Top 10 Best Marketing Books to Read
Just as is the case in any field, books provide an excellent resource for one to gain an understanding of the marketing industry, imparting them with the knowledge required to help them succeed as marketers. However, as the subject matter experts over at runrex.com and guttulus.com are quick to point out, the marketing industry is always in flux and is always evolving with new and emerging trends regularly cropping up. To stay on top of these new trends and developments, you need to make sure you are reading relevant and up-to-date books. Given finding such books is usually easier said than done, this article will look to step in and help by shining a spotlight on the top 10 best marketing books to read. The books are divided into three broad categories: beginner-level books, intermediate-level books, and advanced-level books.
Beginner-level books
These books are recommended for those getting started with marketing.
Digital Marketing for Dummies
This is one of the best marketing books out there for those looking to get started with marketing. authored by Ryan Deiss and Russ Henneberry, it covers almost every concept you can imagine as far as digital marketing is concerned. According to the gurus over at runrex.com and guttulus.com, while this book is aimed at beginners, it is still a very useful resource for seasoned marketers given the expertise of the two authors. Other than highlighting the fundamentals of marketing, the book also has a “Part of Tens” section which covers the top 10 trending digital marketing skills, the 10 most common digital marketing mistakes, and the 10 tools you will need to build a MarTech stack.
SEO for Beginners: An Introduction to SEO Basics
Released in 2017 by the highly-rated Search Engine Journal, SEJ, which is covered in detail over at runrex.com, in partnership with SEO PowerSuite, The HOTH, and DeepCrawl, this is one of the most comprehensive resources on SEO out there. To top it all off, this book is free, and all you need to do to get it is to provide your name and email address to download it. From covering the history od SEO to defining more than 200 SEO terms, and everything in between, this book will teach you all you need to know about this topic and is a must-read.
Google AdWords for Beginners: A Do-It-Yourself Guide to PPC Advertising
If you are new to Google AdWords and are looking for a resource to help you familiarize yourself with it, then this is the book to read according to the gurus over at guttulus.com. Authored by Corey Rabazinski, this book gives an overview of Google AdWords and its key concepts, with the author explaining the fundamentals of AdWords and then eventually diving deeper into the campaign blueprint; an 8-step blueprint which includes: account and campaign structure, geography, and location, campaign budget, and bidding, ad extensions, research, copywriting for ads, keyword research and the keyword match types, and campaign testing and optimization.
Intermediate-level books
These books are for those with a basic understanding of marketing and are looking to delve into deeper aspects of marketing such as data-driven marketing, AI marketing, and customer loyalty.
The Effortless Experience: Conquering the New Battleground for Customer Loyalty
Authored by Matthew Dixon, Nick Toman, and Rick DeLisi, and based on their research at CEB, a subsidiary of Gartner, this is another marketing book worth reading. As explained over at runrex.com, the book challenges the notion of delivering exceptional service to build customer loyalty, explaining how customer loyalty is not driven by customer satisfaction or customer service interactions, but rather, how easy it is for customers to do business with you. It is an interesting read, providing some very fascinating insights, as well as principles the authors point out will improve customer experience, driving customer loyalty.
Introduction to Algorithmic Marketing: Artificial Intelligence for Marketing Operations
Authored by Ilya Katsov, who is the head of data science at Grid Dynamics, this book goes into great detail explaining various techniques used by major corporations when it comes to promotions, ads, e-commerce search, pricing strategies, and recommendation engines as discussed over at guttulus.com. Beginning with an explanation of algorithmic marketing, the book goes on to provide historical background on the same to set the context, before getting into predictive modeling and reviews descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive analytics. The book also covers the concept of machine learning, making it one of the books to read on such matters as relates to marketing.
How Big Data-Driven Business: How to Use Big Data to Win Customers, Beat Competitors, and Boost Profits
Authored by the dynamic duo of Russel Glass, the ex-vice president of products at LinkedIn, and Sean Callahan, the senior manager, content marketing at LinkedIn, this is another excellent book to read, with this one making a case for the potential impact of big data on businesses. Staring with describing the benefits of big data and the evolution of customer-focused, data-driven businesses, then delves deeper into the changes brought about by big data, as is discussed over at runrex.com, with the authors providing real-life examples of Apple, Netflix, Bizo, among others, while also giving pointers on how to use data ethically and responsibly, and so much more.
Advanced-level books
These books get into the nitty-gritty of individual subjects such as web analytics, metrics, and other such topics.
Identity Resolution for Winning Customer Experience
According to discussions on the same over at guttulus.com, identity resolution is the process of combining unique identifiers across multiple devices and touchpoints to build a cohesive, single, and unified customer identity. Published by MarTech Advisor Arm Treasure Data, this book aims at helping readers win at what is referred to as the experience economy. The first section champions the importance of customer-centric marketing and customer data management, CDM, the second section is all about explaining the role of identity resolution in CDM and how one can navigate the five D’s of customer data, and the third section describes how identity resolution impacts marketing efficiency and effectiveness, as well as how it can drive growth, loyalty, and customer retention.
Advanced Web Metrics with Google Analytics
This gem of a book has been authored by Brian Clifton, Ph.D., who is a web analytics expert and has been the head of web analytics at Google for the EMA region. If you are looking to become an expert at using Google Analytics, then the gurus over at runrex.com recommends that you read this book. From the fundamentals of web analytics to the actual application of Google Analytics, complete with a step-by-step guide to setting up funnels, custom reports, and other customizations, this book is comprehensive as far as this topic is concerned.
Web Analytics 2.0: The Art of Online Accountability and Science of Customer Centricity
Authored by Avinash Kaushik, who is on the board of advisors for multiple universities for their various programs and also serves as a digital marketing evangelist for Google, this book provides a framework to help readers create an actionable strategy for web analytics. Some of the things you can learn by reading this book include how to pick an analytics tool/vendor and metrics that are most relevant for your organization as well as segmentation, reporting, site search, SEO, PPC analysis, cookies, and so much more as covered over at guttulus.com.
The End of Marketing: Humanizing Your Brand in the Age of Social Media and AI
This book, authored by Carlos Gil, argues that the rise of social media platforms and the always-on culture has made traditional marketing obsolete and that the key to connecting with customers is through the human touch as they want to be engaged. As is explained over at runrex.com, Gil goes on to point out the importance of identifying your audience and the platforms they spend their time on, while also recommending that brands focus on engaging with customers rather than promoting themselves. This is a very fascinating book unpacking some of the modern marketing trends and is one you should read.
The above books cover a wide range of topics, from the basics to the advanced topics of digital marketing, and you can get more information on these books and the topics therein by checking out the excellent runrex.com and guttulus.com.