Book Description

Out of nowhere, a brand like Red Bull, The Blair Witch Project, or even the Howard Dean campaign takes off with little or no conventional marketing.How do these "accidents" really happen, and why do they ultimately succeed or fail?

Welcome to marketing without marketing: the emergence of the hijacked brand. Don't let the all-too-clever subtitle fool you. Far from representing the absence of marketing, this book describes the most complex sort of marketing possible, as well as the least understood.

Brand Hijack offers a practical how-to guide to marketing that finally engages the marketplace. It presents an alternative to conventional marketing wisdom, one that addresses such industry crises as media saturation, consumer evolution, and the erosion of image marketing.

Fair warning: this book is not for everyone.It proposes untraditional, even counterintuitive practices: Let the marketplace take over. Stop clamoring for control and learn to be spontaneous. Be bold enough to accept a certain degree of uncertainty in the definition of your brands.

Brand hijacking relies on a radical concept: letting go. What a frightening, yet oddly liberating thought.

Marketing without Marketing: A Brand Hijack Manifesto

- Let go of the fallacy that your brand belongs to you. It belongs to the market.

- Co-create your brand by collaborating with your consumers.

- Scrap the focus groups, fire the cool chasers, and hire your audience.

- Facilitate your most influential and passionate consumers in translating your brand's message to a broader audience.

- Be patient. Your brand initiative could take years to take off -or weeks.

- Be flexible. Carefully plan every step, but be totally open to having the story rewritten along the way.

- Lose control. Free yourself to seize sudden opportunities that only last for moments.

- Resist the paranoid urge for consistency. Embrace the value of being surprising and imperfect.

- Respect your community. Draw the line between promotion and the adbusting trinity of manipulation, intrusion and co-option.

Let the market hijack your brand.
... Read more

Reviews (8)

One idea made into a dog that don't hunt
There is more than one way to successfully promote a product. If you find a way that has not, up to now, been incorporated into a text book, then use it as long as it works.

That is the substance of the 260 pages of the book. There a few examples, ridden to death, of underground/hippie/counter-culture advertising successes. The point of each is that the advertising was not done in the mainstream, dump a zillion bucks into TV and/or magazine ads manner.

How do you Hijack a brand? You don't. That's the whole point of the concept -- sometimes a subset of the general population will latch onto a product for its own reasons (think Doc Maartens) and propel it to success. The subset "hijacked" the brand, at least in the authors parlance. Another phrase that covers the same ground is "niche marketing." That, of course, derives from the notion of a biological niche. All the plants and animals on the planet live in a niche. How novel, to rename "niche marketing" to "Brand Hijack."

My personal good news is that I was able to read the book in about 90 minutes, minimizing the time wasted.

sets the bar mighty high....
I too read a lot of business books...especially those on marketing.As a pretty small book and magazine publisher (ie old media), I have to be 3 steps ahead when it comes to things. I found myself nodding in agreement with every page I turned.

I recommend reading this book along with Seth Godin's Purple Cow and Free Prize Inside.

The great thing about having a very small budget for marketing is that it forces you to think and be highly creative. Sure, big companies will always have more money....but they may not be able to have more creativity or freedom.

And that's why this book is so useful. It is a blueprint for change that small companies can really embrace...if they choose to.

Should be mandatory reading in business school.
This is one of the best business books I have read in some time - and I read a lot of business books.I picked this book up at a retail store and, being intrigued by the jacket verbiage, actually paid full retail price - something I don't often do.

Wipperfurth has created a terrific read that anyone from an upstart-entrepreneur to a seasoned brand manager or marketing executive will undoubtedly find fascinating and eye-opening.

The best brands are those that develop the highest quality affiliation between the product or service and the mind of the consumer (see the critical research and analysis done by the Gallup Organization's William J. McEwen and John Fleming "Customer Satisfaction Doesn't Count" in which the authors conclude that satisfying customers without creating an emotional connection with them has no real value.Indeed the only thing that matters in the end is the strength or quality of that relationship - something they refer to as customer "engagement").Great brand managers attempt to create, promote and maintain this relationship.But what if the market runs off with your brand?Or, perhaps more importantly, how can you get the market to run off with your brand?

