Top 10 Must Read Books on Marketing Coaching

10 Books for Every Marketing Coach

1. Lingo by Jeffrey Shaw

Formerly known as “Lingo: Discover Your Ideal Customer’s Secret Language and Make Your Business Irresistible”, Lingo was written by Jeffrey Shaw and published on the 30th of January 2018. As the name suggests, the book talks about understanding the “language” of your customers and speaking to them in a way that they understand through your marketing. 

Shaw dives deep into his 5-Step Secret Strategy that he mastered during the initial years of his business and became successful in only a matter of short time. Moreover, he talks about pricing as an invaluable tool to attract customers as well as the importance of developing a brand image that helps you identify your ideal customer and stand out above the competition. 

The book has an average 4.3-star rating across the charts and is applauded for being a quick read with countless valuable insights that people keep coming back to. It is entertaining and helpful at the same time. If understood and implemented, the tips and tricks explained in the book can be massive game-changers for every small business and those struggling to connect with their target audience. 

2. Buyology by Martin Lindstrom

A bestseller written and published in 2008, Buyology describes the science of customers’ buying behavior. Martin Lindstrom shares the findings of a ground-breaking study he conducted where he experimented with over 2000 volunteers for over three years to understand how their brains react to marketing and what makes them tick. 

The neuromarketing study included ads, logos, brands, products and hundreds of commercials and their effects on the human brain, concluding with appalling results that can transform the way businesses use marketing. 

Lindstrom unveiled astonishing findings like the inability of gruesome images on cigarette boxes to discourage smoking and having the completely opposite effect. In the book, he also talks about how some products actually cause arousal because they appeal to at least one of our senses other than sight.

Buyology is an exciting journey that takes the readers through multiple highs and lows. The book is not only appealing to marketers, but it is also fascinating for the consumer that gets seduced or turned off by brands as a result of their marketing practices every day.  

3. This is Marketing by Seth Godin

Published on 15th November 2018, this is Marketing by Seth Godin climbed its way up the bestselling ladder and was also The Financial Times’s Book of the Month. 

In the book, Godin talks about his “Big Idea” which inculcates marketers using marketing to solve their consumers’ problems. Godin is famous for many marketing techniques and phrases which have now become common practice in the business world. The book is the one-stop shop for all of his brilliant ideas. 

The book focuses on identifying and targeting a small audience, recognizing and interpreting their signals, and then positioning your offering accordingly. Godin encourages marketers to be honest, truthful and vulnerable in front of their audience. He emphasizes a holistic approach to marketing that is timeless and will remain useful regardless of how the tactics of marketing change over time. 

The book has a 4.6-star rating on most platforms, and it is famous for being useful for not only marketeers but for anyone involved and interested in the operations of a business. It is an overall pleasantly readable book and the structure of the content enhances the learning as well. 

4. Epic Content Marketing by Joe Pulizzi

Joe Pulizzi gave the world this masterpiece in 2013 and it still remains a “Must-Read Business Book ” 9 almost nine years later. Known as an expert in content marketing himself, Joe Pulizzi shares his wisdom and experience in his work. He explains how businesses and marketers need to undertake a step-by-step process to make customers want to buy the product without telling them. 

Pulizzi encourages businesses and marketers to create content that is “Epic”. Something that customers can’t get enough of. Identifying a content niche and developing a process to create content that fulfills that niche is how you compel customers to spend their money on your business. 

Coming from the man behind the invention of content marketing, there is no better guide to making your content stand out than this book. Its comprehensive take of presumably technical concepts and techniques really makes it easy for a layman to learn and perfect his skill of creating Epic content. 

The author has managed to provide the perfect blend of art and science to his readers that are crucial to understanding the nuances of the marketing world and its tendency to constantly evolve. 

5. The Clarity Method by Tim Brownson

One of the recent additions to the list of must-read coaching books is The Clarity Method by Tim Brownson published in May 2019. 

As the name suggests, the book aims to help professionals gain clarity about their goals and aspirations and make better decisions regarding their professional lives. It emphasizes the need to understand your core values and implement them in everything you do regardless of your profession. When you are aware of your core values and give them due importance, you can realize your own potential and help others around you do the same.

