1. Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen by Donald Miller
“Seven proven elements of powerful stories that will dramatically improve the way you connect with your customers and drastically grow your business.
Donald Miller’s StoryBrand process offers a solution to the struggle business leaders face when talking about their businesses. This revolutionary method for connecting with customers provides listeners with the ultimate competitive advantage, revealing the secret for helping their customers understand the compelling benefits of using their products, ideas, or services. Building a StoryBrand does this by teaching listeners the seven universal story points all humans respond to, the real reason customers make purchases, how to simplify a brand message so people understand it, and how to create the most effective messaging for websites, brochures, and social media.
Whether you are the marketing director of a multibillion-dollar company, the owner of a small business, a politician running for office, or the lead singer of a rock band, Building a StoryBrand will forever transform the way you talk about who you are, what you do, and the unique value you bring to your customers.”
2. Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind by Al Ries
“The first book to deal with the problems of communicating to a skeptical, media-blitzed public, Positioning describes a revolutionary approach to creating a “position” in a prospective customer’s mind-one that reflects a company’s own strengths and weaknesses as well as those of its competitors. Writing in their trademark witty, fast-paced style, advertising gurus Ries and Trout provide many valuable case histories and penetrating analyses of some of the most phenomenal successes and failures in advertising history. “
3. Brands in Glass Houses: How to Embrace Transparency and Grow Your Business Through Content Marketing by Dechay Watts, Et al.
“From mom-and-pop shops to mega brands, from B2B to B2C, one common theme exists: consumers are leading the course of marketing. Today, successful companies do not talk “at” the customer; they talk “with” them, honestly and humanly. This expectation of honest communication and brand transparency has started a revolution. People are savvier and less apt to fall for a manufactured backstory – and they lose interest quickly in marketing jargon. For the first time in history, the truth sells. Brands in Glass Houses shines light on businesses that are revealing themselves authentically, not just as a marketing tactic, but also as a way of doing business. It shows you how to provide interesting content so that customers can connect with your brand on an emotional level, thus making them more eager to buy from you, talk about you, share their experiences with you, and ultimately, listen to what you have to say. Brands in Glass Houses takes you through the complete marketing lifecycle, from uncovering your brand story, to using content marketing services to give away knowledge and build trust, to being consistent through an editorial calendar.”
4. Do Good: Embracing Brand Citizenship To Fuel Both Purpose and Profit by Anne Bahr Thompson
“Good works are no longer optional for many businesses, success comes in unexpected ways. Toms grew into a $600 million company by giving away 35 million pair of shoes. Patagonia’s profits have climbed year after year even as it funnels heavy investments into sustainability. And it’s not just millennials rewarding companies with causes in every age group, people commit to brands that show good citizenship. From CVS’s destocking cigarettes to Chipotle’s ethical sourcing, people want to see fair employment practices, social responsibility, and charitable giving–and they quickly call out negligence. Based on extensive research with thousands of consumers, Do Good documents this sea change and explains how to embed social consciousness into a company’s DNA. Packed with examples and original data, the five-step model highlights the new rules of business:
- TRUST: Deliver on promises
- ENRICHMENT: Make daily life easier or more inspiring
- RESPONSIBILITY: Treat people and the environment with respect
- COMMUNITY: Mirror values shared by customers, employees, and partners
- CONTRIBUTION: Make a difference in the world. Buyers today demand more than half-hearted pledges. By actively linking great brands with higher purposes, companies capture both markets and hearts.”
5. Platform: The Art and Science of Personal Branding by Cynthia Johnson
“In the modern world, influence is everything and personal branding equals influence. Platform is the why-to, how-to handbook by top expert Cynthia Johnson for everyone who wants to develop and manage a personal brand. In Platform, Johnson explains the process of going from unknown to influencer by achieving personal proof, social proof, recognition, and association. Johnson herself went from an on-staff social media manager to social media influencer, entrepreneur, and marketing thought-leader in just three years using her process of accelerated brand development, continuous brand management, and strategic growth.”
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