Here's why I included this page...
People are constantly asking me where they can find a good book on copywriting, or sales letters, or marketing ideas for a home-based business, or on how to market a business on the Internet.
I always like those questions, because I love books. I must admit that haven't always enjoyed books. In fact, I didn't start to really read until I was past 30. But you can't deny the truth...if you really want lots of details about an issue of interest, your best bet it to read into a really good book on the subject.
Notice I didn't say "read" a book. Most of us don't have the time to sit down and read an entire book from cover to cover. Most good writers know this. They design their books to be "flipped" through. Left on the night stand to be looked through again before bed a week later.
Here are a few books on marketing that I think fall into the exceptional category. Of all the hundreds of books I've read on marketing, advertising, media, and sales over the years...the handful listed here are sure bets.
Usually I tell people to look for these books at the library. After all, your taxes pay for libraries, the books there are free for you to take home and read, and libraries are wonderful places to do a little business research. (I truly believe that if we could clear two hours each week for our big corporate C.E.O.s to spend time browsing in the library, the American economy would grow through the roof!)
Sometimes, though, you want to BUY a really good book just to have it on hand for those many times when you want to pick it up again for a fresh idea or a new inspiration.
The links below will take you directly to the page on Amazon.com where you can order the book. If you wind up there by mistake, just click the "back" button on your browser and return to this page.
For books on Direct Mail and Copywriting, you can't beat the books by Robert W. Bly. Bob is a top-notch New York City copywriter turned author. His books are fun to read and filled with great information.
Check out Bly's The Copywriter's Handbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing Copy That Sells ($13.95). Also think about picking up Power-Packed Direct Mail: How to Get More Leads and Sales By Mail ($14.95).
I also like Bly's Selling Your Services: Proven Strategies for Getting Clients to Hire You or Your Firm ($13.45). If you don't already have a business of your own, you'll be wanting to start one after you've read 30 pages into this book! It's one of the best...and as always with Bly, it's a fun read!
For people looking for ways to market on-line, my absolute favorite is a cheap little book by Guerrilla Marketing guru Jay Conrad Levinson called Guerrilla Marketing Online Weapons: 100 Low-Cost, High Impact Weapons for Online Profits and Prosperity ($7.77). Levinson covers all the bases..and for under eight bucks you can't go wrong!
Levinson has spun his Guerrilla series into dozens of best-selling business books, but the original is still the best. Get his updated Guerrilla Marketing: Secrets for Making Big Profits From Your Small Business ($11.65).
Also, for a rundown of lots of great and inexspensive marketing ideas for small business, see Levinson's Guerrilla Marketing Weapons: 100 Affordable Marketing Methods for Maximizing Profits From Your Small Business ($11.65).
I would be in left field if I didn't mention the marketing books by Dr. Jeffrey Lant. Jeffrey (don't call him Jeff!) is a slightly surly gentleman who became disillusioned when he graduated with a Ph.D. from Harvard and couldn't get a job. He, instead, became an entrepreneur and has made MILLIONS self-publishing his own books.
His books are way over-priced (a fact that Lant is very proud of) but nobody packs the how-to details like Jeffrey. If you call him at his Boston home-based office, he'll charge you more than Amazon.com. So it's not a bad idea to order from the links below.
His best book by far is Money-Making Marketing: Finding the People Who Need What You're Selling and Making Sure They Buy It ($35). A very good, very detailed how-to on marketing any kind of business.
Jeffrey also knows how to use the media (as well as anyone, I might add) and has a wonderful book titled The Unabashed Self-Promoters Guide: What Every Man, Woman, Child and Organization in America Needs to Know About Getting Ahead by Exploiting the Media ($35). Couldn't say it better myself. Jeffrey pulls no punches in this one. The plain, cold facts about how the media works and how you can benefit from knowing about it.
Also check into Lant's Cash Copy: How to Offer Your Products and Services So Your Prospects Buy Them ($35) and, for network marketers, Multi-Level-Money: The Complete Guide to Generating, Closing and Working With All the People You Need to Make Real Money Every Month in Network Marketing ($19.95).
My favorite book on selling is also the simplest. See Selling for Dummies by Tom Hopkins (a master salesman who went to his first sales call dressed in a band uniform because he didn't own a suit).
Since all of us are reading this on a computer, let me include a sort-of-computer book I'm reading currently. It's Michael L. Dertouzos' What Will Be: How the New World of Information Will Change Our Lives (was $25 when I bought it, now Amazon.com has it for $15!) Dertouzos is one of the big guys at M.I.T. where the future of computers and communication is literally being invented. His view of our technological future is fascinating, and I think better balanced than some of the other books on this subject.
Those are just a few of my faves. Amazon.com charges a fee for packaging and shipping which they tell you all about before you pay. I've ordered lots of books from them and have been very pleased with their service (much to the dismay of my wife who is always complaining that I buy way too many books.)
Thanks for reading!
Kevin
Kevin Nunley helps small and mid-sized businesses build effective marketing. Reach him at DrNunley@aol.com or at (801)253-4536. Ask for his free marketing report and list of Special Reports and Tapes that make you a marketing whiz in dozens of areas. Also ask how he can help you build your on-line presence.
