100 Books Like All Marketers Are Liars

This is the most informative look at behavioral economics that also made me laugh out loud—often embarrassing myself on airplanes because I was reading a non-fiction book that made me actually snort with laughter.

Ariely is a profoundly accomplished researcher himself, and he’s interested in all the quirks of humanity—not to explain them away or make us look more rational than we are—but to really expose us to ourselves. I saw myself more clearly and also with more compassion by the time I finished this book and I loved my fellow humans more.

The Hidden Power of Advertising opened my eyes to a whole new way of understanding brands and marketing. He makes a compelling case for how advertising works at an unconscious level, and how marketers mostly ignore this powerful and hidden side of brands. He shares powerful, eye-opening studies done directly on advertising campaigns, and uses real-world examples to give practical advice that’s far from the usual marketing advice. 

This book goes even deeper into the neuroscience of brands, and how consumers make their decisions using mental models. This is a bit more academic, but can give a deeper and richer understanding of the processes at play in the unconscious mind when it comes to consumer decision making. 

I love good research, especially when it’s related through interesting stories. Damasio delivers big insights about how we think and make decisions through a fascinating collection of research findings and stories. He explains the foundations of emotional intelligence and challenges the consistent application of logic! 

It’s a dense read and I hung in there to the end. It rewards with the insight that we remember things by attaching an emotion to information. Meaning that if we don’t have an emotional response to something, we don’t remember it. Schools give tests because fear of a low grade resulting in a dim future makes us remember. We also remember things by attaching love-based emotions. Imagine going to a school dedicated to supporting us in following our curiosity wherever it took us.

Most online teachers I’ve worked with detest the idea of marketing, and yet this is something we cannot avoid especially when running our own business. Bernadette Jiwa defines marketing as a story you tell that has the capacity to change the world. In the book she shares multiple purposeful stories of people who shared their message in the most authentic way and how their courage moved others to action and brought about change. This is a guide into marketing that will make you excited about the change you seek to make and how your small online teaching business can transform the world. 

I love this book because it is so accessible and real. It is a substantial book that is more like a good marketing course. I would say it is one of my best go-to reference books. There is so much money, time, and effort wasted on marketing that doesn’t work, and I am a big believer in putting the time and effort into creating the best strategic plan. This book has given me a resource to refer to, to check my knowledge. 

I love a marketing book that shows that the author understands the small business owner and this author does. I found the case studies brought the marketing methods and ideas alive for me. The way this book is written it feels like the author really cares about helping small business owners with their marketing. I love that. 

For writing online beyond your own website, I highly recommend this book. It presents both the big picture and the nitty-gritty of content marketing for small businesses.

What I like about this book is that the authors understand that as a small business, you can’t do everything and be everywhere. So, choose where you want to be and create content that captivates, educates, and inspires your audience.

I got to know Chris Malone when we both worked at Coca-Cola. I was impressed by his work and so was excited to read his and Fiske's book after it was published. What I like most is that Malone explores how we form personal relationships with brands, mirroring our own interactions with people. This concept echoes my personal beliefs, which was exciting to see.

I really connected with the way Malone and Fiske approached how warmth and competence play a big role in brand relationship building. And, if I pass it through the relationship lens, it makes sense why it would be foundational in building customer loyalty.

I highly recommend this book to people, especially brand stewards, who want to know why we fall in love with some brands and hate others. Malone and Fiske share pragmatic examples of how to apply their findings, which I have contemplated with my… show more.

I discovered marketing and was motivated by an amazing man called Theodore Levitt. I actually visited him at Harvard when he helped me with the Malibu launch in 1979. Levitt was an inspirational marketer, well ahead of his time.

This, his first book, was published in 1962. He rightly said in the book, “Every major industry was once a growth industry,” but as we know (and Levitt said it), there are some that are now riding a wave of growth enthusiasm very much in the shadow of decline.

You have to understand why things develop. The failure is usually at the top because the executives responsible for the company do not understand the changing environment or respond positively to it. For example, Hollywood barely escaped being totally ravished by television before the film companies went through drastic reorganisation but initially, they did not see television as a competitor. They did… show more.

I love this book because it made me really think about my own Purple Cow! I wondered what makes me remarkable and likely to stand out from the competition. Reading it, made me question whether I was getting that across in my marketing or not. I love Seth Godin’s writing style. I like his creativity and his point you are either remarkable or invisible. 

After reading this book, I began questioning myself and my clients more, and I started noticing businesses that have a clear purple cow. Putting a Purple Cow into everything you do is something that I found easy to remember. I love the simple genius of this message.