How to Write an Inspired Creative Brief
by Howard Ibach
In an advertising agency, a creative brief is a set of instructions for the creative team, providing a clear understanding of the communication objectives and expected deliverables. “If you get the brief wrong, the creative work you see at the end of the process, when your team presents it, will also be wrong.” Garbage in, garbage out.
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Repositioning: Marketing in an Era of Competition, Change, and Crisis
by Jack Trout with Steve Rivkin
Repositioning by Jack Trout (1935-2017) is a follow-up to a book called Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind, which Trout co-wrote with Al Ries 30 years prior.
Positioning is a competitive strategy, which Trout defines as “how you differentiate yourself in the mind of your prospect.” Repositioning is about adjusting perceptions about you or about your competition. Trout stresses simplicity–you need one powerful differentiating idea, the more obvious the better.
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The Fall of Advertising and The Rise of PR
by Al Ries and Laura Ries
The Fall of Advertising and The Rise of PR is about the role of PR versus the role of advertising in brand marketing. The thesis is that PR is needed to launch a brand and establish its identity; advertising is for maintaining an existing brand’s position. The reason is that advertising has no credibility, so it can only remind people of what they already believe.
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In Search of the Obvious: The Antidote for Today’s Marketing Mess
by Jack Trout
Jack Trout (1935-2017) had been a marketing professional for over 40 years. This book is about how the marketing profession has gotten off course, and the importance of timeless fundamentals, simplicity, and common sense.
Trout is critical of Madison Avenue. “To me it’s creativity run amok…The fact is that creativity was always a misnomer. An agency isn’t creating something. The company or product or service already exists. What they are doing is figuring out what is the best way to sell it. That, simply stated, means to take that logical, differentiating argument and dramatize it.”
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Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness
by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein
Based on behavioral economics, Nudge is about “choice architecture.” Sometimes people don’t have enough information or expertise to make a good decision. Other times they may be too busy to think about it, so they rely on intuition or heuristics (rules of thumb and biases). Choice architects can improve decision making by nudging people in the right direction.
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Marketing ROI: The Path to Campaign, Customer, and Corporate Profitability
by James D. Lenskold
Lenskold provides models to evaluate the expected return on investment (ROI) and profitability of marketing campaigns under consideration. The author rightfully points out that the net present value (NPV) of gross margin—not revenue—is the basis for these calculations. Campaigns with an ROI lower than the cost of capital will be rejected. Remaining options can be prioritized in favor those with the highest ROI.
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The Articulate Executive in Action
by Granville N. Toogood
This book is about the importance of communication skills in business, with a particular emphasis on meetings and presentations. “If you’re not competent with language, you’re not likely to connect, no matter how smart you are.” The main theme is what Toogood calls communication value added (CVA), of which there are seven principles: “Never bore. Give value. Rule your PowerPoint—don’t let it rule you. Talk from experience. Know whom you’re talking to. Tell stories. And be ready.”
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Bottom-Up Marketing
by Al Ries and Jack Trout
Tactics should dictate marketing strategy. While this may sound backward, the authors explain why it makes sense.
The tactical battle takes place in the consumer’s mind. Ries and Trout define a marketing tactic as “a competitive mental angle.”
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Treat Your Customers: Thirty Lessons on Service and Sales That I Learned at my Family’s Dairy Queen Store
by Bob Miglani
Miglani uses situations from his parents’ Dairy Queen store as the basis for customer service lessons applicable to business in general–including Fortune 500 companies like the one where he works as a sales executive. Thirty bite-size chapters in plain English make this a quick read.
The common thread throughout this book is a mindset focused on pleasing customers and earning their repeat business. Topics include customer service, up-selling, work ethic, leadership, and supplier relationships.
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Winning the Profit Game – Smarter Pricing, Smarter Branding
by Robert G. Docters, Michael R. Reopel, Jeanne-Mey Sun and Stephen M. Tanny
Winning the Profit Game reveals the key to success: pricing which is integrated with brand management, cost management, and product development. Whatever the goal, such as market penetration, customer retention, or increasing margins, “the strategy should be reflected in the price.”
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The Key Point 