Best Book List - My Top 14 Business Books

I could never be thought of as smart! I've just remembered I should have put my own book at # 1. Oooops!

Anyway, on with the shoe......

Word-of-Mouth is without doubt the most powerful and persuasive marketing tool available to any marketerer. What always surprises me is that very few businesspeople develop strategies specifically to generate positive word of mouth.

This authorative book shows you plenty of detailed examples on how to create an effective word of mouth campaign, along with ways to keep it going once it has started.

Word-of-Mouth marketing is too important in the marketing mix to ignore - this book gives you all the tools and understanding you'll ever need to succeed.

This book has taken some flak over time, but I see it as a very solid look at the effectiveness of PR. PR, done right, will do more for your business than advertising ever could. And at a fraction of the price.

Al & Laura take a provocative look at advertising and document it's shortcoming - shortcomings that PR doesn't have. Things like: cost, effectiveness and simplicity.

But far from being an anti-advertising book, "The Fall Of Advertising & The Rise Of PR" is a solid endorsement of PR as a sometimes brilliant strategy.

A fascinating insight into Amazon.com as seen through the eyes of an early employee. James Marcus takes you on a ride through the amazing adventure that was early Amazon.com - giving a bird's eye view of one of the web's giants.

Fascinating and impressive writing style really captures the heart of the reader (although there was about 20 pages in the middle where he bored me senseless by going off and talking about a writer he admired) as he examines the issues of art (writing) versus sales - and what happens when the 2 meet.

A hard-nosed look at marketing programs and if they really work. Mark's attitude is one of "Prove it to me that the marketing worked."

Filled with heaps of practical ideas and revolutionary concepts - I loved the 'Stop all marketing for a month and see what happens' idea - that help every businessperson get the most bang for their buck.

I always say marketing is simple stuff - some people just like to make it sound hard so they look smart! Not Mark. he tells it how it is and all marketers get the benefit.

By the looks of some of these books you'd think OI was anti-marketing. Not the case - just that these books take a very fresh and different approach to marketing and, as such, provide more information and benefit.

Sergio is the former Chief Marketing officer at Coca-Cola and he takes a very fresh look at advertising as we know it. He breaks all the rules and, whilst doing so, shows you the reader the sense behind his strategies.

Essential reading.

Brendon Sinclair