15+ Best Marketing Strategy books for dummies

Marketing is always involved. It’s truly a fascinating, exciting, and interesting field to be in. If you are a marketer or just interested in marketing, you must be at least once impressed and thrilled by remarkable marketing strategies from big brands like Coca-Cola, Nike, Apple, Starbucks, and more.

I believe that you can learn from these brands a lot to level up your marketing strategies. But have you ever read a marketing book? You can see the signs of marketing out of nowhere, on the internet, on TV, or billboards, and wonder how people behind these campaigns make things happen.

That’s a common question for a newbie in the marketing world. A book full of knowledge about marketing and related aspects will tell you from the fundamentals to professionals to create a viable marketing strategy.

Learning about marketing strategies classically promises to have much fun, so I made a list of the best marketing strategy books for beginners. Let’s dive in!

Here’s your list:

• 1. Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim & Renée Mauborgne
• 2. Unleash Possible: A Marketing Playbook That Drives B2B Sales by Samantha Stone
• 3. The Art of Profitability by Adrian J. Slywotzky
• 4. Hacking Marketing by Scott Brinker
• 5. Digital Marketing for Dummies by Ryan Deiss & Russ Henneberry
• 6. Inbound Marketing: Attract, Engage, and Delight Customers Online by Brian Halligan & Dharmesh Shah
• 7. Selling the Invisible: A Field Guide to Modern Marketing by Harry Beckwith
• 8. Master Content Marketing by Pamela Wilson
• 9. Youtube Marketing Strategies by Nicholas Harvey
• 10. Hacking Growth: How Today’s Fastest-Growing Companies Drive Breakout Success by Sean Ellis & Morgan Brown
• 11. Building a Storybrand by Donald Miller
• 12. Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind by AI Ries & Jack Trout
• 13. 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing: Violate Them at Your Own Risk by AI Ries & Jack Trout
• 14. 22 Immutable Laws of Branding by AI Ries & Laura Ries
• 15. How to Acquire Your First Million Customers by Ken McDonald & Chris Newton

1. Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim & Renée Mauborgne

Blue Ocean Strategy, Expanded Edition: 4.5/5

Blue Ocean Strategy was written by a native of South Korea - Kim. She studied aerospace engineering before pursuing an MBA and Ph.D. at Harvard Business School. Published in 2005, this book quickly became a business bestseller, and for good reason.

This international bestselling book will shed light on everything you think you know about a successful marketing strategy’s requirements. You will learn from thought-provoking ideas and advice on winning competitive advantage through the key ideas on the blue ocean, red ocean, and value innovation.

You can challenge your competitors in head-to-head competition and directly compete with them on different business aspects, such as pricing, to gain a competitive advantage over them. However, this kind of strategy doesn’t always work. W. Chan Kim and Mauborgne propose another smarter strategy - make your competitors irrelevant. In other words, instead of competing in a well-defined business space (red ocean), consider creating a new space (blue ocean).

The book gives you a framework to find your niches, redesign your strategy, tweak your products/ services to ultimately give your customers a better experience without any head-to-head competition.

2. Unleash Possible: A Marketing Playbook That Drives B2B Sales by Samantha Stone

Unleash Possible: 4.3/5

This book was published in 2016 by Samantha Stone - a revenue catalyst who helps unleash the possible in organizations that have complex selling processes. She’s a highly successful B2B marketing expert with extensive experience in launching initiatives and leading strategies for award-winning companies. She’s also an author, speaker, consultant, persona coach, and mother of four. In 2012, she founded her own company to help businesses achieve their full potential.

Unleash Possible is a definite guide on making the right marketing strategy from the start to generate good results in complex selling environments. The book gives you advice on the marketing and sales combination that addresses the practical realities of changes in B2B marketing and the market. So, you can implement advice and insights immediately.

Samantha Stone helps B2B marketers to realize and improve their relationships with the sales department. Unleash Possible is a must-read book for any marketer who wants to uncover their business’s potential, evaluate their marketing plan, and streamline the marketing process to serve customers better. It’s easy, fun, and helpful to read.

