5 Must-Read Books If You Want to Do Better Marketing

If there’s one thing I’ve learned spending over 10 years in marketing, it’s this:

You don’t become a great marketer by consuming more. You become a great marketer by doing and changing your thinking.

Thanks to the nature of short content on social media, marketers have become addicted to learning. We think we need the newest frameworks, the latest AI tools, or the hottest new tactic. True, but the more I do this work, the more I realize the opposite is true.

What you really need are books that change the way you see. Books that sharpen your thinking so every marketing campaign becomes clearer.

So here are 5 books that have shaped the way I think about marketing. These are books you return to again and again.

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1. Ogilvy on Advertising, David Ogilvy

Ogilvy on Advertising – Amazon

David Ogilvy doesn’t teach you how to write ads. He teaches you how to think.

His famous Rolls-Royce ad: “At 60 miles an hour, the loudest noise in this new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock” is a lesson in visual writing. It shows you that great advertising is not about tricks or templates. It’s about observing people closely and describing what already makes a product remarkable.

Ogilvy’s biggest lesson? Most of marketing is psychology. Pay attention to people, and you’ll create work that resonates.

Also, don't trust market research too much.

2. Alchemy, Rory Sutherland

Alchemy – Amazon

If Ogilvy is about logic, Rory Sutherland is about understanding the beautiful, irrational truth of human nature and how to respond to it.

We like to pretend we make decisions based on logic. We don’t. We buy emotionally and justify with logic afterward.

This book is filled with practical case studies and stories, like Red Bull’s “medicinal” taste to the idea that fast Wi-Fi makes a train feel faster. Sutherland shows us that the biggest breakthroughs come from illogical insights that traditional marketers ignore. And you don't have to throw money at a problem to solve it.

This book teaches you to ask questions like:

• What’s the irrational reason people buy?
• What invisible psychological value does this product offer?
• What if we do the opposite of a logical solution?

Alchemy is an eye-opening read for marketers. And will truly change how you think.

3. You Can Negotiate Anything, Herb Cohen

You Can Negotiate Anything – Amazon

This book is so good that I bought a few copies (from Books n Bobs) and gave them away to friends.

While this isn’t a marketing book, it made me a better marketer.

Because at the heart of it, marketing involves negotiation. You negotiate for attention, trust, and action.

Cohen breaks negotiation into three variables:

• Power: You have more power than you think.
• Time: You lose negotiation power when you lack time.
• Information: The more information you have, the easier persuasion becomes.

The negotiation lessons from the book can be translated into marketing campaigns. For example, the more information you have about your prospects' pain, fear, dreams, and hopes, the more effective your marketing message will be.

4. The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, Al Ries & Jack Trout

The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing – Amazon

I wish someone had told me to read this book much earlier in my career. The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing is a book anyone interested in marketing should read.

Marketing isn't a battle of products. It's a battle of perception.

The first two laws in the book resonated best with me:

i. The Law of Leadership. It's better to be first in the mind than first in the market. For example, McDonald's does not make the best burgers, but they dominate the market because you see them everywhere – billboards, ads, TV, locations.

ii. The Law of Category. If you can’t be first in a category… create a new category and be first in it. Red Bull didn’t try to be a better soft drink, going up against Coca-Cola. It invented the energy drink category and became the first energy drink.

Reading the book reminds me to work on positioning first, before launching a marketing campaign.

5. The Ultimate Sales Machine, Chet Holmes

The Ultimate Sales Machine - Amazon

It's crazy to think that the "modern marketing" we do today with funnels, upsells, value ladders, etc., is something that has been around for a long time. The principles are the same, only the tools have evolved.

Before “funnels” became a buzzword, Chet Holmes had already mapped out the entire marketing system.

His core principle is something we're familiar with: Educate your market. Don’t chase them.

You'll learn about things like the buyer's pyramid and the "Stadium Pitch", showing that people don’t raise their hands to buy, but they will raise their hands to learn. (Today, we call that a lead magnet)

The book breaks down the timeless art of marketing and building a marketing system.

Of course, many other books belong on the list. You can share your book recommendations by dropping a comment on the site.

Happy reading during the upcoming holidays!