13 of the best books on marketing 📚

Hey 👋

Welcome to Neighbourhood Post issue #24 - easy to implement digital marketing ideas straight through your metaphorical letterbox.

I hope you’ve had a good week.

Are you a reader? Or an audiobook-listener? Here’s a list of the 13 essential reads for digital marketers. All highly recommended. 📚

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The best 13 reads for digital marketers 🤓

I don’t read many books.

Despite what this list suggests, I’m not one of those people that can read one a week. It takes me about 3-4 months.

But here are some I’ve enjoyed over the last 10 years.

They span digital, marketing, branding, business and more.

And like last week, these books are gathering dust on my bookshelf so if you want to read one, reply with your address and I’ll post you my copy.

Counting down to the best I’ve read…

#13 Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen. Taking the marketing world by storm back in 2018, StoryBrand is a framework that helps you communicate what you do. It takes the well known movie narrative and applies it to the world of business. Worth knowing about, but the framework has some key flaws in my opinion.

#12 Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire People To Take Action. The famous one. Again, I’m not really a fan of the oversimplified approach, but are you even a marketer if you haven’t quoted Sinek?

#11 Writing To Sell: The Ultimate Guide To Good Copywriting. Writing good copy is a superpower. It’s the most undervalued skill in business. When you write words that prompt action, you can do almost anything. This book taught me so much.

#10 The Elements of Style. Another one that helps on the copywriting front, but this is a mini-manual that fits in your pocket and makes you feel a bit like Don Draper. It’s old school, but I like it.

#9 Good Strategy Bad Strategy. I mentioned this one last week. So many of us think we know strategy, but we don’t. Richard Rumelt unpacks it with brilliant examples and clear frameworks.

#8 The Brand Gap. Published back in 2003, this book paved the way for some of the holistic brand thinking we take for granted today. Very conceptual, but a helpful, creative read.

#7 Making Ideas Happen. I read this shortly after becoming a Marketing Manager and it helped shape a lot of the processes and approaches we had as a team. It also taught me that the value of an un-actioned idea is zero.

#6 The Creative Act: A Way of Being. In many ways this is a tough read, but there’s some gold in there. Highly theoretically and conceptual, Rick Rubin (founder of Def Jam Records) looks at the very heart of creativity using metaphors to describe some of the indescribable aspects of innovation.

#5 Ogilvy on Advertising. I love this book. I fully believe that the key to digital success still lies in the foundations of advertising set out decades ago. The legendary David Ogilvy shares a masterclass in ideation and execution of advertising ideas. More thinking like this in digital campaigns please.

#4 Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World. Working at your highest level requires your full attention. I wish I had the willpower to implement Cal Newport’s theories more effectively! Bonus book: If you enjoyed this, make sure you read Stolen Focus too.

#3 Creativity Inc: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration. The memoirs of Ed Catmull, co-founder of Pixar. There’s some grand ideas in here that 99% of companies would struggle to implement, but equally it’s a great story of how Pixar rose to its heights by prioritising creative collaboration.

#2 Alchemy: The Surprising Power of Ideas That Don't Make Sense. When does the illogical become logical? Rory Sutherland takes behavioural science, advertising theory and plenty of wit and combines them into a manifesto for thinking outside the box. A brilliant look at the state of the human mind and the power of marketing.

#1 Shoe Dog: A Memoir By The Creator of Nike. Are you disappointed my number one book isn’t necessarily about digital? I couldn’t not put it at number one, it’s that good. Every page is packed full of gold, but it also reads easy like a novel. It’s a story of determination and grit, but it’s also about establishing marketing fit, brand positioning, marketing-led growth, and so much more.

I’d love to hear if you’ve got a suggestion not on this list - just hit reply. Please! 📩

I won’t see you next Friday. It’s Good Friday and none of us will be reading email, so I won’t be writing one for you. But enjoy the long weekend, and see you in two weeks. ✌️

What we’re looking at 👀 and listening to 👂

📚 Right, we’re all going to read Shoe Dog, we’ve decided.

🎬 Dan heard a Gen Z describe Dune as “The Lord of The Rings for our generation” and so decided to check it out. It was good, but the comparison does Sean Bean a major disservice. One does not simply recreate Lord of the Rings for a new generation.

Before you go - we’ll never use these newsletters to directly sell you our services, but we’re always here if you need any expertise or support 👍