6 must-read books on marketing your business

August 25, 2010 | Posted by Carolyn Pikoulas
Perhaps we should have recommended these books at the beginning of the summer, so you had some time reading them while you were sitting on the beach sipping margaritas. Nevertheless, we'd like to personally recommend these books for your reading pleasure. Each one is an easy read and will give you tons of insight and tips on how to market in today's world. If you're totally stuck on what to do next with marketing your business, do yourself a favor and pick up any one (or all) of the following:

1. Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable (Seth Godin)
   Purple Cow explains how the old mode of advertising is just not as effective as it once was because consumers have learned to tune out those messages. The author urges us to put a "Purple Cow" into everything we build, and everything we do, to create something truly noticeable.
   
   "Godin's style is punchy and irreverent, using short, sharp messages to drive his points home..." - Publishers Weekly
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2.  Six Pixels of Separation: Everyone Is Connected. Connect Your Business to Everyone. (Mitch Joel)
   How important is it for your business to be connected Online? Well, consider this: If Facebook were a country, it would have the sixth largest population in the world. The truth is, we no longer live in a world of six degrees of separation. This book argues that we're now down to only six "pixels" of separation, which changes everything we know about doing business.
   
   "A digital marketing maven who parlayed a podcast into a thriving career, Joel extends the notion of human interconnectedness by six degrees to the virtual world. With abundant Internet social networking sites and mobile texting, we are all intrinsically connected, he argues in this accessible primer to capitalizing on connections to increase brand awareness...More than a mere collection of inspirational case studies, the book offers practical advice, from choosing a catchy blog name to tips on Web presentation." - Publishers Weekly
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3. Hug Your Customers (Jack Mitchell)
   Jack Mitchell (whose father started the hugely successful store, Mitchells of Westport Mens & Womens Clothing) shares the secret of his success in this cheerful guide to keeping your customers happy.
   
   "Hugging your customers, he says, has nothing to do with being touchy-feely around them and everything to do with offering them over-the-top service. For Mitchell, that means literally offering a customer the coat off your back, if that's the only one left in the store in the customer's size and preferred style and color. It means going to customers' homes to tie their bow ties for big events. It means serving coffee and bagels in the store and giving away hot dogs in the parking lot on summer Saturdays. Some might view this as fawning, but for Mitchell, it's the best way to keep customers coming back. His advice - know your customer, think outside the box, have a 'no problem' attitude - is hardly groundbreaking. But those who work with customers daily have much to gain from this chipper, inspiring handbook." - Publishers Weekly
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4. Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion (Gary Vaynerchuk)
   If you truly enjoy working in your industry and would like to refuel that passion, this is the book for you! After taking over his father's local liquor store, Gary Vaynerchuk created the wine-tasting blog, Wine Library TV, and discovered the power of the Internet for driving sales, building it from a $4 million business to a $50 million one.
   
   "This book shares his experience and step-by-step advice for using Twitter, Facebook, etc., and suggestions for monetizing an online persona, reiterating that the Internet makes it possible for anyone to make serious cash by turning what they love most into their personal brand." - Publishers Weekly
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5. The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing and Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly (David Meerman Scott)
   This book shows you how to leverage the potential that Web-based communication offers your business, so you're able to speak directly to customers and buyers and reach them on a more  personal level.
   
   "Already apparent in newspapers and magazines (with sharp downturns in circulation and ads), radio (on the losing end of the iPod revolution) and direct mail (digitally replaced by spam), the imminent fall of traditional mass media marketing means new opportunities for legions of smaller companies and independent professionals who need to reach niche markets cheaply and effectively. The way Scott sees it, this is also good news for consumers: the online culture of integrity and information tends to produce quality content for less, as opposed to the vapid, one-sided and pricey advertising of print media and television...Besides emphasizing fundamentals like defining one's audience, Scott also drills home the ethos and etiquette of the web, encouraging content that's both useful and unobtrusive." - Publishers Weekly
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6. Rework (Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson)
   "This book will make you uncomfortable. Depending on what you do all day, it might make you extremely uncomfortable. That's a very good thing, because you deserve it. We all do.
   
   "Jason and David have broken all the rules and won. Again and again they've demonstrated that the regular way isn't necessarily the right way. They just don't say it, they do it. And they do it better than just about anyone has any right to expect.
   
   "This book is short, fast, sharp and ready to make a difference. It takes no prisoners, spares no quarter, and gives you no place to hide, all at the same time." - Seth Godin
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