Marketing Book Reviews

When I reviewed

Why People Buy by John O’Shaughnessy

on Amazon.co.uk, I gave it a Four Stars rating which means I consider it to be good.

Here is my book review.

A revealing book about consumer theory written for practitioners and academics but it’s nearly 30 years old

I’m fascinated by understanding why people buy what they buy, when they buy it and how they buy it. Generally I feel that far too much of the literature on sales and marketing ignores the buyer and his or her motivations.

This book was first published in 1987 and it was written for both marketing practitioners and for academics and students of consumer behaviour. [continue reading…]

The full title of this book by Rick Ott is

“Creating Demand: Move the Masses to Buy Your Product, Service, or Idea“.

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

Here is my book review.

A book to make you think about your marketing but it was written before the Internet

This is an interesting book, even though it dates back to 1992 because it offers a different perspective than you see in most marketing books. It is also well written and easy to read.

First, it recognises the important difference between creating demand and servicing existing demand. The second issue is much easier because you just need to direct the buyer’s attention to your product and service and present the benefits in a convincing way along with an attractive offer to sample your product, perhaps with a risk reversal strategy so that the buyer knows he or she can get the money back if not happy. [continue reading…]

The full title of this book by Bill Glazer is

“Outrageous Advertising That’s Outrageously Successful: Created for the 99% of Small Business Owners Who Are Dissatisfied with the Results They Get“.

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

Here is my book review.

Are you brave enough to try these outrageous methods?

The title promises “Outrageous Marketing” and the contents is likely to shock you to your core if you haven’t seen American style, over-the-top, direct response marketing before.

First a bit of background. Bill Glazer was a long term student of direct marketing & copywriting “legend” Dan Kennedy as he managed his men’s clothing store and he eventually became Kennedy’s partner in Glazer-Kennedy, a business selling marketing advice and training to small businesses. If you’re new to Dan Kennedy, the place to start is probably The Ultimate Marketing Plan 4th Edition which introduces you to his thinking and isn’t really about preparing a marketing plan. [continue reading…]

We have more things to do than time to do them in and this is why these summaries of well known books can be so useful. They capture the big ideas without the padding.

Summary: Money-Making Secrets of Marketing Genius Jay Abraham and Other Marketing Wizards: Review and Analysis of Abraham’s Book

This Mr X Book about Jay Abraham’s methods was famous and notoriously expensive but can the valuable secrets in the book be captured in a much smaller summary?

The simple answer is NO. I rated the full book at the Five Stars level but this summary only gets Four Stars in my review on Amazon.co.uk.

A 4 Star Summary of a 5 Star Hugely Expensive Marketing Book

This is a summary of a very famous book. “Money-Making Secrets of Marketing Genius Jay Abraham and Other Marketing Wizards” is better known as the “Mr X Book“.

I need to explain the background.

Jay Abraham is a genuine marketing genius and legend and he became famous in the 1980s and 1990s for selling hugely expensive three day seminars for $5,000 and elite five day seminars for three to five times that much. This was possible because he had a record of achieving explosive growth for businesses. [continue reading…]

We have more things to do than time to do them in and this is why these summaries of well known books can be so useful. They capture the big ideas without the padding.

Summary: The Tipping Point: Review and Analysis of Malcolm Gladwell’s Book

The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell was one of those books that received plenty of publicity and there was a feeling that you had to read it.

I prefer the summary to the full buck and gave it an extra star with my Four Stars rating on Amazon.co.uk.

Here is my review of the book summary.

A nice summary of the main concepts of how ideas can be encouraged to spread virally

Some years ago many people were saying that The Tipping Point was a great book.

I read it and was disappointed as I explained in my 3 star review. The analysis of how ideas spread was interesting but the book was guilty of being padded out much too much. [continue reading…]

The full title of this book by Lindsay Spencer-Matthews is

“Reading Customers Minds: Why Customers Don’t Buy From You And What To Do About It“.

In my review posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave the book a rating of Five Stars. This means I think it is Excellent.

Here is my book review.

Very interesting and well worth reading if you have a colour screen

This interesting book is written by a psychologist with 20 years practical experience who has previously worked in sales and marketing.

The author contrasts what you know and what a customer knows using set theory diagrams. I’m a visual thinker so I like the clarity of this approach but unfortunately the diagrams don’t come out well on a standard Kindle reader with its black and shades of grey contrasts. [continue reading…]

The full title of this book by Bryan and Jeffrey Eisenberg with Anthony Garcia is

“Buyer Legends: The Executive Storyteller’s Guide“.

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

Here is my book review.

Customer persona plus use situation and moments of truth

This book, by introducing the concept of buyer legends, tries to solve a problem with marketing where all the little improvements you make don’t add up to a big improvement because some cancel out others in a one step forward, one step back dance.

Basically a buyer legend is a story that combines a customer persona with a use situation and the moments of truth in the buying process. [continue reading…]

The full title of this book by Steve Young

Emotional Intelligence for Marketing: Positive + Negative = Positive

In my review posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave it 1 Star.

Here is my review.

Message to author – proof read it, give it to someone else to read, edit it and then try again

They might be some good ideas buried in the book but I can’t stand it.

The writing is awful and I can’t believe the author proofread it even once, let alone passed it on to someone else to read for feedback and corrections.

I suppose the clue should have been in the way the book was listed on Amazon, by “Steve young”. If someone can’t even be bothered to get their own name listed properly, I shouldn’t have any expectations of the book.

My advice to the author is to proofread it, give it to someone else to read, edit it and then try posting it on Amazon again.

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The full title of this book by Dr Treat Preston is

Psychological Triggers – Triggers That Cause Buyers to Open Their Wallets

In my review posted on Amazon.co.uk, I gave it 2 Stars.

Here is my review.

Best avoided

This isn’t the book I was expecting to read at all.

It is packed with marketing tips but there doesn’t seem to be any structure or order with them and they are written in a very irritating style that doesn’t flow. Most points start off with “Always …” or “be sure to…” or “Never…”. [continue reading…]