TMAI #208: Books: It's the think, not the ink.

People often ask me to recommend books.

That's probably true for you as well.

(Email me back with the one book, besides a religious text, that had the biggest impact on your life!)

Due to the work I do, the book requests are often phrased as:

I would like to get really good at digital marketing, can you recommend a book on AdWords?

Or...

I would like to get into analytics, can you recommend books on Google Analytics?

Replace those two tools with Facebook / Media Mix Modeling / Television / Bing / yadayadayada.

And, there are books that are tool books. So many are good. When asked, I do recommend the most appropriate one.

I have come to the point of view that often, not always, using a book to get smart on tools is less optimal. Using books to rewire how you think is a magnificent use of books.

What do I mean by that?

If you want to change jobs, or get a new one, and you've determined that your only skills barrier is knowledge of a tool... You have many options to learn how to use a tool.

Take Google Analytics. If you want to get good at it, just go to the Google Analytics Academy and let my friend Justin Cutroni's soothing melodious voice train you in the most delightful features of GA.

Can a tools book have incremental value?

Sure. (For example my books!)

But, if you listen to Justin and follow along with the video on doing Cohorts Analysis while analyzing your own website in another tab, then you are likely going to get much further along than reading a book.

There are courses like this from Salesforce, Marketo, and whatever other tools that are out there. There are tools courses on sites like Simplilearn, and Coursera and Lynda and more. Let them teach you, you practice with a real dataset in real-time and you'll be golden.

If you practice with passion (not just pass the course), I am absolutely confident this type of tools training will get you the new job you were looking for, and even bump you up job levels in your current org.

It's Not The Ink, It's The Think.

Tools training is the ink.

They help you understand what buttons to press. Where to go to get report x or set up campaign y or automate alerts a, b, and c.

I think of this as the ink required to do a Marketing or Analytics job well.

Necessary, but not sufficient.

What you want to get really good at is the think.

Fundamentally absorb brand new information. Read. Pause. Say hmmm... That's weird. Or, eureka! And, it changes how you think forever.

(Some believe you can Ted Talk watch yourself into mind-stretching. This belief is a mistake.)

You don't know how you'll apply this knowledge. It might be in an entirely adjacent area to your competency. But, you find that you end up doing your job differently.

Books are really, really good at this.

Changing how you think.

Fundamentally, how you think.

If you want to alter the slope of your career's line, you need the think and not just the ink.

It is why both of my books - to the full extent of my limited skills - are think books. They teach you how to think about Web Analytics, while touching on the ink bits a little bit. (Author secret: Think books have a longer sales life!)

If you are in the areas covered by this newsletter... Your think upgrades list includes understanding Human Psychology, the ability to explore intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, enough statistics so that you won't be fooled by randomness, comms (storytelling!)... Honestly, it is a very wide list.

You don't need to know all of those things. Certainly not overnight (that is a lot of think). But, taking even one of those steps outside of your core job description in Marketing or Analytics will stretch your mind beyond normal - and enhance the quality of your thinking in ways that will differentiate you from others.

So. Read books for the think. To make you an even more complete and sophisticated thinker.

 
My favorite books on Marketing for Marketers and Analysts.

1. Misbehaving by Richard H. Thaler

It turns on people are weird. And, imperfect. :)

The book made me appreciate at a deeper level the role of psychology in how humans make decisions. Mr. Thaler, Nobel recipient, helps unpack the rationality and irrationality of human beings and does so in an incredibly accessible manner.

The best Marketers and Analysts can see the real world, not just the data (incomplete and sparse) or theories (I feel!). Mr. Thaler will bring a bunch of wait, omg, that's obvious to you (but, it is not obvious), and a whole bunch that'll challenge how you think.

2. The Undoing Project by Michael Lewis

I adore Mr. Lewis.

I've read every book he's written, every article he's published, and heard a whole bunch of interviews. I'm likely the 67th person to tell you he is an exceptionally gifted storyteller.

In an adjacent type of way to Mr. Thaler's book, Mr. Lewis explores the world of behavioral finance through the story of Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky. In addition to learning about that space, this is a book about working together, filling gaps, and human psychology.

After you finish this book, you'll enjoy, nay, love, Thinking Fast and Slow - a book I cannot say enough good things about.

3. Influence by Robert B. Cialdini

If you feel you are not getting ahead in your career, not winning more arguments with your spouse, and can't get your kids to do their homework while we are all WFHing... It comes down to one word: Influence.

Mr. Cialdini in his own inimitable way helps explain why people say yes. And, with our Marketing and our data analysis what is it that we want to hear the most, yes!

The book shares six principles: Reciprocity. Scarcity. Authority. Consistency. Liking. Consensus.

It seems silly but the first one entirely changed how I execute big chunks of my professional career.

4. How Brands Become Icons by Douglas B. Holt

Almost all brand marketing you'll engage with today sucks, but when it works oh boy, oh boy, oh boy is it magical (and a magnificent competitive advantage).

The book is a great collection of stories about what it takes to be authentic (that mythical quest!) and resonate with humans over time (that last bit is key - many brands achieve initial success accidentally, maintaining it was not an accident).

Not every brand Mr. Holt talks about survives today as well as you might expect, and there is no such thing as a universal brand resonance formula. But, as you explore and internalize the case studies, it is likely that you'll end up finding a groove that'll fit your brand perfectly.

I also took away lessons for my personal brand - you are thinking about this less than you should.

5. Fooled by Randomness by Nassim Taleb

People are annoyed by how frequently I recommend this as the best book on analytical thinking.

Mr. Taleb is an interesting man, it shines through the tone and texture of his writing. He covers how "survivors" cloud our judgment, opportunity sets, opacity, probability, human error, and more. The book will end up ratcheting up your curiosity quotient anytime you look at data or a "success story."

If you end up loving this book, both Black Swan and Antifragile are exceptional.