Reading about Digital Marketing in books or ebooks, may seem almost quaint to some. The form and subject matter almost seem like the opposites of each other. If the industry could be turned on its head any minute by Google jumping out of the bushes with a new announcement, how, you might ask, could a medium often published on a yearly basis provide any useful incite for digital marketers? Well, read on and you’ll find out.
There is a rich treasure chest of books out there for those of you who still enjoy a good read. Many of these books provide a much needed sense of perspective on Digital Marketing which is often missing from Digital Marketing blogs which have a tendency to prioritize novelty over perspective, or just spend their time having a meltdown about the latest Google update.
There are still many aspects of Digital Marketing that we have to go online to get— for example, I can’t see a novelisation of Google trends coming out any time soon and there will always be a time and place for Marketing blogs, but many of us are currently spending a lot more time at home, so perhaps now might be a good time to finally read up on those key areas of Digital Marketing and Business that we’ve been meaning to. To help with this, here are 5 good reads on important areas of focus for digital marketers.
Whether your website supports a bricks and mortar business or is an all-in-one E-commerce platform like OpenCart, digitization has made the notion of creating a clear and professional brand identity into something that businesses of all sizes must spend time working on and creating. Whether you are looking to develop a clearer message in your Social Media, or to do a complete overhaul of your brand identity. A good place to start is
Building A Story Brand
by Donald Miller
ISBN-10: 1400201837
ISBN-13: 978-1400201839
Miller is the CEO of StoryBrand, cohost of theBuilding A StoryBrand podcast, his New York Times best selling book provides useful tips on how to create more effective messaging for websites, brochures and Social Media as well as an explanation of the author’s seven universal story points that he believes all humans respond to.
If you are looking for a fun and interesting way into a more conceptual take on marketing, Seth Godin is someone worth looking up. Seth would be one of the first to say that he is not everyone’s cup of tea, but his books and content is certainly worth checking out, Seth always uses creative and entertaining ways to make his points. To get a feel for his style, watch his Ted talk from 2014 . Seth has many books, one of which famously came with a free purple milk carton, he is afterall a master of quirky marketing. His most recent book is a good place to start:
This is Marketing: You Can’t Be Seen Until You Learn To See
ISBN-10: 0241370140
ISBN-13: 978-0241370148
The book makes some great points about the fundamentals of marketing in the 21st century, finding a niche and building an audience for your brand, as well as providing a good further reading list in the back.
The starting point of Digital Marketing is not building a website but understanding why you need a website and who it is for. General books on the topics of Digital Marketing can be a great help in developing this concept. A useful book that has provided consistent useful tips on marketing strategies in its multiple variations over the last decade is:
The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use Content Marketing, Podcasting,
Social Media, AI, Live Video, and Newsjacking to Reach Buyers Directly
By David Meerman Scott
ISBN-10: 1119651549
ISBN-13: 978-1119651543
for 7th edition
The 7th edition of the original English version will be published this year. So now is a good time to get a previous edition a little cheaper, or wait until June to get Scott’s latest take on what’s important in Digital Marketing and PR. His book is recommended by numerous respected Marketers, including Seth Godin.
The growing importance of Digital Marketing is a key development from the rapid digitization of society. This change is so fundamental that it is not just breaking down borders between countries,it is rediving responsibility within the departments of most businesses.
Websites bagan as a novelty in the 90s, but today, more and more businesses interact solely with customers through their website. This means that for many companies, a website is now the center point of their business. The effective running of a business’s website increasingly requires more and more input from every department. Ultimately this will lead to us all fundamentally rethinking the structure of our businesses. If you are pondering these questions, A go to text for incite is.
Zero to One: Notes on Start Ups, or How to Build the Future
by Peter Thiel with Blake Masters
ISBN-10: 0753555190
ISBN-13: 978-0753555194
This book is classic read for all aspiring entrepreneurs but even those who aren’t interested in the silicon valley mindset will find useful advice here for the future.
If you are interested in learning about startups entrepreneurs and tech businesses in the UK market, you can check out TechRound to gain more insights.
When it comes to making changes to our current website or building a new one, there is plenty of literature out there that can help. For those of you out there who have already built a website and are looking to improve it for usability and conversions:
Don’t Make Think 3rd Edition
by Steve Krug
ISBN-10: 9780321965516
ISBN-13: 978-0321965516
First published in English at the start of the millennium it is widely considered to be one of the founding texts of User Experience design (UX). It has been subsequently updated and republished in multiple editions and languages, Don’t make me think uses a nice mixture of humour and great examples that really help web designers gain a deeper understanding of how users actually experience a website.
Wordpress is the most popular choice for first time site designers who want to go it alone.
Creating your own website has become much easier than the old days of hardcore coding.
That said, if you are going for the .org rather than the .com version option just installing Wordpress on your computer for the first time, is quite a fiddly process. If you choose this option you will also have to take care of the technical day to day running of your site, performing activities such as redirects and maintaining site security and updates. These are all activities that shouldn’t be undertaken blindly,so if you are going it alone, There are plenty of reference books out there to build up your knowledge and highlight important considerations. A good place to start is
WordPress All-In-One For Dummies
by Lisa Sabin-Wilson
This book says it all in the title.
ISBN-10: 1119553156
ISBN-13: 978-1119553151
We hope you enjoy reading at least one of these books. We’ll still be here with the blog for all the latest news and tips about Digital Marketing.