No matter the industry or marketing channel, people before you have paved the way in all things marketing. A lot of those people have written about their experiences and have actionable advice to offer.
It's a good thing they do.
Developing a marketing campaign in this modern age more complicated than ever. Modern marketing involves social media marketing, email marketing, content marketing, affiliate marketing, referral marketing, and more.
And as a business owner, it can be difficult to know where to begin. A great starting point is adding a referral program — ReferralCandy pricing plans are clearly laid out on the pricing page so you can find the right tier without guesswork.
The best marketing books will focus on just a single aspect of a comprehensive marketing strategy, digging deep and sharing actionable advice in each chapter.
But that often means that just one marketing book won't do. From analyzing consumer behavior to identifying your target audience to creating a digital marketing strategy, there is a marketing book for every one of your needs.
And we've got an epic list for you right here.
So, what are the best marketing books that every marketer should read? Here's our take.
Marketing Books About Social Media Marketing
When it comes to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest, there is a lot of potential for your business. The key is to understand how to use each platform and how your potential customers use each platform. With the right advice, you can make a social media strategy that not only grows brand awareness but also turns your Instagram/Twitter/Facebook handle into cold, hard cash.
- See You On The Internet: Building Your Small Business With Digital Marketing by Avery Swartz
- Run with Foxes: Make Better Marketing Decisions by Paul Dervan
- One Million Followers by Brendan Kane
- Social Media Marketing Workbook: How to Use Social Media for Business (2020 Updated Edition) by Jason McDonald
- The End of Marketing: Humanizing Your Brand in the Age of Social Media and AI by Carlos Gil
- The Art of Social Media by Guy Kawasaki
- Digital Trust: Social Media Strategies to Increase Trust and Engage Customers by Barry Connelly
- Faster, Smarter, Louder: Master Attention in a Noisy Digital Market by Aaron Agius and Gián Clancey
- Crushing It!: How Great Entrepreneurs Build Their Business and Influence-and How You Can, Too by Gary Vaynerchuk
- Brand Storytelling: Put Customers at the Heart of Your Brand Story by Miri Rodriguez
- Fanocracy: Turning Fans into Customers and Customers into Fans by David Meerman Scott and Reiko Scott
- Likeable Social Media: How to Delight Your Customers, Create an Irresistible Brand, and Be Generally Amazing on Facebook ( and Other Social Networks) by Dave Kerpen
- Superfans: The Easy Way to Stand Out, Grow Your Tribe, and Build a Successful Business by Pat Flynn
Marketing Books About Content Marketing
Content marketing is a delicate balance between creating content for potential customers and creating content for the algorithm. Understanding this can be tricky. Focus too much on your potential customers, and your content will be buried under the colossal weight of the Internet. Focus too much on the algorithm, and your target audience will click right out of your website. Every good content marketer knows this and you can too with one of these books.
- Everybody Writes: Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content by Ann Handley
- Influence: The Pyschology of Persuasion by Dr. Robert Cialdini
- The Power of Visual Storytelling: How to Use Visuals, Videos, and Social Media to Market Your Brand Paperback by Ekaterina Walter
- Platform: The Art and Science of Personal Branding by Cynthia Johnson
- Alchemy: The Dark Art and Curious Science of Creating Magic in Brands, Business, and Life by Rory Sutherland
- The Copyeditor’s Handbook, The Copyeditor’s Workbook by Amy Einsohn, Marilyn Schwartz, and Erika Buky
- Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath
- Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style by Benjamin Dreyer
- Epic Content Marketing: How to Tell a Different Story, Break through the Clutter, and Win More Customers by Marketing Less Hardcover by Joe Pulizzi
- Stories That Stick: How Storytelling Can Captivate Customers, Influence Audiences, and Transform Your Business by Kindra Hall
- Become a Content Brand: Build a Team, Own Your Audience, & Create Video Your Customers Will Love by Chris Carter
- Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World Hardcover by Gary Vaynerchuk
- Words That Change Minds: The 14 Patterns for Mastering the Language of Influence by Shelle Rose Charvet
- F#ck Content Marketing: Focus on Content Experience to Drive Demand, Revenue & Relationships by Randy Frisch
- DataStory: Explain Data and Inspire Action Through Story by Nancy Duarte
- Content Marketing: Proven Strategies to Attract an Engaged Audience Online With Great Content and Social Media to Win More Customers, Build Your Brand and Boost your Business by Gavin Turner
- Writing to Persuade: How to Bring People Over to Your Side by Trish Hall
- Contagious by Jonah Berger
Marketing Books About Consumer Behavior
Before creating any kind of marketing plan, it's important to understand your target audience. Analyzing consumer behavior, the economy, and trends will help you build a solid foundation from which you can build an effective marketing campaign. As a business owner with little time to tinker with a content strategy, this is a good place to start. Get inside the head of the consumers and your content strategy will come a lot more easily.
- Non-Obvious: How to Predict Trends and Win the Future with New Trends for 2019 by Rohit Bhargava
- Chaos Monkeys: Obscene Fortune and Random Failure in Silicon Valley Hardcover by Antonio Garcia Martinez
- Unlocking the Customer Value Chain: How Decoupling Drives Consumer Disruption by Thales S. Teixeira
- Mean People Suck: How Empathy Leads to Bigger Profits and a Better Life by Michael Brenner
- Marketing Rebellion: The Most Human Company Wins by Mark Schaefer
- The Visual MBA: Two Years of Business School Packed into One Priceless Book of Pure Awesomeness by Jason Barron
Marketing Books About Inbound Marketing
Inbound marketing is a marketing strategy that makes your personal brand ready and available to potential customers exactly when they need you. Rather than reaching out to them, you create content that helps your potential customers when they need you the most. There are many ways to do this, from a single social media post to a helpful blog post. Understanding how to meet your customer's needs in this way help you build a comprehensive digital marketing strategy.
- Inbound Marketing And SEO: Insights From The Moz Blog by Rand Fiskin & Thomas Høgenhaven
- Get Sh*t Done: The Ultimate Guide to Productivity, Procrastination, and Profitability by Jeffrey Gitomer
- Getting Goosebumps: A Pragmatic Guide To Effective Inbound Marketing by Bryan Adams and Dave Hazlehurst
- The Sales Acceleration Formula: Using Data, Technology, and Inbound Selling to Go from $0 to $100 Million by Mark Roberge
- Inbound Marketing: Attract, Engage and Delight Customers Online by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah
- Blog To Win Business: How To Enchant Reader and Woo Customers by Henneke Duistermaat
Marketing Books About Growth Hacking
There is a reason it is called growth hacking... there is nothing easy about rapid growth! But if you want to fast-track your growth and get your personal brand in front of as many people as possible, then you'll want to read up on the techniques used in growth hacking by people who have done it successfully.
- The Growth Handbook by Andrew Chen
- Growth Hacker Marketing by Ryan Holiday
- Growth Engines by Sean Ellis & Morgan Brown
- Traction by Gabriel Weinberg
- 100 Days of Growth by Sujan Patel
- The Secret Sauce by Vin Clancy & Austen Allred
- The Paper Plane Plan by Ross Davies
- Scaling Up by Verne Harnish
- Zero to One by Peter Thiel & Blake Masters
- Hacking Growth by Sean Ellis & Morgan Brown
- Hooked by Nir Eyal
- Hacking Independence by Fiverr-team
- Lean Analytics by Alistair Croll
- BAMF Bible by Josh Fechter