Suggestions on books about marketing/business theory

[Agent]

I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions on books about general business/marketing theory and principles that they would like to recommend?

I don't have a formal business education but I've been self employed for a few years. It dawned on me a while back that I should read some books about marketing to help consolidate some of the information I've absorbed over the years (much of it relating to web marketing, a lot of it learned here.)

Do you guys/gals have any book recommendations that have helped you over the years become better in this business or others? Have you read any books that are not specifically business/marketing related but have given you ideas or wisdom that relate to the business? Strangely, I've found books about military history motivating. They seem to motivate me to script, design and build after reading them

[Bill]

Originally Posted by Agent

Strangely, I've found books about military history motivating.

Me too. The military history, strategy, and tactics thing.

I've found net articles on marketing more useful than the books, tho I have a shelf of business books.

And marketing is a huge topic - most of what we are doing is a very specific subset of marketing theory.

It's an interesting question.

[Agent]

Originally Posted by Bill

Me too. The military history, strategy, and tactics thing.

I've found net articles on marketing more useful than the books, tho I have a shelf of business books.

And marketing is a huge topic - most of what we are doing is a very specific subset of marketing theory.

It's an interesting question.

One of the best lessons I took from The Guns of August was planning and time management

[Bill]

Let's see, some marketing books I've read...

I've read a cluster of books on "closing" - how to get the customer to overcome their threshold of resistance and actually make the purchase. Of course the true closer is the sponsor, and sponsors are shitty at closing copy in my opinion, so for us, the close is getting them to go to the sponsor with a mental attitude of "huh, I'd like to see that...".

A number of books on copywriting - thats what we are as small webmasters, mostly, is copywriters.

But most copywriting books are crap - get them fromt he library if you can, because out of a 200 page book maybe ten pages will be useful.

I have the "little red book of selling" - a famous book - some useable tips, but like most sales book oriented too much towards brick and mortar and traveling agent sales.

Personally, I think there are so few books that really focus on net selling, especially our style of net selling, that while it's a good idea to read every business book you can stomach, you kinda hafta evolve your own theories of adult selling.

[Agent]

Originally Posted by Bill

Let's see, some marketing books I've read...

I've read a cluster of books on "closing" - how to get the customer to overcome their threshold of resistance and actually make the purchase. Of course the true closer is the sponsor, and sponsors are shitty at closing copy in my opinion, so for us, the close is getting them to go to the sponsor with a mental attitude of "huh, I'd like to see that...".

A number of books on copywriting - thats what we are as small webmasters, mostly, is copywriters.

But most copywriting books are crap - get them fromt he library if you can, because out of a 200 page book maybe ten pages will be useful.

I have the "little red book of selling" - a famous book - some useable tips, but like most sales book oriented too much towards brick and mortar and traveling agent sales.

Personally, I think there are so few books that really focus on net selling, especially our style of net selling, that while it's a good idea to read every business book you can stomach, you kinda hafta evolve your own theories of adult selling.

I understand what you mean about the quality of a lot of these books. I went to a Coles bookstore today and looked over their business texts. I know the old adage "don't judge a book by its cover" but a lot of these business/marketing books look cheesy. If they can't entice me to shell out 30 bucks for their book how good are they really at marketing

The Automatic Millionaire is a great example of a book that could have been put into pamphlet form or published as an article on a web site, saving a few thousand trees from becoming paper. It has maybe 4 common-sense financial panning points the author stretches over 200 pages and reiterates over and over in boring, meretricious examples. I think I'll use it to start fires in the stove. But its author wanted to sell something and line his pockets (I didn't pay for mine, it was given to me.)