30 Must Reads: My Best Marketing Reading List

I love to read (duh). And when I’m not reading supernatural romances, I’m devouring nonfiction business and self improvement titles. (Amazon loves me!)

The following list encompasses some of my favorite, and most recommended titles in the field of marketing. I’ve included links to these titles on Amazon (And yes, these are affiliate links. But if you know me, you know I don’t recommend anything lightly). I’ve also included the authors’ Twitter handles (linked via their names) so you can follow them online for more delicious words of wisdom.

Some of these are classics that I’ve been recommending for years. And others are fairly new — one of ‘em belongs to me! They’re in no particular order. The one thing they all have in common: solid advice and information you need in order to market successfully. Enjoy!

1. Engagement from Scratch!: How Super-Community Builders Create a Loyal Audience and How You Can Do the Same! by Danny Iny, C.C. Chapman, Mitch Joel, Natalie Sisson, Corbett Barr, Danny Brown, Brian Clark, Derek Halpern, Gini Dietrich, Dino Dogan, Evan Carmichael, Guy Kawasaki, Randy Komisar, Kristi Hines, Jeff Bullas, Sean Platt, Mark W. Schaefer, Marcus Sheridan, Adam Toren, Anita Campbell, Alexander Osterwalder
2. Brainfluence: 100 Ways to Persuade and Convince Consumers with Neuromarketing by Roger Dooley
3. Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust by Chris Brogan, Julien Smith
4. It’s Not What You Sell, It’s What You Stand For: Why Every Extraordinary Business Is Driven by Purpose by Roy M. Spence Jr., Haley Rushing
5. Book Yourself Solid: The Fastest, Easiest, and Most Reliable System for Getting More Clients Than You Can Handle Even if You Hate Marketing and Selling by Michael Port
6. Beyond Booked Solid: Your Business, Your Life, Your Way–It’s All Inside by Michael Port
7. Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us by Seth Godin
8. Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant by W. Chan Kim, Renee Mauborgne
9. The Thank You Economy by Gary Vaynerchuk
10. Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions by Guy Kawasaki
11. Launch: How to Quickly Propel Your Business Beyond the Competition by Michael A. Stelzner
12. Content Rules: How to Create Killer Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, Ebooks, Webinars (and More) That Engage Customers and Ignite Your Business (New Rules Social Media Series) by Ann Handley, C.C. Chapman
13. Purple Cow, New Edition: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable by Seth Godin
14. Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? by Seth Godin
15. All Marketers are Liars (with a New Preface): The Underground Classic That Explains How Marketing Really Works–and Why Authenticity Is the Best Marketing of All by Seth Godin
16. Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
17. Guerrilla Marketing (any of his books) by Jay Conrad Levinson
18. The E-Myth Revisited (not strictly marketing but uber important) by Michael E. Gerber
19. The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding by Al Ries and Laura Ries
20. The Ultimate Sales Machine: Turbocharge Your Business with Relentless Focus on 12 Key Strategies by Chet Holmes
21. The Idea Writers: Copywriting in a New Media and Marketing Era (Advertising Age) by Teressa Iezzi
22. Web Copy That Sells: The Revolutionary Formula for Creating Killer Copy That Grabs Their Attention and Compels Them to Buy by Maria Veloso
23. Invisible Ink: A Practical Guide to Building Stories that Resonate by Brian McDonald
24. Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy by Martin Lindstrom
25. Brandwashed: Tricks Companies Use to Manipulate Our Minds and Persuade Us to Buy by Martin Lindstrom
26. Fascinate: Your 7 Triggers to Persuasion and Captivation by Sally Hogshead
27. The Pumpkin Plan: A Simple Strategy to Grow a Remarkable Business in Any Field by Mike Michalowicz
28. Attract and Feed a Hungry Crowd: How Thinking Like a Chef Can Help You Build a Solid Business by Yours Truly (Tea Silvestre)
29. Brandscaping: Unleashing the Power of Partnerships by Andrew M. Davis
30. Social Media is Bullshit by B.J. Mendelson