Impossible to Ignore: Creating Memorable Content to Influence Decisions


Carmen Simon - 2016
    But people make decisions and act based on what they remember, so a pragmatic approach for the effective communicator is to be deliberate about the 10 percent that audiences do retain. Otherwise, content recall is random and inconsistent.Many experts have offered techniques on how to improve your own memory, but not how to influence other people s memory. Drawing on the latest research in neuroscience and cognitive psychology, Impossible to Ignore is a practical step-by-step guide that will show you how to control the 10 percent that your audiences doremember by creating content that attracts attention, sharpens recall, and guides behavior toward a desired action."

Soft Skills: The Software Developer's Life Manual


John Z. Sonmez - 2014
    In it, developer and life coach John Sonmez addresses a wide range of important "soft" topics, from career and productivity to personal finance and investing, and even fitness and relationships, all from a developer-centric viewpoint.For most software developers, coding is the fun part. The hard bits are dealing with clients, peers, and managers, staying productive, achieving financial security, keeping yourself in shape, and finding true love. This book is here to help.Soft Skills: The software developer's life manual is a guide to a well-rounded, satisfying life as a technology professional. In it, developer and life coach John Sonmez offers advice to developers on important "soft" subjects like career and productivity, personal finance and investing, and even fitness and relationships. Arranged as a collection of 71 short chapters, this fun-to-read book invites you to dip in wherever you like. A Taking Action section at the end of each chapter shows you how to get quick results. Soft Skills will help make you a better programmer, a more valuable employee, and a happier, healthier person.What's InsideBoost your career by building a personal brandJohn's secret ten-step process for learning quicklyFitness advice to turn your geekiness to your advantageUnique strategies for investment and early retirement

Obviously Awesome: How to Nail Product Positioning so Customers Get It, Buy It, Love It


April Dunford - 2019
    Successfully connecting your product with consumers isn’t a matter of following trends, comparing yourself to the competition or trying to attract the widest customer base.So what is it? April Dunford, positioning guru and tech exec, will enlighten you.Her new book, Obviously Awesome, shows you how to find your product’s “secret sauce”—and then sell that sauce to those who crave it. Having spent years as a startup executive (with 16 product launches under her belt) and a consultant (who’s worked on dozens more), Dunford speaks with authority about breaking through the noise of a crowded market.Punctuated with witty anecdotes and compelling case studies, Dunford’s book is at once entertaining and illuminating. Among the invaluable lessons you’ll learn are:- The Five Components of Effective Positioning- How to instantly connect an audience to your offering’s value- How to choose the best market for your products- How to use three distinct styles of positioning to your advantage- How to leverage market trends to help buyers understand why making a purchase is important right nowWhether you’re an entrepreneur, marketer or salesperson struggling to bring inventive products to market, Dunford’s insights will help you find your awesome, so that your customers can too.

The Art of Looking Sideways


Alan Fletcher - 2001
    It is an inexhaustible mine of anecdotes, quotations, images, curious facts and useless information, oddities, serious science, jokes and memories, all concerned with the interplay between the verbal and the visual, and the limitless resources of the human mind. Loosely arranged in 72 chapters, all this material is presented in a wonderfully inventive series of pages that are themselves masterly demonstrations of the expressive use of type, space, color and imagery.This book does not set out to teach lessons, but it is full of wisdom and insight collected from all over the world. Describing himself as a visual jackdaw, master designer Alan Fletcher has distilled a lifetime of experience and reflection into a brilliantly witty and inimitable exploration of such subjects as perception, color, pattern, proportion, paradox, illusion, language, alphabets, words, letters, ideas, creativity, culture, style, aesthetics and value.The Art of Looking Sideways is the ultimate guide to visual awareness, a magical compilation that will entertain and inspire all those who enjoy the interplay between word and image, and who relish the odd and the unexpected.

