How Customers Think: Essential Insights into the Mind of the Market


Gerald Zaltman - 2003
    This title provides practical synthesis of the cognitive sciences. Drawing heavily on psychology, neuroscience, sociology, and linguistics, Zaltman combines academic rigor with real-world results to offer highly accessible insights, based on his years of research and consulting work with large clients like Coca-Cola and Procter & Gamble. An all-new tool kit: Zaltman provides research tools - metaphor elicitation, response latency, and implicit association techniques, to name a few - that will be all-new to marketers and demonstrates how innovators can use these tools to get clues from the subconscious when developing new products and finding new solutions, long before competitors do.

The Game Changers: 20 extraordinary success stories of entrepreneurs from IIT Kharagpur


Rahul Kumar - 2012
    The entrepreneur shuns the comfort of a cushy corporate job and a seven-figure salary to set sail on unchartered waters with a single-minded zeal and only an idea as an anchor. But it is this idea and passion that makes all the difference and catapults him into a world of infinite possibilities.The Game Changers brings to you 20 success stories of IITians who went on to live the big dream. These include: Suhas Patil, Vijay Kumar, Vinod Gupta, Sam Dalal, Sridhar Mitta, Arjun Malhotra, Kiran Seth, Prabhakant Sinha, Ranbir Singh Gupta, Bikram Dasgupta, Praful Kulkarni, Sunil Gaitonde, Anand Deshpande, Arvind Kejriwal, Harish Hande, Anuradha Acharya, Venkata Subramanian, Bikash Barai, Vikram Kumar, and Krishna Mehra.With a Foreword by Dr Duvvuri Subbarao, Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, and an Introduction by Dr Damodar Acharya, Director, IIT Kharagpur, this book marks sixty golden years of India’s finest institute. Come, be a part of their journey, get inspired to dream, and make your own story.

Hacking Leadership


Mike Myatt - 2013
    Leadership isn't broken, but how it's currently being practiced certainly is. Everyone has blind spots. The purpose of Hacking Leadership is to equip leaders at every level with an actionable framework to identify blind spots and close leadership gaps. The bulk of the book is based on actionable, topical leadership and management hacks to bridge eleven gaps every business needs to cross in order to create a culture of leadership: leadership, purpose, future, mediocrity, culture, talent, knowledge, innovation, expectation, complexity, and failure. Each chapter:Gives readers specific techniques to identify, understand, and most importantly, implement individual, team and organizational leadership hacks. Addresses blind spots and leverage points most leaders and managers haven't thought about, which left unaddressed, will adversely impact growth, development, and performance. All leaders have blind-spots (gaps), which often go undetected for years or decades, and sadly, even when identified the methods for dealing with them are outdated and ineffective - they need to be hacked. Showcases case studies from the author's consulting practice, serving as a confidant with more than 150 public company CEOs. Some of those corporate clients include: AT&T, Bank of America, Deloitte, EMC, Humana, IBM, JP Morgan Chase, Merrill Lynch, PepsiCo, and other leading global brands. Hacking Leadership offers a fresh perspective that makes it easy for leaders to create a roadmap to identify, refine, develop, and achieve their leadership potential--and to create a more effective business that is financially solvent and professionally desirable.

Big Data, Analytics, and the Future of Marketing & Sales


McKinsey Chief Marketing & Sales Officer Forum - 2013
    The data big bang has unleashed torrents of terabytes about everything from customer behaviors to weather patterns to demographic consumer shifts in emerging markets. This collection of articles, videos, interviews, and slideshares highlights the most important lessons for companies looking to turn data into above-market growth: Using analytics to identify valuable business opportunities from the data to drive decisions and improve marketing return on investment (MROI) Turning those insights into well-designed products and offers that delight customers Delivering those products and offers effectively to the marketplace. The goldmine of data represents a pivot-point moment for marketing and sales leaders. Companies that inject big data and analytics into their operations show productivity rates and profitability that are 5 percent to 6 percent higher than those of their peers. That’s an advantage no company can afford to ignore.

SEO Search Engine Optimization Bible


Jerri L. Ledford - 2005
    This in-depth Bible delivers the holy grail of online marketing: how to influence search engine results to drive online shoppers to specific Web sites; the process is called search engine optimization (SEO) and it is a hot topic One-stop resource offers readers what they need to plan and implement a successful SEO program, including useful tips on finding the shortest routes to success, strategy suggestions, and sidebars with more information and additional resources Features interviews with executives from top search companies, plus appendices on creating successful listings with Google, MSN, Yahoo!, and others Topics include creating an SEO plan; managing keywords; maximizing pay-per-click strategies; understanding the role of links and linking; robots, spiders, and crawlers; maintaining SEO; analyzing success rates; and much more

