Read, Digest, Implement!
At the Butter Group, we're big readers. This lens is dedicated to sharing the books from our library that we have found helpful in making us better marketers, better business people, and better consultants. Read on and you'll find business books that will change your perspective and help you achieve better results in the business world. And please rate this lens and bookmark it at de.lici.ous (details at the bottom of the page) to help get the word out about these great books!
Indispensible
The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More
Crucial reading for anyone interested in how consumer markets are evolving in the embrace of the rapidly maturing internet and 21st Century distribution channels. Not only is the information fascinating, Chris Anderson (the editor of Wired magazine) is an engaging writer, which is more than can be said for a lot of - heck, most of - the business books out there. Get it. You won't regret it.
Amazon Price: $16.47 (as of 10/07/2008)
List Price: $24.95
All Marketers Are Liars: The Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-Trust World
Seth Godin is the King! The king of what, you ask? (Well, the king of Squidoo, for one thing!) The king of... "Marketing 2.0." Part anecdotes, part strategy, part encomium for those who've done it well, All Marketers are Liars is a book that will make you reconsider much of what you've taken for granted if you've been working in marketing for a long time. Now the only hurdle is getting your clients to think the same way!
Amazon Price: $16.29 (as of 10/07/2008)
List Price: $23.95
Permission Marketing : Turning Strangers Into Friends And Friends Into Customers
In this little gem of a book, Seth Godin lays out his thesis - really the thesis of all his writing, both on his blog and in his numerous books (all of which are worth reading, by the way) - that we have entered a new age of marketing. In this new age, "interruption marketing" - TV commercials, junk mail, billboards, anonymous email blasts, you know, all the stuff you hate - is quickly becoming obsolete. Not only have TiVo and podcasts and Netflix practically eliminated (for some of us, anyway) our exposure to major sources of advertising, a lot of us just tune out anything we're not interested in anyway. But what about what we ARE interested in? Well... therein lies the rub. How and why and when and where people give their PERMISISON to be marketed to, and how amazingly cool that can be for intelligent marketers, is what this book is all about.
Amazon Price: $16.50 (as of 10/07/2008)
List Price: $25.00
Perfect Pitch: The Art of Selling Ideas and Winning New Business (Adweek Books)
John Steele is a 20-year veteran of the advertising industry who has apparently won "90% of the new business he has pitched." Damn! If we could all hit those kind of numbers, we'd probably achieve world peace. And, by the way, we're not talking about any old clients, either. Nike, Pepsi, Sony, Porsche, and Hewlett-Packard - I think I've heard of those. Steele's thesis is that knowing the ins and outs of the pitching process (and this isn't just when you sit down face-to-face with a prospective client - that's only a small part of it) and following the right steps will get you more clients than you can imagine. The book is well-written, engaging, and acutally quite remarkable: in a stroke of genius, Steele examines non-business events, like the OJ trial, Bill Clinton's presidential debates, and Winston Churchill's speeches as instructive examples of pitches that did (or infamously did not) work.
Amazon Price: $19.77 (as of 10/07/2008)
List Price: $29.95
ROI Marketing
Your Marketing Sucks.
The title says it all. A great introduction to the world of ROI marketing, and well-written to boot! We at The Butter Group employ these techniques in all of our work. Of course, snazzy marketing has its place too, but it's got to be built on a solid foundation that makes sense from a business perspective. And if you're working with small businesses that have limited marketing budgets, you'll agree that the ideas and techiniques in this book are worth their weight in gold. If you're a business owner yourself, you'll either scrap all your marketing and start over, or you'll come to the happy realization that you can do some incredibly effective marketing for a lot less money than you thought possible. The first step is admitting, however reluctantly, that (and this goes for all of us) "Your Marketing Sucks!"
Amazon Price: $11.20 (as of 10/07/2008)
List Price: $14.00
The White Paper Marketing Handbook
The Duke of ROI marketing and author of a score of books on various subjects related to this field, Robert Bly one of the most well-known and well-published exponents of using techniques like white papers (the main, if not only, subject of this book) to, as the subtitle makes clear, "Generate more leads and sales with White Papers, Special Reports, Booklets and CDs." The techinques described in this book have an auspicious heritage: they've all been used successfully by Bly (and others of his ilk) for decades with great success. Can't argue with that!
