The Marketing Communications landscape in Nigeria is getting more competitive than many would have expected. Communication agencies from Advertising to public relations to digital marketing agency are out to outsell each other and one of the best ways to do that is an investment in talents.
As a Talent or professional who needs to improve their knowledge about the job and learn from people’s mistakes and experiences, one way to do that is by reading books.
Books cover aspects that even workshops, training and courses might not. For marketing communications professionals who need to stand out, there are a lot of books and resources to read however reading these books ground you on how to think and plan towards making your plans stand out.
Here are the 5 books that every marketing Communications professionals should read:
1. Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man by Marshall McLuhan:
One of the core themes in this book is the medium is the message. The book proposes that the media is a powerful tool that should not be overlooked when communicating a message. The media shapes the way and context a message is delivered.
For marketing Communications practitioners, this book is a must to get in order to deepen the knowledge about how your time of the media. It would enable you to develop the right mindset on how to view media and messages.
2. How Brand Grow by Byron sharp:
This book is filled with myth bursting concerning the way people think marketing works. It encourages the concept of market penetration and disagrees on the notion that brand loyalty is as important as marketers make it look like. The book also talks about how brands should be physically and mentally available as that would make it easier for customers to buy.
3. Positioning: The battle for your mind by Al Ries and Jack trout:
The core idea here is on how to position your products or brand in the minds of your customers. It talks about ways by which you can create a position that allows you to appear distinct or different in the mind of your customers.
It is a great read for anyone in marketing Communications.
4. Lateral thinking: creativity step by step by Edward Debono:
This book is filled with lessons and techniques on how to approach thinking, ideas and even generate strategies and it is an essential book that would help ground you in ideas generation.
5. Good Strategy Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt:
This is a gold mine among books on strategy. It gives you a clear meaning of strategy and what your strategy should entail. This book might not be focused on marketing Communications but it teaches you strategy and this can be applied to marketing Communications. The book advocates for a well-defined problem, a guiding policy and coherent actions as to how your strategy should look like.
Reading these five books is going to change how you approach marketing and Communications as a Practitioner and it would serve as a guide in how you execute plans to attract customers.