The End of Marketing: Humanizing Your Brand in the Age of Social Media and AI


Carlos Gil - 2019
    Businesses across the world are having to face up to how they remain relevant in the choppy waters of the digital ocean. In an era where a YouTube star gets more daily impressions than Nike, Coca-Cola and Walmart combined, traditional marketing as we know it is dead. The End of Marketing revolutionizes the way brands, agencies and marketers should approach marketing. From how Donald Trump won the American presidency using social media and why Kim Kardashian is one of the world's biggest online brands, through to the impact of bots and automation, this book will teach you about new features and emerging platforms that will engage customers and employees. Discover bold content ideas, hear from some of the world's largest brands and content creators and find out how to build smarter paid-strategies, guaranteed to help you dominate your markets. The End of Marketing explains that no matter how easy it is to reach potential customers, the key relationship between brand and consumer still needs the human touch. Learn how to put 'social' back into social media and claim brand relevancy in a world where algorithms dominate, organic reach is dwindling and consumers don't want to be sold to, they want to be engaged.

The Introvert Advantage: How to Thrive in an Extrovert World


Marti Olsen Laney - 2002
    The better news is that by celebrating the inner strengths and uniqueness of being an "innie" THE INTROVERT ADVANTAGE shows introverts, and the extroverts who love them, how to work with instead of against their temperament to enjoy a well-lived life. Covering relationships, parenting - including parenting the introverted child - socialising, and the workplace, here are coping strategies, tactics for managing energy, and hundreds of valuable tips for not only surviving but truly thriving in an extrovert world.

So You Think You Can Write? The Definitive Guide to Successful Online Writing


Julia McCoy - 2016
    Written by Julia McCoy, who spent years of her life teaching herself the elements of successful online writing and launched a writing business that hit seven figures within five years, this book is your essential blueprint to learning what it takes to write great online copy, both as a freelancer and brand/business owner.In this book, Julia walks you step-by-step through the process of how to craft the seven forms of online content:1. Web Content2. Blogging3. Social Media4. Advertising/Sales Copy5. Industry Writing6. Journalism 7. Creative WritingJulia also takes you through the basics of SEO (search engine optimization) for the online writer and creator, without overloading you: you'll get a key list of the top tools on the web to research keywords, learn how to hone your best key phrases, and the tactics of how and where to place them in your content. Illustrated, easy-to-understand, and fun to read, this is a comprehensive yet digestible resource for writers and businesses alike on how to create successful online content.After you read this book, you'll be able to: Define your audience and the terms they use to search in Google Write great content that will get picked up by Google Know the basics of what it takes to write all seven forms of online copy Create blogs that are evergreen and engaging Know how to write the "secret" bits of copy that search engines love: meta descriptions, tags and more Know how to use Twitter chats, live streaming, and Facebook groups, and other platforms to find your people and confidently market yourself as a writer Access a comprehensive list of online writing tools and resources in the final Appendix Julia McCoy has built a successful freelance writing career and a multi-million dollar copywriting agency out of nothing but the amount of hard work, time, and self-teaching she put into it: and she believes any writer has what it takes to create great online content, provided they learn the essential tactics of adapting to all online copy forms. But she knows it's hard to find these fundamentals in one place: which is why she decided to write a book to offer everyone just that opportunity. A writer and internet marketer from an early age, Julia started three companies, enrolled in college, and wrote a book by 16.

Why She Buys: The New Strategy for Reaching the World's Most Powerful Consumers


Bridget Brennan - 2009
    And therein lies the pickle.Women are the engine of the global economy, driving 80 percent of consumer spending in the United States alone. They hold the purse strings, and when they’ve got a tight grip on them as they do now, companies must be shrewder than ever to win them over. Just when executives have mastered becoming technology literate, they find there’s another skill they need: becoming female literate. This isn’t always easy. Gender is the most powerful determinant of how a person views the world and everything in it. It’s stronger than age, income, or race. While there are mountains of research done every year segmenting consumers and analyzing why they buy, more often than not it doesn’t factor in the one piece of information that trumps them all: the sex of the buyer. It’s stunning how many companies overlook the psychology of gender when we all know that men and women look at the world so differently.Bridget Brennan’s Why She Buys shows decision makers how to bridge this divide and capture the business of the world’s most powerful consumers just when they need it most.• No Matter Where You Live, Women Are a Foreign Country: You’ll discover the value in studying women with the same intensity that you would a foreign market. Women grow up within a culture of their own gender, which is often invisible to men. Brennan dissects this female culture and explains the important brain differencesbetween men and women that may cause your female customers to notice things about your products, marketing campaigns, or sales environment that you might have overlooked.• The High Fives: There are five major trends driving the global female population that are key to determining their wants and needs. These global shifts are just beginning to be tapped by businesses, and learning about them can provide you with an invaluable blueprint for long-range planning. • The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Find out how the best and brightest companies have cracked the female code, and hear horror stories about those that haven’t. Through instructive case studies and interviews, Why She Buys provides practical, field-proven techniques that you can apply to your business immediately, from giants like Procter & Gamble and Toyota to upstarts like Method home-care products and lululemon athletica apparel. At a time when every company is looking for a competitive advantage, Bridget Brennan offers a new and effective lens for capturing market share.

