10 Best Digital Marketing Books To Make You A Game Changer

The importance of digital marketing strategies is irrefutable today. However, the internet, we all know, is whimsical. Trends come and go and internet marketing can get really erratic and volatile. So how do you zero in on the perfect marketing strategy?

The key is to strike a balance — a balance between current trends and a solid strategy to fall back on. This might sound daunting right off the bat, but thankfully a number of good books penned by marketing gurus are available to help us in our search for that perfect marketing formula. Here we have compiled a list of the top 10 best digital marketing books available in the market. Take a look at techniques that work.

1. ‘Permission Marketing’ by Seth Godin

Turn strangers into friends and friends into customers – this is the simple and yet ground-breaking approach that this book advocates. What makes it a must-read is Godin’s formula of “permission marketing”.
An internet marketing genius, Godin uses lucid language interlaced with compelling humor to elaborate on his approach. He says that traditional advertisements like telemarketing calls, newspaper promotions, and television commercials are all designed to interrupt consumers from their task at hand. This kind of intrusive advertising ends up annoying them defeating the purpose of marketing. Thus, Godin talks instead about offering customers incentives that would make them accept advertisements voluntarily. This fundamentally different approach and out-of-the-box thinking is what makes this book an indispensable resource for anyone interested in learning the ropes of digital marketing.

2. ‘Contagious: Why Things Catch On’ by Jonah Berger

Have you ever wondered why some content go viral and some don’t? Why some pick-up lines work and others don’t? What makes you share an online article? How do you utilize the power of word-of-the-mouth? Berger presents a well-researched and insightful answer to all these questions in his book. This is the good kind of “contagious”.
What makes it an excellent read is the simple but compelling manner in which Berger writes, often with the help of anecdotes. In this age of networking, coming up with a viral ad campaign is every marketer’s dream. And Berger’s book provides you all the right resources of making your idea “catch on”.

3. ‘Youtility: Why Smart Marketing is about Help not Hype’ by Jay Baer

We all know that customers are smart enough to look beyond the curated hype to choose a product that is truly useful to them. And yet companies spend billions of dollars on advertising campaigns every year to beat drums about products that do not end up helping the targeted customers. Why, then, would a customer come back to your company?
This is the potent question that Baer poses. One of the best digital marketing books available in the market, it brings back to focus the golden rule ⎯ “Place the Customer First“. It is indeed, a wonderful resource for professionals who are looking for a no-hype, no-fluff guide to the basic blocks of marketing.

4. ‘Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World’ by Gary Vaynerchuk

There is no dearth of digital marketing books available today, and yet none of them manage to explain the importance of storytelling as well as this book does. Indeed, in the deluge of feeds that flood our mailboxes every day, only a good story can stand out. This book goes far beyond the “how-to” approaches for different platforms and does a great job of explaining the basic tricks of marketing with practical wisdom. It is a must-read for its simplicity and usefulness.

5. ‘Traction: A Startup Guide to Getting Customers’ by Gabriel Weinberg

Startups have aggressively used digital marketing over the last few years as there is indeed no better platform to gain traction when you are just starting out. But then you must know how to utilize the marketing channels effectively. Weinberg’s book outlines 19 different marketing channels that every startup must know about. Needless to say, this book should be every entrepreneur’s best friend.

6. ‘Ogilvy on Advertising’ by David Ogilvy

If there ever was a messiah in the world of advertising, it is David Ogilvy. It is an example of those rare books that survive despite all the changing trends and all the changing times. Ogilvy outlines everything that an advertisement professional worth his salt must know about – from typography and graphic designing to smart writing. Though some of the examples might seem outdated in today’s context, this book will definitely influence the way you think. Often referred to as the go-to-guide for smart advertising, Ogilvy on Advertising is a classic that no one should miss.

7. ‘Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions’ by Dan Ariely

If you are trying to sell something, you cannot do so without understanding how your customer thinks. And this is why you should read Dan Ariely’s book. Essentially about Behavioral Economics, Ariely examines consumer spending patterns and how they are affected by marketing campaigns. The author has used simple and humorous language to make the complex concepts of behavioral economics understandable to the reader. It is insightful, well-researched and manages to hold the reader’s attention throughout. Read this book because you must know what your customer is thinking.

8. ‘Marketing Management’ by Philip Kotler, Kevin Lane Keller

A Classic in its own right, Kotler’s book has been used as an academic text in many a Business Management program. Now in its 15th edition, the book has kept pace with current trends, is logically structured and provides a comprehensive and insightful overview of the entire world of marketing.

9. ‘Growth Hacker Marketing: A Primer on the Future of PR, Marketing, and Advertising’ by Ryan Holiday

This book is meant for today’s fast track generation. Crisp, concise and relevant, you can read the book cover to cover in five hours and yet manage to grasp all the complex concepts that the book manages to deconstruct beautifully. This indeed describes the future of marketing and should be read enthusiastically by both the newcomers and experienced marketing professionals.

10. ‘The Art of SEO’ by Eric Enge, Stephan Spencer, Jessie Stricchiola, Rand Fishkin

You have a great web page, beautiful ad, and smart graphics. And yet, your website has no traffic. What good, then is your ad campaign? There, indeed, is no better place to bury information than in the second page of search results. This is where Search Engine Optimization or SEO comes into the picture.
Written by four experts in the field of SEO, The Art of SEO provides a comprehensive overview of the SEO concept. Several terms are explained at depth and various fool-proof techniques are explained. The big picture of SEO, indeed becomes a little clearer with this book.

There definitely is no shortage of books in the market on digital marketing. These might range from How-To guides, and Quick-hit SEO techniques to preachy literature about do’s and don’ts of the marketing. The list of best digital marketing books that we have compiled here is, however, the ones that marketing professionals swear by. Useful for both the beginner and the veteran, you can find the answer to all your marketing queries within these pages. Happy Reading!

This post was originally published at Lenro blog : http://lenro.co/blog/top-10-best-digital-marketing-books/