marketing – Dejan Murko

Book: Ogilvy on Advertising, David Ogilvy

Review

A classic from 1963 and still very relevant, even when writing for the web.

tl;dr

Do the market research. Make the product the hero. The headline should sell the product and promise a benefit. Put identifying words in the headline when selling to a small group. Pretend you are writing a letter. “The more facts you tell, the more you sell”. Long copy better than short. Write copy in the form of a story. Pretend to be a magazine editor and you will get better results.

Book: The Mom Test, Rob Fitzpatrick

Review

Talking to potential customers about your idea is not enough. You need to ask the right questions, the right way to get relevant answers. Great book.

Buy on Amazon.com.

tl;dr

Ask about the customer’s life (problems, cares, constraints, goals), not about the idea. With requests, you need to find the root cause. Get commitments to the next step. Keep having conversations until you stop hearing new stuff. If you aren’t finding consistent problems, you don’t have a specific enough segment. Avoid receiving compliments. Talk less.

Book: Differentiate or Die, Jack Trout

Review

Similar lessons to author’s previous book, Positioning, but worth a read nonetheless. Lessons here can be a difference between a failed or a successful company. Also great lessons for successful companies that don’t want to fail.

Buy on Amazon.com.

tl;dr

Quality is not a difference, it’s a given. When the market is confused, the leader wins. Every aspect of your communication should reflect your difference. Oversimplify your message. The more variations you attach to the brand, the more the mind loses focus. If you can’t get everyone to prefer you, find a group that will. When you chase after another target segment, chances are you’ll chase away your original customer. Differentiating has got to line up with the perceptions in the mind, not go against them.

Book: Traction, Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares

Review

Great overview of the most common and effective marketing channels, how to test them and how to scale up. Fantastic for startups and a great reminder for existing businesses.

Buy on Amazon.com.

tl;dr

19 traction channels. Brainstorm ideas for all channels and do a quick test for the promising ones. Then focus solely on the channel that gave you the best results. Targeting niche blogs is one of the most effective ways to get first customers. Build easy-to-use micro tools that are easily found and shareable.

Book: Positioning, Al Ries and Jack Trout

Review

The first edition of this book was published in 1987, but the lessons are as important today as they were 30 years ago. If you can get through the outdated examples, this book gives fantastic advice on how to position a product in an overcrowded market. Highly recommended.

Buy on Amazon.com.

tl;dr

Positioning the product in the mind of the prospect. Not creating something new and different but manipulating what is already there to retie connections that already exist. Do not try to change the mind of the prospect. Oversimplify your message. Select a position that no one else has a firm grip on. Consistency – keep at it year after year. Name should begin the positioning process by telling the prospect what the product’s major benefit is. Avoid initials. Do not use an existing name for really new products. Keep in mind the line-extension trap.

The first rule of positioning is: To win the battle for the mind, you can’t compete head-on against a company that has a strong, established position. You can go around, under or over, but never head to head.

Book: Start Small, Stay Small, Rob Walling

Review

Great intro into building a small software company. Some really good advice on finding and serving your market.

Buy on Amazon.com.

tl;dr

Order of importance is market, marketing, aesthetic, function. Go into niche markets and create focused products. Target small businesses and consumers. Create complementary products not products across niches. Build an email list. Outsource tasks and automate processes.

Book: Hooked – How To Build Habit-Forming Products, Nir Eyal

Review

A must read. If you build any kind of products, you need to read this book.

Buy on Amazon.com.

tl;dr

Customers are less price-sensitive about products around which they have formed habits. They increase the dependency by storing value in the product. Two factors for habits: frequency and utility. The more users invest time and effort into a service, the more they value it. Identify habitual users, codify the steps they took (“Habit Path”) and modify the product to fit the new insights.

Book: Better and Faster, Jeremy Gutsche

Review

Great book, reminding us in this day and age, no matter how big or small or how successful your company is, you need to always innovate and “be paranoid”. Recommended.

Buy on Amazon.com.

tl;dr

Look for connections and try to understand the patterns. Be a hunter (insatiability, curiosity, willingness to destroy), not a farmer (complacent with success, repetitive, overly protective). Understand your customer, adapt, and fashion fast solutions. Experiment with new ideas. Target niches.

Book: The Pumpkin Plan, Mike Michalowicz

Review

Really good book and very fun to read. It reminded me again of the importance of systemizing work and focusing on your best customers. Highly recommended.

Buy on Amazon.com.

tl;dr

Find the top clients (/client type), treat them preferentially, fire all other clients (/client types). Ask the top clients about their frustrations and solve them. Don’t work, build systems for people and things to do the work.