3. The Art of Profitability by Adrian J. Slywotzky

The Art of Profitability: 4.3/5

Adrian J. Slywotzky is a highly influential management consultant and author. He boasts degrees from Harvard College, Law School, and Business School, and has been a top consultant since 1979. Currently a partner at Oliver Wyman, he’s written several well-received books on profitability and growth, including his bestseller “The Profit Zone.” Widely recognized as one of America’s top consultants, he’s even been awarded this title twice. He resides in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The Art of Profitability, published in 2002, is a valuable resource for business strategists. It delivers inspiration for business development and strategy discussions.

Here are some key ideas covered in the book:

• Customer Solutions Profit Model: This model focuses on understanding and addressing the specific needs and problems of customers, thereby creating unique solutions that lead to profitability.

• Time Profit Model: Time is a critical factor in business, and this model explores how managing time efficiently and effectively can contribute to profitability.

• Asset Leverage Profit Model: This model emphasizes the efficient use of assets to generate profits, including both physical and intellectual assets.

• Network Profit Model: The value of a network and the relationships a business builds can significantly impact profitability. This model explores how networks can be leveraged for success.

4. Hacking Marketing by Scott Brinker

Hacking Marketing: 4.3/5

Scott Brinker is the editor of Chief Marketing Technologist blog (chiefmartec.com), covering the intersection of marketing and technology. He serves as the program chair for the MarTech conference series. Additionally, Brinker is the co-founder and CTO of ion Interactive, a marketing software company catering to brands like Dell, DHL, Dun & Bradstreet, and Symantec, etc.

Published in 2016, Hacking Marketing shows you the challenges of software dynamics in modern marketing and how to conquer them with successful management frameworks.

Scott Brinker first explains the concept of agile and lean management methodologies used in the development and how you can apply the software-specific processes to marketing. He shows you the importance of being agile and the courage to adapt to innovation. This book is very valuable for marketers who want a deeper understanding of what has become the industry standard of project management in development.

5. Digital Marketing for Dummies by Ryan Deiss & Russ Henneberry

Digital Marketing For Dummies: 4.5/5

Digital Marketing for Dummies (2016) is a helpful guide to using proven digital marketing strategies and tactics to raise brand awareness, increase audience engagement, acquire, and monetize customers.

Two authors with profound marketing experience help you get the most out of your marketing efforts by covering multiple critical aspects of marketing success, from SEO, SEM to highly-converted content marketing and influencer marketing. The highlights of this book are the latest tips and techniques for utilizing technology to make your products and services stand out amongst the masses.

Whether you are looking to craft a killing marketing campaign or boost your social presence, this no-nonsense guide will help you do that from scratch.

6. Inbound Marketing: Attract, Engage, and Delight Customers Online by Brian Halligan & Dharmesh Shah

Inbound Marketing, Revised and Updated: 4.3/5

Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah are both founders of HubSpot, a company that specializes in inbound marketing and sales software. They wrote this tThis book to give you a comprehensive guide to increasing online visibility and audience engagement. Written by top marketing and start-up bloggers, the book provides proven insights on lead nurturing, visual marketing, content production, and customers’ digital-driven behavior. This will give the readers what they need to know to leverage inbound marketing in the digital age and transform their marketing online.

7. Selling the Invisible: A Field Guide to Modern Marketing by Harry Beckwith

Selling the Invisible: 4.5/5

“Selling the Invisible: A Field Guide to Modern Marketing” is a book written by Harry Beckwith, a marketing expert and consultant. The book, first published in 1997, focuses on the challenges and strategies associated with marketing services, as opposed to tangible products.

Harry Beckwith opens our minds to selling services and intangible products that service should be viewed as something to sell, just like a physical product. But selling something invisible is totally different.

This book guides you from branding, marketing, and selling points of view on positioning a service product and selling it in the end. You will realize the core problem of service marketing is service quality. So if you receive any complaints from your customers, fix your service first.

8. Master Content Marketing by Pamela Wilson

Master Content Marketing: 4.8/5

Content marketing is conquering the entire modern marketing landscape. Excellent marketers are those who know how to draw customers to their businesses with valuable information that customers are looking for and want to engage with.

This ultra-efficient step-by-step guide will help you to do that in the fastest way possible. You will learn how to create content that lets customers know and trust your business, capture the best content ideas to avoid blank page blues, and optimize your content elements with easy-to-use templates.

9. Youtube Marketing Strategies by Nicholas Harvey

Youtube Marketing Strategies: 4.0/5

As amongst the largest video-sharing platforms, Youtube has become a promising playground for marketers to promote and expand the reach of their businesses.

