AppleCrisp Marketing Solutions
  • Home
  • Why AppleCrisp?
  • What's in a name?
  • What clients are saying...
  • About me
  • Contact
  • Marketing Mondays...the blog!

Marketing Mondays - Marketing made easy (6th edition, 2010)

2/15/2010

1 Comment

 
Welcome back to Marketing Mondays!  Before I get into the topic of the week, I want to apologize for missing a week of my blog but I was really suffering from a nasty bug.  Now I’m back and I hope this was worth the wait…

While I was lying in bed, sick as a dog, I was actually practicing what I’m about to preach.  So I guess we can say I was kind of working.

When it comes to keeping your skills up, it is essential to surround yourself with the most up-to-date information, highlighting different views on the marketing world we know and love.

Learning doesn’t have to be overly complicated.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s great to devote time doing a secondary diploma, postgraduate degree or even a doctorate but, in my opinion, these ways of learning aren’t the be all and end all for the professional marketer.

It all goes back to one small four letter word – K-I-S-S: Keeping It Simple Sweetheart (remember from my blog in December 2009).  The more we make learning simple, the more likely we are to fit it in around our already busy schedules.

What I want you to get out of this blog is that as marketers we need to keep our knowledge current.  If the best way to do that is by reading marketing books, articles, information on the web or any other way – DO IT!!

There is so much information out there on marketing – it’s unreal. Just doing a Google search on marketing articles, I came back with 147 MILLION results!  Granted this isn’t a scientific way of finding quality information but it does demonstrate how much information is available to us.

There is no way to possibly know what will be of good use to your day-to-day work or even your future marketing career but I’m hoping that this blog can act as a forum for my readers to share those marketing books, articles and websites they just can’t live without.

So...drum roll please...Here’s my Top 5 reads in the K-I-S-S strategy to marketing learning:


# 5 – Interbrand Branding studies (http://www.interbrand.com/studies_list.aspx?langid=1000): not everyone will agree with me but I find Interbrand’s approach an interesting one.  At a basic level, it is a current analysis on some of the top brands across the globe with an overview of general trends affecting our world.  A one-stop shop for the marketing mind – why not? 

# 4 – www.thewisemarketer.com : I stumbled on this website while doing a search not so long ago. Personally, I think it has a lot of interesting information – including daily news updates, articles and a research centre with archived information.  One article in particular I liked was on the importance of a positive customer experience – check it out: (http://www.thewisemarketer.com/features/read.asp?id=87).  Highly recommend!

# 3 – Smarter Pricing (Tony Cram): being the nerd I am, I’m all about the numbers.   I spent a significant amount of time developing pricing early in my career and it is one of my favourite areas of marketing.  Unfortunately, pricing is one of the loneliest P’s of the marketing mix.  So I recommend reading this book as it is cleverly written, a joy to read and will help beef up your knowledge on pricing. 

# 2 – http://www.themarketer.co.uk/ : The magazine published by the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM).  CIM, an international association based out of the UK, offers an online version of its members’ magazine.  It highlights marketing trends, interviews with marketers across various industries and also lists jobs.  Personally, I see this as a valuable resource to keep a pulse on some hot topics and to learn some best practices.

# 1 – Crush It: Why now is the time to cash in on your passion (Gary Vaynerchuk): this is one of the most recent marketing books I’ve read.  It is very short and sweet with its focus entirely devoted to how we can use social networking to make a successful business out of our passions – whatever they may be.  Not only is Gary’s story truly inspiring, it also gave me hope and energy that, with the right attitude and tools, my passion can turn into my livelihood.

So that is my Top 5 – now it’s your turn.

Tell me about some books, articles or websites you’ve encountered lately that have made you stop and think.  It’s not just for me, I want this to be for all of marketers who want to keep our skills up and read interesting materials about our field. 

I’m hoping that, from your input on this blog, I can pull together a list that I’ll post on my website so it can act as a reference for marketers everywhere!

So…comment away!!!

Have a great marketing week and more importantly…
…Go CANADA Go! (it is Olympic season, isn’t it?)

Take care,
Miriam Berger
AppleCrisp Marketing Solutions

1 Comment
Keith F
2/16/2010 02:49:01 am

You know, after completing 3.5 years of graduate school in December, I haven't had a huge desire to read or study anything scholarly lately...and that includes things related to marketing.

Case in point I have a book in hand called "The Truth About Trust in Business". I started it after xmas, and I've only read a little of it. It's written by an Australian author (Vanessa Hall) and was given to me by a co-worker.

Now this may not sound much like an overt marketing text, but I do have the belief that any book or studying of people and one's relationships with them should be helpful as a marketer. After all, we are trying to influence people. So perhaps when we are thinking of expanding our knowledge base for our careers, we should probably think about increasing our understanding of what goes on inside the head of our fellow man.

Taking that step further...my next educational steps will involve brushing up on my German. So this makes me think that perhaps getting a better handle on the cultures of other people might not be a bad thing, either. Especially for those of us in North America, we probably should be more tuned into China, India and Brazil. We tend to not be particularly understanding of folks from those parts of the world, and in our lifetimes these nations will comprise the largest groups of consumers for our goods and services. Just studying what these people do, how they think and how the communicate may go a long way in helping us better prepare our careers for the future.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    View my profile on LinkedIn

    Archives

    November 2010
    September 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010
    December 2009
    November 2009

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    Customer Service
    Expat Explorer
    Marketing Education
    Marketing General
    Marketing - General
    Marketing On The Go
    Market Research
    Mass Marketing
    Planning
    Social Marketing

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.