How to Write a Good Advertisement: A Short Course in Copywriting


Victor O. Schwab - 1980
    This remarkable book has turned many novice mail-order entrepreneurs into expert copywriters and many experienced copywriters into masters of their trade

Getting Everything You Can Out of All You've Got: 21 Ways You Can Out-Think, Out-Perform, and Out-Earn the Competition


Jay Abraham - 2000
    Using clear examples from his own experience, Jay explains just how easy it can be to find and/or create new opportunities for wealth-building in any existing business, enterprise, or venture.And just how easy can it be? One entrepreneur took the concept of the ballpoint pen and refined it into a mulimillion-dollar idea: roll-on deodorant. Fred Smith of Federal Express took the methods that banks use for clearing checks to develop an overnight delivery company that has revolutionized the way we do business. Now, what have you seen-- or are going to see-- that you could take and turn to your advantage?In Getting Everything You Can Out of All You've Got: 21 Ways You Can Out-Think, Out-Perform, and Out-Earn the Competition, the program focuses on helping you spot the hidden assets, overlooked opportunities, and untapped resources around you, and gives you, and gives you fresh eyes with which to see and capitalize on them. You'll also learn how to adapt and apply these tools to your unique circumstances to maximize your income, influence, power, and success.

Built to Sell: Creating a Business That Can Thrive Without You


John Warrillow - 2010
    Thus, when the time comes to sell, buyers aren't confident that the company-even if it's profitable-can stand on its own. To illustrate this, Warrillow introduces us to a fictional small business owner named Alex who is struggling to sell his advertising agency. Alex turns to Ted, an entrepreneur and old family friend, who encourages Alex to pursue three criteria to make his business sellable: * Teachable: focus on products and services that you can teach employees to deliver. * Valuable: avoid price wars by specialising in doing one thing better than anyone else. * Repeatable: generate recurring revenue by engineering products that customers have to repurchase often.

Be Like Amazon: Even a Lemonade Stand Can Do It


Jeffrey Eisenberg - 2017
     Business stories are told. Wisdom is revealed. A new perspective emerges. Companies like Costco and Kodak, General Motors and Walmart provide color and texture as they appear on the horizon and in the rearview mirror. Real companies. Real decisions. Real outcomes. Jeff Bezos and Amazon give this road trip its rhythm as the four pillars of their success are made plain. It’s a wonderful success, easily repeated, even by a lemonade stand. But only if you understand the importance of the marshmallow. Endorsements: A little book with enormous impact. Be Like Amazon demystifies the principles and practices of the world’s most successful brands. It’s magical! – Jay Baer – President of Convince & Convert & author of Hug Your Hater Putting relationships front and center is what “Be Like Amazon” is all about. The authors observe that continuous improvement is not about cost cutting but about relationships. “Be Like Amazon” provides a roadmap for businesses to build and improve relationships. I highly recommend "Be Like Amazon" to every business person. - Dr. Ivan Misner, Founder of BNI and NY Times Bestselling Author "Be Like Amazon" covers one of the most important elements of being a business owner, how to work on your business instead of in your business. I’d highly recommend this book to every entrepreneur who wants to have a roadmap and skip the years of trial and error. - T. Harv Eker, NY Times No. 1 Best-selling Author of Secrets of the Millionaire Mind™ "There are many things that differentiate Amazon and it's competitors. Perhaps the most underappreciated one the deeply faith-based initiative that if they align their interests with their customers, they'll win in the long-term. And. They have! You still need a guide to help you figure out how to apply this to your business. Let Bryan, Jeffrey & Roy help you win bigger." - Avinash Kaushik, Google Evangelist You are going to read a lot of positive blurbs about Be Like Amazon. Let me give it to you straight: If the Eisenberg Brothers feel compelled to write a book, I drop everything to read it. They are just that smart. Be Like Amazon is one of their best efforts. I hate to be so non-specific, but everyone in business really should buy and read Be Like Amazon. The fact that legendary marketer Roy H. Williams co-wrote it with them, only adds to the equation. For the sake of your brand, please please please read this book!. – Mitch Joel President, Mirum – Author, Six Pixels of Separation & CTRL ALT Delete “Wow, that is one of the best “business” books I’ve read in years. Incredibly inspiring — both the story itself and the way in which you told it. I’m in awe.” – Scott Brinker, ChiefMartec “Witty anecdotes and crisp, often hilarious dialog combine with an exploration of powerful marketing principles and customer engagement strategies that have driven the growth of many of today’s most successful companies…making Be Like Amazon a must read for everyone from business professionals to people who love an engaging story well told. Jeffrey, Bryan and Roy have crafted a clever and insightful book that not only underscores the importance of branding, but also lifts the spirit and tickles the funny bone.” – Chris McCann, President and CEO, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc.

