entries to help you promote your products, services, and ideas by richard bayan, 20. purple cow by seth godin, 19. tribes by seth godin, 18. linchpin by seth godin, 17. eating the big fish: how challenger brands can compete against brand leaders by adam morgan, 16. from those wonderful folks who gave you pearl harbor: front-line dispatches from the advertising war by jerry della femina, 15. audience: marketing in the age of subscribers, fans and followers by jeffrey rohrs, 14. epic content marketing: how to tell a different story, break through the clutter, and win more customers by marketing less by joe pulizzi, 13. big data: a revolution that will transform how we live, work, and think by viktor mayer- schönberger and kenneth cukier, 12. the click moment: seizing opportunity in an unpredictable world by frans johansson, 11. culturematic: how reality tv, john cheever, a pie lab, julia child, fantasy football . . . will help you create and execute breakthrough ideas by grant mccracken, 10. the internet marketing bible: by zeke camusio, 9. call to action: secret formulas to improve online results by bryan eisenberg, 8. social media roi: managing and measuring social media efforts in your organization by olivier blanchard, 7. marketing management, by philip kotler, 6. guerrilla marketing: easy and inexpensive strategies for making big profits from your small business by jay conrad levinson, 5. youtility: why smart marketing is about help not hype by jay baer, 4. converge: transforming business at the intersection of marketing and technology by bob lord and ray velez, 3. the 22 immutable laws of advertising: violate them at your own risk by al ries and jack trout, 2. ogilvy on advertising by david ogilvy, 1. positioning: the battle for your mind by al ries and jack trout.

The 23 Best Marketing Books Of All Time

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DAP takes great pride in being one of Chicago's top B2C marketing , B2B marketing , and SEO companies. But we didn't become marketing experts overnight. We’re constantly reading, attending conferences, and webinars, constantly honing our strategies to reflect the current landscape and bring key trends into an actionable marketing paradigm.

Marketing took off as a profession with the boom of the middle class and the surplus of income that led to a demand for new consumer products. The internet significantly expanded consumers’ access to information and products, making marketing an even more important discipline of ever-expanding complexity.

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Whether laying out bedrock principles or charting new terrain, the following books are mind-expanding exercises in marketing virtuosity. These books are on our shelves and kindles, required reading for the DAP team, and belong in the toolkit of anyone hoping to master the marketing game. Here are our picks for the 23 best marketing books of all time.

1- The Icarus Deception by Seth Godin

An inductee into the Marketing Hall of Fame and author of multiple bestsellers, Godin evokes a famous Greek myth in this book, but turns the usual lesson taken from the myth on its head.

In the Icarus myth, Icarus and his inventor father Daedalus escaped captivity using mechanical wings bound together by wax. Daedalus famously instructed his son not to fly too close to the sun, lest the wax melt and the wings fall apart. Thrilled by flight, Icarus didn’t listen and flew too close to the sun; the wings melted and he fell to his death. It’s often taken as a metaphor to stay in your lane or as an allegory for the dangers of overreaching.

The deception of Godin’s central metaphor calls into focus a lesser-known aspect of the myth—Daedalus actually warned his ill-fated son against flying too low as well as too high. Though there’s danger if you fly too close to the sun, the “safe road” is nowhere near as safe as it looks. Godin’s book is a call to arms for creatives—the “safety zone” has risen higher, and now is the best time in history to treat entrepreneurship of all stripes as an “art.”

Buy The Icarus Deception on Amazon Here.

2- hooked: how to build habit-forming products by nir eyal.

Forget dealing drugs—Instagram, Snapchat, and Netflix taught us that all you need to sell an addictive product is a smartphone and some code. Say what you will about the ethics of it all—consumer attention is big business, and hooking users is the new frontier of brand success .

Eyal flies with this entrepreneurial current by breaking down the habit-forming properties of a product into a four-step “Hook Model,” which popular products use to create a “hook cycle” that keeps customers and users coming back for more.

Based on years of research and consulting, Eyal has written the book he wished he had as a startup entrepreneur, filled with actionable steps that can be applied to both product features and marketing to make them more addictive. (We’re all going to Hell.)

Buy Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products on Amazon Here.

3- influence: the psychology of persuasion, revised edition by robert b. cialdini .

First published in 1984, Influence remains firmly in the canon of marketing books because its advice is evergreen. The digital revolution did not decrease the importance of Cialdini’s “Six Principles of Influence”—1) Reciprocation, 2) Commitment and Consistency, 3) Social Proof, 4) Liking (does that ring any bells in the digital age?), 5) Authority, and 6) Scarcity.

Spoiler alert, right? Did we ruin the ending? Definitely not, because Cialdini, a Professor Emeritus at Arizona State University in Psychology and Marketing, delves deep into the mechanics of each of these pillars of influence, plumbing the theory as well as proposing actionable steps to put them into practice and become more influential, ethically.

Cialdini’s real insight is that no one wants to work too hard to make decisions. The six pillars of influence are things people look at to make quick decisions. By fortifying products and ideas with those six pillars, marketing experts can essentially make buying decisions for the customer. What marketer wouldn’t want that superpower?

Buy Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Revised Edition on Amazon Here.

4- the undoing project by michael lewis.

The Undoing Project is a history book that examines a collegial partnership whose work revolutionized the field of Big Data, among others. Lewis’ subjects are Israeli behavioral psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, whose work laid the groundwork for the entire field of behavioral economics.

The “flaws” that Kahneman and Tversky exposed in human thinking have played key roles in artificial intelligence and social media marketing . This partnership, its dissolution, and its after-effects are critical reading for anyone who wants to master web marketing.

Buy The Undoing Project on Amazon Here.

5- blink: the power of thinking without thinking by malcolm gladwell .

Marketing is ultimately the study of why people do what they do, with the ultimate goal of getting them to do what we want them to do. Best selling pop psychologist Malcolm Gladwell draws attention to the very act of decision making, especially the kind of decision making that happens in an instant.

He explores why some people have good instincts, others lousy instincts; why some people can make snap decisions and others struggle to make even the most basic calls. He introduces the notion of “thin-slicing”—the art of instantaneously sorting the salient details from the extraneous details to make a sound decision from a seemingly complex set of variables.

From examinations of prejudice to “analysis paralysis,” Gladwell probes the depths of decision-making, uncovering profound insights for behavioral economists along the way.

Buy Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking on Amazon Here.

6- contagious: why things catch on by jonah berger .

What a perfect title for a marketing book in a time when the gold standard is to “go viral.” Any outsiders who think that things are popular because they are advertised will be disabused of that notion when UPenn-Wharton professor Jonah Berger picks it apart in pursuit of what makes something “go viral.”

Berger spent ten years tracking the life of a rumor and making a map of the phenomenon word-of-mouth, in search of patterns that savvy marketers can tap into. He came out of his study with six basic principles of why things catch on—not just products, but ideas, policies, rumors, YouTube videos. His conclusion? It all becomes popular because people talk about them. Anyone who has ever wondered how to get people talking about something needs to catch Contagious .

Buy Contagious: Why Things Catch On on Amazon Here.

7- originals: how non-conformists move the world by adam grant.

Wharton School psychology professor Adam Grant writes an ode to the holders of unpopular ideas or before-their-time opinions that go on to change the world. How is it that some people are so ahead of the curve, running against the grain—and often in the face of popular scorn and corporate body-blocks—to go on and change the world, with everyone suddenly agreeing with them after the fact.

Are they psychic? Foolhardy? Grant envisions a framework under which new ideas—that is, new good ideas—can be recognized, nurtured, and allowed to flourish, even in institutional environments like governments and corporations, without squelching them in their infancy, or subjecting the visionary—the “origina”—to possible career suicide.

Buy Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World on Amazon Here.

8- red team by micah zenko.

If you’ve never sat in a corporate boardroom pondering a big initiative, you might not be familiar with the concept of the “red team”—essentially a “no team” tasked with tearing the argument in question apart. It’s supposed to help test the strength of the idea and tease out weaknesses.

Across a range of case studies, however, Micah Zenko red-teams the very idea of a red team, showing when it produces effective results and when it actually does more harm than good, knocking out an idea that doesn’t need to be knocked out or overcomplicating a potentially effective strategy. All marketing brainstorming sessions could benefit from the insights Zenko unearths.

Buy Red Team on Amazon Here.

One of our consultants will get back to you within 24 hours., 9- misbehaving: the making of behavioral economics by richard h. thaler.

Nobel laureate and father of behavioral economics Richard Thaler slays all the sacred cows of his own profession in “Misbehaving.” Economists attribute all sorts of highfalutin’ governing factors to economics—itself a monumental feat of paycheck justification. Thaler hosed all of that chaff out of the way with the notion that people are the prime actors in economies, that their actions are flawed, predictable, and far from the benevolent superorganism of the fevered imaginings of professors and politicians.

Misbehaving is an entertaining read even for non-economists and non-marketers, especially those who love to see the pretentious get a richly-deserved skewering. From clock radios to mortgages, Thaler tracks human buffoonery in the economy through a madcap web of bad decisions that, funny as they are, have very real consequences to very real people. An invaluable perspective for any marketing pro to imbibe.

Buy Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics on Amazon Here.

10- win: the key principles to take your business from ordinary to extraordinary by frank i. luntz.

At least the goal is obvious from the title. Republican pollster, messaging expert, and political media impresario Frank Luntz should know a thing or two about the power of communication to produce wins. In fact, for Luntz, effective communication lies at the heart of the success of brands and people you wouldn’t necessarily expect, including athletes like Larry Bird and hotel magnates like Steve Wynn.

Building on his experience winning whole populations over to a desired messaging plan, Luntz shares with readers seventy “words that work” that can be used one-on-one or in public to gain advantage, as well as more than forty takeaway lessons and nine “Ps” of winning: People-Centered, Paradigm-Breaking, Prioritizing, Perfection, Partnerships, Passion, Persuasion, Persistence, and Principled Actions.

Okay, that’s a lot of “Ps.” Another “P” attached to Luntz is “Polarizing” because of “Politics.” But love him or hate him, don’t you want to know how he did it? Especially if you have a brand or message of your own to publicize?

Buy Win: The Key Principles to Take Your Business from Ordinary to Extraordinary on Amazon Here.

11- shoe dog by phil knight.

If you want to absorb hard-won wisdom about marketing, you could do worse than to immerse yourself in the story of how one of the most iconic brands in the world was created. Now a behemoth of the shoe world, brand founder Phil Knight takes us back to the days when he was a 20-something with a dream, importing Japanese-made shoes on a wing and a prayer and selling them out of the back of a truck.

Knight’s journey is specific but also timeless. As digital marketing beckons with what appear to be shortcuts to brand strength, one of the most enigmatic major-brand CEOs in the world lays out the messy story of building the Nike brand, in all its imperfect glory. If nothing else, it’s an inspirational tale for marketers—there may be hiccups or whole missed breaths along the way, but with passion, the right team, and strong fundamentals, a good brand can rewrite the rules of whole industries over the long haul.

Buy Shoe Dog on Amazon Here.

12- top of mind by john hall.

Google. Velcro. Xerox. Band Aid. Kleenex. All of these are brand names—and yet they might as well be the name of the product itself . The product is synonymous with its function. Each of them has competitors, but these brands have so thoroughly dominated their spaces that the brand names and the product classes are actually synonymous. This is the Holy Grail of marketing—to have your product be the only acceptable product that pops to mind when someone thinks of your industry.

John Hall, founder of Influence & Co., breaks down the secrets he learned as a dominant force in the digital market space to form the kind of relationship between your brand and your customer base, so that your brand is “top of mind”—the first brand customers think of when they even consider a product or service like yours. It’s a guide to becoming a synonym.

Buy Top of Mind on Amazon Here.

13- outside insight by jorn lyseggen.

When organizations talked about making “ data-driven decisions,” they meant lagging internal data based on the trails of breadcrumbs customers were leaving after they had already come and gone. Lyseggen’s book focuses on the petabytes of data scattered like breadcrumbs across the internet, waiting for businesses to use it to glean insights about their customers before they even arrive .

Companies, political campaigns, and more can access “outside insight” to tell them where their target market is right now—not just geographically, but in terms of mindset and behavior—rather than basing decisions on where their target market was a moment ago. In today’s fast-paced digital marketing environment, this may be the most important marketing book yet—especially for anyone interested in the predictive power of Big Data .

Buy Outside Insight on Amazon Here.

14- designing the brand identity in retail spaces by alina wheeler.

This descriptively-titled book is a must-read for retail marketers. Wheeler encourages retailers to think of the entire three-dimensional space of the retail store as the palette onto which the brand is painted, rather than letting the “brand” languish as a business name and a mission statement.

Wheeler’s book is a useful marketing book for non-retailers, too, in how it breaks down the way consumers interact with a brand. There are useful insights to be gleaned for any brand, even one that doesn’t live on the shelves of brick-and-mortar stores.

Buy Designing the Brand Identity in Retail Spaces on Amazon Here.

15- made to stick by dan and chip heath.

What could you gain from a marketing book that would be more powerful than the knowledge of what makes thoughts, ideas, memories enter our minds and just stay there, never to be forgotten? In Made to Stick , Dan and Chip Heath dive into the perplexing question of why we remember some useless bits of trivia or elaborate narratives, while simple or pertinent facts just fly out of our minds. What makes one thought “sticky” and another forgettable?

Their entertaining meander through a series of gripping case studies arrives at several actionable insights of interest to marketers, like “curiosity gaps” and the “Velcro Theory of Memory.” Required reading for brand marketers who want to make their brand “stick.”

Buy Made to Stick on Amazon Here.

16- the life of p. t. barnum by p.t. barnum.

No one was a better self-marketer than circus impresario P.T. Barnum—look, he even wrote his own biography. From live showman to journalist to philanthropist, there were always two sides to Barnum—the idealistic achiever and the cynical huckster. Reading about how he threaded the needle, perpetrating outrageous frauds, libels, and abuses but rarely suffering lasting damage is a jaw-dropping look at a marketing success story of ambiguous ethics.

More than just a tale of self-promoting exploits, The Life of P.T. Barnum is a self-promoting exploit in and of itself. It’s a remarkable exercise in how to build a legend, full of lessons you can copy if you read between the lines. Hopefully no one else closely mimics the charlatan career Barnum perpetrated on an unsuspecting American public—but in the age of Fyre Fest, it’s anyone’s ballgame.

Buy The Life of P. T. Barnum on Amazon Here.

17- permission marketing by seth godin.

The old way was “Interruption Marketing.” There you were, happily watching your favorite television program, when up pops a commercial for cereal or male-pattern-baldness cream. You aren’t happy, but you have to sit through it or else you’ll never find out how this week’s The Office ends.

Marketing guru Seth Godin dedicates this volume to the notion that the wave of the future is not “Interruption Marketing” but the “Permission Marketing” of the title—a system of incentivizing consumers to volunteer to be marketed to, essentially giving companies permission to market to them. Some of his insights may be familiar, but Godin pushes the idea into new frontiers that any marketing professional will find useful to explore.

Buy Permission Marketing on Amazon Here.

18- positioning: the battle for your mind by al ries and jack trout.

In a stimulus-rich environment, it’s harder and harder for a brand to break through. Flooded with information, no one really has gaps in their consciousness that are desperately in need of filling by a bold new product. Ries and Trout get sneaky with the concept of “positioning.” It gets complicated—but you need something a little bit complicated to break through. Running at the brick wall will just get you bruised.

“Positioning,” as Ries and Trout mean it, involves carving out a stable “space” in a consumer’s mind around your brand niche—not just for your brand or even mainly for your brand. You might want to carve out that space for a key competitor , allowing your brand to “coattail” off of it or strike up a marketing proposition based on your brand’s strengths compared to a competitor’s weakness. It’s a roundabout but brilliant approach to practical marketing.

Buy Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind on Amazon Here.

19- extraordinary popular delusions and the madness of crowds by charles mackay.

One of the first “marketing” books, before the profession of marketing existed in any formal way, Charles MacKay wrote this study in 1841 as a survey of a phenomenon modern marketers would find perfectly familiar—mass delusion, groupthink, and follow-the-leader popular madness.

He delves into great bubbles like the tulip mania of 1637 or the Mississippi bubble of 1719; the Crusades, witch hunts, and the popularity of alchemy. These recountings aren’t quaint—they are fascinating explorations of very successful, often devastating proto-marketing campaigns that had the power to make or break fortunes and lives. The parallels to the marketing landscape of today are unmistakable.

Buy Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds on Amazon Here .

20- crushing it: how great entrepreneurs build their business and influence―and how you can, too by gary vaynerchuk.

In his follow-up to 2009’s Crush It, Gary Vee’s Crushing It! concludes that that wise sage Gary Vee was right back in 2009 and is still right today—a robust personal brand is more important to building a business than ever. This is no surprise to people familiar with Gary Vee, the profane patron saint of the Broletariat. But the entourage of mini-Vees that follow in his wake, earning fat incomes off personal-brand-based businesses like Gary’s, suggest that he’s really on to something.

It’s not hard to see the power of personal branding—just check Instagram. Vaynerchuk specifically addresses how to use social media as a platform to claim attention rather than let it claim your attention, tips that anyone from an influencer to an electrician can use to amplify their signal amidst the noise to accrue and monetize a personal following.

Buy Crushing It!: How Great Entrepreneurs Build Their Business and Influence―and How You Can, Too on Amazon Here.

21- marketing myopia by theodore levitt.

First appearing in the Harvard Business Review in 1960, Theodore Leavitt poses a question just as applicable, if not even more applicable, in the Internet Age— what business are you in?

It seems like an easy question, but a surprising number of entrepreneurs get it wrong. They wind up failing to serve their customers properly and watch as their promising businesses flounder.

Levitt helps companies avoid that fate by dispelling four key myths of marketing and asking the tough questions that will get a company’s message on track for success and longevity.

Buy Marketing Myopia on Amazon Here.

22- the anatomy of buzz by emanuel rosen.

Is “word-of-mouth” something that can be “created,” even “sustained?” Or do brands and products just get lucky and people start talking about them? In his marketing book, Emanuel Rosen cites examples and breaks down the repeatable strategies that get people talking and keep them talking.

A former VP of marketing himself, Rosen interviewed over 150 CEOs and marketing executives to discover how buzzy brands intentionally constructed and stoked their own buzz. In a marketing landscape dominated by what a consumer’s peers say about a product, nothing could be more fundamental than this.

Buy The Anatomy of Buzz on Amazon Here.

23- the cluetrain manifesto by chris locke , doc searls , david weinberger and rick levine ..

The Cluetrain Manifesto was posted by the authors on the internet in 1999, containing 95 “theses” in cheeky reference to the theses Martin Luther nailed to a church door to kick off the Reformation and break the stranglehold of the Catholic Church. With the stranglehold of marketing orthodoxy in their sights, the Manifesto was one of the first marketing books to advance notions like “Markets are Conversations,” “Hyperlinks Subvert Hierarchy,” and to plumb topics around “Intranets.”

More than two decades later, it is still a fascinating read, a remarkable counterpoint that marketing professionals still struggle to wrap their minds around and accept, but a crucial perspective to understanding the landscape of Internet marketing.

Buy The Cluetrain Manifesto on Amazon Here.

You might also like:, best artificial intelligence books to read in 2020, want to meet our expert team.

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The Best Marketing Books of All Time for Marketers

a line of books on their side along a wall

The best marketing books touch on multiple disciplines, such as psychology, sociology, and economics. But they offer more than broad academic principles. Along with breaking down cultural phenomena, they teach you how to use the channels of today to make an impact.

Many of these masters in marketing have podcasts or blogs where they offer nuggets of wisdom, but their books distill that material and expand on their subjects. You never know when you’ll find that gem that anchors a key concept or inspires a genius campaign.

The real answer to the question “What should a marketer read?” is everything . Successful marketing experts are voracious. They take in information and get excited about new innovations and smart content.

These business books have withstood the test of time and are a great starting point for anyone who wants to improve their marketing campaigns.

Tapping into Marketing Psychology

No list of the best marketing books would be complete without the following authors. These are marketing executives, successful business owners, and professionals with timeless advice. Their knowledge centers on the heart of every marketing campaign: the people who make up your potential customers.

Technologies and cultures change, but these experts teach you how to tap into psychology and customer behavior to promote just about anything.

1. This Is Marketing: You Can’t Be Seen Until You Learn to See by Seth Godin

Cover of This is Marketing by Seth Godin

In the digital age, the number of voices, channels, and marketing possibilities exploded. Having access to these avenues has made it both easier and more difficult to be heard. Seth Godin isn’t just the loudest voice in the crowd, but the man who has shaped the conversation on this the most.

Godin has developed some of the key concepts of 21st-century business and marketing practice. He is the reason for words such as “tribe” and “linchpin” becoming commonplace. And, along with inspiring others to create newsletters and digital freebies, his concept of “permission marketing” has encouraged better marketing manners — no small feat.

With twenty bestsellers from which to choose, the hard part is deciding where to start. Or at least it was. This Is Marketing (2018) distills key concepts, such as how to build trust, how to position yourself and your customers, and what stories to tell. It’s one of the best marketing books for beginners and a great place to start your marketing library.

2. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini

Cover of Influence the Psychology of Persuasion

With a new edition published in 2021, Influence gets an update that helps the nearly-40-year-old bestseller maintain its high status. Robert Cialdini is a seminal expert and considered the “godfather of influence.” He is the absolute master in getting people to say yes without compromising any party's ethics.

In this edition, Cialdini adds a new principle of persuasion — unity — to the classic six:

Whether you want to market a new product or convince someone to make lasting changes in their personal life, this book will teach you the secret. Cialdini backs up his claims with both meticulous scientific research and relatable, comprehensible anecdotes.

You may find yourself regularly referring to Cialdini’s language and insights. After all, he's the master of influence.

3. Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind by Al Ries and Jack Trout

Cover of Positioning by Al Ries and Jack Trout

Media saturation is nothing new. True, the media has changed, introducing new voices and channels of communication. But the fundamental phenomenon has been around for decades.

Al Ries and Jack Trout help you find a space for your brand in an overcrowded marketplace. Positioning teaches you how to stand out from the competition, whether you’re an industry leader or a new player.

You need not try to be better. What matters more is being necessary. Learn how to position the value that you offer and gain a competitive advantage in the market.

4. Contagious: Why Things Catch On by Jonah Berger

There’s a reason people call it “going viral.” Certain people, products, and ideas spread so rapidly that describing their trajectories requires us to default to the metaphor of disease.

Jonah Berger’s Contagious breaks down popularity, examining the person-to-person transmission of cultural crazes. It offers a practical guide to product design and marketing, but it’s also an engaging analysis of how and where people get their information, interests, and values.

Building Your Brand

While the books in the first category focus on your audience, the second is all about your brand. These are some of the best marketing books for entrepreneurs, but their wisdom equally applies to creatives.

How can you craft a memorable narrative and exceptional content? Read these books to find out.

5. Everybody Writes: Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content by Ann Handley

Cover of Everybody Writes by Ann Handley

Ann Handley is the freelance writer’s guru, but her advice in Everybody Writes springs from the insight that all of us are writers, regardless of our official job title.

You write constantly. It doesn’t have to be in the form of a traditional article or book. Maybe you make a tweet, a product review, or even an email. No matter the forum or channel, your communication shapes others’ perceptions of you and your company.

With this book, you can learn from the unchallenged master of content marketing. But this is one book that you might want to put further down your list. A new edition debuts in April 2022, so it would be best to wait for the most updated version of her content.

Until then, you can get your Ann Handley fix by subscribing to her newsletter or reading her blog. She tackles everything from sentence-level style issues to writer’s block to “How to Write for Instagram.” Regardless of your experience or focus, she’ll help you become a more effective writer and marketer.

6. Hacking Growth: How Today’s Fastest-Growing Companies Drive Breakout Success by Sean Ellis and Morgan Brown

Hacking Growth Cover by Sean Ellis and Morgan Brown

Sean Ellis developed the term "growth hacking" as a way of attaching marketing to data-driven results in Silicon Valley. With a focus on tech startups, he sought to bridge the gap between product development and product marketing.

His landmark successes with companies like Dropbox validate his approach. Hacking Growth is probably the most effective marketing book for people looking to build a marketing culture.

The heart of Ellis’ philosophy lies in constant experimentation. Even failures can work to your advantage — so long as you examine them with the proper mindset and can identify the right lesson to learn.

7. Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen by Donald Miller

Donald Miller recognizes an important truth: The world runs on stories. And, unlike fossil fuels, this resource is renewable and evergreen.

A good content marketer doesn't just aim to strike the right tone or hit the right keywords. It delivers the right narrative, which people want to invest in. Building a StoryBrand takes you through the story points you need to cover as you tell your tale.

The book will help you simplify your message and make it more powerful. It will restructure the way you connect with customers, leaving you with a new and more effective model.

8. Stories That Stick: How Storytelling Can Captivate Customers, Influence Audiences, and Transform Your Business by Kindra Hall

If Donald Miller provides a roadmap through one central narrative, Kindra Hall identifies the different stories you can tell — and can encourage others to tell about you.

Stories That Stick elaborates on the four major stories that businesses should tell:

These are stories you already have. You know your origin story, your corporate ethos, the value you provide your customers, and any number of stories about customers’ experiences with your brand.

Hall helps you discover these stories and tell them powerfully and memorably.

9. Influencer: Building Your Personal Brand in the Age of Social Media by Brittany Hennessy

Not all marketing revolves around traditional businesses. Any list of best marketing books for building your brand needs a strong entry on personal brands and social media. Thanks to Brittany Hennessy, this one now does.

The ultimate influencer-whisperer, Hennessy has run departments for social media and relationships at Hearst Magazines Digital Media and Horizon Media. In Influencer , she breaks down how to build an audience, package your brand, pitch companies, and monetize your influence for business growth.

Using Today’s Tools and Channels

Once you master the art of communication, you need to find the right platforms to carry your message and find your audience. Think about how you can craft a strategy that takes advantage of your strengths and involves digital essentials, like search engine optimization (SEO)?

These books can help you navigate the overwhelming number of digital options available to you. They break down various aspects of digital marketing for people without advanced degrees in computer science or statistics.

10. Digital Marketing Strategy: An Integrated Approach to Online Marketing by Simon Kingsnorth

Simon Kingsnorth’s Digital Marketing Strategy is a beginner-friendly textbook that covers all the major areas of online marketing. Kingsnorth covers ways to craft and implement a digital strategy that works for your business or organization.

The second half of the book examines major digital marketing areas, including:

This book may not be for you if you want an exhaustive look at email marketing or Facebook. But, if you want to familiarize yourself with the digital marketing landscape in general, Digital Marketing Strategy is a strong choice.

11. How to Get to the Top of Google in 2021: The Plain English Guide to SEO by Tim Cameron-Kitchen

SEO is the science behind getting your website to the first page of Google results when users search for certain keywords or phrases. Understanding how to manipulate it can be daunting for people with little prior knowledge about the Google search algorithm. Tim Cameron-Kitchen demystifies this subject with How to Get to the Top of Google in 2021 .

Cameron-Kitchen excels at delivering practical advice, rather than just theory. He doesn’t just tell you how Google’s algorithm works. He tells you what to do, and then backs it up with explanations and examples.

For people who find programming more difficult to grasp, this book gives them a concrete understanding of how to use SEO.

12. Social Media Marketing Workbook: How to Use Social Media for Business by Jason McDonald

According to Jason McDonald, social media is a party. As a marketer, you need to be the party-thrower.

The best thing about McDonald’s Social Media Marketing Workbook is its specificity. McDonald goes over each of the major social media platforms and content marketing strategies for using them. As of September 2021, he has even included a new chapter on TikTok.

This isn’t just a guide. It’s a workbook, with worksheets that you can fill to create and optimize your approach to marketing. People who buy the book also receive access to several online tools and resources.

It’s the perfect book for people who are social-media-phobic or digitally challenged. It will hold your hand as you enter the online community.

13. Digital Marketing Analytics: Making Sense of Consumer Data in a Digital World by Chuck Hemann and Ken Burbary

This book is for those who want to do more with their data. After all, we have passed through the Information Age and into the Data Age .

Digital Marketing Analytics will help you put that data to work. Don’t drown in the mass of information coming in. Figure out which numbers matter and which don’t. Then, you can use these insights to drive both future campaigns and real-time action to influence your loyal customers.

Reading Even Further

Today, successful companies all over the world have improved their marketing tactics thanks to these books. From building better relationships with customers to telling a more compelling story, the right book can drastically change your approach to marketing.

Don’t see what you need on this list of the best marketing books? Check out other offerings by these authors. Many of them have had long and prolific careers.

Or consider one of these books from other business leaders in the industry:

How a content marketing writer can help your business, how content creation services can help your business, 5 ways website content writing is unique, find out the cost-saving benefits of outsourcing content creation..

Speak with us to learn more.

The Best Marketing Books Of 2023

We layout the must-read, best marketing books for this year to help you invest your time productively.

The front cover of the Quantum Marketing book: one of the best marketing books of recent times.

The sheer variety of the best marketing books on the market can prove quite daunting for those of us on the lookout for a new tome. Just how do you decide which are worth your time?

The marketing industry is constantly changing and adapting to the emerging trends of everyday life, and because of this, marketers know the importance of adapting to remain current—no matter what their level of expertise. Whether you’re new to the industry or a seasoned pro, there are always new things to learn, skills to improve, and strategies to adopt.

In this article, we do some of the legwork for you, highlighting six that we consider prime reading for marketers of all stripes. We've compared everything from cost and content, to book size and Kindle availability, and put together our list of the best marketing books available today.

Looking to learn more about marketing? Check out the six best small business marketing strategies that work . Alternatively, you can read about the best content marketing tools or the best online marketing services to further your knowledge.

The best marketing books of 2023 in full

Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.

1. The 1-Page Marketing Plan: Get New Customers, Make More Money, And Stand out From The Crowd

Specifications, reasons to buy, reasons to avoid.

There’s a reason the The 1-Page Marketing Plan (opens in new tab) is a number-one bestseller on Amazon. In this 234-page book, released in May 2018, marketers will learn how to create a quick and simple marketing plan in just a single page, and learn how following a reliablem fully-fledged marketing plan— rather than “random acts of marketing”— will result in rapid business growth.

Alongside this, entrepreneur, expert marketer, and author Allan Dib illustrates how you can acquire new clients, make additional profit from existing ones, stand out from competitors, and achieve amazing results on a small budget.

The 1-Page Marketing Plan book is ideal for both new marketers and more experienced professionals, particularly those looking to streamline their marketing plan quickly and efficiently, and is a solid choice for anyone looking to increase their business’s growth and simplify their marketing process.

2. Pandemic, Inc.: 8 Trends Driving Business Growth and Success in the New Economy

Patrick Schwerdtfeger’s Pandemic, Inc (opens in new tab) - released amid the Covid-19 pandemic in July 2020 - offers entrepreneurs, small businesses, and self-employed professionals a bold and unique take on how the coronavirus disruption can be used to their business’s advantage.

Based on the belief that change = opportunity, Patrick lists eight key trends that marketers can follow to drive business growth and success in the current economy, with key topics including cryptocurrencies, social unrest, new technologies, job displacement and the future of work.

