I read many books for my job that deal with education, but my true passion is marketing. My top five books for 2016 concentrate on content marketing, digital marketing and analytics. One of the top five books was even written by a graduate of the very district I work for.
So without further delay, in no order, here are my top five books of 2016:
1. Welcome to the Funnel by Jason Miller
Buy the Book Here: Welcome to the Funnel
From Amazon.com
Raising brand awareness, building trust, establishing credibility, and ultimately driving revenue, that’s what the top of the funnel is all about. It can be a marketer’s “Paradise City”, but without focus, it can quickly become overwhelming. The one-two punch of social media and content marketing is a vital part of any successfully integrated marketing approach. If you are not pairing these two powerhouses together then you are simply missing opportunities to grow your business. The tactics and strategies in this book have come together through a tremendous amount of research, trial and error, expert input, and real world applications.
From startups to enterprise—what’s included here works across the board and can very quickly make an impact. Just like your favorite double album, this book is separated into four sides, each one addressing a different aspect of Content and Social Media.
2. Momentum by Shama Hyder
I have been a fan of Shama since her first book The Zen of Social Media Marketing. Like her bio says, she is one of the top voices in marketing and social. She is also a graduate of the district I currently work in. Her book is chock full of great digital marketing examples to use in your own business or school district.
Buy the Book Here: Momentum
From Amazon.com
Today's online ecosystem can be summed up in one word: overwhelming. With new social media platforms popping up all the time and new technologies disrupting even the most “reliable” marketing strategies, business and nonprofit leaders and marketers are faced with the challenge of getting ahead in an environment that makes it seem impossible to keep up.
Momentum: How to Propel Your Marketing and Transform Your Brand in the Digital Age will help you figure out what’s important and what can safely be set aside. No matter your industry, if want to gain momentum for your marketing efforts—along with the just rewards—Momentum is the resource you’ve been waiting for. Based on her experience as CEO of The Marketing ZenGroup and her work with clients ranging from small businesses to Fortune 500 companies, Shama Hyder cuts through the complexity and explains the five essential principles required to develop a successful marketing plan that will withstand the digital world’s constant changes and result in real ROI.
3. Content Inc. by Joe Pulizzi
Buy the Book Here: Content Inc.
From Amazon.com
In Content Inc., one of today's most sought-after content-marketing strategists reveals a new model for entrepreneurial success. Simply put, it's about developing valuable content, building an audience around that content, and then creating a product for that audience.
Notice a shift?
Author Joe Pulizzi flips the traditional entrepreneurial approach of first creating a product and then trying to find customers. It's a brilliant reverse-engineering of a model that rarely succeeds.
The radical six-step business-building process revealed in this book is smart, simple, practical, and cost-effective. And best of all, it works. It's a strategy Pulizzi used to build his own successful company, Content Marketing Institute, which has landed on Inc. magazine's list of fastest growing private companies for three years straight. It's also a strategy countless other entrepreneurs use to build their own multi-million dollar companies. Build an audience and you'll be able to sell pretty much anything you want.
4. The Analytical Marketer by Adele Sweetwood
Buy the Book Here: The Analytical Marketer
From Amazon.com
Analytics are driving big changes, not only in what marketing departments do but in how they are organized, staffed, led, and run. Leaders are grappling with issues that range from building an analytically driven marketing organization and determining the kinds of structure and talent that are needed to leading interactions with IT, finance, and sales and creating a unified view of the customer. The Analytical Marketer provides critical insight into the changing marketing organization—digital, agile, and analytical—and the tools for reinventing it.
Written by the head of global marketing for SAS, The Analytical Marketer is based on the author’s firsthand experience of transforming a marketing organization from “art” to “art and science.” Challenged and inspired by their company’s own analytics products, the SAS marketing team was forced to rethink itself in order to take advantage of the new capabilities that those tools offer the modern marketer. Key marketers and managers at SAS tell their stories alongside the author’s candid lessons learned as she led the marketing organization’s transformation. With additional examples from other leading companies, this book is a practical guide and set of best practices for creating a new marketing culture that thrives on and adds value through data and analytics.
5. #AskGaryVee by Gary Vaynerchuk
What's not to love about the fouled-mouth marketer from New York? Gary tells it how it is and what he is saying is always spot-on. His fast-growing Vayner Media is on of the fastest growing digital agencies in the country. His short burst of insights in his book are a great resource for any entrepreneur and marketer who wants to take the digital age by storm.
Buy the book Here: #AskGaryVee
The New York Times bestselling author draws from his popular show #AskGaryVee to offer surprising, often outrageous, and imminently useful and honest answers to everything you’ve ever wanted to know—and more—about navigating the new world.
Gary Vaynerchuk—the inspiring and unconventional entrepreneur who introduced us to the concept of crush it—knows how to get things done, have fun, and be massively successful. A marketing and business genius, Gary had the foresight to go beyond traditional methods and use social media tools such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube to reach an untapped audience that continues to grow.
#AskGaryVee showcases the most useful and interesting questions Gary has addressed on his popular show. Distilling and expanding on the podcast’s most urgent and evergreen themes, Gary presents practical, timely, and timeless advice on marketing, social media, entrepreneurship, and everything else you’ve been afraid to ask but are dying to know. Gary gives you the insights and information you need on everything from effectively using Twitter to launching a small business, hiring superstars to creating a personal brand, launching products effectively to staying healthy—and even buying wine.
Whether you’re planning to start your own company, working in digital media, or have landed your first job in a traditional company, #AskGaryVee is your essential guide to making things happen in a big way.
What are your top choices for books in 2016? Leave your list in the comment section below or let me know on Twitter at @wheelercfb
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