Online Marketing Must-Reads

Buyer Personas: How to Gain Insight into your Customer's Expectations, Align your Marketing Strategies, and Win More Business by Adele Revella
Easily the number one thought leader when it comes to buyer personas - Adele breathes sensibility into the real reason why we need them, and what is important to capture (if nothing else).  Buyer personas should provide insights into the buying process for your leads.  This book is worth your attention - it lays out a process that allows you to build those insights.  "Once that insight begins to drive skillful messaging, something magical happens."  And "persona generators" won't ever deliver those insights.

Everybody Writes: Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content
by Ann Handley
Given the challenge we all face creating content, Ann clearly lays out practices that work to write awesome content.  This is an entertaining and highly useful book to have in your toolbox.

Great Headlines Instantly 2.1: How To Write Attention-Grabbing Headlines That Pull In More Prospects... More Customers... and More Profits NOW by Robert Boduch
We all need better headlines.  Engaging with this book allows you to understand the pattern for headlines and the emotion and psychology you can employ to grab attention and engagement.  Given the time we spend assembling our content, landing pages, and emails - we should pay closer attention to the main driver of initial engagement, the headline!  This is a terrific start.

Digital Relevance: Developing Marketing Content and Strategies that Drive Results
by Ardath AlbeeHow do you know your content is relevant?  What's the big deal with relevance anyway - what if you miss the mark?  Get clarity about the marketing strategies that are relevant today - and what isn't.  Ardath lays it out very clearly - along with how to think about your campaigns, and content so it will delight and satisfy your target audience.  This is a must-read for anyone serious about content marketing.

Instant Appeal: The 8 Primal Factors That Create Blockbuster Success
by Vicki Kunkel
This book will provide you with strategies your business can use in your marketing efforts - whether you want to market yourself, your products, or your business. Learn what makes a person act when it comes to making a purchase.

Content Rules - How to Create Killer Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, Ebooks, Webinars that Engage Customers and Ignite Your Business
by Ann Handley & C.C. Chapman
This book will provide you with rules to fallow and questions to ask yourself when your busy developing content. Learn how to leverage today tools and create content that speaks directly to your target market.

Emotionomics - Leveraging Emotions for Business Success
by Dan Hill
This book will teach you about the power of emotions and the impact they have on decision-making. You will learn that people are primarily emotional decision-makers and how to take advantage of this knowledge.

eMarketing Strategies for the Complex Sale
by Ardath Albee
This book will is a practical how to guide that shows how b2b marketers can drive sales and conversions using the internet. Learn how to "differentiate yourself with attraction marketing, create contagious content, and drive qualified leads to sales."

Convert! Designing Web Sites to Increase Traffic and Conversion
by Ben Hunt
This book provides tips to help you increase your conversion rate using design, copy, SEO, and testing. Learn how to develop a site that is seen by the right people, build traffic, and how to use testing to improve conversion.