Using the acronym “salvaged”, the contents page breaks down each of the eight subjects into smaller chunks (S: Self-sufficiency, A: Analytics, L: Liquidity, V: Virtualization, A: Automation, G: Government, E: Exponential Thinking, D: Decentralization) and outlines these trends into a business roadmap featuring strategic questions and tactical to-dos that the author argues should be acted upon instantly.

3. Contagious: Why Things Catch On

Wharton marketing professor and New York Times bestselling author Jonah Berger offers his take on why certain products and ideas become popular in Contagious: Why Things Catch On (opens in new tab) .

According to Berger, “people don’t listen to advertisements, they listen to their peers.” This principle forms the basis of the book, which examines why some products, ideas, and stories are more likely to go viral than others.

A staple on any marketing bookshelf, Contagious looks at the science and power behind word of mouth, which Berger argues is the primary factor behind 20-50% of all purchasing decisions. In outlining this case, he uncovers the six key principles that encourage ideas and products to become popular and successful.

It can also be used as a handbook of sorts, containing actionable techniques to help you understand how information spreads, so you can create content and product advertisements that people will want to share.

4. The Results Obsession: ROI-Focused Digital Strategies to Transform Your Marketing

If you’re stuck in a marketing rut and unsure where to take your strategy next, The Results Obsession (opens in new tab) might be the book for you. Offering a step-by-step roadmap to help you increase online leads and sales, it explains how to exploit your highest return on investment (ROI) digital marketing channels, by improving your website and emails, utilizing SEO best practises, and using pay-per-click (PPC) advertising to your advantage.

Using analysis, marketing metrics, and formulas, you will learn how to diagnose your funnel process—from traffic to leads to sales—so you know exactly how you can improve your results. Author Karen J. Marchetti uses direct marketing strategies to uncover the formulas to writing winning copy, explains how to best use Google Analytics, teaches you how to understand and create buyer personas, and uncovers the “marketing metrics” you can use to evaluate and improve all of your marketing efforts.

5. Quantum Marketing: Mastering the New Marketing Mindset for Tomorrow's Consumers

Chief Marketing Officer of Mastercard, Raja Rajamannar, explains how to thrive while navigating the ever-changing world of marketing in his book, Quantum Marketing: Mastering the New Marketing Mindset for Tomorrow's Consumers (opens in new tab) .

Focussed on emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), 5G, and blockchain, Rajamannar—who has been named one of the world's most influential CMOs by Forbes Magazine—explains how marketers can boost their business by combining creativity, data, and breakthrough technology.

He outlines the four significant stages of marketing that have emerged alongside ever-changing technology, building on the strategies and tools of the previous era.

Through the techniques listed in his book, Rajamannar teaches readers how to understand and be at the forefront of the marketing evolution (or, revolution, as his Fifth Paradigm theory attests), by encouraging marketing teams to rethink their strategy in order to remain relevant in a developing industry.

6. InstaBrain: The New Rules for Marketing to Generation Z

InstaBrain (opens in new tab) , released in March 2019, claims that Generation Z (those aged between 13 and 24 years old) currently represent two out of every five American consumers and contribute around $655B in US purchases each year. As the largest living generation, outpacing Millennials by three million, it’s certainly a good idea to understand how to target them with your marketing campaigns.

In InstaBrain, internationally-acclaimed researcher Sarah Weise lays out the new rules for marketing and brand-building for this generation of digital natives.

With anecdotal insights from real-life youth research projects and tips on how to increase Gen Z’s engagement with your brand, you’ll learn where this generation consumes their content, what makes them interact, how to keep them coming back, and how to tailor your strategy to increase your sales and brand awareness with them.

How to choose the best marketing books for you

When deciding on the best marketing books for you, your individual preferences and goals will determine which will suit your needs the most. For instance, which areas of marketing are you looking to further your knowledge in? Are you looking to develop a specific skill, like email marketing , or perhaps gain an overview of more general topics?

Are you reading for information, or do you require actionable steps that you can follow? Are you looking for general creative marketing campaign inspiration?

For instance, if you’re interested in learning about targeting Gen Z with your marketing campaigns, then a book like InstaBrain will certainly tick all the boxes—this covers key areas like strategy, brand-building, and engagement within this demographic, so you’re sure to finish it with some key takeaways.

Likewise, if emerging trends and technologies are more relevant areas that you’d like to brush up on, Quantum Marketing will teach you about how AI, 5G, and blockchain can affect your marketing strategy. Other books like Contagious and The Results Obsession offer a more general overview, providing plenty of food for thought with new ideas and habits to adopt when improving your marketing efforts, while Pandemic, Inc provides insight into the current post-pandemic marketing landscape. Finally, The 1-Page Marketing Plan is a must-read for any marketer looking to simplify their marketing strategy.

The best marketing books: How we test

The best marketing books will ultimately be decided by personal preference, based on what you want to learn. However, in this buying guide, we listed six solid options for marketers looking to improve their knowledge in a variety of areas, with insights and actionable steps that you can act on straight away.

While no single book can be listed as the best due to the different content included in each, books like Pandemic, Inc and Quantum Marketing are an ideal choice for professionals looking to grow in the current, post-pandemic world—both explore emerging technology, the changing marketing landscape, and how you can adapt your business’s strategy to thrive.

Likewise, books such as Contagious and The Results Obsession provide useful steps for improving your marketing copy and campaigns, while The 1-Page Marketing Plan will show you how to streamline and simplify your overall strategic plan. Finally, we recommend InstaBrain for any marketer looking to understand and target the Gen Z demographic—but read on to find out more about each one.

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Chelsea is a freelance writer with a degree in journalism from the London School of Journalism and a passion for lifestyle interests, especially as they intersect with consumer and business tech.

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The 22 Best Marketing Books to Read in 2021

For even the most gifted marketers, natural intuition isn’t enough.

People have been in your shoes before, and at least one of them has come up with a better solution than you can study. Luckily, many of the world’s best marketers have written about their experiences. You can (and should) use their lessons to avoid their mistakes and get a leg up on your competition.

We’ve compiled some of the best marketing books of all time for entrepreneurs, marketers and anyone else running a business or marketing a brand. Learn from some of the best marketers and best business leaders to think differently, understand the purpose of your business, decide how to sell to your customers and crush your marketing strategy in 2020 with this list.

The List: 22 Best Marketing Books You Need On Your Shelf

1. icarus deception by seth godin.

You might recall that Icarus’s fatal flaw was not heeding his father’s warning to not fly too close to the sun. Furthermore, Daedalus warned his son to not fly too low, fearing that the saltwater would also damage the wings.

In his lauded book, Seth Godin takes a hint from Greek mythology, pushing readers towards thinking radically outside the box, move forward without a map — critical skills for any marketer looking to get ahead. He emphasizes that conventional wisdom, conformity and fitting the mold are a surefire path to mediocrity.

2. Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products by Nir Eyal

People using your product is cool, but people habitually using your product is cooler . There’s a pattern to which products and services catch attention and become essential for consumers and which, and Hooked answers how to to do just that. Nir Eyal’s book, culled from years of behavioral design research, is a must read and one of the best marketing books for entrepreneurs looking to create and market products that consumers keep coming back to.

3. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini

How do you get someone to say yes? Marketing at its core is getting someone to agree to a proposition. Easier said than done…

People are being asked for their attention and money all the time, and social pressures add a wrinkle to an already complicated and saturated competition for consumer attention. In his bestseller and arguably of the best marketing books of all time, Robert Cialdini breaks down how with thoughtful persuasion, people can be influenced to say yes more often.

4. How Brands Become Icons by Douglas B. Holt

Any business is good business, right? Not exactly…

In his bestseller and candidate for one of the best marketing books of all time, former Harvard Business School professor Douglas B. Holt lays down what marketers need to understand if they want to communicate an authentic brand that truly resonates with customers over time, not just once because of a low price or hype. Taking the tips from iconic brands including ESPN , Mountain Dew, Volkswagen, Budweiser, and Harley-Davidson , Holt breaks down his tips to cultivate a marketing strategy that goes beyond gimmicks and establishes a meaningful brand connection with potential customers.

5. The Undoing Project by Michael Lewis

Michael Lewis’s acclaimed book turns academically dense psychology about judgments and decision-making into a gripping page-turner. Understanding the human psyche is critical for edging out marketing competition and The Undoing Project will help marketers do that in a book whose intellectual rigor matches its entertainment value.

6. Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell

Gladwell’s hit Blink isn’t explicitly about marketing, but that doesn’t stop it from being one of the top marketing books. His sophomore book examines the thinking we do when we’re not thinking. We make split-second decisions all the time about what we want, and it’s important that marketers understand those snap judgments. If you’ve read Gladwell’s classic before, then it’s worth your time to snag it again on Audible and absorb the content during your daily commute, a perfect audio companion for his podcast listeners .

7. Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics by Richard Thaler

The best marketers do a good job of understanding how consumers think. The top marketing books do this too, and Misbehaving is one of them. Legendary behavioral economist Richard Thaler walks readers through how consumers behave irrationally. We don’t make the best decisions for ourselves and are consistent in making errors. It’s useful for marketers to understand those patterns.

8. Red Team by Micah Zenko

Think you always have good ideas? In Red Team , Micah Zenko shows you why you shouldn’t. He makes it clear that even your best ideas need to be interrogated internally before they hit the market. Pharmaceutical companies, the CIA, and a bevy of other organizations follow this process to take their work to the next level. Even if you and your whole team are on board with your new marketing strategy, sometimes fostering healthy criticism is the difference between a good plan and great plan.

9. Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World by Robert Grant

Everyone thinks the same all the time. Ideas are stunningly iterative. Startups are presented as the “Uber of x” , businesses imitate businesses. And this is kind of for good reason. Being different can be risky. The gains can be big and the loses heavy. In one of the best marketing books for entrepreneurs, Robert Grant shows marketers how they can think different without risking it all.

10. Contagious, Why Things Catch On by Jonah Berger

With Contagious , Jonah Berger, a professor at the Wharton School , created one of the top marketing books. Berger explores how and why some information goes viral while other info does not. His work has become a seminal marketing book and a must-read for any marketing professional trying to figure out how to get ahead of the curve.

11. Win: The Key Principles to Take Your Business from Ordinary to Extraordinary by Frank Luntz

Frank Luntz has been a messaging expert in political insider circles for decades — helping his clients shift their discussions with language. Those on his side love him and those who oppose him hate him for how effective he is. Luntz takes what he’s learned inside the Washington, D.C. Beltway and applies it to business in a way that marketers seeking to communicate more effectively and succinctly to their customers will appreciate.

12. Shoe Dog by Phil Knight

Phil Knight is one-half of the team behind one of the best-marketed brands of all time: Nike. Knight’s memoir is loaded with lessons and insights on how to not just articulate a coherent brand vision, but to also live it. Understanding the mechanics and theory of marketing is important, but Knight’s book is able to provide a case study that teaches how to implement these tactics extremely well.

13. Top of Mind by John Hall

When people think about your industry, your brand should be the first thing that comes to mind. But this isn’t an easy task… John Hall’s Top of Mind is a guide to helping you do so. Hall’s book provides insights into how to create meaningful and authentic relationships between customers and products.

14. Outside Insight by Jørn Lyseggen

Big data is still all the rage, and it’s not just a buzzword. Jørn Lyseggen has used it to push his media and business intelligence company, Meltwater, ahead of the competition. It can be easy to drown in the vast swaths of data available now, but Lygseggen’s book is useful for marketers looking for insight on how to use data to their advantage.

15. Designing Brand Identity by Alina Wheeler

Good brands are not just strategy, design, or copywriting. They’re the sum of all three of these things. Alina Wheeler’s detailed book on how to comprehensive market every aspect of a brand is one of the best marketing books for entrepreneurs looking understand every aspect of their teams and how to get the most out of them.

16. The Autobiography of Gucci Mane by Gucci Mane

Few have come from so little, had it almost taken away, and still prevailed to build a lasting career and such a spectacular brand. Gucci Mane, born Radric Davis, chronicles his rise out of poverty in East Atlanta and several jail stints to create one of the most recognized personas in hip-hop. Even if your work doesn’t touch music or culture, marketers can pick up more than a tip or two from the Malcolm Gladwell fan’s relentless grit and success in cultivating well-respected and well-known personal brand.

17. The Life of PT Barnum by PT Barnum

Sometimes the top marketing books are the ones that go back to the basics. Barnum’s autobiography is as basic as they come in marketing. The enterprising visionary is known for his famous circus, but he was able to build a lasting brand because of his marketing expertise. Barnum invented many of the essentials elements of marketing and advertising that continue to dominate the industry in 2019. His book gives the inside story of how he accomplished that.

18. Permission Marketing by Seth Godin

Seth Godin, who Businessweek once dubbed “ the ultimate entrepreneur for the Information Age,” breaks down his strategy for winning customers over. This book was published in 1999, and Godin was able to effectively communicate the changes that were coming with the growth of the tech industry. Traditional advertising was aimed at capturing attention. Godin looks forward with lessons marketers can glean about how to reach out to customers who have already shown interest in a product and brand, and how that can drive a successful marketing campaign.

19. Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind by Al Ries and Jack Trout

It struck the marketing world when it first came out and now, several decades later, Al Ries and Jack Trout’s Positioning still holds a spot as one of the top marketing reads. Whether you are picking it up for the first time, or doing a refresher on Audible, you are in for a face-paced, pithy, master class on everything from how to find weak spots of competitors, to finding the right name for a product, to identifying the right market niche to attack. And if you’re looking for more top marketing audio content, check out our list of the 19 best marketing podcasts .

20. Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds by Charles MacKay

Charles MacKay’s 1841 classic has stood the test of time and continues to be lauded and cited by contemporary academics and writers. MacKay covers how the delusion of crowds can lead to things like the often referenced Tulipomania. His book is critical for marketers looking to get a historical perspective on how the psychology of the masses can affect human behavior.

21. Crushing It!: How Great Entrepreneurs Build Their Business and Influence-and How You Can, Too by Gary Vaynerchuk

Good marketing philosophy often starts at the top and goes down. In one of the best marketing books of 2019, New York Times bestselling author Gary Vaynerchuk dissects how with an entrepreneur’s own personal brand, they can help their entire enterprises, gain attention, reform their ethos and ultimately succeed.

22. Marketing Myopia by Theodore Levitt

In business, you’re not selling a product, you’re meeting customers needs. It’s a distinction that many marketers forget but is a cornerstone of the profession.

As companies grow, many find their prosperity waning. They lose sight of what type of business they are and what they’re trying to serve customers. Good CMOs and marketers never lose focus, and Levitt’s tried and true tips will help keep you on track.

Get Reading, Marketers!

There are a lot of marketing and sales books and there are more coming out all the time, but with this list, we’ll help make sure that your time is well spent on the best of the best.

Practice makes perfect, but use these books to make sure that the marketing you are putting into practice is as close to perfect as possible.

Have a book you think we should have included in the list? Be sure to leave a comment below!

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18 Best Marketing Books to Read in 2023

You found our list of the best marketing books .

Marketing books are nonfiction guides that explain how to build a brand and gain visibility for a company, product, or service. These books cover topics such as branding, digital marketing, social media, and storytelling. The purpose of these books is to teach marketing competencies and help industry professionals craft quality and compelling marketing content and campaigns.

These works are a subset of business books and are similar to advertising books , social media marketing books , books on business strategy and entrepreneurship books .

This list contains:

Here we go!

List of marketing books

From social media content manuals to marketing psychology books, here is a list of newly released and all-time best selling books.

1. Alchemy: The Dark Art and Curious Science of Creating Magic in Brands, Business, and Life by Rory Sutherland

Alchemy examines the strange magic of marketing through the lens of psychology. The world of consumer logic is often illogical, yet this book argues that the unpredictable nature of human behavior can actually be an asset to marketers. The strange reasoning behind consumer choices provides an opportunity for marketers to make an unlikely brand or product insanely popular. While this phenomenon can be unpredictable, the book lays out a list of rules to increase the chances of creating a hit. Alchemy is an entertaining and informative read that reveals the strange and wonderful workings of the marketing world.

Notable Quote: “Our conscious mind tries hard to preserve the illusion that it deliberately chose every action you have ever taken; in reality, in many of these decisions it was a bystander at best, and much of the time it did not even notice the decision being made.”

Buy Alchemy .

2. The 1-Page Marketing Plan: Get New Customers, Make More Money, And Stand Out From The Crowd by Allen Dib

The 1-Page Marketing Plan is a guide for creating a quick and simple yet effective marketing strategy. Allen Dib proposes a short and sweet alternative to the more time-consuming and involved marketing plans that intimidate many professionals. The 1-Page Marketing Plan discusses ways to gain new customers and new business from existing customers, tailor campaigns to match business size, dominate competitors, and stretch small budgets to optimize return on investment. The book lays out a formula for drawing up a game plan that fits on a single page, helping organizations to identify marketing priorities.

Notable Quote: “Focusing on the cause (value) rather than the effect (making money) will lead to much greater long-term success.”

Buy The 1-Page Marketing Plan .

3. This Is Marketing: You Can’t Be Seen Until You Learn to See by Seth Godin

This is Marketing is one of the best marketing books for beginners. Marketing guru Seth Godin shares his cardinal industry rules and best practices in one condensed volume. The book addresses topics like identifying viable markets, learning by listening and observing, and tailoring the message to fit particular audiences. Each chapter prescribes advice like “trust is as scarce as attention,” and “treat different people differently.” This is Marketing outlines the central strategies and storytelling techniques that make marketing efforts successful and remarkable.

Notable Quote: “Everything gets easier when you walk away from the hubris of everyone. Your work is not for everyone. It’s only for those who signed up for the journey.”

Buy This Is Marketing .

4. Everybody Writes: Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content by Ann Handley

Everybody Writes is MarketingProfs executive Ann Handley’s tips for crafting quality content. The book outlines writing behaviors that help marketers become master storytellers. For instance, cultivating a writing habit, churning out bad first drafts and editing meticulously, and expressing complex ideas through simple language. The guide also drills the rules of grammar, story structure, and citation, as well as best practices for styling content to fit various platforms. While aimed at marketers, Everybody Writes is a general handbook for effective storytelling. Many of the tips in the book are suitable for writing workshops or journalism classes, primarily because basic writing principles are important marketer tools. At its core, marketing is about making the audience feel emotion, and only clear, well-crafted content can achieve this end.

Notable Quote: “Assume the reader knows nothing. But don’t assume the reader is stupid.”

Buy Everybody Writes .

5. Contagious: Why Things Catch On by Jonah Berger

Contagious is an exploration of the factors that make concepts spread like wildfire. This subject matter is especially relevant for the current era of marketing, given the emphasis on viral content. The book examines the elements that make ideas shareable and sensational, namely triggers, emotion, social currency, and practical value. Each section contains examples and anecdotes that illustrate the ways savvy marketers use these tools to shape public perception. Rather than championing gimmicks, the book explores how to speak to the human experience. Contagious contains instructions for spreading irresistible ideas.

Notable Quote: “People don’t think in terms of information. They think in terms of narratives. But while people focus on the story itself, information comes along for the ride.”

Buy Contagious .

6. Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip Heath and Dan Heath

Made to Stick is one of the best books on marketing psychology. The work shares compelling cultural case studies and examines the reasons why fictions often tend to spread faster and farther and persist longer than fact. Chapters outline five basic qualities of stickiness: simple, unexpected, concrete, credible, and emotional, each illustrated through a string of entertaining anecdotes. The book explores topics such as decision paralysis, empathy, and observation. Made to Stick provides an actionable blueprint for marketers to craft tales with staying power.

Notable Quote: “The most basic way to get someone’s attention is this: Break a pattern.”

Buy Made to Stick .

7. Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen by Donald Miller

Building a StoryBrand teaches leaders how to craft a clear and consistent brand message that resonates with audiences. The book explores consumer reasoning and lays out steps for appealing to audiences. Brand is the way companies speak to customers, and this guide provides a framework for communicating each part of the company story. Chapters outline techniques like wielding the seven universal human story points, crafting compelling calls to action, optimizing copy for different mediums, and making brands understandable and relatable to target demographics. Building a StoryBrand is the ultimate manual for corporate branding.

Notable Quote: “In every line of copy we write, we’re either serving the customer’s story or descending into confusion; we’re either making music or making noise.”

Buy Building a StoryBrand .

8. Stories That Stick: How Storytelling Can Captivate Customers, Influence Audiences, and Transform Your Business by Kindra Hall

Stories That Stick is a masterclass in marketing storytelling. Preaching the point that the story is the sale, the book explains how narratives can captivate an otherwise unreceptive audience. Stories That Stick presents frameworks for four main story types–founder, value, purpose, and customer– explaining the nuances and different uses for each category. The author demonstrates these points through the use of enchanting prose and great hooks that engage readers. The book is not only an exploration of effective storytelling, but also a concrete example of the art.

Notable Quote: “A perfectly placed, impeccably delivered story can transport a person to a place beyond interested, straight past paying attention, and into a state of complete captivation.”

Buy Stories That Stick .

9. Obviously Awesome: How to Nail Product Positioning so Customers Get It, Buy It, Love It by April Dunford

Obviously Awesome is a primer on positioning, or the way brands present products to consumers and differentiate offerings from competitors. Positioning is a particularly desirable skill for the technology industry, where innovative products emerge constantly. However, this ability is valuable for any field. The book covers methods for choosing an appropriate market and niche, types of positioning, and ways to utilize market trends. Obviously Awesome teaches readers how to grab the target market’s attention, lure in prospective fans, and make customers fall in love with the product.

Notable Quote: “Keep in mind that most of your target customers have never heard of you or your rival startups—they simply want to know how your product compares to what they use today.”

Buy Obviously Awesome .

10. Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World by Gary Vaynerchuk

Gary Vaynerchuk is one of the biggest names in digital marketing, so it makes sense that he’s written one of the best books on social media marketing. Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook outlines strategies for major social channels like Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter. Though each platform requires a targeted approach and customized content, social success on any channel boils depends on one key rule: tell a compelling, audience appropriate story. Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook is an ageless guidebook for commanding attention on social media by using an authentic and engaging voice.

Pro-tip: For information on newer social media platforms like Tik-Tok and Clubhouse, supplement this book with Gary Vee’s more current content, such as podcasts and blog posts.

Notable Quote: “The better you learn the psychology and habits of your social media consumers, the better you can tell the right story at the right time.”

Buy Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook .

11. Marketing Made Simple: A Step-by-Step StoryBrand Guide for Any Business by Donald Miller

Marketing Made Simple is a guide to branding and sales funnel management. Donald Miller breaks down the basics of brand storytelling and customer-nurturing by providing checklists, anecdotes, and actionable steps. The book outlines topics such as managing client expectations and relationships, designing targeted sales funnels, optimizing websites for conversion, and leveraging email campaigns to build brand visibility and attract potential leads. Marketing Made Simple is a valuable marketing and sales resource for beginners or seasoned marketers looking to get back to basics.

Notable Quote: “Customers are not interested in your story. They are, rather, interested in being invited into a story that has them surviving and winning in the end.”

Buy Marketing Made Simple .

12. Digital Marketing Strategy: An Integrated Approach to Online Marketing by Simon Kingsnorth

This textbook is one of the most comprehensive digital marketing books available. Digital Marketing Strategy outlines the essentials of online marketing, including SEO, content marketing, automation, and email. The book explains how to plan, implement, and measure various virtual marketing techniques, as well as how to keep data secure. The material covers the full scope of digital marketing, from understanding the online ecosystem and remote consumers, to meeting budgets and business objectives, to optimizing for user experience, and beyond. Digital Marketing Strategy covers a variety of online marketing approaches, techniques, and components, and is a valuable reference for marketers of all levels.

Notable Quote: “If we stop the long-term activity we may make some savings for a few months but then we will be even further behind our competition….Reducing digital activity or marketing in general is a dangerous path. You could trial reducing activity in specific areas if necessary and display the impact of this on the business in order to tell your story.”

Buy Digital Marketing Strategy .

13. Fanocracy: Turning Fans into Customers and Customers into Fans by David Meerman Scott and Reiko Scott

Fanocracy demonstrates how to capitalize on fandom and transform admirers into buyers. David Meerman Scott and Reiko Scott examine the neuroscience of fandom, exploring what makes people passionate about a topic and what maintains that interest. The book strategizes on how to capitalize on intense interest without seeming opportunistic or insincere. The chapter titles outline best practices such as, “build identity to become more than the product,” and develop employees such as fans,” and each section contains case studies and stories to illustrate these points. Fanocracy teaches marketers how to build on opportunity, encourage devotees, and sustain popularity.

Notable Quote: “To be successful in a world where fans rule, we must be convinced that relationships with customers are more important than the the products or services we sell to them.”

Buy Fanocracy .

14. The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing: Violate Them at Your Own Risk by by Al Ries and Jack Trout

The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing is one of the most popular marketing books of all time. Drawing on years of consultant experience, the authors lay down the golden rules of marketing. The book explores concepts such as leadership, perspective, perception, and unpredictability. Each chapter starts with a general statement and explores the declaration in depth. The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing is an anthology of marketing mantras.

Notable Quote: “Marketing is a battle of perceptions, not products.”

Buy The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing .

15. Hacking Growth: How Today’s Fastest-Growing Companies Drive Breakout Success by by Sean Ellis and Morgan Brown

Hacking Growth is one of the better marketing books for startups. Growth hacking is a process marketers use to quickly grow a company’s client base and reputation by testing multiple methods of reaching potential customers. Hacking Growth reveals the techniques and tactics that helped some of the most successful startups grow from beginner companies to household names. The book provides a toolkit for rapidly growing customer bases and market shares for both new and established organizations.

Notable Quote: “You want to track, at a minimum, the metrics for each of the steps users must take to reach the aha moment and how often they are taking those steps.”

Buy Hacking Growth .

16. Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling Disruptive Products to Mainstream Customers by Geoffrey A. Moore

Crossing the Chasm explains how to introduce groundbreaking new products to the market. The author explains that behavior and sentiment differs between early adopters, customers willing to take risks on new products, and the early majority, users who wait for bugs to be fixed and reviews to emerge. The book aims to narrow the space of time between these two groups, accelerating the rate at which products achieve mass acceptance. Crossing the Chasm teaches readers how to educate audiences about emerging technology, encourage consumer behavioral change, and convince customers to believe in new offerings. The book equips readers with the skills and tactics needed to sell products to unassuming audiences.

Notable Quote: “Entering the mainstream market is an act of burglary, of breaking and entering, of deception, often even of stealth.”

Buy Crossing the Chasm .

17. The One Hour Content Plan: The Solopreneur’s Guide to a Year’s Worth of Blog Post Ideas in 60 Minutes and Creating Content That Hooks and Sells by Meera Kothand

The One Hour Content Plan is a blogging companion for freelancers, solo marketers, and small businesses. The book explains how to generate content ideas and write posts that attract and convert readers. The guide is filled with tips about choosing topics, finding and maintaining brand voice, and crafting quality writing that achieves the desired results. Later chapters also touch on topics like editing and promoting content. While most marketing books focus on large-scale efforts and industry players, The One Hour Content Plan lays out the basics of blogging for smaller operations.

Notable Quote: “When you’re not able to articulate the direction you want your content to take your readers, it’s difficult for your readers to understand where you’re taking them too.”

Buy The One Hour Content Plan .

18. Digital Marketing Analytics: Making Sense of Consumer Data in a Digital World by Chuck Hemann and Ken Burbary

Digital Marketing Analytics is one of the most comprehensive marketing analytics books available. While some guides focus on specific tools like Google Analytics, this book gives a broader overview of how to use data to guide marketing decisions. Chapters explore areas such as analyzing audience, improving customer service, anticipating crisis, and generating useful reports. Digital Marketing Analytics helps leaders measure environmental factors and marketing results and make logical business choices.

Notable Quote: “Tracking what happens after a user clicks on a link can be useful, but it can’t answer all the questions. New and other ways exist to fill in the gaps for a more complete picture by using a variety of digital data sources.”

Buy Digital Marketing Analytics .

Storytelling is one of the main tools of marketing, and reading is one of the quickest ways to improve storytelling skills. By picking up books on marketing, professionals can become more creative and strategic. The best marketers learn and experiment constantly. These books share new trends ideas as well as time-tested and evidence-based strategies and best practices. By reading these works, marketers can improve the scope and reach of campaigns and achieve better results for the time invested in these efforts.

For more reading, check out this list of growth hacking books , these change management books , and these books on sales .

We also have a list of the best books on customer experience .

FAQ: Marketing books

Here are answers to common questions about marketing books.

What are marketing books?

Marketing books are handbooks for building brands and promoting products. These guides teach marketers how to tell stories that attract and resonate with potential customers, and also. increase visibility and sales. However, more than building a brand and selling products, marketing is about telling powerful stories and making lasting impacts on customers. The books in the genre lay out tips and best practices to ensure maximum ROI on creative and strategic effort.

What are the best books for marketing?

The best books for marketing include Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook by Gary Vaynerchuk, Contagious by Jonah Berger, Building a StoryBrand by Donald Miller, and Alchemy by Rory Sutherland.

What are some good marketing books for beginners?

Some good marketing books for beginners include Everybody Writes by Ann Handley, This Is Marketing by Seth Godin , Marketing Made Simple by Donald Miller, and Digital Marketing Strategy by Simon Kingsnorth.

Why should you read marketing books?

The marketing world is fast-paced and ever-changing, and reading marketing books helps professionals keep up with marketing trends. These works can inform readers about new strategies and ideas from industry leaders from industry leaders who have invaluable insights and experiences.

Author: Angela Robinson

Marketing Coordinator at teambuilding.com. Team building content expert. Angela has a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and worked as a community manager with Yelp to plan events for businesses.

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Top 11 marketing books of all time.

Author of Best Seller Uprising, Founder of StrawberryFrog

There are many marketing and advertising books out there worth reading, too many to get into a list of the best marketing and advertising books. I wanted to make a list of my own. Whether you're studying advertising, or are a professional practicing the craft there are hundreds of books worth digesting. And as one might expect, there are some that are better known and some that are simply better for you. If you're in the marketing, advertising, communications, public relations, branding, design or anything else, these books should have a permanent place in your library.

1. Eating the Big Fish by Adam Morgan Into beating the long established brands at their own game or revitalizing an existing brand this is a must read. It's exceptional.

2. Ogilvy On Advertising by David Ogilvy An oldie but goldie. Expected information but worth the read. Ogilvy On Advertising is considered an advertising bible.

3. From Those Wonderful Folks Who Gave You Pearl Harbor by Jerry Della Femina Cult classic

4. Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable by Seth Godin Seth Godin's best book.

5. Truth, Lies & Advertising: The Art of Account Planning by Jon Steel My favorite marketing book growing up.

6. Positioning: The Battle For Your Mind by Al Ries and Jack Trout Thought provoking.

7. Made With (a soon to be released new book by John Grant) One of my favorite thinkers is about to launch his new book, the image above is one of his great books too).

