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Books From Effective Product Marketing Seminar
Suggested reading for product managers and marketers
| The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell Three things that can converge to bring about dramatic and perhaps unexpectedly fast changes in our society. These are the context, the idea, and the people involved. His point is that very small changes these factors can trigger a dramatic change in society. Marketers should explore this book to see how product ideas can become epidemic. |
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| FusionBranding: How To Forge Your Brand for the Future by Nick Wreden In his book FusionBranding, author Nick Wreden talks a new look at branding, noting that brands are built by organizations, not by marketing departments. Recent efforts at branding were largely wasted as they focused on advertising and not creating customer satisfaction and ultimate loyalty. In many companies, branding and positioning are used as "tricks" to fool the customer into thinking a vendor has something special. Wreden argues that excellence in operations and customer support are the keys to winning a long-term brand proposition. The old-style consumer goods positioning approach just doesn't work for technology products. If branding is your area of interest, FusionBranding offers an approach that makes sense for technology companies focused on the future. |
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| Information Rules A Strategic Guide to the Network Economy by Carl Shapiro, Hal R. Varian Shapiro and Varian go to great lengths to purge this book of the technobabble and forecasting of an electronic woo-woo land that's typical in books of this genre. Instead, with their feet on the ground, they consider how to market and distribute goods in the network economy, citing examples from industries as diverse as airlines, software, entertainment, and communications. The authors cover issues such as pricing, intellectual property, versioning, lock-in, compatibility, and standards. Clearly written and presented, Information Rules belongs on the bookshelf of anyone who has an interest in today's network economy. |
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| Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini Arguably the best book ever on what is increasingly becoming the science of persuasion. This is an essential book for understanding the psychological foundations of marketing. |
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| Permission Marketing: Turning Strangers Into Friends, and Friends into Customers by Seth Godin, Don Peppers Godin argues that businesses can no longer rely solely on traditional forms of "interruption advertising" in magazines, mailings, or radio and television commercials. He writes that today consumers are bombarded by marketing messages almost everywhere they go. If you want to grab someone's attention, you first need to get his or her permission with some kind of bait--a free sample, a big discount, a contest, an 800 number, or even just an opinion survey. Once a customer volunteers his or her time, you're on your way to establishing a long-term relationship and making a sale. "By talking only to volunteers, Permission Marketing guarantees that consumers pay more attention to the marketing message, " he writes. |
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| Value-Based Marketing by Peter Doyle Integrates marketing with shareholder value to develop an approach for generating marketing strategies that generate growth and shareholder value. Offers marketing MBA's and other professionals ways to evaluate strategies and stimulate more effective and relevant marketing within a company. Redefines marketing as a way to foster the overall growth of a company. |
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| Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain is the world's most widely used drawing-instruction guide. People from just about every walk of life--artists, students, corporate executives, architects, real estate agents, designers, engineers--have applied its revolutionary approach to problem solving. |
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| How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci: Seven Steps to Genius Every Day by Michael J. Gelb Gelb discusses seven critical principles for success in relation to what da Vinci accomplished, thereby giving this book a built-in history lesson. The illustrations from the master's work and time add a nice warmth to the work. As the president of NPR said after working with Gelb, this is a program recommended for "anyone who wants to experience a personal and professional Renaissance." |
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| High Tech Product Launch by Catherine Kitcho High Tech Product Launch is a great training guide for new product launch managers. The step-by-step layout of the launch process was extremely helpful in preparing me to launch new products successfully in a very dynamic environment. It also provides wonderful tips on organization and planning for marketing project managers. |
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