Amazon Price: $26.37 (as of 10/07/2008)
List Price: $39.95
Ultimate Guide to Google AdWords (Ultimate Guide to Google Adwords)
If you're not familiar with Perry Marshall, he's one of the main players in the internet/ROI marketing revolution that's happening right now. He's kind of a legend, although this is the first book he's published. Which isn't to say the first THING he's published. He's actually a prolific and super-talented author and business coach, and the world's leading (or at least most visible) expert on the arcane and fascinating (and highly profitable) world of Google Ads. This book is actually a revised and highly refined version of Marshall's e-book, which has been out and about in the ether for a few years now (and believe it or not, the print version is cheaper). If you're new to Adwords, the book will take you step-by-step through setting up an account and getting started. If you've already been doing the Adwords shuffle for a while, you'll get proven techniques for how to bid intelligently, how to write effective ads, and best of all - how to make the most of those click-throughs!
Amazon Price: $16.47 (as of 10/07/2008)
List Price: $24.95
Productivity Hacks (er, Books)
Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
Speaking of Getting Things Done... Productivity guru David Allen's legendary book offers real solutions to the problems of an over-booked culture, and has spawned an entire subculture of workaholics - see 43folders.com for proof. The big difference between GTD'ers and your daddy's workaholic is stress - or rather, lack thereof. Allen's system, if you actually implement it, will result in a zen mind, empty of distraction. This is much more than a system for organzing your work - it is a simple, yet radical approach to living that will change how you feel about... well, everything.
Amazon Price: $10.20 (as of 10/07/2008)
List Price: $15.00
Mac OS X Tiger Killer Tips
Running a Mac with Tiger? You need this book. Not a Mac person? Well, what can we say? Our condolences. Not only is this book full of incredibly cool tricks that will have you ooh'ing and ahh'ing, and not only is Scott Kelby an excellent writer with a great sense of humor, yes, not only those things, which would already make this book worth having, but... you will learn stuff here that will save you tons of time and solve many of the mysteries of navigating around your computer. And BTW - if you're into saving time, go download Quicksilver - it's free, it's all Mac, and it's all Butter, baby.
Amazon Price: $21.89 (as of 10/07/2008)
List Price: $29.99
Inspiration
The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles
This little book is, as the plug from Esquire quoted on the cover puts it, "A vital gem... a kick in the ass." Indeed. Steven Pressfield is an accomplished novelist whose most famous book (thanks to the movie) is The Legend of Bagger Vance. So this book has a lot about "invoking the muse" and other things that may seem alien or unimportant to the business person. But as he notes, the same rules apply to those of us in the business world as do for artists. That is, we all fall pray to Resistance, capital R, the overcoming of which is the goal of the book. If you struggle with procrastination, or if you're getting sick of staring at that blank page or canvas, or if you're feeling overwhelmed by the tasks it will take to get your business off the ground... look no further! This book will give you inspiration and tools that really work to get you going. And once you're going, jump into Getting Things Done (above) to make it all flow...
Amazon Price: $10.36 (as of 10/07/2008)
List Price: $12.95
Awaken the Giant Within : How to Take Immediate Control of Your Mental, Emotional, Physical and Financial Destiny!
A classic that probably doesn't need much of an introduction. Suffice to say that there's a reason Anthony Robbins's book has sold like, 8 zillion copies. The key thing in this book is a word, and the word is: "decision."
Amazon Price: $10.88 (as of 10/07/2008)
List Price: $16.00
On Blogging
Blogwild!: A Guide for Small Business Blogging
A great little how-to guide for first-time bloggers. Very easy to read, very clear, and surprisingly complete. The only potential drawback here is that Wibbels's excellent tutorial is for setting up a blog on Typepad. Typepad is great - heck, Seth Godin uses it, so it's gotta be alright - but it's only one of the many possibilities out there for hosting a blog. But Wibbels makes a pretty convincing case for using their service, and we at The Butter Group have to agree. If you want to get into more advanced design, you might ultimately find Typepad limiting, but for getting out of the gate with your sanity intact, it's a solid choice.
Amazon Price: (as of 10/07/2008)
Blog Schmog: The Truth About What Blogs Can (and Can't) Do for Your Business
Amazon Price: $15.99 (as of 10/07/2008)
Naked Conversations: How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers
Certainly the most widely read book on the phenomenon of blogging. Not a how-to book; more of a what-is book. It does describe in very good detail what the unique features of blogging are (and by extension, other salient features of the Web 2.0 landscape) and why it matters so much. A great overview from two industry insiders who really know what they're talking about.
Amazon Price: $16.47 (as of 10/07/2008)
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