8. A Technique for Producing Ideas by James Webb Young The foreword by Bill Bernbach, one of the greatest advertising professionals who ever lived, should be enough to let you know that this is a gem. And although published in 1965 (from a presentation first delivered in 1939) it's timeless advice to help copywriters, art directors, designers and planners jump-start their creative juices. If (or when) you hit a creative wall, this book will help you hammer it down.

9. Drive by Daniel Pink What motivates people? Fascinating read.

10. Rules for Revolutionaries by Guy Kawasaki The inspiration behind my ad agency StrawberryFrog

11. Fascinate by Sally Hogshead Love love love this book.

12. Uprising : How to build a brand and change the world by sparking cultural movements. Okay I work in advertising and this is flagrant self-promotion. But a recent review of this best selling book by Stanford University suggests that this is an inspiring read. Judge for yourself.

Scott Goodson - Author of Best Seller Uprising, Founder of StrawberryFrog

Scott Goodson, Contributor

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The Top 10 Marketing Books of All Times (Updated 2023)

Posted in Sales & Marketing

We have updated this list and added more books that every marketer should read cover to cover if they want to accelerate their growth in this field. Below this first list, we have added more marketing books that you should add to your reading list immediately.

If you are in the business of online marketing, you already know that regardless of how many academic courses you took in college, or how many hours you spent listening to your teachers, the most you will ever gain is some basic knowledge but will not be taking you to the cutting edge.

Online marketing is a highly evolving field with new techniques, theories, tactics and tools emerging every day, and the only way to stay on top is to stay tuned and on standby ready to grab anything new and useful. However, a google search won’t suffice since the internet is full of bullshit; and although thousands of marketing books are published each year, most of the books are destined to stay on shelves collecting dust. This is why I compiled this list of books for you. My objective is to put you on rail; the rest is however up to you. As a PHD I’ve developed a good sense of the type of books that will elevate you and the ones that keep you grounded. Remember, it is never too late to learn.

In this article, I have outlined the 10 marketing books of all time plus some other books that are a great to have in your library; I have also added a section on 5 of the most powerful marketing tips, 4 types of marketing strategies, and resources you’ll love section.

10. Buy.logy by Martin Lindstrom

How much do we know about why we buy? What truly influences our decisions in today’s message-cluttered world? An eye-grabbing advertisement, a catchy slogan, an infectious jingle? Or do our buying decisions take place below the surface, so deep within our subconscious minds, we’re barely aware of them?

In Buy.logy, Lindstrom presents the astonishing findings from his groundbreaking, three-year, seven-million-dollar neuromarketing study, a cutting-edge experiment that peered inside the brains of 2,000 volunteers from all around the world as they encountered various ads, logos, commercials, brands, and products. His startling results shatter much of what we have long believed regarding: what sparks our interest and what drives us to buy.

Key Takeaways From Buy.logy

1. Our brains respond to branding and advertising in complex and often unconscious ways, which can influence our purchasing decisions without us even realizing it. (Chapter 1, page 10)

2. Many of the commonly-held assumptions about what drives consumer behavior, such as the importance of product quality or price, may not be accurate. Instead, emotional and subconscious factors can have a stronger impact. (Chapter 2, page 28)

3. Neuroimaging techniques such as fMRI can provide insights into how our brains respond to marketing stimuli, but their usefulness in predicting consumer behavior is limited by a variety of factors. (Chapter 4, page 67)

4. The use of product placements in movies and other media can be an effective way to create positive associations with a brand, but the impact can be weakened if the placement is too obvious or forced. (Chapter 7, page 131)

5. Companies that focus on creating strong emotional connections with their customers, rather than simply promoting product features, are often more successful in building lasting brand loyalty. (Chapter 8, page 150)

9. Epic Content Marketing by Joe Pullizzi

Joe Pullizzi is the founder of the Content Marketing Institute (CMI), one of the leading content marketing educational resource for enterprise brands, and one fasted growing business since its creation. It is safe to assume that Pullizzi knows a thing or two about content marketing, and in this book, he gives plenty of great advice about how to do it right.

“Epic Content Marketing” takes you systematically through the process of developing stories that inform and entertain customers to act without actually telling them to. Epic content enables you to position your business, as a trusted expert in its industry and it is what customers share and talk about. There are six principles: 1. Your content must fill an unmet need or answer a question for your customer 2. You must deliver your content consistently 3. Your content needs to be written in your voice, preferably with some humor 4. You need to express an opinion rather than giving a balanced history report 5. You must avoid sales speak, as it destroys the value of your content 6. You must aim to produce the very best content relating to your content niche

Key Takeaways From Epic Content Marketing

1. To create effective content marketing, you must start with a clear understanding of your target audience and their needs and then create content that addresses those needs in a unique and valuable way. (Chapter 1, page 6)

2. Successful content marketing requires a strategic approach that includes setting clear goals, developing a focused content mission statement, and creating an editorial calendar to guide your content creation efforts. (Chapter 3, page 34)

3. To make your content stand out in a crowded marketplace, it must be “epic” – meaning it should be exceptionally high-quality, original, and valuable to your audience. This requires a commitment to ongoing creativity and innovation. (Chapter 5, page 77)

4. Content marketing is not just about creating content – it’s also about promoting and distributing that content effectively. This includes leveraging social media, email marketing, and other channels to reach your target audience and maximize the impact of your content. (Chapter 8, page 149)

5. Ultimately, the success of your content marketing efforts will depend on your ability to measure and analyze your results, and use those insights to refine your strategy over time. This requires a focus on key metrics such as website traffic, engagement, and conversion rates. (Chapter 10, page 191)

8. Social Media ROI by Olivier Blanchard

Top branding and marketing expert Olivier Blanchard attempts in this book to demystify the biggest question that sits on top of the minds of many business managers: what exactly is the return of investment of social media, and more importantly, why should my business be using social media? And finally, how do we justify the investment?

Reading this book, you will learn about the best practices for strategy, planning, execution, measurement, analysis, and optimization in Social Media. You will also learn how to define the financial and non financial business impacts you are aiming for and how to achieve them.

Key Takeaways From Social Media ROI

1. Social media ROI is not just about financial returns but also about non-financial returns such as customer loyalty, brand awareness, and reputation. (Chapter 2, pages 30-31)

2. The ROI of social media can be calculated by identifying key performance indicators (KPIs), setting goals, and measuring the impact of social media on those goals. (Chapter 4, pages 61-62)

3. Social media initiatives should be aligned with business objectives in order to have a measurable impact on the bottom line. (Chapter 6, pages 97-98)

4. Social media should be viewed as an integrated part of overall business strategy, rather than a standalone activity. (Chapter 7, pages 111-112)

5. The success of social media initiatives depends on having the right people, processes, and technology in place to execute and measure those initiatives. (Chapter 9, pages 154-155)

7. The Anatomy of Buzz by Emanuel Rosen

In The Anatomy of Buzz, former marketing VP Emanuel Rosen pinpoints the products and services that benefit the most from buzz-a universe that embraces everything from high-tech equipment to books, various consumer and entertainment products to legal and other support services-and offers specific strategies for creating and sustaining effective word-of-mouth campaigns.

Drawing from interviews with more than 150 executives, marketing leaders, and researchers who have successfully built buzz for major brands, Rosen describes the ins and outs of attracting the attention of influential first users and “big-mouth” movers and shakers. He also discusses proven techniques for stimulating customer-to-customer selling-including how companies can spread the word to new territories by taking advantage of customer hubs and networks on the Internet and elsewhere.

Key Takeaway From The Anatomy Of Buzz

1. Buzz is created through a combination of factors, including the product itself, the context in which it is launched, and the way it is marketed. (Chapter 1, pages 5-6)

2. Word of mouth is the most effective form of marketing and can be encouraged through strategies such as creating a unique product or experience, leveraging influencers, and providing exceptional customer service. (Chapter 3, pages 29-31)

3. Buzz can be measured and tracked using metrics such as the number of mentions, the sentiment of those mentions, and the level of engagement generated. (Chapter 4, pages 44-45)

4. To sustain buzz over time, companies must continue to innovate, evolve their products and marketing strategies, and actively engage with their audience. (Chapter 7, pages 113-114)

5. Creating buzz requires a deep understanding of the target audience and the ability to effectively communicate the unique value proposition of the product or service. (Chapter 9, pages 142-143)

6. Made to Stick By Chip Heath & Dan Heath

Chip and Dan Heath tackle in this book why some ideas thrive while others die, and how to improve the chances of worthy ideas. They reveal the anatomy of ideas that stick and explain ways to make ideas stickier, such as applying the “human scale principle,” using the “Velcro Theory of Memory,” and creating “curiosity gaps.”

Provocative, eye opening, and often surprisingly funny, Made to Stick will show you the vital principles of winning ideas and how to apply these rules making your own messages stick. Made to Stick is simply a book that will transform the way you communicate ideas.

Key Takeaways From Made To Stick

1. Ideas that stick are simple, unexpected, concrete, credible, emotional, and tell a story. (Chapter 1, pages 15-16)

2. In order to make an idea stick, it is important to focus on the core message and strip away any unnecessary details or jargon. (Chapter 2, pages 39-40)

3. A message that is unexpected or violates people’s expectations can capture their attention and be more memorable. (Chapter 3, pages 68-70)

4. Concrete details and examples make a message more memorable and help people understand and remember it. (Chapter 4, pages 91-92)

5. Emotion is a powerful tool for making a message stick, as people are more likely to remember and act on information that elicits an emotional response. (Chapter 6, pages 143-144)

5. Conversion Optimization by Khalid Saleh & Ayat Shukairy

I might be cheating by adding Khalid’s and Ayat’s book to this list, but you will forgive me once you go over it and read it. Based on the authors’ broad experience in helping businesses attract online customers, this book addresses every aspect of the process, from landing visitors to finalizing the sale. You will learn several techniques for blending successful sales approaches with the particular needs of the people you want to attract.

Conversion Optimization offers practical advice on how to persuade visitors to make a buying decision without driving them away through data overload or tedious navigation. You will learn how to use marketing principles, design, usability, and analytics on your site to increase your buyer-to-visitor ratio, whether you are involved with marketing or designing a large ecommerce site, or managing a modest online operation. So the last question left is, are you ready to do what it takes to get a double-digit conversion rate?

Key Takeaways From Conversion Optimization

1. Understand Your Audience: One of the most important steps in optimizing conversions is to understand your audience. By understanding their needs, preferences, and pain points, you can create targeted messaging and experiences that resonate with them. (Chapter 2, page 17)

2. Test Everything: Testing is a crucial part of the conversion optimization process. By testing different elements of your website or marketing campaigns, you can identify what works and what doesn’t, and make data-driven decisions about how to improve your conversion rates. (Chapter 4, page 51)

3. Focus on User Experience: A great user experience can make all the difference when it comes to converting prospects into customers. By optimizing your website’s layout, navigation, and content, you can create a seamless experience that encourages visitors to take action. (Chapter 5, page 73)

4. Use Social Proof: Social proof is a powerful tool for boosting conversions. By highlighting customer reviews, testimonials, and other forms of social proof, you can build trust and credibility with your audience, and increase the likelihood that they’ll convert. (Chapter 7, page 106)

5. Continuously Improve: Conversion optimization is an ongoing process, not a one-time fix. By constantly testing, tweaking, and optimizing your marketing efforts, you can stay ahead of the curve and continue to improve your conversion rates over time. (Chapter 10, page 173)

4. Selling the Invisible by Harry Beckwith

Twenty-five years of experience with thousands of business professionals, Harry Beckwith delivers in this book its wisdom with unforgettable and often surprising examples, from Federal Express, Citicorp, and a growing Greek travel agency to an ingenious babysitter.

Filled with wonderful insights you will learn how service marketing is about how to eliminate your clients fear of hiring you, and how to make your invisible qualities visible.

Key Takeaways From Selling The Invisible

1. Focus on the Customer Experience: The key to success in selling services is to focus on the customer experience. This involves understanding the customer’s needs, communicating effectively, and providing excellent service. (Chapter 1, page 15)

2. Build Relationships: Building relationships is essential in selling services. This involves developing trust with the customer, understanding their needs, and providing personalized solutions. (Chapter 2, page 29)

3. Differentiate Yourself: In a crowded marketplace, it’s important to differentiate yourself from the competition. This can be achieved by focusing on your unique strengths, communicating them effectively, and providing a unique value proposition. (Chapter 4, page 59)

4. Communicate Your Value: Communicating the value of your service is crucial in selling services. This involves understanding the customer’s perspective, highlighting your unique strengths, and providing clear, concise messaging. (Chapter 5, page 85)

5. Focus on Long-term Success: Selling services requires a long-term focus on building relationships and providing ongoing value to the customer. This involves understanding their needs, communicating effectively, and providing excellent service over time. (Chapter 9, page 181)

3. Permission Marketing by Seth Godin

If you have been around long enough in this business, you already know that Seth Godin is the most influential and brightest gurus in online marketing. Whether it is the TV commercial that breaks into our favorite program or the telemarketing phone call that disrupts a family meal, traditional advertising is based on the hope of snaring our attention away from whatever we are doing. Seth Godin calls this Interruption Marketing. Instead of annoying potential customers by interrupting their most coveted commodity, time, Godin offers consumers incentives to accept advertising voluntarily. By reaching out to only those individuals who have expressed an interest in learning more about a product, Permission Marketing enables companies to develop long-term relationships with customers and greatly improve the chances of making a sale.

Key Takeaways From Permission Marketing

1. Permission Marketing is More Effective: Permission marketing is more effective than traditional interruption marketing because it’s based on building relationships with customers over time. By asking for permission to communicate with them and providing valuable content, you can build trust and loyalty with your audience. (Chapter 1, page 11)

2. Segment Your Audience: To effectively use permission marketing, it’s important to segment your audience based on their interests and needs. This allows you to provide targeted messaging and offers that are more likely to resonate with them. (Chapter 3, page 46)

3. Offer Incentives: Incentives can be a powerful tool for getting people to opt-in to your permission marketing program. By offering something of value in exchange for their contact information, you can attract more subscribers and build your list. (Chapter 6, page 97)

4. Provide Valuable Content: The key to successful permission marketing is providing valuable content that your audience wants to receive. This can include educational materials, entertaining content, and exclusive offers that are relevant to their interests. (Chapter 9, page 156)

5. Nurture Your Relationships: Building relationships with your subscribers is an ongoing process that requires ongoing engagement and communication. This involves providing regular updates, responding to feedback, and offering personalized messaging and offers that are tailored to their interests. (Chapter 11, page 187)

2. The Psychology Influence of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini

Influence is a classical book That explains the psychology of why people say “yes”, and how to apply these understandings. Dr. Robert Cialdini is the seminal expert in the rapidly expanding field of influence and persuasion. His thirty-five years of rigorous, evidence-based research, along with a three-year program of study on what moves people to change behavior; has resulted in this highly acclaimed book.

You will learn the six universal principles, how to use them to become a skilled persuader—and how to defend yourself against them. Perfect for people in all occupations, the principles of Influence will move you toward profound personal change and act as a driving force for your success.

Key Takeaways From The Psychology Influence Of Persuasion

1. Reciprocation: People are more likely to comply with a request if they feel they owe something to the person making the request. This is known as the principle of reciprocation. The key is to be the first to give and make the giving personalized and unexpected. (Chapter 2, pages 17-28)

2. Social Proof: People are more likely to comply with a request if they see that others are also complying. This is known as the principle of social proof. To use social proof, you can highlight the popularity of your request or show how others like the person you’re trying to persuade have already taken the desired action. (Chapter 3, pages 28-43)

3. Authority: People are more likely to comply with a request if it comes from an authority figure or someone who is perceived as an expert in the topic. This is known as the principle of authority. To use authority, you can highlight your expertise, credentials, or experience in the field. (Chapter 4, pages 43-61)

4. Commitment and Consistency: People are more likely to comply with a request if it is consistent with their previous beliefs or actions. This is known as the principle of commitment and consistency. To use this principle, you can start by asking for a small commitment and then build up to the larger request. This creates a sense of consistency that makes it more difficult for the person to say no. (Chapter 5, pages 61-76)

5. Scarcity: People are more likely to comply with a request if they believe that the opportunity is scarce or limited. This is known as the principle of scarcity. To use scarcity, you can emphasize the uniqueness, rarity, or time-sensitivity of the opportunity. This creates a sense of urgency that makes the person more likely to act. (Chapter 6, pages 76-93)

1. Positioning by Al Ries & Jack Trout

Positioning is another classical book in Marketing, and is the first book to deal with the problems of communicating to a skeptical, media-blitzed public. This book describes a revolutionary approach to creating a “position” in a prospective customer’s mind-one that reflects a company’s own strengths and weaknesses as well as those of its competitors.

By reading Positioning you will learn how to use leading ad agency techniques to capture the biggest market share and become a household name. You will also learn: • Use leading ad agency techniques to capture the biggest market share and become a household name • Build your strategy around your competition’s weaknesses • Reposition a strong competitor and create a weak spot • Use your present position to its best advantage • Choose the best name for your product • Determine when-and why-less is more • Analyze recent trends that affect your positioning.

Key Takeaways From Positioning

1. Positioning is about perception: Positioning is not just what you do with your product, it’s what you do in the mind of the consumer. Your product can have a strong position only if it occupies a unique place in the mind of the consumer. (Page 23:)

2. The importance of simplicity: In today’s world, where consumers are bombarded with information, it’s crucial to keep things simple. A simple and focused message will be more effective than a complex and confusing one. (Page 82: Chapter 6 -)

3. Repositioning is difficult: Once a brand has established a position in the mind of the consumer, it’s hard to change that perception. It’s much easier to create a new position in the mind of the consumer than to change an existing one (Page 140: Chapter 10 -)

4. Differentiation is key: In order to establish a strong position in the mind of the consumer, you need to differentiate your product from the competition. You need to find a unique selling proposition (USP) that sets you apart from the competition. (Page 64: Chapter 5 – )

5. Repetition is important: In order for your brand to establish a strong position in the mind of the consumer, you need to repeat your message consistently over time. Repetition helps to reinforce your brand’s position and make it more memorable. (Page 94: Chapter 7 -)

In case you have read all of the above marketing books, here are more books that you should add to your reading list:

Competing against luck by Dr. Clayton Christensen, Taddy Hall, Karen Dillon, & David Duncan

Looking for a game-changing book that can help marketers learn how to develop and market products and services that customers won’t say no to? Dr. Clay Christensen and David Duncan’s book, Competing Against Luck, is all you need. This book focuses on the The-Jobs-To-Be-Done (#JTBD) theory of innovation – a powerful approach to understanding customer behavior.

The main argument in this book is that the best way to be competitive against the competition and luck is to develop a product or service that directly addresses the jobs that a customer needs to do using the product. Using this book, you will learn how to use the #JTBD theory to:

In short, Competing against luck can be regarded as a book about progress. Not marketers’ progress but the progress of customers.

Key Takeaways From Competing Against Luck

1. Customers don’t buy products or services; they hire them to do a job: According to Christensen, customers are not just looking for a product or service; they are trying to solve a problem or accomplish a specific job. Companies that focus on understanding the job that customers are hiring their product to do are more likely to succeed than those that focus solely on the product or service itself. (Chapter 1, page 9-10)

2. Understanding the customer’s job requires deep empathy and observation: To truly understand the job that customers are trying to accomplish, companies need to spend time observing their customers in their natural environment and developing deep empathy for their struggles and frustrations. This requires going beyond traditional market research methods and immersing oneself in the customer’s world. (Chapter 3, page 44-45)

3. Building a successful product requires a clear value proposition: Once a company has a deep understanding of the job its customers are trying to accomplish, it needs to develop a clear value proposition for its product or service. This means articulating the specific outcomes or benefits that the customer will achieve by hiring the product to do the job. (Chapter 6, page 92-93)

4. Successful innovation requires a process: Christensen argues that innovation is not a random or mysterious process but rather a disciplined, repeatable process that can be learned and applied by any organization. The key is to start with a clear understanding of the job that the customer is trying to do and then use a rigorous testing process to identify the best solution to meet that need. (Chapter 7, page 120-121)

5. Companies that focus on creating customer experiences are more likely to succeed: According to Christensen, the most successful companies are those that focus on creating a seamless and enjoyable experience for their customers across all touchpoints. This requires understanding not just the functional requirements of the job that customers are trying to accomplish but also the emotional and social dimensions of the experience. (Chapter 10, page 168-169)

The Brand Flip by Marty Neumeier

This book by Marty Neumeier fights the traditional way of thinking of branding. In this book, Neumeier insists that the brand’s power is no longer with marketers or businesses, but it has been handed over to the consumer – thanks to social media.

He also challenges the notion that a marketing funnel represents branding, but instead, he suggests that the flipped approach on branding should be seen as a ladder that customers climb. Satisfaction, engagement, delight, and empowerment are the rungs that make that ladder.

Key Takeaways From The Brand Flip

1. The traditional brand model is no longer effective: According to Neumeier, the traditional brand model, which focused on creating a polished image and broadcasting it to customers, is no longer effective in today’s marketplace. Instead, companies need to focus on creating a brand that is based on authenticity, transparency, and customer engagement. (Chapter 1, page 10-11)

2. Branding is no longer the sole domain of marketing: Neumeier argues that branding is now everyone’s job, from the CEO to the front-line employees. This is because customers now have a much greater impact on a company’s brand than they did in the past, thanks to social media and other digital technologies. (Chapter 2, page 30-31)

3. The most successful brands are customer-driven: The most successful brands today are those that are driven by their customers, rather than their own internal goals or objectives. This means understanding the needs, wants, and desires of your customers and creating a brand that reflects those values. (Chapter 4, page 76-77)

4. Branding is about creating a relationship with customers: Neumeier argues that branding is really about creating a relationship with your customers, one that is based on trust, empathy, and shared values. This means engaging with your customers in a genuine and authentic way, and being willing to listen to their feedback and respond to their needs. (Chapter 6, page 130-131)

5. To succeed in branding, you need to be agile and adaptable: Finally, Neumeier argues that in today’s fast-paced and ever-changing marketplace, companies need to be agile and adaptable in order to succeed. This means being willing to experiment, take risks, and pivot quickly in response to changing market conditions or customer needs. (Chapter 9, page 200-201)

The Brand Gap by Marty Neumeier

Bridging the gap between brand strategy and design (execution) is not an easy thing to do. But it can be if you get hold of a book that clearly defines the steps you need to take. Fortunately for you, one of Marty Neumeier’s books – The Brand Gap – is the inspiration you need to drill deeper into the subject of branding.

The Brand Gap is a book that also explores the five disciplines – differentiation, innovation, collaboration, validation, and cultivation. – of great branding. Neumeier suggests that If you are to dominate your market or category, you first have to master those five branding disciplines.

Key Takeaways From The Brand Gap

1. Branding is not just about logos and visual identity. Neumeier argues that a brand is a person’s gut feeling about a product, service, or company. He calls this gut feeling the “brand gap” and suggests that it is the space between what a company does and what it means to its customers. (Chapter 1, p. 4)

2. Successful brands differentiate themselves from the competition by focusing on their core values and personality. Neumeier suggests that brands should strive to be “meaningful, memorable, and likable” by developing a clear brand strategy that aligns with their core values and communicates their unique selling proposition. (Chapter 2, p. 19)

3. A brand is more than the sum of its parts. Neumeier suggests that a brand is a holistic system that includes not only the visual identity but also the customer experience, employee behavior, and overall culture of the company. He argues that all of these elements must work together to create a cohesive brand experience. (Chapter 3, p. 37)

4. Brands must be flexible and adaptable to change. Neumeier suggests that successful brands are able to evolve over time and adapt to changing market conditions. He argues that brands must be willing to take risks, experiment with new ideas, and learn from their mistakes in order to stay relevant and competitive. (Chapter 5, p. 71)

5. Communication is key to building a strong brand. Neumeier suggests that effective brand communication requires clear and consistent messaging across all channels, including advertising, social media, and customer service. He argues that brands must be authentic and transparent in their communication in order to build trust and credibility with their customers. (Chapter 6, p. 89)

Zag by Marty Neumeier

Since Zag is Marty Neumeier’s third book on this list, you probably think that I’m a massive fan of his. Well, tell you what, you are right. Marty Neumeier’s books on branding are a prerequisite for anyone serious about marketing success. Zag is a short but powerful book that will give you ideas on how to stand out in a saturated marketplace radically.

After reading this book, you will walk away with a brand marketing model that comprises four different elements: focus, difference, trend, and communications. On top of that, Neumeier gives the reader 17 checklists that should be referred to when developing and differentiating their brands. One more thing, it’s pretty easy to understand the ideas in Zag because the book is written as a whiteboard.

Key Takeaways From ZAG

1. Differentiation is key to building a successful brand. In today’s crowded market, it’s not enough to be good; you need to be different. This means finding a unique value proposition that sets you apart from the competition. (Chapter 1, pages 3-7)

2. Your brand should have a narrow focus. The more narrowly defined your brand is, the easier it is to differentiate and the more likely it is to be remembered. (Chapter 2, page 19-22)

3. Consistency is crucial for building a strong brand. Your brand should have a consistent visual and verbal identity across all touchpoints, from your logo and website to your marketing materials and customer service. (Chapter 5, page 61-63)

4. Your brand should have a purpose beyond making money. Consumers today want to support brands that stand for something, whether it’s sustainability, social justice, or something else entirely. (Chapter 6, page 73-76)

5. Your brand should be constantly evolving. Your brand should adapt and evolve to stay relevant as the market and consumer preferences change. This means being open to feedback and continually improving your brand experience. (Chapter 7, page 83-85)

The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries & Jack Trout

We really can’t talk about great marketing books without mentioning this 1993 classic book by Al Ries & Jack Trout. The 22 immutable Laws Of Marketing is designed as a guideline for marketers who want to make their products and services successful on an international scale.

In this book, Al Ries & Jack Trout highlight 22 marketing laws that every marketer should live by. Marketers can sometimes unwisely spend resources on features that will not add value to their business growth. We recommend this book to marketers who need direction on what kind of battles to fight and what to ignore.

Key Takeaways From The 22 immutable laws of Marketing

1. Focus on one thing: According to the authors, the most successful brands are those that focus on a single, unique selling proposition (USP). By trying to be all things to all people, a brand dilutes its message and fails to differentiate itself from the competition. (Chapter 1, pages 5-10)

2. Perception is reality: The way consumers perceive a brand is more important than the actual qualities of the product or service. Therefore, it’s essential to shape the perception of your brand in the minds of your target audience. (Chapter 2, pages 15-20)

3. The power of being first: Being the first brand in a new category or market is a significant advantage. It allows you to establish yourself as the leader and build a strong brand image before competitors enter the space. (Chapter 3, pages 23-27)

4. The importance of consistency: Consistency is crucial in building a strong brand. All elements of the brand, including its name, logo, messaging, and advertising, must be consistent to create a cohesive and memorable brand image. (Chapter 9, pages 85-90)

5. The law of sacrifice: To succeed in marketing, you must be willing to give up something in the short term to gain something in the long term. This may mean sacrificing some potential customers or markets to focus on your core strengths and target audience. (Chapter 20, pages 167-171)

Good Strategy, Bad Strategy by Richard P. Rumelt

What goes into developing a marketing strategy? What’s the difference between a good and bad marketing strategy? These are some of the questions answered by Richard P. Rumelt’s book: Good Strategy, Bad Strategy. Although he doesn’t specifically talk about marketing, there’s no denying that the aspects of strategy discussed in the book can also be applied to marketing.

Rumelt gives dozens of examples of what good and bad strategies look like. This book opens your eyes to see that only a few companies in the world have managed to develop a good plan. According to Rumelt, a good strategy consists of three elements: a diagnosis of the problem, a guiding policy, and coherent action.

Well, I have to confess – this is one of my favorite books.

Key Takeaways From Good Strategy, Bad Strategy

1. The importance of a good strategy kernel: A good strategy should have a clear and simple kernel that defines the problem, guiding policy, and coherent actions. The guiding policy should be a unique approach that addresses the key challenge, and the coherent actions should be a set of coordinated steps to implement the strategy. (Chapter 2, pages 17-21)

2. The danger of mistaking goals for strategy: Setting goals is not a strategy. A strategy is a coordinated and cohesive set of actions that are designed to achieve a specific goal. Setting goals without a clear strategy is likely to lead to failure. (Chapter 4, pages 39-42)

3. The importance of identifying the “kernel of good strategy”: A good strategy involves more than simply setting goals or making a plan. It requires a deep understanding of the unique challenge facing the organization and a unique approach to addressing that challenge. This is the “kernel” of the strategy, and it should be the foundation of all subsequent actions. (Chapter 5, pages 51-57)

4. The role of leadership in strategy: A good strategy requires strong leadership to develop and implement. Leaders must have a clear understanding of the organization’s strengths and weaknesses, be willing to make tough decisions, and communicate the strategy effectively to all stakeholders. (Chapter 8, pages 103-108)

5. The importance of anticipating obstacles and taking advantage of opportunities: A good strategy must take into account the potential obstacles that may arise and develop contingency plans to overcome them. At the same time, it should also identify opportunities that can be leveraged to gain a competitive advantage. (Chapter 9, pages 125-130)

Breakthrough Advertising by Eugene Schwartz

Breakthrough Advertising is another classic marketing (specifically on advertising) book written by Eugene M. Schwartz in 1966. Although marketing has evolved ever since this book was published, it still relevant and applicable to the current marketing sphere. Most of the marketing mistakes that Eugene addresses in this book are still happening today.

The key message in this book is to position your product or service to get more from customers who are already interested in whatever you are selling. Instead of opting for a scattergun approach in your market research, Eugene gives you ideas on how you should narrow your marketing so that you get the most interest. He also goes on to point out that your market research should be focused on understanding your target audience’s emotions, such as “ hopes, dreams, fears, and desires .”

Key Takeaways From Breakthrough advertising

1. The importance of market sophistication: The success of an advertisement depends on how sophisticated the target market is. The more sophisticated the market, the more the advertisement must be tailored to their specific needs and desires. (Chapter 1, pages 6-8)

2. The power of awareness: Successful advertising should aim to increase the awareness of the problem or desire that the product or service can solve. This awareness is the first step in persuading the customer to take action. (Chapter 2, pages 25-26)

3. The need for a unique selling proposition (USP): A successful advertisement must have a unique selling proposition (USP) that sets the product or service apart from the competition. The USP should be specific, clear, and relevant to the needs and desires of the target market. (Chapter 3, pages 35-39)

4. The importance of intensity: The success of an advertisement depends on its ability to capture and hold the attention of the target market. This requires an intense focus on the key benefits and features of the product or service, as well as a compelling headline and visual elements. (Chapter 7, pages 122-126)

5. The need for a strong call to action: A successful advertisement must include a clear and compelling call to action that motivates the customer to take action. This call to action should be specific, urgent, and relevant to the needs and desires of the target market. (Chapter 10, pages 179-183)

No B.S. Guide To Direct Marketing by Dan Kennedy & Kim Walsh-Phillips

In an era where billions of customers hang out on Social Media, I’m sure you’d agree with me that businesses can’t now afford to ignore Social Media marketing. There’s even no excuse of leaving out social media in your marketing approach, especially when they are great books – like No B.S. Guide to Direct Marketing – that gives you a cheat code on how to succeed in marketing.

