Two Books All Marketing People Need to Read

Here are two books that I think every marketer should not only read but have on their desks as every day references.

The first is "Purple Cow" by Seth Godin.  

The premise of Seth's great little book is that in today's world, you're either remarkable or you're invisible.  It's not enough to take some product or service, slap some marketing lipstick on it and consider the job done.  Marketing people must be engaged deeply in the product, packaging and service development process to insure that something about the product, packaging or service is TRULY and REALLY remarkable.  If marketing is brought in after these things are already finalized, your product development process is broken and needs to be fixed. 

We all know that most new products fail.  The reason is not usually poor marketing.  The real reason is that the new product is simply not remarkable enough to make it.  How high is the new product bar at your company?  Are you shooting for "remarkable'?  Are your new products buzzworthy?  REALLY buzzworthy?  If not, you've got a real uphill battle on your hands to achieve new product success.  

Are you also developing remarkable marketing programs for these hopefully remarkable products and services?  Or are you doing the same old tired things and hoping for the best? Unless you have a track record of remarkable new products launched with remarkable marketing, you need to get way outside your usual comfort zone and challenge everyone involved to adopt "Purple Cow" thinking as an integral part of your product development and marketing process.  

The second book is "Jeffrey Gitomer's Sales Bible."

Marketing people work with sales people for their entire career.  In many companies, there's a friction between the two functions.  Typically, this is because the leaders of the functions aren't working well as teammates and, as a result, the people in each area don't fully understand the mutual dependency that exists.  Each group blames the other for any lack of success and each group thinks they are more important or superior to the other.

Jeffrey Gitomer's fun book is a must read for all marketing people.  You will come away from his book with not only a much deeper understanding and appreciation of the sales function but also a much improved understanding about how to improve your own personal selling skills.  You'll also learn a tremendous amount about what makes great sales people great.  You'll learn how to recognize the great ones that work with you and, hopefully, you'll also learn how to help the not-so-great ones get better.

Google Seth Godin and Jeffrey Gitomer.  Sign up for their newsletters.  Read their books.   You'll be delighted by the fresh insight each provides.   And...you'll become a better marketer in the process.