10 Best Marketing books to add to your library

Looking to expand your marketing library? Or maybe you’re curious about the latest findings in the digital sphere?

Here’s a top 10 list of my favourite marketing books to add to your arsenal. The list includes both marketing staples, as well as some wildcards I’ve come across over the years and absolutely love.

1. Building a Story Brand

By Donald Miller

Storytelling continues to be a crucial part of brand positioning, and Miller refreshes the concept with relatable examples that occur in the business world. He takes us through his 7 steps to create a compelling brand narrative that is not only effective for B2C marketing, but also in developing your company culture and identity.

Whether you’re starting your marketing journey or are seeking a refresh, this book has got you covered.

Get building now, buy the book here.

2. Marketing in the #Fakenews Era

By Peter Horst

In this day and age, marketers are challenged by the polarization of the marketplace; consumers are prepared to speak out against that of which they disagree on and the stakes are high when you’re a big brand.

Horst provides guidance on how marketers can stay in line and avoid wildfire, as well as what to do should a PR nightmare arise.

Get your own copy here.

3. Hit Makers

By Derek Thompson

If you love media history, this one’s for you. From Impressionist art to Angry Birds, Thompson goes back 2 centuries to dissect what makes a “hit” with consumers. His study aims to uncover common elements that make things popular.

Spoiler alert! He determines that most of these “hits” are MAYA, an acronym he uses for “Most Advanced, Yet Accessible,” meaning it’s new enough to grab your attention, but familiar enough as to not be intimidating.

Get it here.

4. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

By Robert B. Cialdini, PH.D.

With over 5 million copies sold worldwide, it’s no wonder this book is a staple in most marketers’ libraries. Cialdini dives deep into the psychology of why people convert, and how we, as marketers, can apply these learnings ethically to our daily practice.

Marketing insights aside, this is a great resource to learn about the many influences we encounter in our everyday lives. Trust me when I say you’ll close this book with a hyper awareness of when you’re being manipulated negatively for profit, rather than persuaded gently for your benefit.

You can purchase the latest revision of Influence here.

5. This is Marketing

By Seth Godin

The unofficial ‘Marketing God,’ Seth Godin’s second book aims to help marketers showcase their offering to the market the right way. He tackles building trust with your audience, brand positioning, guiding the decision-making journey, as well as addressing those digital marketing strategies that should be put to pasture. This may be a classic, but it’s a good one.

If you’re looking for an evergreen, all-encompassing marketing book to sink your teeth into, this is my top pick.

Buy Godin’s book here.

6. Blue Ocean Shift

By W. Chan Kim & Renée Mauborgne

Authors Kim and Mauborgne show how businesses are making the shift from competing with others, to competing with themselves internally to make their company the best it can be.

Chock-full with case studies and research, they explain the benefits of dominating your own business to stand out.

Pick it up here.

7. When Coffee and Kale Compete

By Alan Klement

The jobs-to-be-done theory can get a bit overwhelming, and Klement’s take on it really helped me understand the theory using real-world examples that stick. After reading this one, you’ll be rethinking customer development moving forward, trust me.

Purchase the book here.

8. Top of Mind

By John Hall

Hall aims to teach marketers how to keep their brands top of mind for consumers using content. He looks into case studies and examples of various brand successes and how they’ve built trust with their consumers.

If you want to step your content game up and develop a highly engaged audience, this might be worth the read.

Get Top of Mind here.

9. Killing Marketing

By Joe Pulizzi & Robert Rose

First off, this book is NOT about killing marketing. It’s about how we as marketers should look at the marketing industry as a whole and challenge our marketing beliefs.

Pulizzi and Rose explore why businesses consider marketing to be a cost, when it should be seen as an investment to better the customer experience.

If you think you know everything about marketing, get ready for a few unexpected surprises with this one.

Pick up Killing Marketing here.

10. Performance Partnerships

By Robert Glazer

This one’s for all you marketers that do affiliate marketing (or plan on doing some in the future!). While this book takes a deep dive into the performance-based marketing process, it’s also a great read on developing meaningful relationships for your brand.

Glazer goes back and looks at the history of affiliate marketing and how we, as marketers, can use tactics from the past and revamp them for the future since transparency is increasingly becoming key to successful affiliate marketing.

Purchase the book here.

Special Mentions

While the 10 books mentioned above are my go-to’s, I wanted to give a special shoutout to these marketing classics I also think deserve a special spot on your shelf:

The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
Atomic Habits by James Clear
Building Brand Communities by Carrie Melissa Jones
The Age of Influence by Neil Schaffer
Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products by Nir Eyal
Contagious: Why Things Catch On by Jonah Berger

That’s my list of marketing books to add to your library – have any other suggestions? We’re always looking to expanding our knowledge base, so let us know!

*Some links in this post are Amazon Affiliate links, meaning we get a cut of Bezos’ fortune whenever you purchase a book using our link.