In this book, Dan S. Kennedy teamed up with Kim Walsh-Phillips to dare readers to go think beyond vanity metrics – likes, shares, and comments – and focus on getting leads and sales. Sprinkled with a lot of case studies and examples, this is a book that you’d want your social media manager to go through before they even attempt to post anything. This book covers practical strategies that have been proven to be useful when it comes to leveraging social media as a lead magnet.

Key Takeaways From No B.S Guide To Direct Marketing

1. The importance of targeting: Direct marketing is all about targeting the right audience with the right message. The more precisely you can target your message, the more effective your marketing will be. (Chapter 1, pages 3-7)

2. The power of a compelling offer: A strong offer can make or break a direct marketing campaign. The offer should be specific, relevant, and valuable to the target audience. (Chapter 2, pages 15-17)

3. The need for a clear call to action: Every direct marketing message should include a clear call to action that tells the reader or viewer what to do next. This call to action should be specific, urgent, and easy to follow. (Chapter 4, pages 33-38)

4. The importance of testing and tracking: Direct marketing is an iterative process that requires constant testing and tracking to improve results. By testing different elements of your message, you can identify what works and what doesn’t and make improvements accordingly. (Chapter 5, pages 43-47)

5. The power of follow-up: Follow-up is an essential component of direct marketing. By continuing to communicate with your audience after the initial contact, you can build trust, reinforce your message, and increase the likelihood of a sale. (Chapter 6, pages 57-61)

Purple Cow by Seth Godin

Seth Godin created this marketing masterpiece for those who don’t want their businesses to look like every other penguin in a flock. Purple Cow is a book about creating something worth noticing in a congested marketing highway.

We live in a world where customers are bombarded with thousands of content or offers every single day. The Purple Cow’s goal is to remind you that if you take the beaten path, you won’t stand out. Reading this book, you are reminded that not taking a risk is a risk. Like most of his books, Purple Cow inspires you to think differently. Although Seth doesn’t highlight the exact things you need to do, you are more likely to get fired up after reading this book.

Key Takeaways From Purple Cow

1. The need for differentiation: To succeed in today’s crowded marketplace, a product or service must stand out from the competition. This requires differentiation that is both remarkable and relevant to the needs and desires of the target audience. (Chapter 1, pages 1-3)

2. The power of ideas: Remarkable products and services are based on remarkable ideas. These ideas should be bold, unique, and relevant to the target audience. (Chapter 3, pages 25-27)

3. The importance of being bold: Remarkable products and services require boldness and courage to break free from the status quo. This may involve taking risks, challenging conventional wisdom, and being willing to fail. (Chapter 4, pages 33-36)

4. The need for constant innovation: To maintain a competitive advantage, businesses must constantly innovate and improve their products and services. This requires a mindset of continuous improvement and a willingness to adapt to changing market conditions. (Chapter 7, pages 61-64)

5. The importance of word-of-mouth marketing: In today’s connected world, word-of-mouth marketing is more important than ever. Remarkable products and services naturally generate buzz and excitement, which can spread rapidly through social networks and other channels. (Chapter 12, pages 109-111)

Five powerful marketing tips.

The best marketing tips are all centered around human behavior.

If you fail at understanding human psychology, your efforts at conversion optimization, SEO, design, and ads, will all fail.

In this section, I highlight some of the best marketing tips that will help you grow your business if properly implemented.

1. Set a Goal(with metrics) and a budget.

I want to increase sales by 25%.

I want to increase our MQL by 13%

These are different examples of goals you different businesses can set for themselves.

For eCom businesses, it could be to increase sales of your merch, apparel, and beauty products by 30%.

The psychology behind this is that without a goal and a budget, it becomes exceptionally difficult to determine whether or not your campaign was successful.

Here are a few tips for setting your marketing campaign goal and budget:

2. Always conduct user research.

Before launching a product, you must know if there’s a need for your product in the market.

A lot of services and products have been developed that users didn’t see a need for, and so such products died off.

The common mistake made by founders is they believe if they market their ideas, there will always be a demand for them.

This goes against the core and fundamental principles of marketing. You don’t force products on people; you can’t create demand; you can only channel existing demand.

Failure to do this is setting up your product for the ‘product death cycle.’

Here is one of my favorite quotes from Legendary copywriter Eugene Schwartz;

‘ The greatest mistake marketers make is trying to create demand. ’

3. Invest In Influencer Marketing

We’re in the creator economy.

Another name for this is influencer marketing.

The truth is every niche has influencers. It doesn’t have to be someone shouting in front of a camera and getting engagements, but there are individuals with considerable influence in every industry.

Here are some steps to creating a successful influencer marketing campaign;

Here’s an example of how Walmart used Influencer marketing to drive interest in their Black Friday deal;

In this case, Walmart reached out to TikTok Influencers. They used influencers to get eyeballs on their hashtag #Dealdropdance.

Walmart reached out to 6 specific influencers – ourfire, bdash_2, montanatucker, kidrl, dreaknowsbest, kingcamo_1.

All these influencers had to do was motivate and encourage their followers to post videos while dancing or having fun in Walmart stores.

At the end of the campaign, the posts reached 16 million followers,

4. Encourage Your Employees To Become Social Sellers

Consider this scenario.

Your company’s page reaches 1 – 2 million people yearly. Imagine encouraging your employees to share their thoughts about your business on social media.

This will in itself double or triple your business reach almost immediately. The good thing with this is that it’s organic, not paid, and original.

Employee advocacy allows employees to become brand ambassadors and social sellers, sharing the content that makes the most sense for their industries while promoting your company.

5. Develop Real Relationships Through Email Marketing

59% of marketers claim that email is their most effective marketing channel for revenue generation; this is one strategy that you don’t want to ignore.

If you haven’t started building your email list, here are some steps you can consider;

Types of marketing strategies

If you do a quick Google search of this heading, you’ll see over a billion likely answers on Google.

This leaves the question of which answer is important and relevant to you.

As an eCom business, before looking into marketing types and channels, there are 4 pillars important to your marketing strategy.

Here’s a quick rundown of what each pillar means;

In some circles, the 4Ps of marketing are believed to be 7 or 8, but we can’t cover all of that in this section; we have an article about this marketing strategy; see the highlighted link.

Extra: Marketing Books You Can Read In 2023.

1. everybody writes: your go-to guide to creating ridiculously good content.

It’s not a big deal if you say you’re a writer these days, and that’s because anybody can write. It’s as simple as opening a doc, but not everybody is a ridiculously good writer.

But the truth is, marketing copy and content is almost always met with writer’s blocks and an inability to start.

The author, Ann Handley , is one of the pioneers in marketing and knows quite well how to create powerful marketing messages.

2. The Power Of Visual Storytelling.

Everybody loves a good story. It makes time pass as it were but a moment, and that’s something great marketers know.

Storytelling is a powerful way to generate sales for your business. In this book, the authors Ekaterina Walter and Jessica Gioglio show you how to use visuals, videos, and social media to market your brand .

3 . Audience: Marketing in the age of subscribers, fans, and followers.

The idea behind this book, is to evolve your mindset from traditional marketing (not to say it’s obsolete), but to open you up the possibilities of social media.

Its author, Jeff Rohrs, is quite clear about the fact that social networks are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to channels, so it’s interesting that you can read this book, as it will help you to have a new perspective on what you thought you knew until now.

Resources You’ll Love.

1. What are the 4 Ps of Marketing? Understanding the Basics

2. How to Manage a Remote Team in a Way that Drives Business Growth

3. How To Build Thought Leadership From Scratch For Your Business

4. 12 Entrepreneurship Lessons Every Entrepreneur Must Know

5. 13 Best Product Marketing Books in 2023

Sinan Hatahet

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10 best marketing books of all time, 1. positioning: the battle for your mind, 2. duct tape marketing revised and updated: the world's most practical small business marketing guide, 3. blue ocean strategy, expanded edition: how to create uncontested market space and make the competition irrelevant, 4. guerilla marketing: easy and inexpensive strategies for making big profits from your small business, 5. made to stick: why some ideas survive and others die, 6. contagious: why things catch on, 7. content inc.: how entrepreneurs use content to build massive audiences and create radically successful businesses, 8. hacking growth: how today's fastest-growing companies drive breakout success, 9. pop: create the perfect pitch, title, and tagline for anything, 10. the innovator's dilemma: the revolutionary book that will change the way you do business, additional marketing resources, in conclusion.

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The 57 Best Digital and Social Media Marketing Books to Read in 2023

(This post contains affiliate links. Read my full disclosure .)

As marketers, we tend to be busy people. Between social media, emails, Slack conversations, internal as well as client meetings, phone calls, webinars, conferences, and on top of that creating the latest, greatest ad campaign ever takes up a lot of time. But what about continued learning in our field? If we don’t keep track of the latest trends, we’re liable to lose whatever competitive edge we might’ve had in the past. Eventually clients or other operations staff at the firm will ask us questions we don’t know the answer to, and struggle to find the answer to. So, with our time being so precious, what can we read that will keep our knowledge up-to-date? Here are some excellent, if not the best marketing books that you should read this year, at least if you haven’t already.

For those who think that blogs and podcasts are enough, yes, reading and listening to those are critical to keeping up to date as well. But authors invest the time into their books to create structure, explanation, and depth that you simply can’t get in a single podcast or blog post. That’s why I’m an avid reader of books, and I hope you are and become one too!

I used to have a separate blog post for social media books and another for marketing books, but it seemed more natural to finally merge these together into one longish list of books that I recommend regardless if it is digital or social media. As digital and social media changes, these books and their perspectives provide us a guiding light. I plan to keep updating this list as well as new recommendable books get published, so make sure you bookmark this page and come back for more recommendations!

I have divided these selections into categories based on the subject matter to make it easy for you to find the exact book you are looking for, so keep scrolling because I am confident your next read is in this list! Also, I have included the publication year for the latest version of the book – perhaps you read an earlier edition but you might want to check out a revised one!

As a convenience, if you are an Amazon shopper, you can find all of these books in my Amazon storefront . Note that the links in the storefront, as well as each of the book links below, are affiliate in nature but cost no more to you.

Positioning: the battle for your mind by al ries and jack trout (2001), influence: the psychology of persuasion by robert cialdini (2021), hooked by nir eyal (2014), permission marketing by seth godin (1999), made to stick by chip heath & dan heath (2007), blue ocean strategy by w. chan kim and renée mauborgne (2015), contagious: why things catch on by jonah berger (2016), hacking growth by sean ellis and morgan brown (2017), don’t make me think by steve krug (2013), buyology by martin lindstrom (2010), the art of seo by stephan spencer, eric enge, and jessie strichola (2015), product-led seo by eli schwartz (2021), the fundamentals of brand serps for business by jason barnard (2022), content, inc. by joe pulizzi (2021), everybody writes by ann handley (2022), content chemistry by andy crestodina (2022), they ask, you answer by marcus sheridan (2019), the content fuel framework by melanie deziel (2020), building a story brand by donald miller (2017), brand storytelling by miri rodriguez (2020), the laws of brand storytelling by ekaterina walter and jessica gioglio (2018), stories that stick by kindra hall (2019), the definitive guide to email marketing by neal schaffer (2022), email marketing rules by chad s. white (2017), email marketing that doesn’t suck by bobby klinck (2022), social media success for every brand by claire diaz-ortiz (2019), likeable social media by dave kerpen (2019), the zen of social media marketing by shama hyder (2016), maximize your social by neal schaffer (2013), social media strategy by. keith quesenberry (2020), the age of influence by neal schaffer (2020), superfans by pat flynn (2019), participation marketing by michael brito (2018), maximizing linkedin for business by neal schaffer (2022), linkedin for personal branding by sandra long (2020), 60 days to linkedin mastery by josh steimle (2021), maximizing linkedin for sales and social media marketing by neal schaffer (2011), the linkedin sales playbook by brynne tillman (2017), social selling by tim hughes (2022), instagram for dummies by jenn herman, corey walker and eric butow (2019), blogging on instagram by terri nakamura (2021), youtube secrets by sean cannell and benji travis (2018), talk triggers by jay baer (2018), the experience maker by dan gingiss (2021), experiences: the 7th era of marketing by carla johnson and robert rose (2015), fascinate by sally hogshead (2016), brand now by nick westergaard (2018), known by mark schaefer (2017), entrepreneurial you by dorie clark (2017), crushing it by gary vaynerchuk (2018), the common path to uncommon success by john lee dumas.

The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur by John Jantsch (2019)

One Million Followers by Brendan Kane (2020)

Influencer by brittany hennessy (2018), best marketing books faqs, the 10 best general marketing books of all-time.

These are the books that you will find on the reading list if not bookshelves of marketing executives, CMOs, and business leaders around the world. If you want a place to start, before diving into my other recommendations of digital or social media marketing books, please start with the classics!

This book has become a classic because it approaches sales from a radically different viewpoint; rather than providing a simple list of rules to follow, Ries and Trout identify the importance of positioning yourself or your brand as a compelling authority in your industry, complete with visible strengths, weaknesses, and growth. It is also considered a classic because it teaches readers how to change positions as needed to elevate yourself, level the competition, or shift markets and audiences as necessary.

Cialdini’s book is considered a vital entry into your marketing bookshelf, because it simplifies the complexities of persuasion and influence, and tells you how to use these in your favor. With research and examples, Cialdini demonstrates how persuasion and influence are yielded responsibly and well.

As its name suggests, Eyal’s book dives into how to develop products and services that hook customers and keep them coming back for more. Eyal describes in great detail how to procure products that will create habits, as well as how to hook customers with marketing efforts.

Godin’s approach to marketing is different from many of his peers’ approaches, but is valuable in its gentle approach. By cultivating a habit of marketing “permissively,” you can create feelings of trust and loyalty between customers and the brands they love.

Chip and Dan Heath tackle the question of why some ideas take hold and travel far, while others falter and are ultimately lost or forgotten. While identifying why some ideas stick, Chip and Dan Heath help readers learn strategies to make their own ideas and proposals shine and take hold.

Kim and Mauborgne’s approach to sales is a unique one, as it focuses on creating your own audience and carving out your own space, rather than trying to immerse yourself in a fight with the competition.

Berger’s book tackles the question of why some ideas, news stories, and even products take on a life of their own, and why others seem to easily falter and fail. Berger systematically takes readers into the minds and motivations of people, and how those motivations and thought patterns can be utilized to create products, services, headlines, and ideas that will have people coming back for more.

Ellis’ book identifies the method behind the genius of highly successful companies like IBM, Uber, and Walmart, in order to continue to grow and avoid stalling out in their infancy.

A classic of web design, Krug’s book delves into how to make sites compelling, functional, and usable, in order to drive growth and encourage loyalty.

Less a “how-to” than the other books listed here, Lindstrom’s work evaluates what truly drives sales, and how humans actually respond to marketing efforts. In reading the information presented here, marketers can tailor their approach to principles of neurology.

The Best Search Engine Optimization Books

SEO is the basis for digital marketing, so it should come as no surprise that this is where we should start on our journey. Rather than introduce you to one book, I will provide you with one classic and two newer books, all offering vastly different perspectives on how to best optimize your website for search engines.

The Art of SEO by Stephan Spencer, Eric Enge, and Jessie Strichola

The Art of SEO is coming up on its fourth edition, and with good reason: functioning as a textbook guide to SEO, the book was authored by Stephan Spencer, Eric Enge, and Jessie Strichola, all experts in the field of SEO and digital marketing. The Art of SEO is less an introduction to SEO and more a truly comprehensive guide to how to best create and implement an SEO strategy, from start to finish.

The Art of SEO is an ideal read for people who have an existing understanding of SEO practices and those who are wholly new to the concept alike, as it goes over basic topics and advanced topics in depth, and functions as a guide to develop your own SEO strategy according to your business or brand’s needs and preferences. If you are new to developing your digital marketing strategy, or your marketing campaigns are in need of an overhaul, The Art of SEO can provide an ideal jumping-off point to customize your SEO habits and techniques.

The full title of this book is Product-Led SEO: The Why Behind Building Your Organic Growth Strategy and as the subtitle suggests, this book is designed for people who are either new to SEO, or those who do not fully understand the ins and outs of best SEO practices. Product-Led SEO is written by Eli Schwartz, a consultant and SEO marketing guru, with over a decade of experience in the field. This book may not be the best for people who have an established marketing strategy, or those who are familiar with standard customer behavior, but is a classic book for anyone whose approach to marketing is uncertain or just starting out.

Although the title of the book might suggest that the contents focus primarily on SEO practices for promoting specific products, Schwartz’ work focuses on SEO content as a whole, and offers an approach to marketing with SEO that virtually any company and brand can follow.

Aptly named, The Fundamentals of Brand SERPs for Business focuses primarily on laying the groundwork for digital marketing, which is pivotal for modern marketers to understand and master. Jason Barnard’s book tackles one specific issue: SERPs, or Search Engine Results Pages. According to Barnard–and plenty other marketing professionals–SERPs are absolutely vital to boost the reach and consistency of your brand or business, as it allows people to continually be directed to you when searching online.

The Fundamentals of Brand SERPs for Business offers tried-and-true techniques developed and used by the author himself in his online marketing efforts to develop a consistent and reliable marketing plan that has helped his business soar. This book is ideal for those who are unfamiliar with the best practices for SERPs in order to maximize online marketing strategies, and who are looking for simple advice regarding how to improve your brand or business’ search engine results pages.

The Best Blogging and Content Marketing Books

Content marketing often gets lumped together with SEO, but they are actually two completely different concepts and tactics that both revolve around content. While blogging is only a subset of content marketing, most of these content marketing books focus on leveraging your blog and textual writing of your content. So whether you’re looking for a book on blogging or on content marketing, here are my recommendations.

Content Inc., Second Edition: Start a Content-First Business, Build a Massive Audience and Become Radically Successful (With Little to No Money)

Content, Inc. was written by the bestselling author Joe Pulizzi, and was created to go over the basics of content creation to improve your marketing opportunities and build a successful marketing campaign. A content marketing strategy that does not utilize principles that follow the basics of human behavior is an ineffective marketing strategy, and Content, Inc. goes over how to avoid the pitfalls of ineffective marketing and how to build effective marketing campaigns. What differs from this book and others like it is the approach Pulizzi takes; rather than focusing on telling you how to create content in an existing niche, Pulizzi encourages his audience to develop an effective marketing strategy by identifying areas of need, creating high-quality content within that area, and subsequently relating it to existing products or branding.

In Content, Inc. , you will be walked through how to shift your focus to your audience and build your business consistently as a result.

Originally released in 2014, Handley’s book is a simple and straightforward walk through how to make sure that your writing is delivering your message effectively. Although many people have argued that the written word is not as valuable as it once was, the written word continues to be one of the foremost delivery methods for all marketing, and can be far more compelling and informative than any other mode of delivery.

In Handley’s book, readers are walked through the basics of how to write well, and how to write in a way that effectively connects with your audience and humanizes your company and products. From writing snappy, witty product descriptions, to delivering heartfelt stories of real customers and your company’s history, Handley provides plenty of insight into how to take your writing to the next level and improve the reach and staying power of your business.

Originally published in 2012, Andy Crestodina’s classic Content Chemistry is now in its 5 th edition. According to him, it is the result of over a decade of research into marketing techniques and consumer psychology. Since the original publication, Andy has carefully revised the text to include the latest research, emerging techniques, and new standards. In other words, it’s intended to be a primer for those who are new to the field of marketing, as well as those hoping to learn what’s new. Even better, the workbook format makes it a great textbook for training, and helps you put insights into practice.

Several Amazon reviewers say it’s among the best books they’ve read. Beyond traditional marketing practitioners, content creators say that it’s a great book for those hoping to make their content more relevant to today’s market. In other words, influencers who collaborate with various companies can get a lot out of this book too.

Rather than being just a marketing professional, Marcus Sheridan is a business owner who was able to grow his pool installation business in spite of the 2008 housing crash. Leveraging that experience, Marcus explains that the traditional sales funnel is incomplete. In order to be successful, he explains, you need to answer the questions your potential customers are asking. Generally speaking, one of the best solutions to this problem is content marketing, especially where it involves consumer education in the relevant field. To leverage this trend, it is essential to have an effective content strategy, including SEO-friendly blog posts and articles. After that, you need to effectively manage your inbound marketing and sales: customer loyalty and referrals that lead to further sales, customer service, and consultations.

The Content Fuel Framework by Melanie Deziel

As any marketing professional can attest, there are seemingly endless expectations placed on companies and brands to create a constant stream of interesting, compelling, and visually appealing content–something that can be difficult to accomplish without seeming repetitive or even pushy. Deziel lays out her approach to this very problem by detailing how to develop your own system for churning out content regularly, without sacrificing quality, content, or style.

The beauty of this particular book is that it does not contain industry specific ideas, but instead encourages readers to focus on their own industries and their own unique voices, in order to consistently create compelling, unique content.

Brand Storytelling

Over the last few years we have seen a lot of excellent works that speak to the need for companies to become better storytellers to have impact in their marketing. While I lump the following books together in this category of Brand Storytelling, there are obvious overlaps with content marketing, branding, and even employee and brand advocacy. This is the newest category of books that I added to this list, so if you are looking at a refreshing look at marketing, these books are for you.

The narrative of putting your customer as the hero of your story all began with this influential book, which really should be considered the must-read book in this category.

In Building a StoryBrand , author Donald Miller tackles content marketing in a refreshing and unique way. Turning traditional advertising methods on their heads, Miller encourages his readers to not merely write web copy designed to sell, but to write web copy that utilizes storytelling elements to draw the reader in and develop a tie to the company or brand. Writing for your target market in this way involves a great deal of creativity, certainly, but also creates personal ties to the brand or company in question, and develops customer loyalty more effectively than standard marketing copy.

The basics of Miller’s approach to marketing are laid out in the book in 7 points, and ways to simplify and consequently amplify a brand’s marketing message. Miller’s expertise is derived in part from his time as a best-selling author of memoirs, and his unique approach to content creation has been shown to improve brands’ marketing success and audience engagement and loyalty.

Brand Storytelling is an award-winning book that has become one of the classic marketing books used to improve companies’ content marketing strategy. Unlike many other authors in this post, Miri Rodriguez focuses attention and energy on encouraging her audience to listen to the wisdom generated by brands such as Microsoft, Adobe, and Google. The most pressing piece of wisdom offered in Brand Storytelling is this: new and existing customers want to hear about how they will be impacted and how others will be impacted, not why they should buy a product or service. Rodriguez touches on the wisdom of established brands and companies, and encourages readers to develop a lasting connection with their audience.

Brand Storytelling describes how to build a brand story, from start to finish, in order to develop a solid base of loyal customers and elevate your brand or company.

Did you know that your customers are the ones who define what your brand is all about? Increasingly, this is the conclusion that businesses must operate under. In their book The Laws of Brand Storytelling, Walter and Gioglio will tell you how to make sure that your brand is telling a story that will cause you and your customers to embrace the same definition of your brand. One of the chief ways of doing this, of course, is to be authentic with customers. Tell them who you are, and make it compelling story that they’ll embrace. Especially if you’re struggling to define your brand with customers, these insights are valuable.

Stories That Stick: How Storytelling Can Captivate Customers, Influence Audiences, and Transform Your Business - Storytelling

Wondering how to construct a brand story that’s both believable and effective? Kindra Hall’s book Stories That Stick sets out to give you an actionable blueprint for telling your brand’s story in a compelling way. In particular, this best-selling book will give you four different options for telling the story. Probably the most obvious one is called the “value story,” or what value the customer can expect to receive, or which problem is solved by a product. Other options include the “founder story,” or introducing the leadership; the “purpose story” which seeks to unify people and brands, and finally the “customer story,” through which customers are invited to share product reviews. Overall, a very insightful book with lots of actionable suggestions.

The Best Email Marketing Books

While email marketing is often overlooked when compared to SEO, content marketing, or social media marketing in general, it is a fundamental part of digital marketing that often generates the highest ROI for companies that “get it.” Become one of those companies by reading one or both of these books!

The Definitive Guide to Email Marketing by Neal Schaffer

No, you won’t find this book on Amazon. That’s because it is a free ebook that I created to introduce you to the main concepts of email marketing you need to understand to start and realize the massive ROI potential that email has for your business.

The books that follow go into much more depth and thus provide more insight and come from true email marketing experts. That’s why I recommend you first read my free ebook and then check out the below 2 books and decide which (or both) of them you want to read to further pursue your education in email marketing.

Email Marketing Rules by Chad S. White is a deep dive into the rules and ins and outs of email marketing. Email marketing is something of a misunderstood medium, and many people do not take full advantage of the abilities of email marketing strategies to fuel growth and encourage customer engagement. White goes over all of the components of email marketing in great depth, from crafting appropriate and eye-catching subject lines, to developing compelling content and marketing copy, Email Marketing Rules has it all.

Although this book is targeted primarily toward larger companies, or companies that are already well established, small brands and businesses can also benefit, as the email marketing techniques and ideas extend across all sizes and niches in order to develop compelling and insightful email marketing campaigns.

Email Marketing That Doesn't Suck by Bobby Klinck

As its name suggests, Email Marketing that Doesn’t Suck focuses on teaching readers how to craft engaging and interesting emails–that aren’t constantly shilling something. In doing so, Klinck argues, you are creating lifelong readers who will happily open your emails, rather than being passed over with an eye roll and a heavy sigh. Klinck’s irreverent voice helps set the perfect groundwork for developing your own compelling and interesting email marketing content, and offers an excellent reference point from which to jump.

Although Klinck’s initial focus in his career was on law, and it is with his argumentation skills that he deftly encourages readers to avoid the marketing emails of the past, in favor of more cheeky, entertaining, and even more personal email marketing efforts that bring new and existing customers continually coming back for more.

The Best Social Media Marketing Books

Social media has matured over time, but there are evergreen principles that brands can utilize to help them across social networks, and even if new ones that might compete with TikTok emerge. These books focus on the big picture and are always helpful as references to make sure our social media marketing is done at a strategic – and successful – level.

Building on another book we’ve mentioned here, Social Media Success for Every Brand takes Donald Miller’s entry into marketing and instructs readers on how to implement the StoryBrand marketing philosophy on social media in order to expand reach, improve relationships with customers, and build brand loyalty. Claire Diaz-Ortiz dives into the StoryBrand model and provides her own take on the process, creating a five-point process to make your social media marketing efforts truly shine. Although Diaz-Ortize uses the StoryBrand method as a basic framework on which to base her work, readers do not have to have a thorough understanding of the StoryBrand process to follow along and implement the SHARE techniques provided in Social Media Success for Every Brand.

This particular book is most useful for those who are hoping to make a substantial impact on social media, and can be used by both the seasoned social media marketer and the novice, alike.

Need to read up on the newer social media networks? With 3 Billion people now on social media, Dave contends that every business should have a comprehensive social media marketing strategy. Now in its third edition, Likeable Social Media is considered a classic marketing tome. Originally, it was written before newer social media platforms like Snapchat were invented, but with the 3 rd edition these are discussed in addition to the traditional networks.

In this book, Dave talks about what makes customers “like” and otherwise engage with your content. It isn’t as simple as putting out announcements about sales and product rollouts, because you have to get a customer to care. Most reviewers point out that the real-world examples and case studies are especially helpful. After all, what good are principles if you can’t put them into practice?

The Zen of Social Media Marketing by Shama Hyder

Considered a classic of social media marketing, The Zen of Social Media Marketing has been around since the early days of social media marketing, and has continued to grow, update, and evolve as social media has grown and evolved. Although the title may not lend a great deal of information about the contents of the book, it is a substantial text that covers not only social media marketing but also email marketing and content creation, in order to bring all of these marketing avenues together and have your marketing efforts working in tandem. The Zen of Social Media Marketing also goes over the basics of social media as a whole, explaining what it is and how and why it works as a marketing tool.

Because the book has been around for two decades and covers the entirety of marketing, it is a useful tome for people who are new to social media marketing, and those who have been working in the field for a decade or two.

SOCIAL 3.0: How Forward-Thinking B2B’s Can Unleash the Power of Social Media by Andy Lambert (2022)

While the focus for many of the books has been on B2C transactions, SOCIAL 3.0 focuses on B2Bs and how far too many of these companies allow their social media to be completely consumed by sales rather than compelling marketing content. Because B2B models often assume that businesses are eager to get down to brass tacks and avoid the usual trappings involved in sales copy, many B2B companies do not invest a great deal of time or energy into developing their own unique and interesting social media platforms. SOCIAL 3.0 urges B2Bs to avoid this particular pitfall and approach marketing to businesses with the same dedication and eagerness to impart value as B2Cs and offer plenty of insight, information, and personality on their social media platforms.

Identifying the immense value of influencer culture and e-commerce via social media platforms, SOCIAL 3.0 is an important book for B2Bs looking to truly innovate and improve their social channels.

The Best Social Media Strategy Books

I launched my consulting career as a social media strategy consultant, so this book category is very special to me. In fact, it was my book Maximize Your Social, based off of that consulting experience and providing the framework that I used for my clients, that launched this category. There have been other excellent books to follow as well, so perhaps you pick up one of these to ensure that you both have a strategy and it is producing the intended results.

Maximize Your Social: A One-Stop Guide to Building a Social Media Strategy for Marketing and Business Success

Yes, I am the author of this book. Through my own social media consulting, I wanted to create a resource that will allow the reader to create their own social media strategy. I obviously wouldn’t put my own book on this list if I didn’t think it would add value to your business, and being encouraged by the reviews I’ve received so far on Amazon, I’m taking a deep breath and adding it. Once again, this is a subjective list, but if I wasn’t writing a book that I would recommend to others, why write it, right?

Full Disclaimer: This book is one of the older books on this list, and there are some chapters which are irrelevant today, but the main concepts and recommendations from this book remain intact today.

Social Media Strategy packs a wallop, with information about virtually every facet of the field. Keith Quesenberry’s comprehensive guide to social media marketing is filled with in-depth information, ranging from a definition of social media marketing and strategy, an updated overview of jobs involving social media marketing and strategy, and the many ways in which social media influence and inform modern business practices. Quesenberry’s book is a wonderful resource for anyone looking into social media marketing, from novice to professional, and can be used as a guidebook, textbook, and resource for practical tools to improve social media marketing.

The Best Influencer Marketing Books

For those that have read The Age of Influence or my blog posts on influencer marketing, you know that I take a very broad and holistic perspective when it comes to the topic of who is an influencer in social media. It is not only those people that you have never heard of yet somehow have millions of followers. It’s also those who have brand affinity for you, whether it be your employees or fans. That’s why I’ve brought together 3 different books that cover 3 different aspects of influencer marketing that I highly recommend you read.

This first selection should come as no surprise ;-)

Influencer marketing is something that any business of any size and industry can leverage, but marketers have misunderstood the potential impact it can have for a lot of reasons. I wanted to set the record straight so that no company misses out on the opportunities that influencer marketing has, so I decided to write a book explaining the why, how, and what’s next. In essence, it is the influencer marketing playbook that simply didn’t exist before. Yes, this is my book, but I wouldn’t write and publish it if I didn’t think it was recommendable!

