Marketing Roadsigns
the
e-newsletter companion to the Marketing Roadmaps blog
Summertime and the
livin' is easy. Or so the song says. I hope you have been having a
glorious summer, and finding time to enjoy good summer weather.
This is the Book Review issue of Marketing Roadsigns. I've taken
to reading during my regular workouts on the treadmill, and this
summer, there has been no shortage of interesting non-fiction books,
which are the best kind for this sort of "active" reading.
I hope you enjoy this issue of Marketing Roadsigns. Drop me a line or leave a comment on the newsletter entry on
the blog
if you have suggestions for future topics. Thanks for reading!
Susan Getgood
General Business & Economics
Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen
J.Dubner 5/5 stars
The word-of-mouth and reviews of
this book have been excellent since it was published late last year.
Yet, I'll bet many folks don't pick it up simply because they think
it will be too analytical, too much economics. Too boring. The kind
of business book that you know you ought to read but don't. Well,
fear not, because Freakonomics has nothing in common
with that sort of dull economics text, other than the use of
economic analysis to understand things.
But the things
economist Levitt and journalist Dubner try to understand are far
from the normal, expected economic questions. Hence why they call it
"Freakonomics." They are interesting things like "what do sumo
wrestlers and schoolteachers have in common" (chapter 1) and "why do
drug dealers still live with their moms" (chapter 3). All in support
of the central idea that "if morality represents how people would
like the world to work, then economics shows how it actually does
work."
You won't find any easy answers in Freakonomics. In
fact you are likely to finish the book with even more questions than
you started. But, much like the first time you read Ted Levitt's Marketing
Myopia or Malcolm Gladwell's The
Tipping Point, you will look at things in a new
way.
The Long Tail by Chris Anderson 5/5
stars
Whether you are a mass merchandiser or a micro
marketer, understanding the long tail is absolutely critical for
anyone involved in marketing and sales. Full stop.
Anderson,
the editor of Wired, coined the term in a 2004 article, and you can
certainly get the gist of the basic argument from the article. The
book however is much much richer.
So what is the "long
tail?" It starts with the impact of Internet commerce on markets,
and factors in the proliferation of blogs, social media and the
expansion of word-of-mouth. Barriers to entry are much much lower as
a result of the combination of social media and electronic
commerce. We are shifting to a completely different economic model,
where the sum total of all the niche products in a segment -- the
long tail -- will sell more total units than the big hits.
Everything is available to everyone, everywhere, so everything has
an opportunity to find its buyers. You don't need big hits to make
it, and in fact the economics suggest you don't want big hits. You
want lots of medium ones.
Anderson proves his premise
engagingly and effectively, and along the way gives us some guidance
to what we should be doing as both consumers in, and sellers to, the
long tail.
If you are involved in the Internet and social
media, you must read this book. If you don't you'll probably be one
of the few, so don't admit it.
FutureShop by Daniel Nissanoff 3.5/5
stars
FutureShop is an interesting book by
one of the founders of Portero, an online facilitation company for
luxury goods. Nissanoff explores the effect of online auctions on
the economy.
His principal point is that the rise of auction
culture has changed our attitude about "gently used" goods. Instead
of "used" having the negative we so often associate with it, he
proposes a new concept of "temporary ownership" that will allow us
to acquire better things, "the things we really want," knowing that
we will be able to extract much of the value at resale. Provided of
course that we keep the item in good condition and that other people
really do want said item.
This of course has interesting
implications for name-brands, many of whom resist the resale
culture, thinking it dilutes the brand, encourages fakes and takes
new goods buyers out of market. Worth reading? Yes, but only if you
are really really interested in the rise of the secondary markets
and their impact on the economy.
If you just want a good
business story, and maybe to understand a bit better what makes
online auctions tick, you'll have a far better read with The
Perfect Store: Inside eBay, by Adam Cohen.
Marketing and Sales
Waiting for Your Cat to Bark by Bryan &
Jeffrey Eisenberg with Lisa T. Davis 3.5/5 stars
I had
high hopes for this book; it had been recommended on the blogs of
many folks whose marketing savvy I really respect. That said, I was
disappointed. The general thesis of persuasion and profiling
("personas") makes a great deal of sense, and there were definitely
nuggets of good information. Nevertheless I was left feeling that
this book was more than the novice will really grasp, and not near
enough for the experienced marketer. There just seems to be a piece
or two missing for the less experienced marketer and the experienced
online marketer is going to do a lot of "Yeah, I already know that.
Give me more." Bottom line: not for the newbie, and useful but not
essential for the experienced marketer.
Lead Generation for the Complex Sale by Brian
Carroll 4.5/5 stars
On the other hand, Lead
Generation for the Complex Sale is a book I would have
written, had I written a book. Carroll's philosophy of lead
generation is very similar to my own, so if you buy the theory that
good ideas develop independently in multiple places, then this book
is full of good ideas. Many of his lead management recommendations
parallel the things I focused on in my last corporate assignment.
Would that our sales management had read this book....
You
can find my take on sales lead
generation on the blog. But if you'd like everything in
one neat package that you can leave on the CEO's desk, get this
book.
Politics
Watchdogs of Democracy? by Helen Thomas 6
out of 5 stars
For many, Helen Thomas defines journalism
in this country. For good reason. She doesn't let anybody get away
with anything.
And this book is no different. She explains
clearly and succinctly how our national media has stopped asking the
tough questions that expose weak and flawed thinking on the part of
policy makers. She argues, and I agree, without a strong media, we
the public have no one in place to ask those tough questions,
citizen journalism notwithstanding.
Regardless of our
political affiliation, we need a strong, ethical and impartial
media.
If you care about truth in politics, about holding
our national leaders, and our national press, accountable, you need
to read this book.
Bonus for Francophiles
My Life in France by Julia Child and Alex
Prud'Homme
Child, with the help of her co-author Prud'Homme,
brings Paris of the late 40s and early 50s to life. Not just the
food, but the people, the post-war culture, the renaissance of
France after the misery of war. It all comes alive in this wonderful
memoir. If you love food, if you love France, you must read this
book. 5/5 stars
A Year in the Merde by Stephen
Clarke
If you love France, you'll love Julia Child's book. If
you've ever lived there, and most particularly if you are not a
native speaker of French, you won't stop laughing as you read
A Year in the Merde. Some of the characters are
exaggerations, certainly, but underlying it all is truth and a good
sense of humour that both laughs at and along with the protagonist.
The sequel, In the Merde for Love, is on deck for
later this month. 4.5/5 stars
Marketing Roadmaps Blog Preview
While I don't always know what I will be writing about on the
blog ahead of time, once in a while, I have some things planned.
This is one of those times.
Sometime between now and Labor Day, you can look forward to a
review of In Women We Trust by Mary Hunt, as well as
an interview with the author.
In September, we'll kick off Susan Getgood's Marketing
Roadshow, an bi-weekly podcast on marketing, sales and public
relations. Stay tuned!!
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