Like many digital marketers, I like to network, be it at tradeshows, meet-ups, or through LinkedIn. And one of the questions I get asked most is “What books do you recommend I should read?” That is often followed by “Which authors or bloggers do you follow?” So I thought it would be helpful to mention the 3 most powerful digital marketing books that will definitely boost your career, or help you get started.
Think of it this way: if you’re not motivated, driven, or salivating to transform your marketing/marketing career after reading these books, you may want to change careers. In no particular order:
-
Six Pixels of Separation by Mitch Joel
No book or author has shaped my career more than Six Pixels of Separation and Mitch Joel. Mitch was one of the first authors to write a book that integrated the following core concepts: digital marketing, social media, personal branding, and entrepreneurship. In fact, you may not be reading this blog if it weren’t for his inspiration on branding yourself and Alaa Hassan’s equally important Passion Tribe community.
Not only is Mitch Montreal-born and a journalist by trade – just like me – he is a mastermind at forecasting what concepts and strategies are coming. And if you’re like me, you have a passion for all things digital, but you may at times wonder – how can I keep up with all this change? A phrase Mitch wrote in the book helped me put things into perspective, and should help you do the same: “Be curious about everything, but ruthless in what you get involved with.” If you have a passion and drive to be great, that is a good first step to being a digital rockstar like Mitch is.
He maintains that online channels should not be built simply to push more sales. They need to build loyalty, community, and conversation. If those are done well, the sales will come (for any Ecommerce leaders out there, be sure to focus on the holistic view when building your business plan, and not just on sales, even though the CFO might be twisting your arm).
If you’re not sold on reading this masterpiece yet, check out a few of these chapter titles: Google You…Just Like You Google Me; You Are Media; From Mass Media to “Me” Media; Tribal Knowledge; and one of my favourites, Digital Nomad.
Mid-way through the book, he quotes Mark Twain: “Find out where people are going and get there first.” If your marketing or branding is stuck on auto-pilot, the concepts in this book will surely make you think hard, and elevate your digital game in a hurry.
-
Web Analytics 2.0 by Avinash Kaushik
Firstly, let me start out by mentioning that Web Analytics 2.0 has 400+ pages. If you’re still with me, good. For some reason, large books scare people off. Perhaps they think there is too much info, or it will take too much time to read, which is absurd.
Any marketer needs to understand the fundamentals of reporting and analytics. We are in a big data world, where everyone is looking for insights using numbers. Web Analytics 2.0 can help get you comfortable using data to your advantage, even if you’re not a math whiz (I know I sure aren’t).
This book enables you to understand analytics frameworks, and apply them. It is not just simply filled with print screens of where to find the reporting you need. It is a full view of where to find it, how to look for it, why to look for it, when to look for it, how to test it, and how to analyze and optimize the results.
If you are already familiar with Avinash Kaushik’s Occam’s Razor blog, good start. If you’re not, add it to your blog feed, as the concepts he presents in his book are often broken out further in the blog posts he writes.
While the book does focus on using Google Analytics (Avinash is a Google Evangelist), he does touch on various analytics and testing tools like KISSmetrics, Coremetrics, SiteCatalyst, and Clicktale, as well as a few others. But the primary examples do come from GA.
This book really helped me jump from what I’d call primary analytics (your traffic visits, bounce rate, new vs returning visitors, time on site, conversion rate, sales, etc) to deep-diving into goals, funnel analysis, and testing to learn and optimize, rather than just for the sake of testing.
Avinash coined the term we now hear so often: Analytics Ninja. Web Analytics 2.0 is great from beginner to expert or “Ninja” level, and can help you attain any levels in between.
-
Data-Driven Marketing by Mark Jeffrey
If you’re a digital marketer or have done some preliminary research on what it takes to be a digital marketer, I am sure you have heard of the first two books on this list. But Data-Driven Marketing is also a powerful, yet under-appreciated book that takes a look at making dollars and sense of your data.
Mark outlines 15 key metrics and methodologies that every marketer needs to, at the very least, understand. He goes into a deep-dive for each of the 15 metrics, which include Churn, Take Rate, Profit, Net Present Value, Cost Per Click, Return on Ad Dollars Spent, and the ever important Customer Lifetime Value.
If the only concept you truly understand – or want to understand – after reading this book is Customer Lifetime Value, you will have a great career. Seriously. This is a concept that many marketers throw around to sound important in meetings, but few truly understand how to calculate it or build the framework. After reading Chapter 6, you’ll be able to back up that talk.
I was introduced to this book at an IBM big data conference in Las Vegas in 2011. And with all the various data sources you need to delve into, I was happy Mark put it this way: “The idea is to figure out which data are important using the 80/20 rule: ask what is the 20% of data that will give you 80% of the value?” So while you may seem lost or inundated with all the data being thrown your way, using the 80/20 rule can help limit the noise.
Books to Keep By Your Side Throughout Your Career
So there you have it – the 3 books that are constantly a resource for me. These are not books you read once and toss away. Six Pixels of Separation, Web Analytics 2.0, and Data-Driven Marketing are all books you keep. If you want to be a digital marketing superstar, these are 3 books you want by your side at all times – that is, through the good, the bad, and the big data.
Have you read these books? If so, what are your thoughts? What would be the 3 digital marketing books you would recommend?
Great post! I’ve read the first two books you mentioned, great marketing books. I have never read your third pick, Data-Driven Marketing, I hope to pick that one up shortly.