In Superfans , you will find some basics as to how to grow your business, improve your reach, and build a consistent group of people who love your brand or business, and continually come back and act as champions of your products, services, or brand. While plenty of books on marketing and social media will teach you how to gain followers and increase engagement, Superfans asks you to go a step further and create a following that not only pops in once in a while to check on new products, or occasionally “like” a post, but consistently shares your content, points people to your brand, and essentially promotes your brand consistently and without charge. In Superfans , you are encouraged to become a figure of authority in your field, build trust between yourself and your customers or audience, and watch your business grow as a result.

Michael Brito’s Participation Marketing is a strong voice for leveraging employee advocacy. Identifying the countless ways in which employee interactions outside of work impact the culture, connection, and marketing efforts of any brand or business, Brito provides actionable steps to improve your brand or company’s employee advocacy efforts, teaching you how to effectively use your employees’ interest and pride in their work to further your reach and improve your brand or business image. Participation Marketing is so named because Brito uncovers the reality of employee participation in marketing, whether it is intentional or not, and urges his audience to maintain a positive, engaging, and employee-driven culture, to improve not only the company’s reputation, but also their marketing targets and reach. Employee Advocacy is targeted toward companies with a dedicated staff, but can be useful for even a two-or-three person operation.

The Best LinkedIn & Social Selling Books

I have a special section here for LinkedIn not only because I wrote two books on it, but because it is one of the few social networks that you can achieve a LOT with organic social media marketing, and especially if you are in sales. I have tried my best to provide a collection of books that together will provide you a wealth of knowledge vis a vis leveraging LinkedIn.

Maximizing LinkedIn for Business by Neal Schaffer

Maximizing LinkedIn for Business was written by yours truly, and acts as a guide to utilizing LinkedIn for your business in order to build a following, network effectively, and improve your reach across social media. Although many people see LinkedIn as a simple social networking tool, LinkedIn can actually be used to improve your business aside from the basic networking function of the platform. In Maximizing LinkedIn for Business, you will learn how to improve your credibility, engage with competitors and others in your niche, and automate your account to further extend your network and reach.

Previous books on LinkedIn have focused on specific aspects of business, such as sales, but my latest offering provides a broader stroke regarding the value and power of LinkedIn, in order to help businesses most effectively utilize the platform and improve their reach.

This book also can’t be found on Amazon because it’s only available as a free download through this link !

LinkedIn for Personal Branding: The Ultimate Guide

No matter what you do on LinkedIn, all roads link back to your LinkedIn profile. That’s why it’s important for every outward-facing sales and marketing professional to have an optimized LinkedIn profile based on their personal branding. Fortunately, there is a book that helps the reader do exactly that!

Sandra Long’s LinkedIn for Personal Branding is unique on its take, as it positions LinkedIn as a powerful branding tool, rather than merely a networking tool. Although LinkedIn is often left out of social media marketing instructionals, Long identifies why this is doing your brand or business a great disservice, and demonstrates the immense value in leveraging LinkedIn to improve your social media marketing strategies and audience reach. With in-depth guides on how to use LinkedIn to build a compelling profile, market yourself or your brand, and improve your likelihood of coming up first in Google and LinkedIn searches, this is a great read for anyone who currently uses LinkedIn or is new to the platform, and is searching for a way to carry their branding further than standard social media markets like Facebook and Instagram.

60 Days to LinkedIn Mastery by Josh Steimle

If you are new to using LinkedIn, or you are not quite certain what to do with the platform, 60 Days to LinkedIn Mastery may be an ideal read for you. As the title suggests, Josh Steimle’s book is designed to help people who are not familiar with LinkedIn (or those who are not certain what to do with their existing account) adequately familiarize themselves with the site and what it has to offer. The book is separated into 60 segments, each of them offering a technique to utilize to master LinkedIn in less than 15 minutes, in order to create a LinkedIn profile that is providing the best possible avenue to maximize your LinkedIn profile for connecting with others in your field, networking appropriately, and creating content that will continue to drive people to your page and any pages or sites you may be affiliated with.

Maximizing LinkedIn for Sales and Social Media Marketing: An Unofficial, Practical Guide to Selling & Developing B2B Business on LinkedIn

First, an obvious disclaimer: As you might have noticed, I’m actually the author of this book. And I wouldn’t add my own book to this list if I didn’t have the confidence to tell you that it unlocks the mysteries of how to generate business from LinkedIn that no other book does. If you think LinkedIn is only for professionals and job seekers, think again. If your business markets and sells to other businesses, LinkedIn should be your top social media marketing priority , even above Facebook. Attract more leads, become an industry leader and improve your online reputation: you can accomplish all these things and more through this book. Includes more than 15 case studies to help you see exactly what others have done to see positive ROI from their LinkedIn investment.

This book was also published several years ago, so while the user interface has changed, the central concepts to the book are still intact today. It is why I update this book with my free Maximizing LinkedIn for Business above, but the concepts of leveraging your employees and salespeople – before we had the concepts of employee advocacy or social selling – together with the unmistakeable power of B2B social media marketing is what makes this book still relevant today.

The LinkedIn Sales Playbook by Brynne Tillman

The LinkedIn Sales Playbook is less a playbook and more a compilation of LinkedIn webinars and advice sessions put together to produce a valuable piece of work to help LinkedIn users utilize the platform for selling over social media. Although LinkedIn is typically used for networking, the platform can also be used to network with a specific purpose in mind: sales. In Tillman’s book, the focus on optimizing your LinkedIn profile and practices hinges on sales and making sure that your audience recognizes you as a source of authority and knowledge, and can come to you when a sales need arises.

This particular book is ideal for people who are looking to LInkedIn as another sales building tool, rather than exclusively a networking tool, or even a combination of networking and sales The focus on sales allows readers to approach their LinkedIn profile in an entirely unique way and develop their profiles and outreach efforts specifically to boost sales and encourage purchasing relationships.

In Social Selling: Techniques, readers engage relationship-building exercises, a modern look at the decision-making process and touted social network solutions. Social Selling is a step-by-step guide for marketers intending to harness new skills, refurbish outdated ideas and obtain a high-quality community.

By building trust with online consumers, digital marketers can utilize Social Selling’s developmental points when furthering relationships. Unique to the book is a section on risk and governance—which steers digital marketers away from wasteful online maneuvers with a plethora of applicable examples. Social Selling is a definite “win” in the comprehensive seller’s guide section, and it’s a great choice for any digital marketer seeking evergreen advice .

B2B Social Selling Strategy: Connect with Customers, Build Relationships and Drive Sales by Julie Atherton (2022)

Julie Atherton’s entry into the B2B marketing world is a large one, with 256 pages positively packed full of information, including statistics about social selling, and actionable strategies readers can use to improve their own B2B marketing habits on social media. Many other entries here offer wry, witty commentary and guidance, but Atherton’s book is a more concrete resource, placing its emphasis on case studies, research, and interviews with professionals in the marketing industry, in order to bring readers persuasive and quantifiable advice that does not follow trends, but data.

Atherton’s book is comprehensive in nature, covering everything from utilizing influencer marketing, integrating social selling with other selling platforms, and content creation, to developing your own social strategy and learning how to exercise your own unique voice in all of your social marketing efforts. Atherton’s work is a vital base on which to construct a B2B marketing strategy, based on real-world evidence and tried-and-tested suggestions that readers can trust.

The Best Instagram Books

While Facebook has matured to the point where it has become a pure pay-to-play for most businesses, the second largest social network still provides opportunities for organic social media and thus deserve a special place on this list.

The “For Dummies” series of books has long been regarded as a staple in basic education, and Instagram for Dummies is no different. That being said, one of the co-authors of the book, who has also blogged here, Jenn Herman , is one of the world’s leading experts on Instagram marketing, so this book is an essential primer for any Instagram marketer.

Focusing on how to use Instagram, and how to increase your following, Herman takes readers through the ins and outs of creating an Instagram account, styling photos for a visually-appealing feed, and connecting with people through your photos, Instagram Live, and daily Instagram Stories. Although Herman’s book is not specifically geared toward marketing, it offers invaluable insights into how to more effectively use Instagram to grow a following and build an online community—two components of social media marketing that are essential to continue driving traffic and growing your brand. Herman’s book is perfect for those who are new to the Instagram platform, but offers plenty for anyone familiar with Instagram, but struggling to gain (and hold onto) followers.

Although Instagram has been recognized as a vital social media marketing platform, many people are unfamiliar with the use of Instagram as a blogging tool. While posts must be accompanied by a photo, it is not merely the photos on Instagram that individuals connect and engage with. Nakamura wrote Blogging on Instagram after discovering that her own long-form, blog-like Instagram posts fostered the clearest and best connections on Instagram, rather than short or pithy captions. With additional research under her belt, she created this book to help content creators, writers, and marketers develop a solid Instagram blog strategy.

Drawn both from research and from personal experience, Blogging on Instagram functions less as a letter-of-the-law guidebook for blogging on the social media platform and operates more as a source of inspiration for people interested in using Instagram as a blogging platform, whether it is used for profit, or simply as a form of expression.

The Best YouTube Books

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, YouTube, the second largest search engine, is as popular as ever and can have major impact on your digital marketing when done right. Mr. Beast”s Squid Games spinoff, which got as many views on YouTube in 8 days as did the actual series did on Netflix, is a reminder of the potential power that YouTube has not just for content creators but also businesses.

The YouTube Formula by Derral Eves (2021)

Eves is perhaps best known as one of the most successful YouTube how-to channel owners currently in operation, and his book certainly delivers on wisdom and insight as a result. Eves breaks down the basics of YouTube’s algorithms to help readers learn how to effectively create a YouTube channel, from start to finish. Although you do not have to be a novice to benefit from a thorough reading of The YouTube Formula , the book is designed to provide a step-by-step guide to starting your own YouTube channel, including creating a name and developing an audience base.

In addition to covering the basics of YouTube, Eves goes over how to create content that will drive engagement and build your audience, while monetizing your channel and developing a solid audience base. In addition to drawing on his own successes on YouTube, Eves goes over case studies and other successful YouTube stories to further elucidate the best practices to improve YouTube reach and success.

YouTube Secrets: the Ultimate Guide to Growing Your Following and Making Money as a Video Influencer

Designed to provide a comprehensive guide to YouTube monetization and use, Sean Cannell and Benji Travis have compiled a book that thoroughly examines all of the possible avenues to monetize content on YouTube, taking a peek into the lives and habits of people who have successfully created YouTube followings, and identifying how six and seven figure earners were able to make their way to the top of the YouTube food chain. Alternately explanatory and actionable, YouTube Secrets provides a wealth of information for those new to the platform and seasoned veterans of YouTube, and offers a window into the inner workings of successful, monetized YouTube channels while offering straightforward actions to set you on the path toward YouTube success.

The Best Customer Experience Marketing Books

I have heard some CMOs say that Customer Experience is the final frontier for marketing, for as everything becomes commoditized, the only way to strategically differentiate ones offerings is through the customer experience. With that in mind, these 3 books will provide you LOTS of food for thought as to your own customer’s journey and how you can implement customer experience marketing in a positive way for your business.

Did you know that almost 20% of sales result from customer word-of-mouth? Or that 90% of sales have been influenced by the “chatter” about your business? Especially if you do business in a local setting, having customers refer their friends is critical to business growth. To help you prosper through referrals, Jay Baer gives actionable tips to encourage customers to talk. In essence, the trick is to do something extraordinary for your customers, or to have some kind of customer-centered signature. Specific examples are given, as well as ways to design your own customer calling card. Best of all, these insights are built on research in addition to anecdotal evidence.

The Experience Maker is a unique book regarding customer experience, because it hones in on the value inherent in existing customers, rather than constantly focusing on creating new customers. While many marketing and business books focus on growing, expansion, and bringing in new leads, Gingiss urges readers to acknowledge the value found in existing customers, and create experiences with those customers that will keep them coming back for more again and again. Like social media and other marketing channel how-tos that encourage a heavy focus on customer experience, The Experience Maker urges readers to make sure their customers are receiving care and interaction that they are eager to share with others and, more importantly, value that keeps them coming back to the company or brand for more.

Essentially, Gingiss asserts, your existing customer base is a far more compelling and believable series of salespeople than a sales team that is hired out of the gate, because people will express their gratitude and excitement about products or companies naturally and organically, provided that they have an ideal experience.

Experiences: The 7th Era of Marketing by Carla Johnson and Robert Rose

For marketers, it’s easy to see marketing as a big competition to see who can sell the most stuff. While that’s still true to some extent, the face of marketing has changed considerably in the last few years. Since the increasing popularity of the Internet, people look around for information about potential products before making a purchase. Even more recently, customers have begun to see the buying process as an “experience.” They want to feel “into” a brand before they choose what to buy, or if they want to buy at all. As a result, brands need to see their content marketing as a second “product” in order to win the game.

The Best Branding Books

Branding is an art and not something that I cover in my own content or consulting. If branding is your weakness as well, these books are just for you!

Want to gain a loyal following for your brand? Need to raise prices and increase revenue? Both of these operations can be tricky, but Hogshead gives you a blueprint for success in her book Fascinate. In a nutshell, she says that the way to build a successful brand is to make people fascinated with it. To build a sort of cult following, so that people will pay a higher price to acquire the product. Here, you will find multiple case studies about brands who have done exactly what Hogshead is suggesting, along with tips on how they achieved this goal. Companies studied include everything from alcoholic beverages, to ice cream and children’s toys. In short, if you want to increase brand following, this book is a must read.

How do you capture and keep the attention of your audience in the digital age? From celebrities to wanna-be YouTube stars, everyone seems to want attention these days. In order to capture it, and profit through increased sales and brand loyalty, you need to be relevant. That’s the central theme of Westergaard’s book Brand Now. Leveraging his vast experience in marketing, Westergaard gives us the best tips on how to capture everyone’s attention and make your brand compelling. Even more importantly, he tells us what approaches no longer work. In particular, putting up a bunch of banner ads and Adwords pitches is insufficient. Instead, we need to put out content and give our customers value beyond their purchase. As marketers, we all need to read this.

The Best Personal Branding, Building Influence & Entrepreneurial Books

There are many entrepreneurs, present or future, that read my blog, and for them I wanted to offer a selection of broader marketing books that go beyond social media into personal branding, influencing, and becoming an entrepreneur. Some of these books have more overlap with digital and social media marketing than others, but they are all recommended reading for putting the ideas you read from the above books into concrete action!

In KNOWN , Mark Schaefer tackles the question of how important it is to be known in business. While many people are eager to build a personal brand and share that brand with the world, far too many brands are not truly known, or are not truly understood by their audiences or customers. Schaefer asserts that being known is what nets businesses, creators, and brands the most authentic connections and therefore the most authentic customers, and urges readers to make sure that they are developing a social media and digital marketing strategy that helps them be truly known, in order to maximize the reach, efficacy, and consistency of their business.

KNOWN combines case studies, personal experience, and personal stories to bring the audience a book that identifies the most effective way to take hold of your story online, and utilize that story to build trust, expand your brand or company reach, and develop consistent, loyal customer bases.

Want to be financially secure, even when the world seems to be falling apart? Thought about starting a work-anywhere gig and firing your boss? How about building passive income? For people with that entrepreneurial spirit, Clark’s book Entrepreneurial You is a great place to start learning what you need to succeed in the modern entrepreneurial landscape. In particular, there are some things that everyone starting a business needs to worry about, such as building a clientele and professional reputation. This is true even with gigs like blogging, because you want potential readers taking you seriously. Other issues discussed include diversifying your revenue streams and successful marketing.

Crushing It! addresses the question of digital marketing from the perspective of influencers and entrepreneurs, rather than the perspective of established brands and businesses. Rather than placing all of the emphasis on a specific social media platform or medium, Vaynerchuk covers all of the social media platforms currently being used by brands and businesses, and identifies how to effectively leverage each of these platforms to build your business empire and make a name for yourself (or your brand). The book functions as a how-to for people interested in developing a robust and compelling series of social media tools for their brand.

Part simple how-to, part a close look at “why,” Crushing It! instructs readers both in how to build their brand effectively, and in why building their brand is advisable or preferred rather than acting as one piece in a larger machine or puzzle.

The Common Path to Uncommon Success by John Lee Dumas

John Lee Dumas is perhaps best known for his podcast on entrepreneurship, which serves as the basis for The Common Path to Uncommon Success. In it, Dumas goes over how to develop an entrepreneurial road map to achieve your goals, based on the many interviews he has compiled over the years on his podcast. From failures and pitfalls to wild successes, Dumas delineates how to find success in your entrepreneurial pursuits to create the life you’ve always wanted.

Although the tips and guides offered in this book are certainly not a recipe against faltering or failing, it can act as a great reference guide for anyone interested in starting their own business or personal brand, without the hassle of going through old podcast notes, or re-reading the book itself. While some of the advice is designed to encourage a better life overall, the primary focus of the book is entrepreneurial spirit, and is best used for those who are interested in starting their own business or venture.

The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur by John Jantsch (2019)

Especially if you’re a busy entrepreneur, it can be hard to slow down and reflect. As a business coach, John Jantsch is familiar with the problem: overworked entrepreneurs who lose their focus and quality of life through all the busyness. To help others, he wrote a different type of business book, The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur, which is a collection of inspirational reflections and quotes. There’s one for every day of the year, including on leap year. In addition to his own thoughts, John borrows heavily from the Transcendentalists of 200 years ago, people he sees as displaying the modern entrepreneurial spirit before its time. Best of all, the topics are generally not business-related, even though they’re geared towards entrepreneurs and other busy professionals. Overall, the goal is to help you sit down and reflect on your own emotional needs so you can trust yourself again, one day at a time. Most marketers I meet are entrepreneurs or have an entrepreneurial spirit in their work. and thus I included this book on the list.

One Million Followers, Updated Edition: How I Built a Massive Social Following in 30 Days

Brendan Kane’s One Million Followers details the steps and practices Kane employed to grow his social media following to over one million followers in only 30 days. Filled with insights, practical tips, and success stories, Kane brings plenty to the table when it comes to building influence across social media platforms, engaging meaningfully with followers, and creating content that will continue to encourage traffic to your brand and help you grow your sphere of influence. One Million Followers is a great read for those who are looking to not only amass a following, but keep that following engaged and invested in personal branding, from a veritable master of the art, with big names such as Taylor Swift and Vice under his belt.

In Influencer, Brittany Hennessy tackles the difficult topic of social media branding, and how to effectively leverage your life and lifestyle to build a following, maintain that following, and create a personal brand to attract the interest of your favorite companies, brands, and agents. Hennessy has worked in the field of social media from the first days of online influencers, and offers unique insights into how the industry has evolved—and continues to evolve—and teaches the most effective ways to fuse your passion for life and brand partnerships to create your own influencer brand. Hennessy’s book is perfect for those who are looking to build a personal brand, rather than a business-centric brand, and anyone seeking to leverage their existing lifestyle or social media presence.

What’s your favorite from this list of best marketing books? Any that are missing from this list? I’d love to know in the comments below.

Here are the some of the best books to read on marketing: 1. Building a Story Brand by Donald Miller 2. Crushing It by Gary Vaynerchuk 3. Marketing 4.0 by Philip Kotler 4. This is Marketing by Seth Godin 5. The Age of Influence by Neal Schaffer

Any type of marketing will be effective if done correctly. What I mean by correctly is that you are targeting the right audience and that everything you create is targeted towards your audience. What matters most is your audience. Your content should be aligned with your audience’s interests and should be delivered at the time your audience is most active. If you do that, you are relaying the message to them, getting them to engage with you, and potentially turning them into customers.

The answer to this question is up for debate, but many would consider Philip Kotler, Seth Godin, or Gary Vaynerchuk the greatest marketer of all time.

There are many ways and things you can do to learn marketing. I can think you can start with reading books and blogs about marketing, listening to podcasts that teach marketing, and even watching the YouTube channels of some marketers. And once you are ready to dive deep in, you can enroll in some courses that tackle different marketing aspects and possibly find where you want to focus more.

The 4 types of marketing strategies are: 1. Paid 2. Cause 3. Direct Selling 4. Business to Customer

Actionable advice for your digital / content / influencer / social media marketing.

Neal Schaffer

Neal Schaffer is a leading authority on helping businesses through their digital transformation of sales and marketing through consulting, training, and helping enterprises large and small develop and execute on social media marketing strategy, influencer marketing, and social selling initiatives. President of the social media agency PDCA Social, Neal also teaches digital media to executives at Rutgers University, the Irish Management Institute (Ireland), and the University of Jyvaskyla (Finland). Fluent in Japanese and Mandarin Chinese, Neal is a popular keynote speaker and has been invited to speak about digital media on four continents in a dozen countries. He is also the author of 3 books on social media, including Maximize Your Social (Wiley), and in late 2019 will publish his 4th book, The Business of Influence (HarperCollins), on educating the market on the why and how every business should leverage the potential of influencer marketing. Neal resides in Irvine, California but also frequently travels to Japan.

you can also check out Product-Led SEO by Eli Schwartz! :)

Looks like a great book – thanks for sharing!

Great post. I have read Dave Kerpen – Likeable Social Media, and its probably in my own top 10 marketing books. Will b checking out the others! Cheers.

Thanks Andy! Looking forward to your feedback on the others!

Thanks so much Neal. My co-author (and daughter) Reiko Scott was very important to our book.

Thank YOU David – and I have made the revisions to make everything clearer! Appreciate your comment and support!

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20 Greatest Marketing Books of All Time

by Nate McCallister

January 1, 2022 in Entrepreneurship , Self-Development , Self-Education

I've r ead more books on marketing than I can recall. When I first got bitten by the marketing bug in 2012, I admit, I probably read too much . I was reading disproportionally more than I was taking action . I don't want that for you!

I want you to know which books I feel are most important to your success as a digital marketer .

The following are the books that I have found to be the "cream of the crop," and will get you the best results in the least amount of time.

It's still quite a few books and it might take you years to actually get through them all, but I highly recommend that you prioritize these books over any of the new flavor of the week "me too" books that will come out down the road. 99% of that content will just be a rehashing of the content in these books.

There is a saying in marketing (I don’t know who to credit it to) that goes like, “Until you are getting 100% conversions, you still have ways you can improve.” No matter which stage of your marketing career you're at you have room to improve.

Never stop reading and learning!

“Until you are getting 100% conversions, you still have ways you can improve.”

Now, not all of the books I share below are directly related to digital marketing, but the principles taught in them will apply directly to your marketing successes.

I have only mentioned books here that I have read front to back and know are worth your time and energy.

Let's get into the books!

#1 80/20 Sales and Marketing by Perry Marshall

Leverage the Pareto Principle to find the 20% of marketing and advertising tasks that drive 80% of your sales. My most recommended and gifted book for everyone who is even remotely involved in sales or marketing.

80/20 Sales and Marketing: The Definitive Guide to Working Less and Making More by Perry Marshall

This list isn't in order of most recommended, but this is the exception. This is actually my #1 most recommended book for marketers.

If you read just one of the books on this list, make it be 80/20 Sales and Marketing by Perry Marshall. I've read this book every year since I first found it and I learn something new each time.

Why Read This Book: This book will make your marketing and advertising efforts more effective by teaching you how to identify and focus on the things that are working disproportionately better than others. You can trim the things that aren't working and focus on more of what is actually moving the needle forward.

Who Would Benefit the Most: Any marketer or advertiser would benefit from this book but especially those who have adopted multiple tactics to their businesses and need to "trim the fat. This book will help you decide which things are worth continuing and which are wasting time, effort and money.

#2 Ask by Ryan Levesque

Learn how to better serve your followers and potential buyers by asking the right questions and catering your efforts to their needs.

I got this book from Ryan for free through a promotion he was running which I have to admit made me skeptical at first. However, it turned out to be one of the most valuable books I have ever read on the topic of marketing and audience segmenting.

Why Read This Book : This book is not just a rehashing of vague, dated theory. It is full of immediately implementable customer acquisition methods that are both original and proven (by Levesque and in my own tests).

Levesque walks you through the process of finding and tagging your “ideal customers” by creating buckets using what he calls “deep dive surveys” followed by “micro-commitment surveys.”

The first half of this book is about Levesque’s personal life and how he came up with the Ask formula. While I enjoyed it greatly (particularly the part where he discussed how he learned to write better copy through long hand duplication ), you don’t need to read it to get the actionable insights out of the book.

If you want to shave 2-3 hours off the read, skip to Part II (page 63 in the physical printed copy I own).

Who Would Benefit the Mos t : Marketers who want to become more data driven and take the guess work out of what their customers want and how to best deliver it to them.

#3 The Conversion Code by Chris Smith

A unique look at direct advertising from a former black hat advertiser.

Why Read This Book : Chris Smith is an internet marketer who was trained in both white hat and black hat sales tactics. The Conversion Code is the culmination of that experience. He (and I) of course only recommend you implement the white hat tactics.

It's also riddled with cool little tips. One I implemented was doing something while you are on a phone call (walking, bouncing a ball on the wall etc.) can make you speak more naturally and less robotic.

Who Would Benefit the Most : People who aren’t afraid to get on the phone. This book goes into tactics for finding your hyper-responsive buyers and how to make sales with them one on one.

#4 How to Write Copy That Sells by Ray Edwards

The bible when it comes to writing sales copy that works in any niche at any time. I literally have a spare copy at my desk and pull it up regularly for insights when I'm stuck.

Why Read This Book : There is a library worth of books on writing sales copy but none that are also easy to follow, complete and valuable as How to Write Copy That Sells by Ray Edwards.

My FAVORITE section of the book is when Edwards breaks down the different types of bullet points. Click here to learn the different types of bullet points Ray Edwards teaches in the book .

Who Would Benefit the Most : Anyone who wants a book they can read multiple times and continue to find value. If you are in a rush, skip to page 62 (chapter 5) and read about bullet points!

#5 Launch By Jeff Walker

For better or for worse, this book revolutionized how entrepreneurs brought their products, services or courses to the market.

You're likely leaving thousands on the table if you launch a product, service or training any other way...

Why Read This Book: Jeff Walker is one of the pioneers of the online launch (although some of the tactics apply to traditional offline marketing). This book goes through the process Walker himself has used in 8 figure launches in great detail with examples and actionable takeaways.

As effective as this method is, I am not a huge fan of the ways I have seen it implemented by novice marketers. If you follow this method, please, do it the right way. It is easy to be that “car salesman” marketer with this launch method if you aren’t careful.

Use this for good, not to sell garbage. It is powerful.

Who Would Benefit the Most : Anyone who has a big ticket item to sell and needs to get things right!

#6 Growth Hacker Marketing by Ryan Holiday

A quick read that might give you insights on how to dramatically speed up your chances of success.

Why Read This Book : Growth hacking sounds sexy, most people don't get it though... Ryan get's it and wants you too as well...

Holiday defines a growth hacker as “someone who has thrown out the playbook of traditional marketing and replaced it with only what is testable, trackable, and scalable.” He shows you examples of REAL growth hacking and gives plenty of ideas for how you can emulate them.

Who Would Benefit the Most : Anyone looking for a low-cost alternative to traditional marketing. Creative marketers with small budgets will love this book.

#7 Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products by Nir Eyal

We are creatures of habit. This book shows us how to ethically create and market products that become a recurring part of the users life.

Why read this book : Learn how to ETHICALLY create and market habit forming products. This book shines a light on the psychology of habit forming products and what we as marketers can do to ethically cater to our buyer’s basic human nature.

Who would benefit the most : Anyone looking to create “viral” products and find ways to get their products to encourage repeat, mass usage. If you have an app or software, you will love this book!

#8 Expert Secrets by Russell Brunson

Possibly the most popular book on marketing written in the past 5 years, Expert Secrets shows how to use your experiences to transform lives and grow a thriving business.

Why Read This Book: Building a brand is one of the best things any internet marketer can do to ensure that they continue to see consistent results over time. Russell is the king of creating a brand "cult-ure" and shares how you can build a loyal following yourself (without selling out).

Who Would Benefit the Most : Anyone who sells or wants to sell their own information products or expertise in any form.

#9 Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini

The gold standard for human psychology with real world applications to life and business. Everyone should read this, not just marketers.

Learn how to ETHICALLY become more persuasive.

A classic book on the psychology behind persuasiveness and how we as marketers can use it to our advantage.

Why Read This Book: This book breaks down why some individuals gain trust and respect (and customers) and others simply don't.

Who Would Benefit Most: Anyone who is looking to understand the psychology behind trust as they work to build a brand and persuade others.

#10 The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries and Jack Trout

A short book that gives you almost all of the core elements of marketing.

Why Read This Book: This book came highly recommended from Tim Ferriss so I jumped into it. It isn't ground breaking but it is extremely valuable content.

Who Would Benefit the Most : New marketers who want to get off on the right foot . This book is a great introduction to marketing and the 80/20 of what will drive your success.

#11 The Copywriter's Handbook by Robert W. Bly

An awesome resource for copywriters. My second favorite book on the topic.

Why Read This Book : The book all marketers should have on their desks. This book is loaded with actionable advice on all things related to copywriting. Some information is basic while some is more advanced.This book will teach you the fundamentals of copywriting and is an amazing resource to have handy. You don't need to read this book front to back to benefit from it.

Who Would Benefit the Most : Anyone looking for a straightforward resource for the fundamentals of copywriting.

#12 This Book Will Teach You How to Write Better by Neville Medhora

You can devour this book in less than an hour and it will make you a better writer almost immediately.

Why Read This Book : The shortest book on the list, Neville has been one of my favorite copywriters for a long time. He consistently writes emails, blog posts and sales pages that keep me interested and usually lead me to buying something.

This is the "quick and dirty" guide to writing copy online and off. It is $5 book full of 6-7 figure insights.

Who Would Benefit the Most : Anyone with an hour to read this but especially beginners.

#13 How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

Don't let the cheesy name fool you, this book is a gem. I recommend this book to everyone, not just marketers.

How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie

Why Read This Book : It's hard to write any round up post about business related books and not want to share this one. So, why did I share a book written by someone who was gone long before we were in the age of "digital marketing?" Because what Carnegie shares about empathy and connecting with others is at the heart of ALL marketing. You won't learn ad hacks or web design skills in this book, but it could very well change the results you're getting from your marketing efforts.

Who Would Benefit the Most : Anyone looking to develop more empathy with their audience and "get in touch" with the people they are targeting.

#14 Everybody Writes by Ann Handley

The best book on general writing. Ann goes beyond the bland rules we learned in grade school and shows how to make writing fun and engaging.

Why Read This Book : Stop writing wrong! No one writes about writing like Ann Handley... Ok, maybe Stephen King does, but this book is very relevant to how we write as digital marketers.This book will make you a better writer which will make you a better marketer.

Who Would Benefit the Most : Any marketers looking to improve the way they write and communicate with their audience.

#15 Dot Com Secrets by Russell Brunson

One of the most referenced marketing books on the planet, DotCom Secrets was the first of 3 important books written by internet marketing guru Russell Brunson.

