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Please Recommend Good Textbooks
Posted By: gisella on 10/22/2006 12:42 PM (CST) 50 Points
I've been working various marketing/sales/communications jobs for a few years now without ever having taken any business courses in school. Experience has been a good teacher but I'd still like to "homeschool" myself by reading up.

This week I'm going to go out and invest in actual textbooks used in college/B-school marketing classes... could you please recommend some? Maybe a must-read classic and a new release that includes e-marketing and emerging trends?

Thanks!

Posted by: WHA* Accepted Answer
10/22/2006 1:23 PM (CST)
Hi-
These aren't textbooks but I think they're excellent books in general:

Married to the Brand, by William J. McEwen
Good to Great, by Jim Collins
Built to Last, by Jim Collins

Entrepeneur Magazine puts out a bunch of books that are built around "...Made Easy". They have "Marketing Made Easy," "Strategic Planning Made Easy," etc.

Think and Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill (a classic)

Of course, the "...for dummies" series is great...whatever topic you want. The "...for complete idiots" is also good.

I recommend investigating some books that talk about psychology of sales or marketing too.

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie is a classic for a reason and worth checking out.

Another great one is The One Thing You Need to Know by Marcus Buckingham.

These are marketing , sales, leadership related. It really depends on what you want to learn. Textbooks can be pretty broad and maybe that's why you're looking for them. They can be hard to locate outside of a college bookstore.

If you know any college professors or know anyone who knows any, they're a great source for free textbooks because they're always getting samples. I had a professor who would gladly give them to anyone who asked because he had so many. Find a professor (or two or three) through your network and see if you can get some from them.

Good luck!
Winnie (harringtoncnsltg)
 
Posted by: mgoodman Accepted Answer
10/22/2006 7:39 PM (CST)
My candidate would be "Kotler on Marketing" by Dr. Philip Kotler. Everyone who is serious about marketing should have read that at least once.

Newer books might include Malcolm Gladwell's "The Tipping Point" and "Blink!"; and Seth Godin's "Permission Marketing." These are technically not textbooks, but many b-schools require them. Seth Godin's other books are interesting and may be useful, but they are not as meaty as "Permission Marketing."

Also, if you haven't read Theodor Levitt's "Marketing Myopia," you should be sure to read that. It's more of an article than a book, and it's still required reading at all the major business schools (e.g., Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Wharton, Krannert, Duke, Dartmouth, etc., etc.) -- after 40 years!

Hope this helps.
 
Posted by: DeBrady Accepted Answer
10/22/2006 10:30 PM (CST)
Anything by Seth Godin would be good. I also enjoyed both The Tipping Point and Blink..but these are more about understanding human behavior, not specifically marketing. Honestly, you can request a book list from any university program you're interested in attending...or just following their example!

Good Luck,
Debi Brady
Writing & Marketing Consultant
 
Posted by: Frank Hurtte Accepted Answer
10/23/2006 12:18 AM (CST)
Guerilla Marketing woull be my vote...

I too like Blink and the tipping point, but they are more like fun reads you should read after your studies....

Anything by Daniel Pink gets a vote too...
 
Posted by: KathySmithFilms* Accepted Answer
10/23/2006 3:06 AM (CST)
Hi gisella,
I would get all of the above to go with your new bookcase!!! :-) and
The Encarta Dictionary,
The 11 Immutable Laws of Internet Branding
by Al Ries, Laura Ries,

& Jack Trout on Strategy.

Books from this site's recent recommendations
http://www.marketingprofs.com/ea/qst_question.asp?qstID=14885
and their very own http://www.marketingchamps.com/
Kathy
 
Posted by: Harry Hallman Accepted Answer
10/23/2006 6:33 AM (CST)
Most of the authors mentioned have web sites with blogs. I would start reading those blogs. Here are two a few additional blogs you might want to read.

http://sellingtobigcompanies.blogs.com/selling/atom.xml
http://blog.startwithalead.com/weblog/atom.xml
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/atom.xml
http://feeds.feedburner.com/ChiefMarketerNews

You can just place these links in your RSS reader.

These tend to be very current while some "text" books may not reflect the current marketing and sales situation.

Hope this helps.
 
Posted by: elambert Accepted Answer
10/23/2006 10:31 PM (CST)
Hi,

Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

For high-tech marketing, any book by the Geoffrey Moore:
- Crossing the Chasm
- Inside the Tornado
- Living on the Fault Line

The Profit Zone by Adrian J. Slywotzky

Solution Selling by Michael T. Bosworth

Ernie
 
Posted by: jpoyer Accepted Answer
10/24/2006 8:56 AM (CST)
I'm actually not sure where this fits in as far as text books go, but MProfs member cread recommended to me "The E-myth Revisited" by Michael Gerber. He said you can pick it up on Amazon used for less than $10.00. I am actually waiting for my copy to come in the mail; the reviews for this book are excellent.

Best Regards,

Jennifer
XPRT Creative
 
Posted by: Stephen Denny Accepted Answer
10/24/2006 2:20 PM (CST)
Great question, so here's the answer from my Wharton days. These are text books meant to be reference materials, not currently over-hyped business press books:

PHILIP KOTLER ON MARKETING MANAGEMENT.

This is the one book you want to read if you have time to read one book. There are plenty of others to choose from, but start here. Second book:

MICHAEL PORTER ON COMPETITIVE STRATEGY

Another essential text book on strategy.

Again, these are text books that will give you your 'home schooling' -- I'd really discourage most of the popular press (I like Seth Godin's stuff, but it's more insights than bedrock, and the Trout/Gladwell/etc stuff are fun reads quickly forgotten in my opinion. They're entertaining, of course, but I don't think this is your question).

Others that I'd recommend that aren't textbooks but give you extraordinary insight into consumer behavior include How Customers Think (Jerry Zaltman) and Why We Buy (Paco Underhill); and if you have anything to do with creating copy, structuring outbound marketing, developing sales strategy, or influencing anyone, this is a must-read:

ROBERT CIALDINI, INFLUENCE.

Good luck!

Good luck!
 
Posted by: gisella Author Response
10/26/2006 12:33 PM (CST)
Thanks for all your help!

I wish I had the time and money for all of them. Hopefully, I have a long marketing career ahead of me anyways so I can get to each of them eventually.

Best,
Gisella
 


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