9 Must-Read Marketing Ebooks for Every Startup Founder If you know you want to do more with marketing, but you're not sure where to start, spend some time with these resources.
By Sujan Patel Edited by Dan Bova
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If you want to build a sustainable, successful business, you have to put the right amount of time and money into implementing marketing strategies that can help you get the word out about your business and products.
Unfortunately, when you're a new business owner and busy wearing a lot of different hats and spinning a lot of plates at once, that's often easier said than done. For many new and aspiring entrepreneurs, it's not always easy to know what to focus on or where to start when it comes to marketing. In my experience, I've found that the best thing you can do during times when you feel lost or intimidated is learn from others.
If you know you want to do more with marketing, but you're not sure where to start, spend some time reading through these nine must-read marketing ebooks:
1. The Ultimate PR Machine
To successfully launch and grow your startup, you have to be able to get the word out about your company, products, team and yourself. The Ultimate PR Machine can teach you how to get more press for your business. In it, you'll learn things such as how to think like a journalist, build a pitch toolkit, build rapport and connect with people who can help you get the word out about your business, and how to establish yourself as a go-to resource.
Related: The Times When Press Releases Get the Most Views (Infographic)
2. The Ultimate Lifecycle Email Marketing Guide
These days, if you want to connect with, nurture and ultimately convert prospective customers, you have to invest in email marketing. The Ultimate Lifecycle Email Marketing Guide can teach you how to do email marketing better than any of your competitors. In it, you'll learn how to write strategic emails that increase engagement, sell more products, onboard new customers, bring back inactive ones and, most importantly, earn trust.
3. 100 Days of Growth
If you want to grow your startup fast, you have to hit the ground running by launching the right marketing campaigns and making the right decisions for your business from day one. Unfortunately with so much information available online about marketing and growth, it's not always easy to know which tactics are best, or even where to start.
100 Days of Growth makes it a lot easier by focusing on 100 actionable and proven tactics that successful startups use to build brand awareness and boost growth. In it, readers get access to real-world examples for each tactic, recommended tools and the steps needed to get started.
4. The Beginner's Guide to Search Engine Optimization
Despite what some may tell you, SEO is still a valid, effective and essential way to bring more traffic and leads to your website. In The Beginner's Guide to Search Engine Optimization (SEO), you'll get everything you need to make your startup website search-engine friendly. Specifically, you'll learn how search engines operate, the basics of keyword research and optimization, various SEO tools you can use, and how to track and measure success over time.
5. The Ultimate Guide to A/B Testing
Implementing SEO tactics can help bring more traffic to your website, but higher traffic means nothing unless you can ultimately get people to convert. To boost conversions on your website, you need to get into the minds of your website visitors and prospective customers.
One great way to do that is by A/B testing. In The Ultimate Guide To A/B Testing, you'll learn the basics of A/B testing, why it's important, how it can impact conversions, what you should be testing and how to get started.
Related: 3 Ways to Optimize Your Startup's Content Marketing
6. The Beginner's Guide to Online Marketing
Online marketing is another must when it comes to building brand awareness, connecting with prospective customers and convincing them to buy your new products or services. Most startup founders know this, but not everyone knows where to start or what to focus on. If you fall in that group, The Beginner's Guide To Online Marketing is a great resource to go through.
The book provides an extensive and comprehensive introduction to online marketing, focusing on topics such as how to craft your brand story, develop your marketing framework, find and engage with your online audience and implement various social, email and content marketing strategies.
7. The Essential Guide to Social Media Advertising
To get the most return on investment from participating on social-media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn as a business, you have to be willing to spend money on advertising. In The Essential Guide to Social Media Advertising, you'll learn how to set up and launch advertising campaigns that can help you reach more people who fall within your target audience. The guide focuses on topics such as how to create your campaigns, target specific audiences, optimize your ads and measure your success.
8. AdWords Step by Step
When you're growing a startup, it's also necessary to invest in Google AdWords as a way to drive more targeted traffic to your website. With Google Adwords, you have a much better chance of being seen by customers when they're searching on Google for the products or services you offer.
In Adwords Step By Step, you'll learn how to build successful advertising campaigns for your business. Specifically, the book focuses on topics such as how to set goals, build the right keyword lists and target specific audiences and where to go when you need more help.
9. The Advanced Guide to Content Marketing
Content marketing is another area you can't afford to ignore when it comes to successfully building and growing a startup. It's one of the best ways to build buzz about your brand and products, boost website traffic and connect with more qualified leads.
The Advanced Guide To Content Marketing is a great guide to go through if you've already been implementing a handful of basic content-marketing strategies that have resulted in more traffic, leads or conversions. This guide offers a number of advanced technique, tactics and best practices that can be used to take your content-marketing efforts to the next level.
What other ebooks would you add to this list? Share them in the comments section below!
Related: 3 Ways Your Startup Marketing Can Outmaneuver the Big-Budget Competition