Why Read This Book : This book is a must read for anyone looking to learn how to compose engaging email sequences that drive loyal fans and eventual sales.

I implemented some of the methods in this book, stored my new email sequences in ConvertKit , and haven’t looked back since. I wrote in detail about the 7 things I learned from the author about email automation . Most of what I learned can be found in this book.

Who Would Benefit the Most : Anyone looking to build a sustainable base of raving fans and/or anyone who uses the ClickFunnels software ( click here to read my review of Clickfunnels ).

#16 Traffic Secrets by Russell Brunson

An evergreen book on one of the most important aspects of marketing: driving endless amounts of traffic.

I know, I know, Russell Brunson might seem to be over-represented here (this is his 3rd book on the list) but these books are absolutely gems.

Why Read This Book : Even if you're not a fan of Russell and the Clickfunnels "cult" like community, this book is full of literally dozens of quick action items that will help you understand how to get more traffic to your products.

Who Would Benefit the Most : Anyone who is struggling to drive traffic to their products or just wants more traffic. So, basically everyone who sells anything online.

#17 Ogilvy On Advertising By David Ogilvy

Although it was written in the 1980s, this book is timeless. Ogilvy is known as the "godfather of advertising," and failing to read this book is essentially a sin in the advertising and marketing community.

Why Read This Book : An oldie but a goodie, this book pioneered modern advertising. It's full of principles that are just as applicable today as they were in 1985 when the original copy was written.

Who Would Benefit the Most : More experienced marketers who appreciate the old school fundamentals.

#18 Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne

Learn how to give yourself an unfair advantage by creating your own niche that is free of any competition.

Blue Ocean Strategy by Kim, W. Chan & Renée Mauborgne

Why Read This Book : Instead of competing with everyone and their brother in overly saturated niches, this book will teach you how to carve out your own unique space that you dominate and don't have to compete with others.

Who Would Benefit the Most : Anyone who is tired of being in a market that is flooded with competition and is ready to leave the race to the bottom.

#19 The Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes

The Dream 100 concept alone makes this book worth its weight in gold.

Why Read This Book : Chet Holmes is one of the most underrated marketers and authors in the entire field. Many of his concepts have been repurposed by people like Russell Brunson and Dana Derricks in their books. Basically, this is the book that planted the seed for other big books you've actually heard of.

Who Would Benefit the Most : Anyone who is looking to leverage influencers will find the concept on the Dream 100 to be especially valuable.

#20 Invisible Selling Machine

I learned most of what I know about marketing automation from this book.

Why Read This Book: Ryan Deiss, the founder of DigitalMarketer.com, is a genius when it comes to creating marketing automations. This book will show you how (among many other things) to create onboarding sequences that turn your leads into lifelong customers.

Who Would Benefit the Most : Anyone looking to automate their marketing efforts more.

Want More Book Recommendations? Check out my other website 21DayBlogs.com and read my 10 most recommended books for bloggers. Also, check out this article I love covering books on minimalism (a little off topic I know, but you're clearly an avid reader if you've made it this far!)

About the author

Nate McCallister

Nate is the founder and main contributor of EntreResource.com and the author of Evergreen Affiliate Marketing. He is a lifestyle entrepreneur who spends his time building businesses and raising his four kids, Sawyer, Brooks, Van, and Lua, with his beautiful wife, Emily. His main interests include copywriting, economics, and piano.

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Top 10 Marketing Books of All Time

Essential books for entrepreneurs who really want to understand how and why their customers buy..

In previous posts, I've identified the best motivational books of all time and the best sales books of all time. Today, I've selected 10 books about marketing that I believe should be in every business library.

Some of these books explain how technology has changed the strategy and tactics of marketing, while others are timeless observations about human nature and group behavior. Enjoy!

10. Crossing the Chasm

By identifying the differences between "innovators" and "laggards" and everything in between, Geoffrey Moore creates a roadmap for how new markets develop. While his book focuses on high tech, the lessons that he draws and the example he gives are applicable to every industry and business situation.

Best quote: "'Why me?' cries out the unsuccessful entrepreneur. Or rather 'Why not me?' 'Why not us?' chorus his equally unsuccessful investors. 'Look at our product. Is it not as good--nay, better-than the product that beat us out?'... In fact, feature for feature, the less successful product is often arguably superior."

9. The Life of PT Barnum

You may think that "personal branding" is all the rage, but the true expert of self promotion was the great PT Barnum, who managed to enhance, build, change and strengthen his public image over half a century, forcing the world to take him on his own terms. Fascinating stuff.

Best quote: "I have been a farmer's boy and a merchant, a clerk and a manager, a showman and a bank-president. I have been in jails and in palaces; have known poverty and abundance; have travelled over a large portion of two Continents; have encountered all varieties of men, have seen every phase of human character."

8. Selling the Invisible

The most significant economic transformation of the past 50 years has been the change, in the United States and Europe, from a manufacturing economy to a service-based one. According to author Harry Beckwith, the key to making the transition successfully is your unseen ability to build strong relationships with the people with whom you work.

Best quote: "The new marketing is more than a way of doing; it is a way of thinking. It begins with an understanding of the distinctive characteristics of services--their invisibility and intangibility--and of the unique nature of service prospects and users--their fear, their limited time, their sometimes illogical ways of making decision, and their most important drives and needs."

7. Influence

As useful to salespeople as it is to marketers, Bob Cialdini's book is all about how people say "Yes!" and what you can do bring them to that point. In a series of intensely practical observations, Cialdini reveals how your actions and words can profoundly effect the desires and needs of your customers, colleagues and even your competitors. Essential stuff.

Best quote: "There is a group of people who know very well where the weapons of automatic influence lie and employ them regularly and expertly to get what they want. They go from social encounter to social encounter requestin others to comply with their wishes; their frequency of success is dazzling."

6. Positioning

As true today as it was when published 20 years ago, this classic by Al Ries and Jack Trout lays out the basics of finding where your product fits in larger picture of what other people want and what other companies are doing. Some of the case studies are showing a little age, but this remains a seminal, essential text.

Best quote: "Positioning is now what you do to a product. Positioning is what you do to the mind of the prospect."

5. Buy-ology

By injecting neuroscience into the art of marketing, Martin Lindstrom explains how everything we think and do is influenced by mental forces of which we are only vaguely aware (if at all). More importantly, Lindstrom shows how these impulses might be scientifically measured and then used to hone marketing campaigns. Scary, maybe, but sci-fi no longer.

Best quote: "If marketers could uncover what is going on in our brains that makes us choose one brand over another--what information passes through our brain's filter and what information doesn't--well, that would be key to truly building brands of the future.

4. Permission Marketing

For decades marketing pundits thought about marketing in terms of cramming your brand messages down people's throats. Seth Godin turned this concept upside down by pointing people have so many choices today that they're going to pick and choose what messages they want to hear.

Best quote: "Marketers want to get their messages in front of you. They must get their messages in front of you, just to survive. The only problem is--do you really want more marketing messages?

3. Guerilla Marketing

Thirty years ago, Jay Conrad Levinson took marketing out of the world of Mad Men and huge corporations into the hands of entrepreneurs and small businesses. The book explains why it's no longer necessary to spend a great deal of money to gain visibility, as long as you're willing to get creative. Amazingly, the book got it "spot on" way before anybody was talking about "going viral."

Best quote: "Guerilla marketing requires you to comprehend every facet of marketing, experiment with many of them, winnow out the losers, double up on the winners, and then use the marketing tactics that prove themselves to you in the battleground of real life."

2. The Long Tail

While the 20th century was dominated by hit products, the 21st century will be dominated by niche products, according to Chris Anderson's groundbreaking explanation of web-based purchasing habits. As useful as this book is, you can get the gist of it from his original article in Wired.

Best quote: "As demand shifts towards the niches, the economics of providing them improve further, and so on, creating a positive feedback loop that will transform entire industries-and the culture-for decades to come."

1. Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds

Ultimately, marketing means understanding groups of people and how they think. While technology has changed over the decades, people haven't, so it shouldn't be all THAT surprising that in 1841, Charles Mackay captured the essence of bonehead group-think. Read this, and you'll never be surprised by events like the Great Recession or the popularity of the Kardashians.

Best quote: "We find that whole communities suddenly fix their minds upon one object, and go mad in its pursuit; that millions of people become simultaneously impressed with one delusion, and run after it, till their attention is caught by some new folly more captivating than the first."

Readers: Did I miss any? Leave a comment if you've got a different favorite.

Like this post? If so, sign up for the free Sales Source newsletter .

A refreshed look at leadership from the desk of CEO and chief content officer Stephanie Mehta

August 30, 2021 - By Hawke Media

15 Best Marketing Books of All Time

Hawke Media , Recent Articles

It’s hardly groundbreaking to say that digital marketing never stops evolving — and at Hawke Media, we’re constantly evolving our knowledge of best practices of marketing, sales, and ecommerce. How do we do that? We read. We read all the best marketing books we can get our hands on.

So we launched a poll and picked out the go-to books that give us the creative spark, the strategic insight, or just the confidence as marketers to keep pushing the boundaries. Whether you’re a veteran or a student of marketing, a start-up, or an evolving brand, these are the 15 best marketing books to reach for when you’re looking for inspiration.

Marketing Starter Pack: The Classics

If you majored in marketing, these were on your reading list, but you’ll also spot them being devoured on the subway or in the airport lounge. And while some of them pre-date the digital era, they pinpoint the eternal truths that we as marketers now hold to be self-evident.

Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

Whenever we’re getting too confident as marketers with our creative or strategy, we can bring ourselves back to reality with “ Thinking, Fast and Slow .” It’s a reminder of the irrational, complex challenge we have to overcome: the human mind. Kahneman’s work on System 1 (instinctive) and System 2 (considered) thinking, and the importance of context and biases, is essential in understanding how our attention is won.

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

It’s still the go-to instruction manual for sales, marketing, and self-improvement, and one of the most influential books in American history. So what can a book first published in 1936 teach us about TikTok tutorials or Amazon market share? It’s simple (that’s the appeal). “ How to Win Friends… ” establishes the template for conversion, whether it’s communicating a single idea or going viral.

Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade by Robert Cialdini

Whereas Cialdini’s better-known “ Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion ” taught us about the importance of scarcity, urgency, and social proof, we’re picking “ Pre-Suasion ” as our strategic handbook. Like “Thinking, Fast and Slow,” the book elaborates on the subconscious, primitive instincts marketers must accommodate to prime their audience for action.

Digital Marketing for Dummies by Ryan Deiss and Russ Henneberry

Even after growing more than 3,000 brands since 2014, we’re never too proud to reach for “ Digital Marketing for Dummies ,” simply because it’s the most extensive, clear, and well-organized reference for all things digital. A copy belongs in every business.

Inspiration for Thinking Differently

As Bill Bernbach said, “Creativity is the last unfair advantage we’re legally allowed to take over our competitors.” It’s why the brand with the biggest budget doesn’t necessarily grab the spotlight, and why many a safe, sensible campaign goes unnoticed. These great reads throw a fresh perspective on taming the funnel.

Predatory Thinking by Dave Trott

One of the most influential copywriters and creative directors from the pre-digital era, Dave Trott delivers a series of thought-provoking, bite-size studies, drawing on classical philosophy, military history, and popular culture in this Nobel Prize winner. First in “ Predatory Thinking ” and most recently in “ The Power of Ignorance ,” Trott accessibly, entertainingly, and relentlessly champions those who were brave enough to zig when others zagged.

Misbehaving by Richard H. Thaler

Few people could have predicted that behavioral economics would one day become sexy, except perhaps behavioral economists. We recommend starting with “ Misbehaving ” for a primer on the mystery of decision making (or what we thought was our decision making), but you could just as easily start with Thaler’s “ Nudge ” or the hugely entertaining “ Alchemy ” by Rory Sutherland. These aren’t just valuable marketing books: they go a long way toward explaining the minute interactions that allow 8 billion people to share the same planet.

The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

Arguably responsible for establishing the “easily digestible anecdote + insight” format as the template for countless books that followed, Malcolm Gladwell continues to make sociology and psychology accessible. First published in 2000, “ The Tipping Point ” went viral before viral did, challenging our assumptions and forcing us to reevaluate our innate biases. Want to grab someone’s attention on social media in milliseconds? Take as much time as you need to finish “The Tipping Point” first.

Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping by Paco Underhill

As tempting as it is to talk of turning customers into brand evangelists or leading consumers seamlessly through the funnel, nothing begins without a contextual, emotional trigger. Now updated for the digital age, “ Why We Buy ” digs deeper than the Four Ps of marketing and attempts to explore the mystery of consumer culture.

Trust Me, I’m Lying by Ryan Holiday

Think of it as the perfect companion to the post-truth era: “ Trust Me, I’m Lying ” is reassuringly disturbing if you’re a committed student of human behavior. Humorous and candid, it explores the ever-shifting frontier between manipulation and marketing. “What’s the difference?” cynics might argue. The answer is more complicated than you might expect.

The New Era of Thought Leadership

This last selection of go-to marketing books recognizes the fact that in the digital age, we’re all marketers to some extent, whether the currency is likes, views, or e-commerce sales. Whether that’s something to fear or embrace is up for debate, but it would be unwise to ignore it.

Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable by Seth Godin

An entry on the list from the remarkable Seth Godin is almost obligatory, but we’ve picked an alternative to the better-known “ Permission Marketing .” In “ Purple Cow ,” Godin walks you through the new marketing landscape, in which it takes something truly out of the ordinary just to get noticed. That doesn’t have to mean resorting to gimmicks or pivoting wildly from your core brand purpose, however. It does, on the other hand, mean rejecting what’s safe, conventional, and tried and tested. Scared? You shouldn’t be.

Hacking Growth by Sean Ellis and Morgan Brown

One for our business owners or start-up visionaries, “ Hacking Growth ” outlines the philosophy, strategy, and road map behind building a successful business fast. Skip the superfluous steps that drain your budget and head straight to the techniques and mindset that turbocharge your dream.

The Hawke Method by Erik Huberman

“ The Hawke Method ” is about three core principles more than 3,500 brands soar, as well as establish Hawke Media as one of the fastest-growing marketing agencies in the world. The book made the author and Hawke CEO a USA Today Best-Selling Author.

Start with Why by Simon Sinek

With today’s tech gurus and business leaders elevated to household names, what does it take to be a great leader? Popular TED Talk speaker Simon Sinek provides the answer in “ Start with Why ,” in which he picks out the common, recurring habits and traits in game-changing leaders. Get inspired, then try it yourself.

The First 90 Days by Michael D. Watkins

Another one for the leadership-academy reading list, “ The First 90 Days ” should be on the wish list for anyone with serious ambitions for senior leadership, professional growth, or just a new challenge. As a long-time executive coach, Watkins offers sound advice on making your first impression, leaving your mark, and defining your legacy.

ReWork by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson

Treat yourself to some sound entrepreneurship advice from the people who brought you Basecamp. As you might expect, “ ReWork ” is about getting the job done smarter, leaner, and without taking over the other aspects of your life completely. It’s a great resource for anyone considering a start-up, with some useful tips on the tools you need to succeed.

Get a free consultation from Hawke Media

We missed your favorite, didn’t we? Sorry. We started with more than 30. Our apologies too to the disciples of Gary Vaynerchuk, Tim Ferriss, Grant Cardone, and any of the other visionaries we also love but couldn’t fit into our final 15. Want to skip the book report and start chatting strategy? Book your free consultation today and tell us your story.

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Success stories

Top Marketing Books: Top 10

It's hard enough to find great literature. Standing books on marketing, leadership theory, management and at all come across very rarely. In this article, I would like to consider the ten best books on this topic that have gained some popularity and fame.

The word "marketing" comes from the English language and translates as "sale" or "trade." Almost all books on this topic contain lists of rules that should help a potential marketer. Many successful entrepreneurs believe that they are obliged to write their own book - to share their success story. However, remember that success depends not only on which marketing books you read, but also on a number of other circumstances.

So, we will go directly to the work, which, according to many, should help in achieving success in marketing.

"Selling the Invisible"

The author of this marketing book is Harry Beckwith. His work contains a set of rules and tips that should help all those involved in the promotion of any goods and services.

Everyone knows that it’s much more difficult to sell the service. After all, the client can see or feel the goods, as well as test it. Therefore, the seller of services faces a more difficult task - to offer what cannot be seen. He also needs to be able to attract customers to his service, justifying its attractiveness. Many books on marketing are able to give a number of tips and rules, but the mass of specialists and readers choose "Selling the Invisible".

"Overcoming the abyss"

The best marketing books can't be imagined without this work by Jeffrey Murra. This is one of the most famous and popular books, the author describes in detail how to sell your service or product. It is perfectly told how to force the client to acquire something innovative, which he had not seen before. Many people think that after reading it you can even sell glasses to the monkey.

The best marketing books are designed primarily to help bring your product to the market. “Bridging the abyss” is no exception. It will be interesting for both beginners and experienced marketers.

The main idea of the book is that when organizing a new company, everything needs to be carefully thought out, and in particular - a strategy. It will largely depend on whether the company can bridge the gap between new technologies and the market.

"The Life of F. T. Barnum, Described by Himself"

A work written by Taylor Barnum introduces the basics of marketing. Books of many authors are ready to give this information, but perhaps this is the most good. This excellent book will talk about how to turn your own importance into money. This work is an excellent motivator for accomplishing, one might say, feats. They advise her to those who feel tired and lazy. You just need to open and start reading it.

If you are looking for beginner marketing books, then this is the best choice. Thanks to the author’s experience and skills, the reader will learn how to attract an audience and achieve sympathy in the shortest possible time. Especially useful is the “Life of F. T. Barnum, described by himself” to those who begin to create their own business based on the impression made.

"Marketing Wars"

Marketing Wars is a great job that will definitely come in handy for those who are interested in marketing. Authors of books on similar topics spend a lot of time to create a quality product. Written by Jack Trout and Al Rice, "Marketing Wars" will appeal to those who have started to create a personal business based on a specific strategy.

The book compares marketing with military action.After reading it, you will gain knowledge on how to create an excellent strategic scheme in order to avoid the standard mistakes that many novice businessmen are exposed to.

An interesting feature is the presence of information on how to push your opponent to a mistake, which can turn very badly for him. “Marketing wars” are undoubtedly worth the attention of a reader who wants to get an idea of what international marketing is. The book is able to leave a mark on your mind and help group all your knowledge and skills.

"Psychology of persuasion"

The well-known book of Robert Cialdini. The author is a well-known marketer who knows firsthand what practical marketing is. The book contains a lot of tips, recommendations, as well as stories from life that can turn an ordinary person into a genius of advertising and marketing.

There are really working tips on how to attract a client and make him buy your product or service. In addition, perhaps he will turn into a regular customer.

The Psychology of Persuasion can help increase sales and revenue. It can be useful to all beginners and experienced marketers.

"Marketing is 100%. How to become a good marketing manager"

Igor Mann (author of the book) gives tips and advice to readers on how to behave in a variety of situations. All are based on personal experience. Mann is a fairly well-known and experienced marketer. In addition, the advantage of the book is a simple and clear presentation. Not every work today boasts an easy writing language. Reading a book is just a pleasure.

"Key numbers. How to make more money using the data you already have."

The authors of the book are Dimitri Maeks and Paul Brown. It is written intelligibly and clearly. Easy to read. He will tell you how to use the reader with the definition of skills and knowledge to achieve the best results. In this case, it is not required to spend additional financial resources.

The book will teach you how to find the most profitable customer, distribute available funds wisely, and also determine which product or service is the most promising. After reading, you will be able to optimize your work as much as possible and get a result soon. Simply put, the reader will be able to apply any situation for their own benefit.

"Arithmetic of marketing for first persons"

Another work of Igor Mann. Recommended for reading by both novice and experienced managers. Includes rules and tips on how to best optimize the work of your company. The book provides all the answers to especially frequent questions. It is written in a fairly simple language. After reading the book, businessmen, shareholders and others will be able to significantly increase their income and attract additional customers.

"Crucial moment"

Written by renowned marketer Malcolm Gladwell. The book tells how quickly new ideas, technologies, products and so on can spread. Although much will seem familiar, it will be shown in a slightly different way.

Why are some technologies capable of turning almost the entire familiar world, while others go unnoticed? The reader can find the answer to this question in “Tipping Point”. The book also tells how to influence such processes and change them for their own purposes. The “turning point” allows you to look at the familiar world and objects from a completely different angle.

"Purple Cow"

Seth Godin (author of the work) will tell readers how to attract customers to a service or product. The most effective methods are presented. A list of unusual items that can help in this task is also presented.

An interesting example of a special subject is the Purple Cow. In his opinion, no one will be able to pass by such an object, let alone potential buyers.How to form such a creature, imagine and make a profit, this book will tell.

So, the top ten books on marketing were reviewed, according to many readers. Of course, you should not hope that these works will give all the answers and help create a large company that will allow you to swim in gold. However, books may well familiarize you with the basics of marketing and give some advice that will definitely not be superfluous. In addition to them, it is quite easy to find works by other authors who can provide additional information.

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The 28 Best Marketing Books on Sales and Advertising

The best marketing books for entrepreneurs.

You got into business because you have a passion for your products. But selling those products requires a specific set of skills. While “If you build it, they will come” is a nice premise for a movie, it doesn’t always apply to product sales. For that, you need marketing.

From positioning to promotion to price, marketing helps you attract and engage customers. Fortunately, you can get quite an education on the dos and don’ts between the covers of a book.

28 of the best marketing books of all time

1. Influence

Robert Cialdini’s Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion is one of the most highly recommended books on the topic of marketing, for good reason.

In it, he shares the psychology of what makes people act the way they do, which is valuable insight when it comes to persuading someone to make a purchase. While Cialdini’s book originally was released in 1984, it’s been revised and updated to address the changing marketplace.

💡 Takeaway: Social proof is a powerful method of persuasion. Leverage it by adding testimonials or social media links to your website.

2. Permission Marketing

Seth Godin is another icon in the marketing realm. He’s written many good books, and one of his best is Permission Marketing: Turning Strangers into Friends and Friends into Customers —a must-read for small-business owners.

Godin believes in offering value up front to build relationships with customers over time, an idea that’s especially relevant in an age of digital marketing , where businesses are competing for attention in an increasingly noisy marketplace.

💡Takeaway: Email marketing is a form of permission marketing. Honor and keep customers’ attention by sending value instead of overt ads.

3. Buyology

If you’ve ever wondered how customers make buying decisions, Martin Lindstrom’s book Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy will help.

Lindstrom performed a three-year neuro-marketing study of 2,000 volunteers as they encountered ads, logos, commercials, brands, and products. He learned the importance of rituals, superstitions, religion, and the senses in branding and selling.

If marketers could uncover what is going on in our brains that makes us choose one brand over another—what information passes through our brain’s filter and what information doesn’t—well that would be the key to truly building brands of the future. Martin Lindstrom

💡Takeaway: Everything from color to texture affects a buyer’s decision-making process. If you understand how the brain works, you can make better brand choices.

4. Originals

Too many businesses call themselves “the Uber” of this or “the Netflix” of that. Being different can feel risky, but standing out is how you capture attention. In Adam Grant’s book Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World , the Wharton School’s top-rated professor provides inspiration and advice for having new ideas and practices without risking it all.

💡Takeaway: Keep an idea journal to record any and all ideas for your business. Many of your ideas may not work, but you’ll also come up with gems that can help grow your business.

5. Crushing It!

Gary Vaynerchuk is a bit of a rock star in the entrepreneurial world, due to both his attitude and his personal story of transforming his family’s liquor store into a $60-million business.

His book Crushing It! helps entrepreneurs define their personal brands and use them to gain customers’ attention. It’s a practical guide for winning with social media marketing .

What worked for me won’t work for you, however, and vice versa. That’s why self-awareness is so vital—you have to be true to yourself at all times. Gary Vaynerchuk

💡Takeaway: Social media platforms are different, and your marketing on each should fit the platform.

6. Top of Mind

When a customer needs the product you sell, your goal as a business owner is to be top of mind—but how? John Hall addresses this challenge in his classic book, Top of Mind . Combining branding techniques with business relationship building, Hall provides readers with the tools they need to stay top of mind with their customers and their business network.

💡Takeaway: Consumer needs and expectations have changed. Content that enriches lives has the potential to build lasting relationships.

7. Epic Content Marketing

Joe Pulizzi is an expert in the area of content marketing . He’s also the founder of the Content Marketing Institute, a great resource for brands that want information on connecting with customers through content.

Pulizzi’s book Epic Content Marketing takes you through the process of creating stories to inform and engage customers, whether you’re a thought leader, ecommerce brand, or writing for SEO.

Your customers don’t care about you, your products, or your services. They care about themselves. Joe Pulizzi

💡Takeaway: To have success with content marketing you must fulfill an unmet need, deliver consistent value, and stay true to your brand and voice.

8. Made to Stick

Ever wonder why some ideas are well received while others never take off?

Authors Chip Heath and Dan Heath did, and they explore the shared characteristics of winning ideas in their book Made to Stick . With this book, you can learn to apply the principles of “ideas that stick” to your own marketing messages.

💡Takeaway: To stick, ideas need to be simple, unexpected, concrete, credible, emotional, and used with stories that help them connect with customers.

9. Positioning

Another classic marketing book is Positioning by Al Ries and Jack Trout. It addresses the importance of not just creating a message but also of creating a position. Business owners need to understand how their company’s strengths and weaknesses fit in the marketplace and in the eyes of their customer.

💡Takeaway: You can use several techniques to capture your audience, including choosing the best name, finding your competitive advantage, and analyzing market trends that affect your positioning.

10. How to Win Friends and Influence People in the Digital Age

win friends and influence people in digital age book cover

More than 50 years after its original publication, Dale Carnegie’s classic book has been updated and reimagined for the modern marketplace.

How to Win Friends and Influence People in the Digital Age shows you how to apply time-tested principles to building relationships with customers, off- and online, including taking an interest in other people, listening, and connecting with core desires.

💡Takeaway: People want to feel important. Use your business to accomplish that and you’ll win friends and influence people.

11. Don’t Make Me Think, Revisited

While Don’t Make Me Think, Revisited by Steve Krug isn’t specifically about marketing, it will change the way you think about creating websites.

This updated version will help you understand the principles of intuitive navigation and information design , and includes a new chapter on mobile usability. Krug’s engaging read has plenty of illustrations, which is why it’s one of the best-loved and most recommended books on the subject.

💡Takeaway: Friction can affect the user experience—no matter the medium. Reducing friction can help you deliver a better experience for your customers.

12. Tested Advertising Methods

Tested Advertising Methods by John Caples was published more than 20 years ago, but modern marketers still get value from it. The principles shared around writing engaging copy that sells can be applied to nearly every medium. This book will give you insights on timeless, successful advertising concepts.

The best headlines are those that appeal to the reader’s self-interest, that is, headlines based on reader benefits. They offer readers something they want—and can get from you. John Caples

💡Takeaway: Technology may change how we reach people, but great messaging and storytelling remain constant.

13. The Marketing Book

Want a step-by-step marketing plan? Look no further than Jason McDonald’s The Marketing Book . It serves as a practical guide for creating a plan using the “think/do/measure” method. Each chapter outlines a task, explaining how to think about it, how to do it, and how to measure the results.

[Marketing] is harder than it looks, and so this book breaks marketing down into five key activities: 1. Define what you sell, that they want. 2. Build your brand. 3. Make yourself easy-to-find. 4. Create compelling content. 5. Think and deploy; that is, promote your brand across digital and non-digital marketing channels . Jason McDonald

💡Takeaway: When you create a marketing plan, it’s important to understand the process, implement the best method, and then measure the results. Success takes all three.

14. Location Is (Still) Everything

If you’re running ecommerce marketing programs, you might not think location matters. Wharton professor and marketing expert David R. Bell says that our physical world impacts how customers use the internet.

In his book, Location Is (Still) Everything , he shares research about how consumers’ nearby stores and neighborhoods affect their decision-making, and what online retailers need to do to succeed.

The way we use the virtual world of the Internet—for commerce and for information—is dictated to a large extent by the physical world that each of us resides in. This influence is pervasive, and sometimes counterintuitive, with implications for our lives in both worlds. David R. Bell

💡Takeaway: Suggest that customers have their orders shipped to their offices, then make sure your packaging advertises your brand. You’ll get more visibility at an office instead of a home.

15. Unleash Possible

If your business sells to other businesses (B2B), creating a marketing plan will require specific relationship-building techniques.

In her book, Unleash Possible , Samantha Stone shows you how to approach marketing with a partnership mentality, making changes in your organization to address a complex relationship with sales.

💡Takeaway: Emotion plays a role in connecting with people. You must merge data with creativity to attract buyers and lock in sales.

16. Get Scrappy

You don’t need a big budget to create an effective marketing strategy. Nick Westergaard’s book Get Scrappy will help you make the most of your marketing money.

You’ll learn how to create relevant and engaging content that sparks dialogues—and hopefully sales—with your community of customers, from implementing digital marketing to doing more with less.

Getting scrappy is getting smart. Putting strategy first and ensuring that you know what it is you’re trying to do in the first place. This not only leads to better marketing out of the gate, it also helps you measure what matters so that you can optimize your work for the long haul. Nick Westergaard

💡Takeaway: Having a reliable, repeatable system for marketing will help you grow your community and your sales.

17. Creative Advertising

Teaching through example, Creative Advertising by Mario Pricken showcases a mix of timeless and less recognizable advertising campaigns and breaks down the thinking behind them.

With more than 200 examples, you’ll get inspired by a wide range of advertising types, with each chapter highlighting different methods to help you create innovative and unforgettable ads.

💡Takeaway: Spend time analyzing and examining your products and ideas will freely flow.

18. Everybody Writes

Marketing often feels like it boils down to messaging and measurement, and you can’t create compelling messages without knowing how to write.

Everybody Writes by Ann Handley is your go-to guide for creating content that helps your business grow. You’ll learn how to communicate with customers effectively, so you can attract and retain them for the long run.

The best companies don’t just churn out regular blog posts with the heavy-handedness of an orphanage doling out gruel. Rather, they put the needs of their audience first; they regard the ability to create content as something of a privilege. Ann Handley

💡Takeaway: Writing matters more than ever. Content tells customers who you are and brings your business to life.

19. Inbound Content

Inbound Content is a modern look at effective content marketing from Justin Champion, HubSpot Academy’s content marketing guru.

It’s a great book to read before or while you plan your content strategy, and one that contains advice on customer journeys, content organization, and site structure that will set you up to win for the long term.

💡Takeaway: Having a website and social media is not enough; you have to create content that draws customers in.

20. Blue Ocean Strategy

Conventional marketing wisdom claims all businesses are forced to fight their way through competitive markets in order to be successful. Blue Ocean Strategy teaches that to achieve true marketing success you must create and seize untapped market spaces.

For example, look at Nintendo when it released the Wii. Other video game companies were focused on creating complicated games with incredible graphics geared toward serious gamers.