The Art of Writing Advertising: Conversations with Masters of the Craft: David Ogilvy, William Bernbach, Leo Burnett, Rosser Reeves,


Denis Higgins - 1968
    "What makes a great advertisement?" Nearly four decades ago, an unmatched group of five advertising pioneers first answered that question in "The Art of Writing Advertising." Their entertaining and historically compelling answers will provide advertising professionals with valuable techniques for applying breakthrough creativity and innovation in the workplace.

Seducing Strangers: How to Get People to Buy What You're Selling (The Little Black Book of Advertising Secrets)


Josh Weltman - 2015
      The job is using words, pictures, stories, and music to seduce strangers. In the industrial, mass-media, consumer economy of the past, the job was called advertising, and “Mad Men” did it. In today’s service-based, social media-focused, information economy, the job is called life, and everyone does it.  Here’s how you can do it. And do it better.

Hipster Business Models: How to make a living in the modern world


Priceonomics - 2014
    Yet, today’s young people have much more to offer. If half of the hipster stereotype is a consumer who tries to show off how cool he is based on his tastes, the other half of the stereotype is ‘The Maker’ -- the person out hawking homemade cheese, knitting sweaters for your beard, or repurposing steel-framed bicycles. The hipster business model is distinctive: Make a product you love so much that you’ll make it yourself. See if anyone wants it. Try again. When they want to build apparel companies, they teach themselves how to sew. When they dream of producing toys, they learn how to use 3D printing software. When they don’t know investors who will back their restaurant concepts, they open food trucks. All the while, they are guided by books, instructional videos, and intuition; only later do they move production to real factories, or hire lawyers. They frequent public parks to see if anyone will buy their custom, typewritten stories. They use crowdfunding websites to raise money from customers before their products even exist. They post their ideas to massive web forums to gauge interest, or set up online shops the second they have a product to sell. In their world, sales come first, not last. While each entrepreneur featured in this book embarked on his or her own unique quest, their stories share a common thread: like true hipsters, they were not afraid to try new things.

Life's a Pitch: What the World's Best Sales People Can Teach Us All


Philip Delves Broughton - 2012
    Their stories are at once insightful, human and humorous. Delves Broughton reveals the ingredients needed to make a perfect sale, and show us how commercial genius might live in all of us. At every step of this journey we learn that selling - be it a product, person or even an idea - is something we all do every day. We are always pitching and presenting, trying to persuade people to accept us. Master the art of the sale and you will master the art of life.

Contagious: Why Things Catch On


Jonah Berger - 2013
    People don't listen to advertisements, they listen to their peers. But why do people talk about certain products and ideas more than others? Why are some stories and rumors more infectious? And what makes online content go viral? Wharton marketing professor Jonah Berger has spent the last decade answering these questions. He's studied why New York Times articles make the paper's own Most E-mailed List, why products get word of mouth, and how social influence shapes everything from the cars we buy to the clothes we wear to the names we give our children. In this book, Berger reveals the secret science behind word-of-mouth and social transmission. Discover how six basic principles drive all sorts of things to become contagious, from consumer products and policy initiatives to workplace rumors and YouTube videos.Contagious combines groundbreaking research with powerful stories. Learn how a luxury steakhouse found popularity through the lowly cheese-steak, why anti-drug commercials might have actually increased drug use, and why more than 200 million consumers shared a video about one of the seemingly most boring products there is: a blender. If you've wondered why certain stories get shared, e-mails get forwarded, or videos go viral, Contagious explains why, and shows how to leverage these concepts to craft contagious content. This book provides a set of specific, actionable techniques for helping information spread - for designing messages, advertisements, and information that people will share. Whether you're a manager at a big company, a small business owner trying to boost awareness, a politician running for office, or a health official trying to get the word out, Contagious will show you how to make your product or idea catch on.

Writing Without Bullshit: Boost Your Career by Saying What You Mean


Joshua Bernoff - 2016
    The average news story now gets only 36 seconds of attention. Unless you change how you write, your emails, reports, and Web copy don’t stand a chance.In this practical and witty book, you’ll learn to front-load your writing with pithy titles, subject lines, and opening sentences. You’ll acquire the courage and skill to purge weak and meaningless jargon, wimpy passive voice, and cowardly weasel words. And you’ll get used to writing directly to the reader to make every word count.At the center of it all is the Iron Imperative: treat the reader’s time as more valuable than your own. Embrace that, and your customers, your boss, and your colleagues will recognize the power and boldness of your thinking.Transcend the fear that makes your writing weak. Plan and execute writing projects with confidence. Manage edits and reviews flawlessly. And master every modern format from emails and social media to reports and press releases.Stop writing to fit in. Start writing to stand out. Boost your career by writing without bullshit.