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Summer 2006
 
 
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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