However, Nintendo decided to create simpler games that used unconventional gameplay by incorporating motion controls into games. This made Nintendo appealing to non-gamers/casual gamers and made Nintendo something the whole family could enjoy.

Value innovation is the cornerstone of blue ocean strategy. We call it value innovation because instead of focusing on beating the competition, you focus on making the competition irrelevant by creating a leap in value for buyers and your company, thereby opening up new and uncontested market space. Value innovation places equal emphasis on value. W. Chan Kim

💡Takeaway: Don’t waste your marketing efforts on fighting over demand—create it. If you create a market, competition becomes irrelevant, there’s plenty of room for growth, and that growth will be profitable and quick.

21. This is Marketing

This is Marketing is a New York Times bestseller and was listed as a #1 bestseller in The Wall Street Journal .

In his book, Seth Godin reexamines the purpose of marketing and how you can serve potential customers, instead of only focusing on hooking them. Godin breaks down traditional advertising and instead tells both beginners and marketing professionals that successful marketing is empathetic, not parasitic.

Marketing is the generous act of helping others become who they seek to become. It involves creating honest stories—stories that resonate and spread. Seth Godin

💡Takeaway: The most powerful type of marketing comes from a place of empathy, generosity, and emotional honesty. The best type of marketers focus on solving people’s problems instead of just seeing people as numbers.

22. Contagious

In Contagious: Why Things Catch On , Jonah Berger studies why some products spread like wildfire through word of mouth, while others don’t. He uses groundbreaking research and powerful case studies to outline six basic principles that drive things to go viral.

Berger shows how marketers can use this information for everything from startups and small businesses to political campaigns and multinational corporations.

So to get people talking, companies and organizations need to mint social currency. Give people a way to make themselves look good while promoting their products and ideas along the way. There are three ways to do that: (1) find inner remarkability; (2) leverage game mechanics; and (3) make people feel like insiders. Jonah Berger

💡Takeaway: Word of mouth is very effective in getting your products and content out there, but you need to evolve those concepts to be successful in online marketing.

23. The 1-Page Marketing Plan

The first line on the Amazon description of Allan Dib’s 1-Page Marketing Plan is “Warning: Do not read this book if you hate money.” That is the humorous and straightforward way Dib outlines how to make an effective marketing strategy.

In his book, he teaches new business people things like how to deal with competition, pricing strategies, and even how to get great marketing results on a shoestring budget.

Focusing on the cause (value) rather than the effect (making money) will lead to much greater long-term success. Allan Dib

💡Takeaway: To be successful, you need to have a reliable marketing plan in place, not run random marketing campaigns without any strategy.

24. Building a StoryBrand

Words are important, and the ones you choose to represent your brand and products can make or break you. In Building a StoryBrand , Donald Miller outlines his StoryBrand framework, designed to help marketers of all experience levels connect with their customers more deeply.

You’ll learn how to:

💡Takeaway: How you talk about who you are, what you do, and the unique value you bring to your customers is everything.

Hooked is a practical guide that explains how you can build better products. Nir Eyal explains what he calls the Hook Model—the four step process that many companies use to create successful products.

Eyal uses years of research, consulting, and his own practical experiences to help you create products that can influence people’s behavior.

>Many innovations fail because consumers irrationally overvalue the old while companies irrationally overvalue the new. Nir Eyal

💡Takeaway: To create habit-forming products, you must link your product and services to your customers’ daily routines and emotions.

26. Hacking Growth

How did small companies like Uber, Airbnb, and Pinterest become household names? In Hacking Growth , Sean Ellis explains the concept of growth hacking and how these small companies were able to go from being unknowns to international powerhouses.

Ellis outlines how you can increase your customer base and your market share, and how to create your own growth hacking strategy.

💡Takeaway: It probably won’t happen overnight, but there is a way to grow your business to any level you want.

27. Social Media ROI

Using social media marketing can sometimes feel like you need a crystal ball. Oliver Blanchard’s book, Social Media ROI ,will give you practical solutions that will crack the mystery of social media marketing. It will teach you how to manage, integrate, and leverage your social media so you can take advantage of every penny you put into social media marketing.

💡Takeaway: Social media marketing doesn’t have to be a gamble. A proven process will help you get measurable and consistent results from your marketing efforts.

28. Selling the Invisible

In Selling the Invisible , Harry Beckwith gives you tips and advice on how you can successfully market yourself. He uses humor and jargon-free language to teach freelancers and creatives how to value their skills and how to present those “invisible qualities” that get people to hire you.

Building your brand doesn’t take millions. It takes imagination. Harry Beckwith

💡Takeaway: Don’t be afraid to fail and don’t be afraid of rejection. Strangely enough, those are both an important part of success.

Happy reading!

Marketing your business is an owner’s most important job. These books will help you succeed by showing you the best ways to focus on your customers, stand out from the crowd, and build strong relationships. Apply their principles and your products may (almost) sell themselves. Looking for more books to read? Check out our list of best books for entrepreneurs .

Illustration by Rachel Tunstall

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The 44 Most Highly-Rated Sales Books of All Time

Published: October 28, 2020

Benjamin Franklin once said, "Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other."

In other words, you can rely solely on first-hand experiences to gain sales knowledge -- but it might be painful.

Check out our key takeaways from the best sales books of all time

To dramatically cut down on your learning curve, pick up some sales books. A read penned by a selling expert will offer you all the benefits of personal experience without negatively affecting your quota or efficacy.

Picking a book can be tough, as there are thousands to choose from. Enter: This reading list.

We've curated the top-ranked books from Amazon's sales best-sellers covering a number of different topics specifically for sales professionals:

Whether you want to ask better questions, prospect more effectively, lead your sales team, or become an all-around better salesperson, there's a pick here for you.

Best Sales Books

1. "Inbound Selling"

Author: brian signorelli.

Inbound marketing has changed the way companies interact with customers. In this day and age, the buyer is more empowered and doesn't need to rely on a sales rep to learn more about a company's offerings. In fact, more than 60% of purchasing decisions are made without a sales rep. With that being said, how can sales professionals transform the way they think about their strategies? In this book, you'll learn more about inbound sales, including a step-by-step approach for inbound sales professionals and what it means to lead a team of inbound sellers.

Review excerpt : "This is a must-read for anyone in sales or interested in sales! It's an easy and fun read, while most importantly providing new tools and actionable next steps to add into any sales approach. I highly recommend this to anyone working in or adjacent to sales that wants a fresh perspective and guidance on selling the Inbound way!"

2. "New Sales. Simplified."

Author: mike weinberg.

Looking for a one-stop guide to bringing on new business? Look no further. In this book, Weinberg lays out a proven formula for finding prospects, developing the relationship, and reaching a mutually beneficial agreement.

Review excerpt : "I loved the stories, the irreverent tone, and the honesty of this book. But what I appreciated most was that it delivered on its title -- this book really does simplify what you have to do successfully acquire new customers."

3. "The Sales Acceleration Formula"

Author: mark roberge.

Sales leaders aiming to scale their sales team and build a multi-million dollar business should definitely pick up this book, written by former HubSpot CRO Mark Roberge.

Review excerpt : "Every company -- regardless of its business and sales strategy -- will absolutely benefit from reading this book. The stories (Roberge) tells, the way his selling initiatives fit together, the combination of selling and technology he describes … even the use cases he lists make the approach he describes applicable to any sales organization -- however well-entrenched."

4. "To Sell Is Human"

Author: daniel h. pink.

If you're currently working in sales, you're probably well-aware the old playbook doesn't work. Pink offers fresh yet practical insights into modern selling, including how to move others, make your message clearer and more persuasive, and gain referrals.

Review excerpt : "No, this is not 'another' book about selling. I've read a lot of them, written a few of them, and I can tell you: This book stands alone in a special category."

5. "Secrets of Closing the Sale"

Author: zig ziglar.

This book includes more than 100 different ways to close depending on the situation and 700 thought-provoking questions to use with prospects. You'll also find suggestions from a hundred of America's most successful salespeople.

Review excerpt : "Ziglar teaches you, from the beginning, that there's no room for success in a salesman's career if he's taking the fast route, making the quick sale, and then locking the door behind him."

6. "The Only Sales Guide You'll Ever Need"

Author: anthony iannarino.

Iannarino shares his biggest lessons from 25 years of selling, including how to increase your self-discipline, get over your fear of the competition, be more resourceful, discover the buyer's true needs, and more.

Review excerpt : "Anthony Iannarino is my new sales guru. His book shows you exactly how to understand your offer and relate to your customer."

7. "The New Strategic Selling"

Authors: robert b. miller, stephen e. heiman, and tad tuleja.

Every salesperson will benefit from learning how to reach "win-win" agreements, prevent sabotage by internal blockers, identify the four types of decision-makers, engage senior executives, and more.

Review excerpt : "This book, in my opinion, found a perfect balance between theoretical framework and hands-on, immediately applicable knowledge."

8. "Book Yourself Solid"

Author: michael port.

Port's book covers a range of strategies for earning more business, from building a powerful social media presence to developing a personal brand to perfecting your pricing strategy.

Review excerpt : "An excellent and enjoyable read. Michael Port lays out a fresh and honest approach to marketing yourself and your business. 'Be true to yourself' and the people you serve. This takes the pressure off of trying to contrive an image of someone (or something) that is really not you, and makes self-promotion almost natural!"

9. "Fanatical Prospecting"

Author: jeb blount.

Successful prospecting incorporates multiple touches across multiple channels. Pick up this book to learn how to text, email, call, and socially engage buyers.

Review excerpt : "Jeb teaches you how to prioritize your prospects and leverage social selling in your overall prospecting efforts. If you are thinking about a career in sales or you want to jump-start what you are doing in your present job, then this is the book for you."

10. "SNAP Selling"

Author: jill konrath.

In this book, Kill Konrath acknowledges that today's decision-makers are frazzled, so it can be difficult to get through to them. To address that problem, Konrath offers four simple rules that make up SNAP selling, geared toward overcoming customer hesitation.

Review excerpt : "I have recently set up my own consulting business which has required me to seek new clients in various ways. After years of coaching and managing a team of sales people, I have now encountered the challenges on the front line. Needless to say I spent 3-4 months struggling to get e-mails returned, voice mails returned, etc. I have purchased 11 new prospecting books in the past 7 months, and this one has been the best for me. After going through this book I followed the steps for building an agenda and preparing info for calls, e-mails, linked-in, etc. and voila...I have closed 4 new clients in the past 6 days. I feel much more confident in my approach, which has made a world of difference. Excellently written, great information."

11. "The Sales Magnet"

Author: kendra lee.

Being in sales doesn't always mean cold calling. This book is an ultimate resource of tips and strategies for attracting prospects rather than chasing them down yourself.

Review excerpt : "Kendra Lee ROCKS! Learn to generate sales leads for any business using her methods. It's fast and easy and even fun. I have gotten great results with her lead-gen techniques. So BUY THE BOOK and invest in yourself."

12. "Little Red Book of Selling"

Author: jeffrey gitomer.

This book is short, sweet, and to the point. Readers will learn to focus on why people buy and why it matters to the sales process. With entertaining illustrations and soundbites in every chapter, this book is easy to return to for specific helpful tips when you need them most.

Review excerpt: "Excellent book that focuses on selling the right way. Highly recommend this for anyone who is involved in sales and wants to expand their techniques so they close more."

13. "Spin Selling"

Author: neil rackham.

"Spin Selling" shares the results of Rackham's 12-year, million-dollar research project examining effective sales performances. In his book, Rackham outlines his findings and shares the principles of SPIN (Situation, Problem, Implication, Need-payoff).

Review excerpt : "If you love sales, read this book and discover how to improve your technique. The research behind this book is exhaustive, and the technique is so organic you may discover you're already using it. In that case, you'll be able to improve your skills."

14. "Agile Selling"

As a salesperson, you need to learn a lot of new information and skills quickly. Especially if you're getting promoting, switching jobs, or there are updates to your company. In this book, you'll learn about agile selling, which Konrath describes as the ability to quickly learn new information and leverage it for maximum impact.

Review excerpt : "Having spent 34 years in sales and taken a LONG list of sales training courses and read many training editions you would think, ehhh, I don't need another training book to read. That would have been a serious mistake on my part. Jill Konrath has authored a fabulous strategic plan for any professional salesperson who treats his role as a lifelong learner and acknowledges the sales environment has truly changed in many ways."

15. "Insight Selling"

Authors: mike schultz and john e. doerr.

In this book, authors Mike Schultz and John Doerr studied more than 700 business-to-business purchases to see what winners of major sales do differently than sellers who almost won but ultimately came in second place. The results were surprising. In this book, you'll learn how sales winners sell radically differently and see an outline for what you need to do to transform yourself and your team into insight sellers.

Review excerpt : "This book does a great job of establishing the benchmarks, based on their in-depth analysis and research that drive strong value selling. You can achieve greater success by aligning with customers at a whole new level. They guide you through a process that helps you understand how you can create insight across three dimensions or levels."

16. "Smart Calling"

Author: art sobczak.

Cold calling is probably one of the worst tasks of a salesperson. However, everyone has to do it. In this book, you'll learn proven techniques to master the art of the cold call and eliminate fear, failure, and rejection from cold calling.

Review excerpt : "I am certain this is the sales book I have read the most times by far. It has everything you need to really help you get better results in prospecting if you are willing to put in the effort."

17. "The TOP Sales Leader Playbook"

Author: lisa d. magnuson.

This playbook includes 16 'plays' to win bigger deals based on interviews with 41 leading sales executives. These plays include top strategies for identifying big deals, developing relationships with those prospects, and closing when the time comes.

Review excerpt : "Although this is a practical, workable, systematic playbook, full of detailed step-by-step instructions for proven strategies and tactics to approach and win your "5X" average deals, it is based on deep research with 41 sales VPs about what they wanted in a playbook. This research revealed four key areas of interest to the sales leaders which became the four main topics of the book: Leadership, Methodology, Execution, and Culture. And because it comes directly from primary research coupled with Lisa Magnuson's leadership career and expertise with clients, it's also focused on the few key priorities that sales leaders can afford to make time for and focus on to guarantee a difference in outcomes. This is a really first-rate book, much needed."

18. "Own Your Niche"

Author: stephanie chandler.

Covering internet marketing and sales tactics for establishing authority and connecting with your target audience, you'll learn how to generate exposure and build demand for your pipeline.

Review excerpt : "If you have read a lot of books on marketing already some of what you may read here duplicates that, but most people forget so reading it again serves as a reminder. In addition, no two authors will ever have the same take on piece of advice and that is the case here. For example, Stephanie included some suggestions for how to use post cards that I had not seen anywhere else and it was very helpful. Let's face it, the amount of material written on direct mail marketing can reach the stratosphere so finding a different twist on it can be challenging, but she did it."

behavioral psychology and persuasion books

19. "The Psychology of Selling"

Author: brian tracy.

Learn how to harness psychological principles in the sales process while simultaneously getting a dose of personal motivation.

Review excerpt : "‘The Psychology of Selling' is a superb, practical, easy-to-read return to the fundamentals of professional salesmanship for novices, journeymen, and seasoned, top-performing salespeople. More than common sense placed into form, it serves as an instructional blueprint -- or as a road map -- to establish, build, grow, and maintain a successful sales career."

20. "The Science of Selling"

Author: david hoffeld.

Hoffeld's advice is based on the latest research in behavioral economics, social psychology, and neuroscience. You'll learn a science-based approach to asking questions, securing incremental commitments, resolving objections, reducing your competition's influence, and more.

Review excerpt : "‘The Science of Selling' is the ultimate collection of evidence-based practices for sales ever collected in one volume. Until now, most of the studies in ‘The Science of Selling' have been scattered and tucked away in academic journals, (making them) virtually inaccessible to sales leaders. Most readers will find the material new, and I expect, quite surprising."

21. "Influence: Science and Practice"

Author: robert b. cialdini.

Cialdini reveals the six psychological principles that cause people to comply. Once you've incorporated these powerful concepts into your messaging, leading your prospects to say "yes" will be less challenging.

Review excerpt : "Whether you are on the selling or buying end of any transaction, knowing what Mr Cialdini discovered through years of research and testing will be to your financial advantage. (But) 'Influence' is not just about money. It is a guide to getting what you want or need in a fair and ethical manner."

22. "Words That Sell"

Author: richard bayan.

Keep this informative manual at your desk so you can quickly find the perfect terms and phrases to grab your prospect's attention, create desire for your product, and ultimately, win their business.

Review excerpt : "This is a very simple, but HIGHLY useful book!! This book is filled with descriptive words of products & services that will assist you in selling. But more than that, this book is a huge time-saver!! I sell antiques on eBay, and having proven-to-sell words to describe products is wonderful!"

23. "Heart and Sell"

Author: shari levitin.

How do find the right middle ground between being too accommodating vs. being too high-pressure? This book offers science-based advice for overcoming objections and aligning yourself with prospects' key motivators.

Review excerpt : "Great book as it goes way beyond just giving strategies and ideas but it really cuts to the "why" of why we sell. The personal stories in the book really help to emphasize why we do what we do and when we do it. I heard the author speak at a conference and immediately bought the book to read on my flight home."

24. "7L: The Seven Levels of Communication"

Author: michael j. maher.

If you're not generating warm introductions to potential customers, you're losing out on a valuable source of business. Discover the concrete steps that will win you referrals. Although "7L" is geared toward real estate professionals, its takeaways are applicable to any sales role.

Review excerpt : "Michael provides an easy-to-follow step-by-step system to create long-lasting relationships with clients and vendors that will result in an endless supply of referrals. This book has completely changed how I do business … I went out and bought 30 [copies to give] to my associates."

25. "Predictably Irrational, Revised and Expanded Edition: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions"

Author: dan ariely.

Have you ever been flummoxed by a prospect's irrational decision? Once you read this book, you'll have a new understanding for the assumptions and emotions behind the actions we take. Guiding buyers to the right choices will become far easier.

Review excerpt : "This is a fascinating look into how our brains process information. The author sets up experiments to test his hypotheses about how people respond to a variety of situations."

26. "DISCOVER Questions Get You Connected"

Authors: deb calvert and renee calvert.

Learn how to structure your calls, ask thoughtful, intelligent questions, and help prospects come to their own conclusions about your product's value.

Review excerpt: "'Discover Questions' was excellent -- giving experienced and novice salespeople guidance on how to ask questions, drive the sales conversation and show you care!"

27. "Emotional Intelligence for Sales Success"

Author: colleen stanley.

Sales conversations are innately emotional. Prospects might challenge you and you might get defensive or your fear of rejection could come into play. For a salesperson to overcome those emotional responses, they need to build their emotional intelligence. In this book, you'll learn how to become a better question asker and listener, how emotional intelligence can improve prospecting efforts, and how empathy can lead to more effective sales conversations and solutions.

Review excerpt : "Colleen Stanley's Emotional Intelligence for Sales Success is my go-to resource for sales conversations. I've always told people I hate selling, but I love building mutually beneficial relationships. That's the fundamental premise in this book: that sales is a relationship between two human beings. All of the same emotional intelligence rules that apply to friendships, dating, and other human relationships apply to the sales process."

28. "DISCOVER Questions"

One of the hardest parts of the discovery call is setting yourself and your company apart from other sales reps. In this book, you'll learn the right questions to ask, how to create value for your buyers, and differentiate yourself from the pack.

Review excerpt : "Written for sales professionals it takes little effort to apply this to anywhere you need to ask questions. For sales, it is exemplary, enough that this will become my 2016 Sales book of the year. The author makes a great case for asking the right question early enough so the seller can communicate value."

29. "The Sales Development Playbook"

Author: trish bertuzzi.

The Sales Development Playbook helps readers understand and use inside selling techniques to build a repeatable pipeline, covering a lot of ground from building sales strategy and measuring what matters to leading your sales development team. All of this is in the effort of providing a solid framework for growing your business. Review excerpt : "This is a must read for folks that carry budgetary or first line responsibility for sales development reps (SDRs); which includes both marketing and sales leaders. For those of you that aspire to be successful leaders in this role – this will be your 'reference' text."

30. "Dare to Lead"

Author: brené brown.

What does it mean to be a leader? It's not always about power but also about having tough conversations and developing empathy. This book dives into new research on change makers and culture shifters and teaches across 4 main skillsets so that readers can rise strong at work.

Review excerpt : "What's fascinating is that the author calls herself a "research professor" with a social work doctorate, and her research has been extensive and varied, from military leaders to teachers. In this regard she has adopted the data-based techniques of Jim Collins, whose "Good to Great" has been the gold standard for many years. But her message is different in that it does not recommend "engineering" innovation, but rather relying on "rumbling with vulnerability," "living into one's values," and having the courage to make decisions even where the outcome may be uncomfortable and possibly a failure."

31. "Acting Up"

Author: janice bryant howroyd.

Janice Bryant Howroyd discusses how to win in business and in life by chronicling her journey to becoming the first black woman to own a billion dollar business. You'll learn valuable skills on how to rely on your values and demonstrate leadership as an entrepreneur and/or in the business world.

Review excerpt : "Similar to cold beer on a summer days, for an entrepreneur like myself “Acting Up” was just as refreshing. Every single person in businesses can learn from Janice Bryant Howroyd’s core values. Today in 2019 we are seeing more and more women in businesses. Janice Bryant Howroyd with the largest privately owned staffing agency in the US is responsible for many of these women being where they are today. A+ Book"

32. "Business as Unusual"

Author: anita roddick.

Anita Roddick details her entrepreneurial journey while balancing "profits with principles." While detailing her personal and political issues, she defines the role and responsibility of the entrepreneur in the context of business ethics.

Review excerpt : "I just loved this book. With all my respect to Anita Roddick, I had never expected this book to be so insightful and challenging the conventional wisdom, before I received it into my postbox! I have enjoyed reading it very much. I still like to open a random page and read it again."

33. "Cracking the Sales Management Code"

Authors: jason jordan and michelle vazzana.

Jordan dives into the critical activities and metrics sales managers and executives should implement and track to lead their teams to success.

Review excerpt : "I liked the focus on real-world quantitative management via metrics (and) would recommend this book to any sales manager who wants to achieve and measure results."

34. "Shark Tales"

Author: barbara corcoran.

If you've ever watched ABC's Shark Tank, you know Barbara Corcoran. In her book, she tells her story going from failing in her career efforts to building a $6 billion dollar business, along with the business lessons she learned along the way.

Review excerpt : "Barbara's book was an autobiographic infusion between her childhood and her journey to success in business. She describes both almost simultaneously, as if each chapter is split (but not intermingled) between her business journey and childhood memory. Many of those childhood memories reinforce her attitudes she had later in business and life."

35. "Leapfrog"

Author: nathalie molina niño.

Geared toward women entrepreneurs who want to "outsmart the status quo," Leapfrog contains 50 ways to launch, fund, grow, and succeed in business. You'll learn how to remove obstacles and open closed doors.

Review excerpt : "She thoughtfully demonstrates how to work within today's system to get where you need to go, as opposed to staying in a dreamland hoping societal barriers fall. Her advice is based on what's real and what works and reading LeapFrog feels like taking in a much needed pep talk from your best friend. Highly recommend it."

36. "The Glitter Plan"

Authors: pamela skaist-levy, gela nash-taylor, and booth moore.

Juicy Couture was started with $200 and grew into a global brand that was eventually purchased for $50 million. The authors of this book chronicle that story in this book that markets itself as part memoir and part business manual. You'll learn the innovative tactics they used to achieve radical startup success.

Review excerpt : "Its obvious this book is a must read for today's women, who are seeking ways to thrive, but I HIGHLY recommend this book for the men - husbands, dads and male leaders. As I read this book, I've gained empathy and a new perspective I only sensed before but didn't quite understand completely until Tiffany made it clear for me. I now have a new lens for what my wife has done and is doing, to be an amazing wife, mother and career professional. Despite already being a proud and 'active' dad, I now understand her challenges and am attempting to step up to the plate and do more, to allow more balance in our marriage and parental roles, and to allow her an opportunity to be all she can be."

37. "Mindset: The New Psychology of Success"

Author: carol s. dweck.

As a world-renowned psychologist, Carol Dweck has researched the power of mindset for decades. She reveals how mindset can dramatically impact and influence how we think about our talents and abilities. Although not directly about sales, this book will teach you how a growth mindset can help you succeed in the world of sales and beyond.

Review excerpt : "I recognized a lot of myself in this book (and not necessarily the good bits). I learned some reasons why I procrastinate for one thing. It is potentially a game changer for anybody willing to be honest about who they really are with a sincere desire to be better through application and hard work. The book is a call to action and change on a very fundamental level."

38. " Think and Grow Rich "

Author: napoleon hill.

This book is beloved by many career salespeople. The result of nearly 20 years of research, Hill's book outlines 13 steps to success, including developing a definite purpose, building a positive mental attitude, and channeling the power of the subconscious mind.

Review excerpt : "This book is one that everyone must-read. From the very beginning, it began changing my mindset and how I view life. Some books are filled with information on how you should be thinking, but this one shows how to create lasting change."

39. "How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling"

Author: frank bettger.

This is the perfect book for anyone whose job it is to sell. Through personal experiences, Bettger tells his tale from a failed salesman to one of the highest-paid salesmen in America. He gives insights on the power of enthusiasm, conquering fear, the quickest way to win confidence, and the seven golden rules for closing a sale.

Review excerpt : "I have read this cover to cover, twice. It's not only for those in the sales industry, it's useful for everyone. I was reminded of the value of emotion, as well as the value of time - both mine and my clients. It was great to learn from both Frank Bettger's mistakes and successes, and I am grateful to have read this book."

40. "The Introvert's Edge: How the Quiet and Shy Can Outsell Anyone"

Authors: matthew owen pollard and derek lewis.

Just like any other skill, anyone can learn and master the art of sales. Even introverts. In this book, an introverted salesperson can learn how to use their own natural strengths to sell. For example, introverts will learn how to find natural confidence, prepare for any situation, sidestep objections, and ask for the sale without being pushy.

Review excerpt : "Being mostly an introvert, I have long felt that I had to learn to be someone else in order to succeed in business and especially anything to do with selling. Unbelievably refreshing to read approaches born from authentic experience. With the right tools and techniques, anything is possible! And if you're an introvert and you hope to make a living, this is an excellent book for you — it'll serve you well no matter what field you're in."

41. "More Sales, Less Time"

Have you ever felt behind at work, but there just isn't enough time in the day to get everything done? If so, you're probably an overwhelmed salesperson. With quotas going up and faster turnarounds expected, it's not surprising. In this book, you'll learn how to reclaim your time by eliminating major time sucks, optimize your sales process to eliminate redundancies and wasted time, and stay at the top of your sales game.

Review excerpt : "Time has become a top 3 obstacle to success for sales professionals and anyone trying to grow their business results. This book helped me identify and accept that I am being held back because of my attitude and choices about my time. By the time I got to Chapter 31 titled "Unclog Your Pipeline" I had so many notes that I had to put the book down and go back to start from the beginning and highlight the areas that were giving me the clarity that I was so clearly lacking."

42. "Go-Giver, Expanded Edition: A Little Story About a Powerful Business Idea"

Authors: bob burg and john david mann.

This quick read reveals the importance of giving to business success. Not only will you walk away convinced that giving leads to receiving, you'll also know how to give to achieve your desired results.

Review excerpt : "Clear, entertaining, and immediately practical, this book has evolved my approach to business -- and life. When you go through your day focusing on how you can give and being open to receiving, you build stronger relationships and prosper on multiple levels."

43. "Drop the Ball"

Author: tiffany dufu.

If you've ever felt the burden of perfectionism or an insurmountable to-do list, Tiffany Dufu's story about "letting go" to achieve more is for you. By re-evaluating expectations and embracing imperfection, you'll be able to increase your energy on the things that matter. This book is perfect for women leaders.

Review excerpt: "Its obvious this book is a must read for today's women, who are seeking ways to thrive, but I HIGHLY recommend this book for the men - husbands, dads and male leaders. As I read this book, I've gained empathy and a new perspective I only sensed before but didn't quite understand completely until Tiffany made it clear for me. I now have a new lens for what my wife has done and is doing, to be an amazing wife, mother and career professional. Despite already being a proud and 'active' dad, I now understand her challenges and am attempting to step up to the plate and do more, to allow more balance in our marriage and parental roles, and to allow her an opportunity to be all she can be."

44. "The Warrior Code"

Authors: tee marie hanible and denene millner.

If you want to actualize your true potential, this book offers 11 principles to "awaken your inner badass." It starts with Hanible's story of uncovering her inner warrior after a life full of adversity and advice on how you can tap into your own power.

Review excerpt : "This was an awesome book! I'm an avid reader and this was by far one of the best. Great for both men, women, boys and girls. This is one of the first authors that tells it like it is and revealed the good, the bad, and the ugly experiences they faced growing up. Great read!!"

Whether you want to study sales tactics or you want to level up your individual performance, this list is pact with insightful books by brilliant authors. Maybe even your next mentor.

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The Marketing Gurus: Lessons from the Best Marketing Books of All Time Paperback – February 26, 2013

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35 Best Sales Books (of All Time) to Read, Grow & Level up Your Sales Skills in 2023

Want to improve your close rates, learn to be a better manager, and work more efficiently? You need to read more sales books.

Reading is how billionaire investor Warren Buffett spends most of his day; Bill Gates swears by it; Mark Cuban spends four or five hours a day doing it.

Research shows reading helps prevent stress, depression, and dementia while enhancing confidence, decision-making, and overall life satisfaction.

Reading the best sales books can even lead to higher income and more meaningful careers .

Books give you access to the greatest minds of our generation and generations past (for some of the lowest prices of any educational tool out there)—which is why it’s so important to carve out time to read .

To compile this list of the best sales books of all time, we combed the must-read lists of some of the most successful entrepreneurs and asked the sales team here at Close. Even better, most of these sales books come in audio-book format so you can listen while driving, entering data into your CRM, or even working out.

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How to Make the Most Out of Reading These Best-Selling Sales Books

Choosing the right sales book is just part of the battle. You also want to make sure you understand and absorb what you read. It's easy to get sucked into a book—and by the end you realize you didn't absorb anything.

To get the most out of the sales books we recommend, try these tricks to help you retain more information:

Reading with intention will ensure you’re not just flipping pages and have actionable advice when you finally get to the back cover.

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Now, let’s get into the best sales books! To make our list easier to use, these books are grouped together based on their core topics, include advice on who should read each book and a quick explanation of what you'll learn from each author.

Essential Sales Books for Everyone in Sales

These sales books are must-reads for everyone involved in the sales no matter the industry—whether you're an SDR at a software startup, a real estate agent , an entrepreneur, or VP of Sales, these books have a ton of information and best practices on the science of selling—to help you succeed in your sales career.

1. To Sell is Human by Daniel H. Pink: Best Sales Book for Breaking Sales Stereotypes

Best Sales Book for Breaking Stereotypes (Daniel Pink To Sell is Human)

What you'll learn from this sales book:

If you want to understand the modern sales landscape and the psychology of selling anything , this is a must-read book to become a better salesperson . It offers tips on persuasion, the importance of honesty, and the importance of non-sales selling.

