This is a must read for any marketer to better understand how fluid a marketplace can be, and how marketing and corporate strategy align in such a unique way. This case study by W. Kim and Renee Mauborgne exemplifies the need for understanding the JTBD model and expansive targeting of tangential consumers. This 2004 framework is timeless and a must read for any marketer serious about helping their clients or own company gain status and beat competition.

This book is the newest addition in one of the most important series about modern Marketing. In this book, Philip Kotler shows the evolution and movement of marketers away from traditional centricities to gain perspectives on modern communication styles and the new parameters spanning the digital world. The book goes into a number of different behavioral and psychographic changes to consumers, as well as the best practices for the newly developing platforms and how a brand can survive the shift. A definite must read.

As a story teller and a message refiner, this is one of my favorite books of all time. Brilliantly written, this easy to follow guide shows you how to simplify and direct your messaging efforts to see growth and better customer onboarding. Donald Miller and the SB7 team have created the gold-standard for message refinement, and any marketer worth their pay (specially ones working closely with copywriters and ad copy) should memorize each of these stages to implement into their work.

Jim Collins strikes again with this 2009 classic, analyzing the descent from greatness for some of the biggest and most well known brands of the 1900’s. This book chronicles the fall of large entities built on the backs of brilliance and catapulted into disaster by the faults of hubris and disillusionment. In a 5 phase descent Collins explains why some companies fall to their death and others climb from the pit to fight their way back to greatness. While this book focuses on corporate governance and internal communications and goal objectives rather than marketing tactics, it is still an important book for a marketer to read to understand their own entity and the potential prosperity or doom of their clients.

This iconic book written in the 1930’s is just as relevant today as it was nearly a century ago. There is no book that will quickly give you the fundamentals of interpersonal communication and how to set a good first impression better than this book. Irrelevant of industry, focus or goals, this is a book that everyone should read in order to live more involved and understanding lives improving your interactions and helping develop a true legacy. As every sales person knows, the world is sales, and this is their holy bible.