The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs


Carmine Gallo - 2009
    Communications expert Carmine Gallo has studied and analyzed the very best of Jobs's performances, offering point-by-point examples, tried-and-true techniques, and proven presentation secrets in 18 "scenes," including:Develop a messianic sense of purposeReveal the Conquering heroChannel your inner ZenStage your presentation with propsMake it look effortlessWith this revolutionary approach, you'll be surprised at how easy it is to sell your ideas, share your enthusiasm, and wow your audience the Steve Jobs way."No other leader captures an audience like Steve Jobs does and, like no other book, The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs captures the formula Steve uses to enthrall audiences."--Rob Enderle, The Enderle Group"Now you can learn from the best there is--both Jobs and Gallo. No matter whether you are a novice presenter or a professional speaker like me, you will read and reread this book with the same enthusiasm that people bring to their iPods."--David Meerman Scott, bestselling author of The New Rules of Marketing & PR and World Wide Rave

Fascinate: Unlocking the Secret Triggers of Influence, Persuasion, and Captivation


Sally Hogshead - 2010
    It's more persuasive than marketing, advertising, or any other form of communication. And it all starts with seven universal triggers: lust, mystique, alarm, prestige, power, vice, and trust.Fascination plays a role in every type of decision making, from the brands you choose to the songs you remember, from the person you marry to the employees you hire. And by activating the right triggers, you can make anything become fascinating.To explore and explain fascination's irresistible influence, Sally Hogshead looks beyond marketing, delving into behavioral and social studies, historical precedents, neurobiology and evolutionary anthropology, as well as conducting in-depth interviews and a national study of a thousand consumers, to emerge with deeply rooted patterns for why, and how, we become captivated.Hogshead reveals why the Salem witch trials began with the same fixations as those in "Sex and the City." How Olympic athletes are subject to obsessions similar to those of fetishists. How a 1636 frenzy over Dutch tulip bulbs perfectly mirrors the 2006 real estate bubble. And why a billion-dollar "Just Say No" program actually increased drug use among teens, by activating the same "forbidden fruit" syndrome as a Victoria's Secret catalog.Whether you realize it or not, you're already using the seven triggers. The question is, are you using the right triggers, in the right way, to get your desired result? This book will show you.

HBR Guide to Better Business Writing


Bryan A. Garner - 2005
    But it’s a skill you must cultivate to succeed: You’ll lose time, money, and influence if your e-mails, proposals, and other important documents fail to win people over.The HBR Guide to Better Business Writing , by writing expert Bryan A. Garner, gives you the tools you need to express your ideas clearly and persuasively so clients, colleagues, stakeholders, and partners will get behind them. This book will help you:• Push past writer’s block• Grab—and keep—readers’ attention• Earn credibility with tough audiences• Trim the fat from your writing• Strike the right tone• Brush up on grammar, punctuation, and usage

Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything


Don Tapscott - 2006
     Today, encyclopedias, jetliners, operating systems, mutual funds, and many other items are being created by teams numbering in the thousands or even millions. While some leaders fear the heaving growth of these massive online communities, Wikinomics proves this fear is folly. Smart firms can harness collective capability and genius to spur innovation, growth, and success. A brilliant guide to one of the most profound changes of our time, Wikinomics challenges our most deeply-rooted assumptions about business and will prove indispensable to anyone who wants to understand competitiveness in the twenty-first century. Based on a $9 million research project led by bestselling author Don Tapscott, Wikinomics shows how masses of people can participate in the economy like never before. They are creating TV news stories, sequencing the human genome, remixing their favorite music, designing software, finding a cure for disease, editing school texts, inventing new cosmetics, or even building motorcycles. You'll read about: • Rob McEwen, the Goldcorp, Inc. CEO who used open source tactics and an online competition to save his company and breathe new life into an old-fashioned industry. • Flickr, Second Life, YouTube, and other thriving online communities that transcend social networking to pioneer a new form of collaborative production. • Mature companies like Procter & Gamble that cultivate nimble, trust-based relationships with external collaborators to form vibrant business ecosystems. An important look into the future, Wikinomics will be your road map for doing business in the twenty-first century.

Designers Don't Read


Austin Howe - 2009
    He believes “in the wonder and exuberance of someone who gets paid-by clients to do what he loves.” Howe places immense value on curiosity and passion to help designers develop a point of view, a strong voice. He explores the creative process and conceptualization, and delves into what to do when inspiration is lacking. If there’s a villain in these elegant, incisive, amusing, and inspiring essays, it’s ad agencies and marketing directors, but even villains serve a purpose and illustrate the strength of graphic design “as a system, as a way of thinking, as almost a life style.” Howe believes that advertising and design must merge, but merge with design in the leadership role. He says that designers should create for clients and not in the hope of winning awards. He believes designers should swear “a 10-year commitment to make everything we do for every client a gift.” If this sounds like the designer is the client’s factotum, not so. Howe also argues in favor of offering clients a single solution and being willing to defend a great design. Organized not only by topic, but also by how long it will take the average reader to complete each chapter, Designers Don’t Read is intended to function like a “daily devotional” for designers and busy professionals involved in branded communications at all levels. Begun as a series of weekly essays sent every Monday morning to top graphic designers, Designers Don’t Read quickly developed a passionate and widespread following. With the approximate time each chapter might take to read, Designers Don’t Read’s delight and provocation can be fit into the niches in the life of a time-challenged designer. Or it may be hard to resist reading the entire book in one sitting!

Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning the Deal


Oren Klaff - 2011
    Over the past 13 years, he has used his one-of-a- kind method to raise more than $400 million--and now, for the first time, he describes his formula to help you deliver a winning pitch in any business situation.Whether you're selling ideas to investors, pitching a client for new business, or even negotiating for a higher salary, "Pitch Anything "will transform the way you position your ideas.According to Klaff, creating and presenting a great pitch isn't an art--it's a simple science. Applying the latest findings in the field of neuroeconomics, while sharing eye-opening stories of his method in action, Klaff describes how the brain makes decisions and responds to pitches. With this information, you'll remain in complete control of every stage of the pitch process."Pitch Anything" introduces the exclusive STRONG method of pitching, which can be put to use immediately: Setting the Frame Telling the Story Revealing the Intrigue Offering the Prize Nailing the Hookpoint Getting a DecisionOne truly great pitch can improve your career, make you a lot of money--and even change your life. Success is dependent on the method you use, not how hard you try. "Better method, more money," Klaff says. "Much better method, much more money." Klaff is the best in the business because his method is much better than anyone else's. And now it's yours.Apply the tactics and strategies outlined in "Pitch Anything" to engage and persuade your audience--and you'll have more funding and support than you ever thought possible.

The Brain Audit: Why Customers Buy (and Why They Don't)


Sean D'Souza - 2009
    Your customers don't want to walk away. They want to buy from you. So how does the brain make decisions? And what causes it to get confused? The Brain Audit shows you how the customer takes decisions. And what you need to put in place, so that the customer feels happy to buy products or services from you. The Brain Audit isn't about persuasion or any mind tricks. Instead it shows you the information that your customers need in order to make a decision. It shows you how to present that information, and thereby enable the customer to intelligently go through a purchase sequence. The Brain Audit is designed to do the following: brain_audit_benefits 1) Enable you to spot every one of the 'seven bags' that are required to make a decision 2) Present those bags to the customer in the right sequence. 3) Enable you to get the customer to buy without needing to use pressure tactics.