In this book, you will learn everything about how to get something thrived on Youtube. You will learn from the most fundamental knowledge - the definition of Youtube marketing to essential Youtube marketing strategies, tactics, and techniques to get the most out of this powerful platform.

If you are a beginner in Marketing, particularly in Youtube marketing, this book will be helpful to you.

10. Hacking Growth: How Today’s Fastest-Growing Companies Drive Breakout Success by Sean Ellis & Morgan Brown

Hacking Growth: 4.6/5

Sean Ellis is a marketing expert, entrepreneur, and startup advisor. He is known for coining the term “growth hacking” and has been involved with several successful startups. In 2017, he collaborated with Morgan Brown to give birth to “Hacking Growth: How Today’s Fastest-Growing Companies Drive Breakout Success”, which is a data-driven and scalable approach to marketing that emphasizes rapid experimentation and iteration to drive growth.

This book explains a methodology called Growth Hacking that is implemented by many successful and big companies across industries, such as LinkedIn, Pinterest, IBM, Walmart, or Microsoft. Through the book, you will learn how these companies grow from the humble beginnings into the powerhouses they are today.

11. Building a Storybrand by Donald Miller

Building a StoryBrand: 4.7/5

Donald Miller teaches you how to fight with struggle when demonstrating your business by using seven universal elements of a powerful story. You can create a brand story that appeals to your audience, conveys the message you want customers to understand, and draws them to your products and services.

Most marketing doesn’t work because it’s too complicated and abstract. Brand storytelling will make your messaging simpler, more enticing, and useful. One of the most noteworthy points you will learn from this book is “sell the problem, don’t sell the product.”

12. Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind by AI Ries & Jack Trout

Positioning: 4.4/5

Written by advertising gurus, this classic book tells you how to position your products and company in the mind of prospects. It works better to establish a position from the existing public perception of your brand, products, or services, instead of trying to engrave your imaginary position on the minds of customers.

The lessons in this book can mostly apply to large companies with large advertising budgets, but most principles can apply to smaller businesses.

13. 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing: Violate Them at Your Own Risk by AI Ries & Jack Trout

The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing: 4.6/5

You may have ever heard of marketing rules; now, the bestselling authors of Positioning will tell you the laws of marketing that are essential to create and launch a successful marketing campaign.

You will get to know a compendium of twenty-two innovative rules for understanding and succeeding in the international marketplace. Here are some of the 22 laws of marketing mentioned:

• The law of Leadership
• The law of category
• The law of the mind
• The law of perception
• The law of focus
• The law of exclusivity
• The law of ladder
• The law of duality
• The law of the opposite
• The law of line extension
• And more

14. 22 Immutable Laws of Branding by AI Ries & Laura Ries

22 Immutable Laws of Branding: 4.5/5

Al Ries is a distinguished marketing and branding expert, renowned for co-founding the consulting firm Ries & Ries alongside his daughter, Laura Ries. His impactful contributions include authoring influential books such as “Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind” and “The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing.”

Built on the huge success of The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, this book continues to provide you with practical insights into one of the hottest topics in today’s insanely crowded marketplace: branding from traditional branding to digital branding. You will discover some key points to cut through the clutter to build your brand. Though the second half of the book is not highly practical and strongly proven in the current situation, the principles of brand dilution and product expansion are interesting and helpful to read.

15. How to Acquire Your First Million Customers by Ken McDonald & Chris Newton

How to Acquire Your First Million Customers: 4.9/5

In this book, Ken McDonald and Chris Newton discuss proven successful marketing strategies over the past 20 years in a coherent and easy-to-understand way. Anyone looking to understand better how growing an online business through marketing efficiency and customer acquisition can get what they need from this book.

The authors first explain how to define, set up, measure the growth, and then guide you through various tactics and channels to make growth for success. From marketing strategy, digital marketing, social media marketing, SEO, PPC advertising, affiliate marketing, video, content strategies, and influencer marketing, you explore how to utilize these channels to scale your business for growth.

Bottom line

If you are learning about marketing and thrilled to become an excellent marketing strategist, dig into these books to learn more about this fascinating field.

The powerful weapon of a marketer is his knowledge and experience, so don’t stop sharpening it by reading good books. Read them, enjoy them, adapt, and grow your business.