Garbage Burrito!

Permission Marketing - Seth Godin

So much marketing today is wasted on trying to interrupt a consumer's busy day and shove something they don't need in their face. Of course we're all victims of name brands. We've all purchased one product over another because of some subconscious opinion formed by too many ads thrown our way. That works great for Coke and Nike, but it's not going to work for the small business trying to sell a product based on quality and good customer service.

Permission Marketing talks about how to establish a more personal relationship with your prospects and getting their permission before you start talking business. Seth talks about offering incentives over time to keep attention, gaining trust, and ultimately turning an stranger into a friend, and a friend into a customer. He also covers how to leverage existing customers by offering them more services to purchase.

Halfway into this quick read I had to grab some paper and start writing down ideas. These are things I can implement very easily and will turn into a solid increase in sales. Best of all they are not cheap tricks. This is real, down to earth marketing that you can feel good about.

Simply put, anyone that is interested in marketing what-so-ever should read this book.

Reality Check - Guy Kawasaki

Honestly I was disappointed by this book. It's not that it wasn't well written or that it didn't have good information. In my opinion this book is meant for people that are starting at zero. More specifically people that want to move to the Valley, get funded and be the next Facebook. I didn't find any specific strategies or new ideas that would help somebody that's been in the trenches for a few years. It did however have a funny Foreward by Fake Steve Jobs.

Heath and I have worked hard for a long time to build Doodlekit. Not that VC's are knocking down our door, but we've stayed away from the idea because we want to be in control and we want to reap the full rewards of our work. Now we're in a great position, we have a solid product with a great customer base that belongs to the two of us.