Before You Seek a Career in Marketing

The Art of Marketing a product, service, government agency, political candidate or non-profit group is not something that you learn over night and yet you have to get it right. Marketing is a tough sport and there are winners and losers, and market share at stake, that means profits and survival too. So, without further displacement of your time, I would like to take this opportunity to recommend a couple of books to you:

“Marketing Warfare” by Al Ries and Jack Trout. 1986.

Filled with interesting quotes and abbreviated case studies, where the author attempts to find correlations to match his premise. Sometimes it works and sometimes it does not. I liken this book to “What would Machiavelli Do?” which was more of a tongue and cheek book. This book is meant to be serious and it does make you think. I do not think I would recommend it to anyone, I felt it was a hastily written book and an attempt to appeal to the warrior type small business man. He puts examples of real warfare Karl von Clausewitz style to the burger wars, automobile wars, cola wars, beer wars and computer wars.

“Dynamic Management in Marketing” by Ralph S. Alexander and Thomas L. Berg. 1965.

Real academic and time tested business advice throughout this reference book. Part I and II are basic fundamentals such a marketing research, job descriptions of marketers, product management, product mix and studying the market. Part III has specific advice for retail and wholesale businesses on channel distribution, while Part IV discusses how to implement and design a real world marketing plan. Parts V and VI considers price points, marketing intelligence, marketing planning; and I am happy to report that Part VII is all about marketing ethics, which is so needed in the current modern day marketplace.