Five New Books Deliver Key Marketing Insights

New Books Add Value to Today’s Marketing Discussions

Here’s a list of five interesting new books that have crossed my desk recently and some short tidbits from them:

1. “Real-Time Marketing & PR: How to Instantly Engage Your Market, Connect With Customers, and Create Products That Grow Your Business Now” by David Meerman Scott.
The featured SIPF Awards Luncheon speaker at SIPA 2011 this June has responded to our new “real-time” world with this lively read. In this excerpt, you can see why we are all looking forward to his talk:
“The conference as we used to know it was stiff, structured and didactic. It’s been the same since Cicero—the speaker spoke and audience listened…But then something interesting happened. The ploddingly slow physical-event business picked up some real-time speed.
“Now at conferences all over the world, audience members connect with one another in real time while speakers are up at the podium. This ‘back-channel’ is truly revolutionary because it allows listeners to discuss content as it is being delivered. What’s more, it brings a new virtual audience into the room—sometimes from the opposite end of the Earth.”

2. “How to Write & Sell Simple Information for Fun and Profit” by SIPA member Robert W. Bly.
Here are 10 topics that Bly—who will be co-leading a session at SIPA 2011 called The Holy Grail of Online Conversion Strategies: The Landing Page – Best Practices for Creating Awesome Landing Pages—writes “are more in demand and easier to sell than others”:
1. Saving or making money; 2. Saving time; 3. Sex and relationships; 4. Investing and trading; 5. Collecting; 6. Hobbies; 7. Marketing; 8. Small business advice; 9. Self-help; 10. Pets

3. “Run Like a Girl: How Strong Women Make Happy Lives” by Mina Samuels.
On a day following the death of one of the greatest women runners of all-time, Grete Waitz, we salute Samuels’ new book and the wonderful stories she tells of the confidence women are getting from participating in sports. Bly could have included sports as number 11 because it has become big business now, and women as an audience for sports product marketing and newsletters is growing each day. (Check out the new ESPNW.)
“Companies have started to wake up to the women’s movement in running and in sports in general,” Samuels told me. “We were not included in marketing for athletics for a long time.” But now she sees messages from companies that say, “Hey, wear cute clothes and join a group of women.”
“It’s extra appeal, to come out for a run,” Samuels says. “Is it shallow? Why? If it gets a person to come out and run, why not use the carrot instead of the stick which is exercise, eating well, being fit, etc.”
For those in the New York City area, Samuels will be speaking on a panel this Saturday, April 23, at 11:30 a.m. at the JackRabbit NYC Running Show on 18th St. between 6th and 7th Ave. Also check out her book blog.

4. “Internet Marketing: An Hour a Day” by SIPA member Matt Bailey.
When asked what book to recommend in his upcoming member profile, Bailey responded, “Well, I haven’t read anything in over a year, mainly because I was writing a book…which took about 14 months to produce! I can recommend that!”
Here’s an excerpt:
“Building a successful business online is more than chasing the latest social-media site, more than a number-one ranking in Google, and more than a fancy new website.
“Building a successful website is about strategic planning, understanding your market, and concentrating on a specific message. When you know your message, how you spread it will be easy.
“This book is intended as a guide for marketing managers who are struggling to ‘do it all’ and keep on top of the latest information. As such, this is also intended for small-business owners who are expected to figure out how to run a website rather than run their business. I hope that it answers questions that you didn’t know to ask.”

5. “Empowered: Unleash Your Employees, Energize Your Customers, Transform Your Business” by Josh Bernoff
Employees need to understand the company strategy, says Bernoff—another much-anticipated SIPA 2011 keynote speaker—and that involves putting a process in place that enables their innovations to be recognized and supports them. “So, empowering your employees doesn’t work unless you have actually designed a management framework that enables them to work together and go from, I have a great idea, to, I am actually doing something that can help customers and it is in line with the company strategy.” As for the customers, Bernoff greatly respects their power to tell their friends and social connections about you, good or bad. Simply put, impressions people get from one another are far more believable than ones from a third party. “This is why you need to tap into what customers are saying,” Bernoff said. “Your budgets should be designed to recognize” that.

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Just 3 more weeks to register and get the early-bird price!
SIPA 2011: Cashing in on Content –
Models for a New Decade.
June 5-7, Capital Hilton, Washington, D.C.
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