After reading The Clarity Method, you will be able to get to know your clients better and effectively improve your decision-making process in terms of time and quality. If you need to accelerate your skill of coaching to help yourself and those around you, this is the book for you. 

The author of the book comes off as a humble, practical person that gives you actionable tips on how to become a better version of yourself. It is an interesting read with little pearls of additional wisdom here and there which really make you question and reassess your choices and improve them. 

6. Social Media ROI by Olivier Blanchard

“Social Media Roi: Managing and Measuring Social Media Efforts in Your Organization” was published in 2011 and has since garnered much popularity because of the valuable lessons in the book. It includes intense discussions about the involvement of social media in organizational operations and takes the reader on a journey from the beginning to the end of building a strategy to achieve goals. 

The author gets down and dirty about the technicalities of social media but in a type of language that is comprehensible by a layman. It helps readers understand the importance of social media and how incorporating it into the business strategy can bring massive returns on investment.

The book was way ahead of its time when it was published almost 10 years ago, and its teachings are relevant today more than ever with the rampant increase in social media consumption and influence.

The book is especially great because the author doesn’t just make claims, he supports each and every of his stands with structured reasoning and always provides explanations about why he takes a particular stand. This kind of writing helps readers truly understand the applications of the tips and techniques given in the text. 

7. The Anatomy of Buzz by Emanuel Rosen

So far we’ve talked about books that marketers can read to help coaches with their conventional marketing strategies. One of the most powerful yet seldom talked about marketing tools is word-of-mouth marketing. The Anatomy of Buzz by Emanuel Rosen, published in the year 2000, covers that part of the marketing world. 

Research has shown that customers rely most on reviews by friends and family when making purchasing decisions. Something as unreliable as customer reviews posted on websites by strangers. The book talks about customers having the power to influence each other using word of mouth. 

The Anatomy of Buzz, along with other books by the author, has been translated into 13 languages and was a national bestseller. It is a useful book in terms of quick learning about marketing tools and can prove to be very rewarding if the concepts are applied in business operations. It gives a clearer meaning to the word “buzz” in relation to marketing practices and, although some readers find it repetitive and outdated, it is an easy read overall. 

8. Do. Say. by Ron Tite

In October 2019, Ron Tite put forth this masterpiece in the marketing world signaling to people that it is time to cut through the noise and take the first step to make things happen. Tite gives a refreshing perspective in a world full of influencers and “successful” people giving out tips for a shortcut to success. Think. Do. Say. Three words, with the most emphasis on the order they are written in. 

The author encourages his readers to act on what they want to do first and then talk about it. He nudges people to make things happen. Combined with a good load of humor, Tite’s claims make brilliant sense, and the integrated marketing and branding concepts are the cherries on top. The action statements are not only relevant to business personnel, but they can be incredibly useful in everyday life as well. 

9. Made to Stick By Chip Heath & Dan Heath

Marketing is all about innovation. There are plenty of ideas presented about all kinds of marketing strategies every day but what differentiates those that stick around from the ones that don’t? Chip and Dan Heath are both accomplished idea collectors and educators and they use their work to talk to their readers about the stickiness of ideas. 

Published in the year 2007, Made to Stick is one of those reads that makes you reassess the way you think about the things and people around you. When it comes to ideas, the key ingredient in making them stick is the way you communicate them. There is a plethora of success stories revolving around idea generation but emphasis also needs to be put on the failures. 

All ideas can be transformed into ideas that stick if we use the principles detailed in this book. There are also multiple techniques to help with the application of the ideas. The book has been a popular read among people who have ideas regardless of their profession. It was a New York Times and Wall Street Journal Best Seller and also was named the “best of the year” in multiple categories. 

10. Influence by Robert Cialdini

“Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion” by Robert Cialdini was published in 1984 and has since remained an integral part of most must-read books lists. As is apparent in the name, the book contains explanations about the human behavior of agreeing to do something or saying yes. The book is the amalgamation of Robert Cialdini’s 35 years of research and gathering evidence. 

The book majorly revolves around six principles that are regarded as universal. It educates the reader on how to use and implement these principles to become an expert in persuasion and how to avoid falling victim to the same tricks. 

The knowledge about persuasion-tactic can be valuable for a coach in terms of marketing their service to potential clients and convincing them to avail the service they are offering. The book’s content is interesting to read and is applicable to all walks of life.