Daniel Pink is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post best-selling author who completely destroys and disproves every outdated stereotype about sales in this fantastic book.

Key Quote: “Anytime you're tempted to upsell someone else, stop what you're doing and upserve instead.”

2. Everybody Lies by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz: Best Book About Using Data for Sales Success

Best Sales Book About Data (Everybody Lies Screenshot)

What you'll learn about sales success:

What if you knew what your sales lead would do before speaking to them? The internet has led to such a proliferation of data that we can predict behaviors based on everything from what sports you like to who you voted for.

In this book, data scientist Seth Stephens-Davidowitz digs deeper and reveals truths about how we think and feel as humans, which is helpful to salespeople who want to understand their prospects better.

Key Quote: “First, and perhaps most important, if you are going to try to use new data to revolutionize a field, it is best to go into a field where old methods are lousy.”

3. Blueprints For A SaaS Sales Organization by Jacco van der Kooji and Fernando Pizarro : For Scaling a SaaS Sales Team

Sales Books for SaaS Sales (Blueprints for a SaaS Sales Organization Screenshot)

What you'll learn about sales for SaaS:

This book redefined how SaaS sales teams are built. Authors Jacco van der Kooji and Fernando Pizarro distill decades of combined experience building high-performance SaaS teams into detailed instructions that help sales managers design, implement, and execute better sales plans .

Key Quote: “Get the model right in order to avoid losing time. Time is the only resource you can’t replace, and in today’s fast-moving market your competitors are quick to leap ahead of you and cash in on the market you and your marketing dollars created.”

4. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Dr. Robert Cialdini: Best Classic Sales Book on Psychology

Best Sales Book About Psychology (Influence by Robert Cialdini Screenshot)

What you'll learn about influence in sales:

This international best-selling sales book teaches the six principles of influence and how to apply them.

Understanding how people are influenced is such an incredibly important part of sales, and Dr. Robert Cialdini is the expert. Influence is the classic text on the psychology of why people say "yes." More importantly, you'll learn how to apply these understandings to your sales process.

Key Quote: “The idea of potential loss plays a large role in human decision making. In fact, people seem to be more motivated by the thought of losing something than by the thought of gaining something of equal value.”

5. Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning the Deal by Oren Klaff: Best Guide for Nailing Your Sales Pitches

Best Sales Book for Pitching (Pitch Anything by Oren Klaff)

What you'll learn about pitching:

One truly great sales pitch can make your career. Which is what author Oren Klaff , who used his own unique pitching method to raise over $400 million, proves in this fantastic book.

Klaff explains a scientific approach to the pitch , outlining the key points every great pitch needs to hit and how exactly to do it:

While this sales book discusses pitching for funding, many of the principles also apply to sales professionals and entrepreneurs looking to close more sales .

Key Quote: “No pitch or message is going to get to the logic center of the other person’s brain without passing through the survival filters of the crocodile brain system first. And because of the way we evolved, those filters make pitching anything extremely difficult.”

6. Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss : Classic Sales Book on Negotiating

Best Sales Book About Negotiation (Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss)

What you'll learn about negotiating in this sales book:

Want to up your negotiating skills ? Who better to learn from than a former international hostage negotiator for the FBI?

Chris Voss highlights the hard skills and practical principles that helped him save lives and will help give you an edge in any negotiation. Whether you're looking to close a sale or save on your next car purchase, this action guide has earned its rank amongst the best sales books of all-time.

Key Quote: “Negotiate in their world. Persuasion is not about how bright or smooth or forceful you are. It’s about the other party convincing themselves that the solution you want is their own idea. So don’t beat them with logic or brute force. Ask them questions that open paths to your goals. It’s not about you.”

7. Zig Ziglar's Secrets of Closing the Sale : A Classic Sales Book for Every Sales Professional

Classic Sales Books (Zig Ziglar's Secrets of Closing the Sale)

What you'll learn about closing sales:

Looking to improve your sales career? You can't go wrong with this classic book by Zig Ziglar.

In the sales world, Zig Ziglar is the giant on whose shoulders we all stand. His pioneering book focuses on the all-important close, providing hundreds of examples of how to close and questions to ask yourself before you go in for the ‘yes.’

This sales book covers more than 700 questions to ask, professional tips from sales experts, and 100 different closing strategies.

Key Quote: “If you do not believe in your product or service enough to offer it to your own family and friends, then you should question the value of what you are selling.”

8. Little Red Book of Selling: 12.5 Principles of Sales Greatness by Jeffrey Gitomer : Shortest Book that Packs a Ton of Information

Best Sales Books (Jeffrey Gitomer's Little Red Book of Selling)

What you'll learn in Jeffrey Gitomer's classic sales book:

This short and sweet sales book outlines the most important aspects of sales in quick chapters punctuated with funny cartoons. You'll learn practical tips on tackling complaints, networking, meeting decision makers, and using creativity to make people want to buy.

Key Quote :

"People don't like to be sold, but they love to buy. Your job as a master salesman is to create an atmosphere where people want to buy."

9. SNAP Selling by Jill Konrath : Learn New Sales Strategies to Close Deals Faster

Snap Selling by Jill Konrath (Photo of Book)

What you'll learn in this foundational sales book :

With more than 100 five-star reviews on Amazon and several awards, this book by Jill Konrath is a must-read for new or established salespeople. The book shares strategies for closing deals faster, gaining access to prospects—even when they're busy—and keeping the buying process moving forward.

The book outlines a simple framework called SNAP, which stands for Simple, iNvaluable, Aligned, and Priority.

"Frazzled customers don’t want to hear about your products or services. They will grant you access only if you pique their curiosity or provoke their thinking.”

Best-Selling Sales Books on Management

Knowledge is your best friend, whether you're a VP of Sales, managing a sales team , or a founder running point on sales. These books cover the nitty-gritty of managing a sales team as well as the psychology of management in business.

10. Cracking the Sales Management Code by Jason Jordan: For Current or Soon-to-Be Sales Managers

Sales Management Books (Cracking the Sales Management Code by Jason Jordan)

What you'll learn about sales management :

If you’re sick of high-level advice and are ready to dig into the specifics of how a high-functioning sales team works, this is a must-read.

Authors Jason Jordan and Michelle Vazzana explain what drives sales performance, including:

Pro tip: Pair this fantastic sales management book with Mike Weinberg's seminal Sales Management. Simplified. to really get the most out of your learning on this topic.

Key Quote: “Hiring the right salespeople, deploying them in the right way, targeting the right customers, and selling the right products is the only formula for long-term organizational health.”

11. The Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes: For Sales Managers to Learn About Strategy

Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes (Top Sales Books for Sales Managers to Read)

What you'll learn about sales strategy:

As a sales manager, one of your most important roles is not just to identify strategies and opportunities, but to get rid of ones that don’t work.

Chet Holmes ’ book shows you how to focus on the strategies that work and systematically improve areas of your business in just an hour a week.

Whether you're struggling to figure out if cold calling works or looking for new ways to leverage social selling, this book will get you on the right path.

Key Quote: “The one who gives the market the most and best information will always slaughter the one who just wants to sell products or services.”

12. SPIN Selling by Neil Rackham : For Sales Reps Looking to Up Their Game

What you'll learn about spin selling:

This book is a few decades old (which means being prepared for outdated references), but the fundamentals presented by author Neil Rackham in SPIN are those that every sales rep needs to know.

SPIN, which stands for Situation, Problem, Implication, and Need-payoff, turned selling from an art to a science and is a playbook for closing large, complex sales.

This book offers simple, practical advice you can use to dramatically increase your sales, streamline your sales process, and get away from older strategies that just don't work.

Key Quote: “People do not buy from salespeople because they understand their products but because they felt the salesperson understood their problems.”

13. Coaching Salespeople Into Sales Champions by Keith Rosen : For Sales Managers Looking to Improve Their Coaching Skills

What you'll learn about sales coaching:

If you don’t know the difference between sales training and coaching, your sales team will never truly excel. Keith Rosen ’s award-winning book shares specific methods to lead your top performers to success and create a culture of coaching at your organization.

This sales book is a great choice for anyone wanting to inspire and create a more positive working environment.

Key Quote: “If you do not have a defined process that moves your people forward so they can achieve greater results, then what is it you are managing?”

14. The Art of War by Sun Tzu: Best Book to Learn How to Handle Conflict

The Art of War by Sun Tzu (Classic Sales Books)

What you'll learn about conflict (and how that applies to sales):

Sure, it’s nearly 2000 years old, but Chinese philosopher Sun Tzu ’s classic is still the authority on how to handle conflict in the best way possible. The strategies in this book have been applied to everyone from ancient military leaders to modern-day politicians and executives.

It also covers the importance of learning, using disruption as an advantage, and leveraging creativity.

Key Quotes (we couldn’t pick just one): “Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.”

“In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity.”

“Engage people with what they expect; it is what they are able to discern and confirm their projections. It settles them into predictable patterns of response, occupying their minds while you wait for the extraordinary moment — that which they cannot anticipate.”

The Best Books for Sales Managers

Sales managers aren't just responsible for ensuring their reps hit new sales goals or finding new recruits. True sales leaders constantly learn and grow—and help their sales team do the same.

Whether you're at a new business or looking to help your long-term team grow, these books will help your team learn new strategies.

15. From Impossible to Inevitable by Aaron Ross and Jason Lemkin : Best For Sales Reps and Managers in High-Growth Companies

Aaron Ross and Jason Limken's From Impossible to Inevitable (Best Sales Books for High Growth)

What you'll learn about driving growth through sales:

Authors Aaron Ross and Jason Lemkin use real-world examples from Zenefits (which skyrocketed from $1 million to $100 million in two years) to Salesforce (the fastest growing multibillion-dollar software company) to describe their 7 Ingredients of hyper growth:

This sales book serves as a road map for building predictable revenue streams using a proven template and detailed instructions.

Key Quote: “Your primary goal should not be to close a deal, but to help your “customers” solve problems and realize success.” - Aaron Ross

16. Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin: Best Sales Manager Book To Improve Leadership Skills

Sales Management Books (Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin)

What you'll learn about leadership:

The metaphor of sales as a battlefield might be overused, but it’s an apt description of how we feel when the stakes are high and we know the competition is always around the corner.

That’s why this book, written by celebrated SEAL veterans Jocko Willink and Leif Babin , offers so many incredible insights on leading a sales team, relationship building, and taking responsibility.

Extreme Ownership details the mindset and principles that enable the SEALs to succeed and has helped everyone from startups to Fortune 500 companies to lead more effectively.

Key Quote: “The test is not a complex one: when the alarm goes off, do you get up out of bed, or do you lie there in comfort and fall back to sleep? If you have the discipline to get out of bed, you win—you pass the test. If you are mentally weak for that moment and you let that weakness keep you in bed, you fail. Though it seems small, that weakness translates to more significant decisions. But if you exercise discipline, that too translates to more substantial elements of your life.”

17. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck: Top Book About The Importance of a Growth Mindset

Mindset the New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck Book

What you'll learn about growth in this book:

To grow and succeed in this new sales world, we need to grow and succeed. Simple right? Yet, how many times have you or your team missed a target or lost an account and thought ‘it was just meant to be'?

In this book, psychologist Carol Dweck drills into the core of having a growth mindset, and how you can inspire yourself, your team, and your entire organization to grow.

Key Quote: “We like to think of our champions and idols as superheroes who were born different from us. We don’t like to think of them as relatively ordinary people who made themselves extraordinary.”

18. Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers by Tim Ferriss : Best Book to Inspire Your Sales Team

Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss (Best Sales Books for Managers)

What you'll learn about leadership and becoming a more successful salesperson:

Author, entrepreneur, and investor Tim Ferriss deep dive into what creates greatness is a monstrous 650-pages of advice from 200+ business gurus, including Tony Robbins , Derek Sivers , Daymond John , and many more. If you want to be a great leader, Tim lets you learn from the best—regardless of whether or not you're in sales.

Key Quote: “When 99% of people doubt you, you’re either gravely wrong or about to make history.”

19. Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi: The Perfect Book To Learn How to Grow Relationships

Sales Books About Relationships (Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi)

What you'll learn about building relationships:

If the son of a small-town steelworker can network his way to a Harvard MBA and land features in Forbes, Fortune, and the Wall Street Journal, then I listen to him.

In this sales book, author Keith Ferrazzi takes all the negative, soul-sucking drudgery of ‘networking’ and outlines how to build connections that matter and get you what you want in life.

Whether you're going to a social event or want to use social media more effectively, this book will help you learn how to connect to the people around you.

Key Quote: “Real networking is about finding ways to make other people more successful.”

20. Emotional Intelligence 2.0 by Travis Bradberry: Learn How Emotions Impact Buying Behavior

Emotional Intelligence 2.0 by Travis Bradberry (Sales Books for Building Emotional Intelligence)

What you'll learn about emotional intelligence:

The most successful salespeople know emotions are behind every decision we make—from who we choose to spend our time with to what brand of toothpaste we buy.

Based on answers from over half a million people, Dr. Travis Bradberry shows how to develop your emotional intelligence to become more in-tune with the needs and wants of the people you sell to.

Key Quote: “Anyone can become angry—that is easy. But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way, this is not easy.”

21. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card: Best For Sales Manager Who Don't Want to Read Sales Books

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (Books to Learn About Sales and Leadership)

What you'll learn about leadership + teamwork :

Why is this sci-fi novel on the US Marine Corps' reading list (and our list of sales books)? Orson Scott Card not only tells a fantastic story of futuristic war, but sneaks in some of the best lessons on leadership, teamwork, and empathy—which are the key to any successful sales team.

Key Quote: “If you try and lose then it isn't your fault. But if you don't try and we lose, then it's all your fault.”

22. Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek: Ideal Choice to Learn About the Fundamentals of Selling

Start With Why by Simon Sinek (Sales Books about Driving Purposeful Action)

What you'll learn about driving action in sales:

Any organization can explain what it does. Some can explain how they do it. But very few can clearly articulate why . This is the focal point of Simon Sinek ’s brilliant book. When you’re selling, understanding the why behind your product gives you a leg-up on the competition.

While not specifically a sales book, this fantastic read teaches you to answer questions that go beyond the surface—and really show your prospect that they need what you’re selling.

Key Quote: “People don't buy what you do; they buy why you do it. And what you do simply proves what you believe.”

Sales Books that Teach Key Life Lessons

Reading shouldn’t just be about smashing metrics and smashing more deals. It should be about personal growth and building a better, more successful life. These sales books cover the spectrum from growing your mental fortitude to learning how to have more respectful sales conversations.

23. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey: Ideal Book for Working More Efficiently

Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey (Best Sales Books of All Time)

What you'll learn about building an efficient sales process (and life!):

Ever wish you had more time in the day or could speed up a long sales cycle? There’s a reason this book is so well-regarded in both business schools and personal development circles.

Stephen R. Covey 's book is a guide on living a meaningful life, empathizing with everyone you meet, and setting realistic, actionable goals (and sales goals , for that matter). If you’re in a slump or need motivation, pick this one up.

Key Quote: “Habit is the intersection of knowledge (what to do), skill (how to do), and desire (want to do).”

24. Rejection Proof by Jia Jiang: Best Choice For Learning How to Handle Rejection in Sales

Rejection Proof by Jia Jiang (Best Sales Books about Handing Rejection)

What you'll learn about rejection in this sales book:

If you're in sales, you know objections and rejections very well. But without the mental fortitude to push through, those rejections can quickly weigh down your motivation. The author of this sales book, Jia Jiang, decided to go through more rejection than most people can handle.

The result was this book covering the secrets of successful asking, how to pick targets, and how to tell when an initial no can be converted into something positive—and when you're just wasting your time.

Key Quote: “Is your dream bigger than your rejections? If it is, maybe it’s time to keep going, instead of giving up.”

25. Sell or Be Sold: How to Get Your Way in Business and in Life by Grant Cardone: Learn How to (Gracefully) Apply Sales Techniques to The Rest of Your Life

Sell or Be Sold by Grant Cardone (Best Sales Books of All Time to Read)

What you'll learn about persuasion:

As salespeople, it’s hard to separate the work we do every day from the rest of our lives. When you’re ‘always on’, it can be hard to tone it down and stop selling to everyone in your life—which author and serial entrepreneur Grant Cardone knows all too well.

But why should we try to turn off the sale in the first place? This sales book takes the traditional idea of selling and puts a fresh spin on it by applying sales techniques and philosophies to every facet of your life, from your career to your love life.

Key Quote: “No person will ever gain true power and stature in the world without the ability to persuade others.”

26. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie: Best Motivational Book for Fast Growing Sales Teams

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie (Sales Books)

What you'll learn about working with people:

Yes, it was written in the 1930s. But, it has sold more than 15 million copies and is still taught today. As the title suggests, Dale Carnegie ’s bestselling (undercover) sales book teaches you how to effectively work with other people and become a better leader and connector.

More than that, it teaches you how to genuinely get along with people and live a happier, more successful life. Those lessons are important whether you're looking to increase B2B sales , get a better job, or just enjoy your life.

Key Quote: “You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.”

27. Wherever You Go There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn: Best Selection to Reduce Stress

Sales Books About Mindfulness (Jon Kabat-Zinn's Wherever You Go There You Are)

What you'll learn about mindfulness:

Working in sales is stressful. While some of us choose to put our heads down and power through the long, tense days, author Jon Kabat-Zinn thinks we can live a more meaningful life through meditation.

This isn't directly a sales book, but if you’ve been ‘hearing about this mindfulness stuff’ for a while and want to try to lower your stress, this is a great place to start. Even better, this is one of Close founder, Steli Efti 's, favorite sales books.

Key Quote: “You might be tempted to avoid the messiness of daily living for the tranquility of stillness and peacefulness. This of course would be an attachment to stillness, and like any strong attachment, it leads to delusion. It arrests development and short-circuits the cultivation of wisdom.”

28. Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport: Best Sales-Adjacent Book to Improve Focus

Sales Books for Focused Work (Deep Work by Cal Newport)

What you'll learn about sales (and life) in Deep Work:

In our distracted world, attention and focus are our two most precious resources. Especially in sales, where you're constantly looking for leads, researching the market, and out performing your competition, it can be easy to get swept away by distractions.

This book by author and Georgetown professor, Cal Newport , changes that. Deep Work is part inspiring stories and part actionable advice on building an attention-strengthening regime so you can become a master in your field.

Key Quote: “Clarity about what matters provides clarity about what does not.”

29. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life by Mark Manson : Best Choice for People Who Don't Want to Read Another Sales Book

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck by Mark Manson (to Sell Better)

What this book teaches you about sales—and business in general:

First, this book has probably the best title of any business book out there. Secondly, Mark Manson ’s best-seller is built around the core argument, backed by academic research, that improving our lives hinges not on our ability to turn “lemons into lemonade,” but on learning to stomach the lemons better.

This book explores the importance of setting realistic expectations and embracing our fears, faults, and uncertainties.

Key Quote : "Everything worthwhile in life is won through surmounting the associated negative experience. Any attempt to escape the negative, to avoid it or quash it or silence it, only backfires. The avoidance of suffering is a form of suffering. The avoidance of struggle is a struggle. The denial of failure is a failure. Hiding what is shameful is itself a form of shame."

30. Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy : Learn How to Manage Your Time More Efficiently

Sales Books About Procrastination (Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy)

What you'll learn in this classic sales book from Brian Tracy :

Brian Tracy is well known in the world of sales with books like The Psychology of Selling or Sales Success. While Eat That Frog isn't specifically a sales book in the sense that it won't teach you a new sales methodology or provide cold calling scripts, it's definitely worth a read.

What it will do is help you learn to tackle those annoying tasks you keep putting off and learn to get more done. And if there's one thing top sales reps need, it's more time!

"One of the very worst uses of time is to do something very well that needs not to be done at all."

The Best Sales Books About the Future of Sales

You might think a book is the last place to look to the future, but big, life-changing ideas are often hidden within well-read tomes. These sales books look at some of the greatest ideas of how to build and grow an influential sales team (and a company in general).

31. The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson : Learn From Thousands of Top-Performing Sales Reps

The Challenger Sale by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson (Best Sales Books)

What you'll learn about the core of sales in this book:

Based on a study of thousands of sales reps across many industries, Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson found that the best sales teams don't just build relationships, but challenge them. This unique sales book takes what most people consider the core of sales and flips it on its head.

Where The Challenger Sale excels is in pinpointing the exact sales strategies and techniques that work well—presenting them in a digestible, repeatable format for readers to replicate in their own sales processes . Pro tip: This sales book makes for a really great read when paired with Gap Selling by Jim Keenan.

Key Quote: “ What sets the best suppliers apart is not the quality of their products, but the value of their insight—new ideas to help customers either make money or save money in ways they didn’t even know were possible.”

32. Winning With Data by Tomasz Tunguz : Best Data-Focused Sales Book

What you'll learn using data to increase sales:

If you know your sales team needs to be data-driven but aren't sure where to start, this is the book for you. Venture capitalist Tomasz Tunguz ’s book provides a crash course on what the term means and shares how to transform your team or organization into a data-driven culture.

Key Quote: "...Illusion of validity fools us into believing that gathering more data will help us predict the future better."

33. The Sales Acceleration Formula by Mark Roberge: Best Choice for Learning to Leverage Tech + Data To Drive Sales Success

The Sales Acceleration Formula by Mark Roberge (Top Sales Books)

What you'll learn about technology sales in this book:

Every business wants to grow, but how many actually scaled their sales team effectively? The Formula provided by Mark Roberge is a step-by-step guide to using data, technology, and inbound marketing to build a massive, scalable, and productive sales team and propel your company to success.

Key Quote: “What is the most important goal the company needs to achieve? Customer count? Profitability? Customer success? Market share? New product distribution? New market penetration?” Then ask yourself, ‘How can the sales compensation plan be aligned with this goal?’ Do not underestimate the power of the compensation plan.”

34. Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products by Nir Eyal: Best Guide for Building a More Efficient Sales Process

Hooked by Nir Eyal on the Psychology of Habit-Forming in Sales

What this sales books is about:

If you haven’t read Hooked , your competition has; and they’re using it against you. Nir Eyal ’s book does more than just explain why people love certain products more than others. It provides a research-backed, four-step process to help you create a system that brings users and customers back again and again.

You'll read interviews and learn practical insights on creating user habits and actionable steps to build a better product.

Key Quote: “There are three ingredients required to initiate any and all behaviors: (1) the user must have sufficient motivation; (2) the user must have the ability to complete the desired action; and (3) a trigger must be present to activate the behavior.”

35. Fanatical Prospecting: The Ultimate Guide to Opening Sales Conversations and Filling the Pipeline by Leveraging Social Selling, Telephone, Email, Text, and Cold Calling by Jeb Blount : Best for Scaling Your Lead Generation Process

Sales Books About Prospecting (Fanatical Prospecting by Jeb Blount)

Why you should read this sales book:

The way we communicate has changed. In the past, it was all about cold calling, in-person meetings, and emailing. While those strategies still work, newer sales outreach techniques like social selling are gaining traction.

This book shares how to build a sustainable pipeline, avoid sales slumps, and leverage high-power strategies to improve productivity and keep sales rolling month after month.

“Here is the brutal reality. If you don't have a plan, you will become a part of someone else's plan. You can either take control of your life or someone else will use you to enhance theirs. It's your choice.”

Find Your New Favorite Sales Book (and Get Our Free Sales Books Today)

These sales books contain some of the best research and insight into building, managing, and leading a successful sales team.

But they also cover ways to live a better life by increasing happiness and battling the stress and rollercoaster of emotions salespeople know all too well.

Yet it’s important to remember that reading isn’t a quick fix solution. It’s a long-term, life-changing practice that requires consistent practice.

So instead of treating this like a sales book summer reading list, treat it like a starting point on your journey to a better life and a better sales career.

For even more great sales books, download our free Startup Sales Resource Bundle right now. You'll get 7 of the best sales books from the Close team —along with copy & paste email templates, sales scripts, and much more.

Download the Startup Sales Resource Bundle

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The 25 best marketing books of all time to make you smarter
Here's a list of the best books on marketing: 1. Scientific Advertising. Written by Claude C. Hopkins, Scientific Advertising is an advertising-related book that was published in 1923. It's one of ... 2. Breakthrough Advertising. 3. Play Bigger. 4. Content Design. 5. The Greatest Salesman in the ...
The 50 Best Marketing Books Of All Time
The 50 Best Marketing Books Of All Time. 1. Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind by Al Ries and Jack Trout. 2. Ogilvy on Advertising by David Ogilvy. 3. The 22 Immutable Laws of Advertising: Violate Them at Your Own Risk! by Al Ries and Jack Trout. 4. Converge: Transforming Business at the ...
The 23 Best Marketing Books Of All Time
Here are our picks for the 23 best marketing books of all time. 1- The Icarus Deception by Seth Godin An inductee into the Marketing Hall of Fame and author of multiple bestsellers, Godin evokes a famous Greek myth in this book, but turns the usual lesson taken from the myth on its head.
The Best Marketing Books of All Time for Marketers
It’s one of the best marketing books for beginners and a great place to start your marketing library. 2. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini With a new edition published in 2021, Influence gets an update that helps the nearly-40-year-old bestseller maintain its high status.
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The 1-Page Marketing Plan proves to be a popular choice for marketers (Image credit: Amazon.com) 1. The 1-Page Marketing Plan: Get New Customers, Make More Money, And Stand out From The Crowd...
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The List: 22 Best Marketing Books You Need On Your Shelf 1. Icarus Deception by Seth Godin You might recall that Icarus’s fatal flaw was not heeding his father’s warning to not fly too close to the sun. Furthermore, Daedalus warned his son to not fly too low, fearing that the saltwater would also damage the wings.
20 Best Marketing Books of All Time
The 20 best marketing books recommended by Jeff Bezos, Tim Ferriss, Seth Godin, Austen Allred and Geoffrey James. The 20 best marketing books recommended by Jeff Bezos, Tim Ferriss, Seth Godin, Austen Allred and Geoffrey James. ... This content is provided 'as is' and is subject to change or removal at any time. Amazon and the …
10 Best Marketing Books of All Time
Check out these ten best marketing books to help you understand marketing practices and how a company achieves results. Permission Marketing by Seth Godin Team ProductLine Permission Marketing by Seth Godin BUY NOW This marketing book is highly interesting and will appeal to marketers of all types, whether you work for …
18 Best Marketing Books to Read in 2023
The best books for marketing include Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook by Gary Vaynerchuk, Contagious by Jonah Berger, Building a StoryBrand by Donald Miller, and Alchemy by Rory Sutherland. What are some good marketing books for beginners?
Top 11 Marketing Books of All Time
2. Ogilvy On Advertising by David Ogilvy An oldie but goldie. Expected information but worth the read. Ogilvy On Advertising is considered an advertising bible. 3. From Those Wonderful Folks Who Gave You Pearl Harbor by Jerry Della Femina Cult classic 4. Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable by Seth Godin …
The Top 10 Marketing Books of All Times (Updated 2023)
9. Epic Content Marketing by Joe Pullizzi. Joe Pullizzi is the founder of the Content Marketing Institute (CMI), one of the leading content marketing educational resource for enterprise brands, and one fasted growing business since its creation.
Top 10 marketing books of all time to read in 2023
It’s one of the marketing books that we recommend you have in your bookshelf, digital or not, it’s a must read. 8. Consumer Behaviour Written by Dr. Isabelle Szmigin, this is a book that explains in detail and through a contemporary approach, how consumer behavior is.
10 Best Marketing Books of All Time
Originally published in 1981, authors Reis and Trout were pioneers in simplifying marketing for business owners. This is the most trusted book to help you differentiate yourself and your business. 2. Duct Tape Marketing Revised and Updated: The World's Most Practical Small Business Marketing Guide by John Jantsch
57 Best Marketing Books to Read in 2023. Which Have You Read?
The 10 Best General Marketing Books of All-Time. Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind by Al Ries and Jack Trout (2001) Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini (2021) Hooked by Nir Eyal (2014) Permission Marketing by …
20 Greatest Marketing Books of All Time
20 Greatest Marketing Books of All Time. #1 80/20 Sales and Marketing by Perry Marshall. My #1 Most Recommend Marketing Book. 80/20 Sales and Marketing: The Definitive Guide to Working Less ... #2 Ask by Ryan Levesque. #3 The Conversion Code by Chris Smith. #4 How to Write Copy That Sells by Ray ...
Top 10 Marketing Books of All Time
Today, I've selected 10 books about marketing that I believe should be in every business library. Some of these books explain how technology has changed the strategy and tactics of...
15 Best Marketing Books of All Time
“The Hawke Method” is about three core principles more than 3,500 brands soar, as well as establish Hawke Media as one of the fastest-growing marketing agencies in the world. The book made the author and Hawke CEO a USA Today Best-Selling Author. Start with Why by Simon Sinek
Top Marketing Books: Top 10
The best marketing books are designed primarily to help bring your product to the market. “Bridging the abyss” is no exception. It will be interesting for both beginners and experienced marketers. ... Authors of books on similar topics spend a lot of time to create a quality product. Written by Jack Trout and Al Rice, "Marketing Wars" will ...
28 Marketing Books to Read This Year (2022)
3. Buyology. If you’ve ever wondered how customers make buying decisions, Martin Lindstrom’s book Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy will help.. Lindstrom performed a three-year neuro-marketing study of 2,000 volunteers as they encountered ads, logos, commercials, brands, and products.
The 44 Most Highly-Rated Sales Books of All Time
Best Sales Books. 1. "Inbound Selling". 2. "New Sales. Simplified." 3. "The Sales Acceleration Formula". 4. "To Sell Is Human". 5. "Secrets of Closing the Sale".
25 Marketing Books You Should Be Reading
Digital Marketing Strategy: An Integrated Approach to Online Marketing In the newest edition of this must-read book , international bestseller and marketer extraordinaire Simon Kingsworth dives even deeper into the intricacies of marketing automation.
The Marketing Gurus: Lessons from the Best Marketing Books of All Time ...
The Marketing Gurus: Lessons from the Best Marketing Books of All Time Paperback – February 26, 2013 by Chris Murray (Author), Soundview Executive Book Summaries Eds. (Author) 4.1 out of 5 stars 29 ratings
The 10 Best Marketing Books of All Time (Plus one new one)
Here is the list of best marketing books of all time: #1. Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap . . . ... This new title draws on the lessons learned from the list of top marketing books ...
CEO Books
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35 Best Sales Books (of All Time) to Read & Grow in 2022
Best-Selling Sales Books on Management Knowledge is your best friend, whether you're a VP of Sales, managing a sales team, or a founder running point on sales. These books cover the nitty-gritty of managing a sales team as well as the psychology of management in business. 10.
Matt Morris on Instagram: "Why Only 3% Succeed Thinking of all …
2,571 likes, 34 comments - Matt Morris (@mattmorrisadventure) on Instagram: "Why Only 3% Succeed Thinking of all the amazing places around the world I’ve traveled, (over 8..." Matt Morris on Instagram: "Why Only 3% Succeed Thinking of all the amazing places around the world I’ve traveled, (over 80 countries in total) I’m overwhelmed with ...