The best books on modern marketing

A short list of marketing book recommendations

Last week, I asked a question on Twitter, about the best books on modern marketing.

By modern, I meant books written and published after the digital/content wave, the revolution which changed marketing wholesale.

Sairam Krishnan @_sairamkrishnan

What's the best modern book on marketing you've read and why did you think so? This is for a reading list I'm making.

When you ask something like this, you also have to keep your own response ready. And my answer is Seth Godin’s This is Marketing, a book I’ve recommended to anyone I’ve ever spoken to about marketing. I mean to reread it this December.

I received a bunch of responses to the question, which I drew together into a list.

Sairam Krishnan @_sairamkrishnan

A few recommendations. Will add more. 1. Richard Thaler's Nudge. 2. How Brands Grow, by Byron Sharp. 3. Rory Sutherland's Alchemy, a personal favorite. 4. Fast, Cheap, and Viral, by Aashish Chopra. 5. Ogilvy on Advertising (of course!). 6. The Choice Factory, by Richard Shotton.

Sairam Krishnan @_sairamkrishnan

What's the best modern book on marketing you've read and why did you think so? This is for a reading list I'm making.

I personally recommend Rory Sutherland’s Alchemy here.

Sairam Krishnan @_sairamkrishnan

7. The Hero and the Outlaw, by Margaret Mark and Carol Pearson. 8. The new rules of marketing and PR, by David M Scott. 9. Dave Gerhardt's Founder Brand. 10. April Dunford's Obviously Awesome. 11. Perennial Seller, by Ryan Holiday. 12. Marketing as Strategy, by Nirmalya Kumar.

Sairam Krishnan @_sairamkrishnan

A few recommendations. Will add more. 1. Richard Thaler's Nudge. 2. How Brands Grow, by Byron Sharp. 3. Rory Sutherland's Alchemy, a personal favorite. 4. Fast, Cheap, and Viral, by Aashish Chopra. 5. Ogilvy on Advertising (of course!). 6. The Choice Factory, by Richard Shotton. https://t.co/5key2HWeYS

Dave Gerhardt’s Founder Brand, April Dunford’s Obviously Awesome, and Ryan Holidays’s Perennial Seller are among my favourites too.
The others have gone on to my to-reads.

I also recommend this podcast, which focuses only on marketing books, and has interviews with authors. It’s an excellent resource, worthy of your podcast player. Because you can’t read everything, the episodes can be wonderful primers into subjects you want to learn about.

And finally, I’m opening the comments on this edition so you can add your own favourite books. Be sure to add why, so others can see how it helped you, and add it to their reading lists.