5 Best Books of 2010

Here are my nominations for the year's top five marketing books.

Chris Brogran's Social Media 101. Tons of primers like this have appeared in 2010.  But Brogan's towers above the rest for depth and clarity.


Ardath Albee's eMarketing Strategies for the Complex Sale. You won't find a better guide to B-to-B marketing success in the age of social media.


David Meerman Scott's Real-Time Marketing and PR. I cannot say enough praiseworthy things about Scott's 200-page treatise.  It's mandatory.


Mitch Myerson's Success Secrets of the Social Media Marketing Superstars. Everything you ever wanted to know about social media marketing (but were afraid to ask).


David Meerman Scott and Brian Halligan's Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead. Informative, inspiring and a delight to read.

Marketing Lessons from the Walking Dead

Some marketing tactics never wear out. 

Others survive long past their prime.

Here are five that should be put out of their misery.

Now.

Greenwashed product names. Branding consultants, please advise your clients: the mere act of inserting "Eco" in front of a product name doesn't reduce that product's carbon footprint or make it healthy to consume.

Blatant self-promotion masquerading as e-newsletters.  No one likes these travesties.  That's why they're wearing out.  I just received one that announced it will no longer include fresh material, due to "author fatique."  Instead, the newsletter will consist of old blog posts.  Now I'm fatigued.

Those annoying three-word headlines.  You know the sort I mean: 

Define. Design. Deploy.

Entice. Excite. Engage.

Originate. Optimize. Outsource.

Yes, yes, yes, alliteration is powerful.  But enough, enough, enough.

Gated white papers that don't even download.  These add insult to injury.  I provide you my contact info, budget, buying authority, age, gender, eye color and last known whereabouts.  You provide me nothing.  Except phone calls from India.

Unwanted inbound telemarketing calls.  Securities salespeople, when will you finally get it?  No, thank you, I don't wish to review my investment portfolio at this particular moment.  I already feel lousy enough talking to you.

Your turn.  Nominate a zombie you wish to put out of its misery.

NOTE: Apologies to David Meerman Scott for corrupting the title of his wonderful book.  I urge you to read it.

How to Kill Sales

Seth Godin offered a crucial reminder in his blog yesterday.

Marketers make overkill a habit.

Desparate to generate incremental sales, they add, add, add.  

More special offers.  More rewards.  More messages.  More links. More banner ads. More, more, more.

But, he warns, "Once you overload the user, you train them not to pay attention."

"More" doesn't spur sales.  It kills them.

That's especially the case when it comes to copy.

Overkill kills.

The End of Digital Correctness

In a recent conversation with Blogworld founder Rick Calvert, I mentioned the tribe of critics who insist that access to live events like his should be free.  

Rick responded, "Yeah, the 'hippies.'"

Free access to content, a founding principle of the Web's early developers, is soon to go the way of Flower Power.  (You can learn why from two terrific articles on the topic, one in Atlantic Monthly, the other in Wired.)

Since babyhood, the Web has been captive to this principle.  It was "digitally correct" to provide content free; boorish to ask dough for it.

But with the ascent of mobile apps, the model is about to flip. 

We're soon to see most Web content become subscription-based.  And the subscriptions will be pricey, to boot.

Capitalist pigs, one.  Hippies, nothing.

It was nice while it lasted.

ReadSmart®

Here's a news flash. 

The Mighty Copywriter has become the nation’s first independent copywriting firm to provide clients ReadSmart®.

ReadSmart® blends IT with neuroscience and applies its formula to marketing.

The technology is a copywriter’s dream come true.

ReadSmart® makes thousands of minor adjustments to copy that result in more memorable messages.  It can be applied to direct mail, collateral, books and other documents to boost comprehension, retention and response. 

ReadSmart® increases reading comprehension by 24 percent; reading speed by 23 percent; reading enjoyment by 38 percent; and—best of all—persuasiveness by 39 percent.

You still need me to write the copy, however.  So I'm not worried about being replaced by a computer.

Yet.