My Life in Marketing, Part 2: My Marketing Library

Because I know how much it matters to you all, I thought I'd let you know when I first got interested in marketing.

(Establishing ethos, establishing ethos).

Uncharacteristically, I don't remember.

I do however, remember the day I bought my first marketing textbook.

It was July 28, 1982 at a used book store in Durham, NC. I was on my way to Chapel Hill, via bus, because I'd never been there before, and I thought it was time, since I was so close. The book was Principles of Marketing by Jay Diamond and Gerald Pintell, two professors at Nassau Community College on Long Island. I've still got it.

The next marketing book was Guerrilla Marketing Excellence by Jay Conrad Levinson. This book is still a revelation. 50 of the best marketing tools as propounded by Levinson, or as he puts it: "the fifty golden rules for small-business success."

Highly recommended if you can find it. Levinson has updated his approach, of course. He wouldn't be much of a marketer if he hadn't, and he is.

Currently, I own only one book by Seth Godin, Tribes. other than the previously mentioned, co-written with Levinson, Guerrilla Marketing Handbook, and the previously available as a free download, Unleashing the IdeaVirus.

In addition to those mentioned, I recommend Godin's The Dip, Purple Cow, Survival is Not Enough.

Next, why good writing is the key to strong marketing.