Branding and marketing are dynamic feats that require paying attention to several facets of the business image. Nowadays, the internet provides several platforms of unprecedented potentials for brand awareness. Interestingly, many of these online platforms offer free publicity, causing them to gain global popularity.
Before now, organizations would need to have a sure capital base before starting a branding or marketing campaign. However, present realities, birthed from the technological revolution, make effective branding and marketing possible for low-budget startups. Some businesses are barely striving to hold up in the rapidly evolving ecosystem of marketing. Hence, the following book list will guide your ride on the waves of technology to the cape of attractive sales and ROI.
Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen by Donald Miller
Donald Miller’s Building a StoryBrand is a strategic framework implementing practical marketing techniques. All lucrative ventures solve the prevalent problem of a specific niche of customers. So, Miller portrays customers as the lead character in this insightful guide. He then explains how businesses can make a captivating story out of their efforts to solve customers’ problems. Isn’t that innovative?
Miller further explains this pattern, saying:
“A CHARACTER who wants something encounters a PROBLEM before they can get it. At the peak of their despair, a GUIDE steps into their lives gives them a PLAN and CALLS THEM TO ACTION. That action helps them avoid FAILURE and ends in SUCCESS.”
He drives home his points by splitting the book into three parts:
Why most marketing is a money pit and a failure
Building your StoryBrand
Implementing StoryBrand BrandScript
Crushing It!: How Great Entrepreneurs Build Their Business and Influence—and How You Can, Too by Gary Vaynerchuk
“When it comes to professional opportunities, this is the best time to be alive in the history of humankind.”
In Crush It!, Gary explains that every social media platform has its method of marginal utilization. In his own words: “For every social media platform there is, there are tips and tricks for getting the most out of your platform.”
He makes a daring effort to equip entrepreneurs with the necessary tips for harnessing the potentials of popular social media sites. Building an influential brand and targeting a niche of consumers are a few of Gary’s online advertisement tips. Furthermore, Gary makes entrepreneurs understand that they are likely to face several risks in the process of getting a startup going.
This book is a compendium of insightful tips for budding entrepreneurs!
Marketing 4.0: Moving From Traditional to Digital by Philip Kotler, Hermawan Kartajaya, and Iwan Setiawan
Marketing 4.0 is a marketing guide that helps traditional brand experts adapt to new dynamics. Marketing 1.0 – 4.0 are a series of books that mirrors the evolution of marketing over the years. The focus book assesses marketing in three parts: Fundamental trends shaping marketing; New frameworks for marketing in the digital economy; and Tactical marketing applications in the digital economy.
Marketing 4.0 succinctly captures the paradigm shift of business marketing in recent years. Always bear in mind that any business that aims at success needs to pay attention and catch the moving train.
Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable by Seth Godin
“The essence of the Purple Cow — the reason it would shine among a crowd of perfectly competent, even undeniably excellent cows — is that it would be remarkable_.”_
Seth Godin
No business owner would want to experience low patronage, especially after creating a quality product or service. Old-baked marketers make a habit of searching through history books for tips. However, Seth thinks of using cues from old marketing strategies as: “trying to drive looking in the rearview mirror. Sure, those things worked. But do they help us predict what will work tomorrow?” So, Seth Godin sets forth a proven guide to help businesses stand out in the 21st Century.
After highlighting key steps to distinguish your business as a marketer, Purple Cow goes a little further. The book then highlights the steps needed to stand out among a pool of competitors actively.
Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World by Gary Vaynerchuk
“Today, getting people to hear your story on social media, and then acting on it, requires using a platform’s native language, paying attention to context, understanding the nuances and subtle differences that make each platform unique, and adapting your content to match.”
Gary Vaynerchuk
As a marketer or business owner looking to increase your customer base, Gary Vaynerchuk’s book makes a useful guide. Brand management or marketing experience is not necessary to make use of the insights in Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook. The book is outlined in a simple tone, with the boxing analogy making it super understandable.
Gary categorizes marketing contents as hooks and jabs. Hook content brings your business or brand to the awareness of the customer. Jabs content triggers the right impulse or emotion that makes the customer see the reason to buy your product or service. The online ecosystem is exploding exponentially, with several businesses putting up facades thereon. Hence, Gary uses practical examples to explain the dynamics of marketing in the present age.
Maybe your business has gone on a nose-dive, or your brand is no longer getting traction. The problem may be your branding and marketing strategies. Come out of your mold, and learn from the trends and patterns common to the business ecosystem’s outliers. Head over to the Headway library to read these books in full. If you’d rather read their summaries, those are available, too.
