Before telling you about best books on digital marketing strategy, I have a something to share with you,
“Life was simple when Apple and Blackberry were just fruits”
Ever come across this joke?
Well…
Life was simple when all a marketing guy was to place banner ads and telecast the ads on television and radio, and then (hopefully) wait for customers to barge into their shop…
Things have changed NOW…
Marketing is now evolved into something fancy called DIGITAL MARKETING… a hotshot career option, lots and lots of coaching and courses coming out EVERYDAY.
I am writing this article because owning a Marketing Agency has given me some deep insights related to my industry.
People out there are just repackaging things and selling you in name of courses and workshops.
Tell me…What does any course on Digital Marketing teaches you?
- Search Engine Optimization
- Social Media Marketing
- Facebook Ads
- Google Ads
- Pay Per Click
- Google Analytics
- Etcetera Etcetera…
What if we just tweak our perspectives a little bit and realize that Marketing is as strong as solid as it used to be and what coachings and books on Digital Marketing teach us is nothing but tools…
“Just because you know how to handle a sword does not guarantee a battle win. Winning requires a strategy.”
And Marketing (Digital) is nothing but an attempt to capitalize on the thinking, biases and inclination of the consumer.
Are you with me?
Good…
Now, without wasting any more time let us dive in…
Essential Part Of Digital Marketing
Any good marketing campaign requires you to have a proper strategy and understanding of how your customer thinks, what are his hook points and stuffs like that…
Correct understanding + the right tools, then my friend Welcome to the top 20% Digital Marketers in the WORLD…
(top 20% is just a number by me, all I mean is that you will become very very good in what you do)
I have divided the article in 3 categories as I believe that as a top class Digital Marketer, you need to have knowledge of these subjects…
- Consumer Behavior
- Copy writing
- Tools of Digital Marketing
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
Thinking fast and slow As One Of The Best books on digital marketing strategy
You are not as free in your decisions as you might like to think…
No.. No.. Not me.. The only psychologist to have got Nobel Prize Daniel Kahneman says so..
Do I need to say more about the quality of work in this book?
Still, I will just brief what this book is about:
Decision making is divided in two systems…
System 1 is fast, intuitive, and emotional, these are just signals we might not even know we are working on;
System 2 is slower, more deliberative, and more logical.
This book is not about System 1 vs System 2. The book educates us about the interplay between these two systems and how we are not always taking rational and sensible decision based on statistics and evidence.
Why you might not like the book: Because the author at times, to prove his point gets very technical with Probability and Maths…
Just read the conclusions, without going into calculation stuff, if you like me, hate Maths…
Influence
There is a tiny disclaimer at the end of the book that the author is aware of the fact that the knowledge given in the book can be misused…
You need a certain amount of audacity to write this..
Cialdini is no novice, an academc researcher, he spent 3 years for researching in the book..
This book explains how various levers of influence are used to persuade us to do certain things – mainly buy products, and it explains how we can try to resist those levers.
Many times while reading the book I said to myself “oh man! I have fallen for this marketing trap”
It was written before the digital revolution but nevertheless it is one of the best digital marketing books I have read on consumer psychology.
Decoded
I wont say much about this book, but out of all the books in this article, if I have to recommend only one book… This is it… Just read this…
Buy it or borrow it…but read this, before running another Facebook Ad campaign.
Watch This TedX video to understand minute details of Consumer Behavior.
COPYWRITING
Everybody Writes
Not many admit but writing down few sentences scares the heck out of many people.
This Master Guide for everything is not actually a Master Guide for everything…
If you have your English grammar in place, and are aware of basic writing styles, this book is not for you.
I highly recommend this book if you are scared of writing and/or do not have any knowledge of writing and expressing your thoughts in form of written words.
Scientific Advertising
Did you know sales coupons, discount coupons which is part of our lives now, was actually created by Claude Hopkins.
He did it to track the sales from a particular ad campaigns.
“Track everything” was his philosophy when it came to advertisement.
Grandfather of modern marketing… Yes the world was different at his time but don’t you feel that grandparents have a different insight when it comes to life experiences. In this case, that life experience is advertising…
Downside: Don’t search any scientific data going by the name, no stories or humor. The book being a century old has stood the test of time, but don’t expect it to be all magical and up to date marketing concepts, contains some universal and very important insights of advertising.
Made to Stick
It shows how stories are better than lists of facts and statistics and shows how structuring your message around concrete examples that are directly relevant to the needs of your audience is going to make your audience much more interested in what you have to say.
This all sounds far too familiar and far too simple – but actually, the book is remarkably good at breathing new life into these near clichés.
The book has ideas related to Oral Rehydration, Disney Employment Metaphor, Successful Newspapers, Accounting, Description on Nuclear War, Evangelism, Seat Belts Adverts, Space Dust, Dancing, Litter, Football, AIDS, Shipping, Ill effects of Popcorn and Better Hamburgers.
Here is a video on Copywriting:
Tools Of Digital Marketing
This is what people are selling in name of Digital Marketing.
There is nothing new I can suggest you here.
It’s all the same.
There are plenty of sources where you can learn these things.
Just to name a few of the tools:
SEO: Helps in bringing organic traffic on your website. Costs nothing but takes time.
SEM: Paid alternative of SEO. You can pay Google and get ranked on the top.
Social Media Marketing: Syncing all the activities of social media with the objective of the company.
Conclusion
Learning from books is a great way.
Elon Musk also started his rocket science journey after reading books.
But if you are in a business, which is not marketing, the best way forward is to hire an Agency.
You get all the works done by professionals under one roof.
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