Best Business Book Reviews By Paul Simister

In my review of this classic advertising book

Ogilvy on Advertising

by the legendary David Ogilvy, posted on Amazon.co.uk I rated the book at the Four Stars level. This means I consider it to be in the range of good to very good.

Here is my book review.

Fascinating look at advertising history which still offers practitioners plenty of lessons

This book tells the history of advertising from the perspective of one of the recognised greats. This was powerful information back in the 1960s and ‘ 70s.

But that’s also the problem with the book. The world has moved on. The way marketing messages reach consumers and business customers has changed. Fortunately, the underlying motivations that drive purchases hasn’t, so there’s still plenty to gain from reading this book. [continue reading…]

The full title of this book by Mish Slade is

“May I Have Your Attention, Please? Your Guide to Business Writing That Charms, Captivates and Converts“.

In my review on Amazon.co.uk, I gave the book a Four Stars rating. This means I consider it to be in the range of good to very good.

Here is my book review.

A very good book about the style of your copywriting

There are two main types of copywriting books.

One type explains the process of putting together a sales letter, advertisement or webpage. It tells you about how to write headlines, bullet points, guarantees and calls to action. It might tell you about the copywriting formulas like AIDA (attention, interest, desire, action) or PAR (problem, agitate, solve). [continue reading…]

The full title of this book by Mike Michalowicz is

“The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur: The tell-it-like-it-is guide to cleaning up in business, even if you are at the end of your roll.”

In my review on Amazon.co.uk., I gave the book a rating of Four Stars. This means I think it is in the range of good to very good.

Here is my book review.

A hard hitting book about having a “just do it” mental attitude for new entrepreneurs

The analogy about the shortage of toilet paper when needed will take you places you don’t want to go but it does make the point of having to make do when resources are short.

With such an opening, you probably expect the language to be adult in places and it is but I didn’t feel it was overly offensive. [continue reading…]

The full title of this book by Charlie Hutton is ”

The Business Owners Guide To Making Out Like A Bandit: How To Get Even The Most Greedy… Penny Pinching… Money Hoarding Customers Spending Money Like They Used To!“.

In my review at Amazon.co.uk, I gave this book a rating of FIVE STARS. This means I consider it to be excellent.

Here is my book review.

Excellent summary of Jay Abraham style profit improvement techniques

I encourage all small business owners and entrepreneurs to read Jay Abraham ‘s book Getting Everything You Can Out of All You’ve Got: 21 Ways You Can Out-Think, Out-Perform, and Out-Earn the Competition. and this makes a lovely, practical follow-up. In a review of another of the author’s books, I felt he was channelling Dan Kennedy.

This will teach you the importance of back-end marketing. That’s selling more to existing customers through upsells and cross-sells as well as reaching out to new customers through different means. [continue reading…]

The full title of this book by Drayton Bird is

“51 Helpful Marketing Ideas: Simple, tested, yet often neglected ideas guaranteed to improve results“.

In my review on Amazon.co.uk, I gave the book a rating of Four Stars. This means I consider it to be good to very good.

Here is my book review.

Interesting book badly let down by Kindle formatting

Drayton Bird is the British copywriter who can stand shoulder to shoulder with the American greats but his ideas are more in tune with our sensibilities.

In this book he shares helpful ideas. You may have heard most of them before but do you regularly put them into practice? [continue reading…]

In my review of

Commonsense Direct and Digital Marketing by Drayton Bird

on Amazon.co.uk, I gave it a rating of Four Stars. This means I consider it to be in the range of good to very good.

Here is my book review.

British direct response marketing

This book is written for business owners, marketing professionals and students of marketing. For a text book, it’s great and I wish my MBA had included a direct marketing module.

As a book for business owners, it’s a bit daunting. It’s bigger and heavier than normal and looking at it feels more like work than reading the lighter style marketing management books. [continue reading…]

The full title of this book by Roger Dooley is

“The Persuasion Slide – A New Way to Market to Your Customer’s Conscious Needs and Unconscious Mind: Use Psychology and Behavior Research to Influence and Persuade“.

In my review of the book posted on Amazon.co.uk, I rated it at the Four Stars level. This means I consider the book to be good to very good.

Here is my book review.

A nice mental model of the buying process

Copywriters have talked about the slippery slope or greasy slide for many years. It’s a metaphor for building up momentum as the copy is read, as the person moves from “this looks interesting ” to “I must have this in my life, right now”. [continue reading…]

In my review of

How to Get Selling on AdWords Fast! by Claire Jarrett

posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave the book a rating of Four Stars. This means I consider it to be good.

Here is my book review.

A very nice guide to AdWords but it was published in 2012

This is a classy book about Google AdWords which does a great job of explaining how pay per click advertising works and how you can bend the system to work in your favour. [continue reading…]

The full title of this book by Joan Mullally and Evelyn Trimborn is

“Postcard Marketing Success: How to Use Postcard Marketing To Promote Your Business“.

In my review at Amazon.co.uk, I gave it a rating of Four Stars. This means I consider it to be in the range of good to very good.

Here is my book review.

Plenty of good practical advice about postcards

Direct mail is an important way to target potential customers and postcards can be very helpful as part of a sequence of contacts.

This book is packed with good practical advice to help you succeed. [continue reading…]