In Brand Hijack, Wipperfurth examines certain brands that have gone a step past the usual brand management tactics - brands that have actually been "hijacked" by consumers - some serendipitously while others have been carefully orchestrated and costly marketing campaigns.Some have failed and some have succeeded and Wipperfurth does a brilliant job of accounting for the difference.As great as it would be to have a marketing windfall in the form of a serendipitous brand hijack, most of us will have to actually make it happen or, at least, attempt to make it happen.But the path is fraught with pitfalls and strewn with the corpses of brand managers who have tried and failed.You will need a guide to climb this mountain and Wipperfurth has here created the equivalent of the Lonely Planet guide to brand hijacking.

The case studies are engrossingly interesting.You may want to read this book with highlighter in hand.Profound insights reside on nearly every page.

I am currently launching a new business and will certainly use what I have learned in this book to better my business plan, my marketing campaigns and my overall approach to customer engagement.

Thanks Alex Wipperfurth for a wonderful read.

Wow... he's captured the uncapturable
Ever read a book and, as you're reading it, you go 'oh.. YEA.. that's RIGHT isn't it".This book if full of those moments.It's rare that I'll pick up a marketing focused book like this and read it in one sitting, but this one did it to me.I literally couldn't put it down.Wipperfurth's insights and observations are dead on.

And the warnings inside the front cover are right: This book is not for everyone.If you're a good solid marketing citizen, particularly one in the corporate world, don't waste your time.You won't get it.But, if you've got at least a tiny streak of the truly creative "f**k em, let's do it this way, it just seems right' in you, read this book.It'll help you validate those innate insights you've had and give you examples of people and companies that have acted on them, and succeeded wildly.It will also lay out how you can really screw up this very real and underutilized approach to marketing, this, well, for lack of a better term "anti-marketing marketing".

Sell all of your other marketing books.
Tucked away, towards the back of Brand Hijack is an inspiring nugget of surprise rarely found in most chartbuster marketing books. "Too often we try to borrow authenticity rather than earn it," Wipperfurth says. "Companies [are] eager to be associated with black culture... [and] in their rush to capitalize on it, they reduce black culture to fashion, buzzwords and trends-raiding it for `everything but the burden.'" Is this a book about marketing and ethics? You bet it is-but Wipperfurth is as invested in new ways to rethink and save the discipline of marketing from its pitfalls as he is interested in cultural theft and racial profiling by those in his line of work. His main point? Marketers are too busy scheming to tell consumers who they are instead of working with consumers to create brand identities.

The result is a must-read for an entire spectrum of 21st-century style-chasers to corporate protesters-from every Sergio Zyman worshipper to Naomi Klein "no-logo" policefolk. But, most of all, this book is for the traditional marketing agency-and anyone who wants to emulate them. A letter to the editor of the New York Times sets the context for Brand Hijack: "We have a message for the movers and shakers of Madison Avenue-`Tone down the relentless yammering; you're talking too loud for us to listen.'"

The subtitle's premise of Marketing Without Marketing is somewhat simple, but like a Paula Z exercise video, it requires remembering to do it everyday to bring around real change: marketers must understand the consumer as a "cultural producer"-an innovative, creative person that is not an empty receptacle for advertisements. Wipperfurth asks marketers to: stop chasing the new cool ("it belongs to the market"), think of marketing as facilitation (treat consumers as peers), "act like an anthropologist when uncovering market opportunity," and give consumers the opportunity to encode their meanings on products instead of having them jammed down their throat. Not easy, but he gives a plethora of examples-from Doc Martens to Napster, and from Pabst Blue Ribbon to Ipods. And, he's full of surprises-anthropological models, cultural studies-type analyses, and the occasional pop-psychological remedy/self-help pick-me-up (e.g., "letting go of an idea").

The advice is ethical: don't tell people who they are, and think about the cultural context of your products. Make moral decisions based on your marketing plan's contents, and figure out ways that your consumers can be "art directors." The real academic and practical theory of Wipperfurth's splendid and well-written work is his ability to draw on academic models and anthropological studies of the consumer, and he explains how to shift from individual-psychological advertising models towards the future of engaging in marketing conversations with consumers in cultural ways, letting brand-hijacks to take over.

An absolute must-read. ... Read more

Amazon.com

The beauty of marketing is that it happens when we're looking but not noticing. Before you know it, we're using Yahoo! as a search engine, even though serious researchers will tell you that Alta Vista and Dogpile are better. We're buying products that cost more and perform worse, simply because the marketing and branding of those products tells us there's a value there, even if objective analysis tells us otherwise. In The Invisible Touch, Harry Beckwith tells us the obvious--what was right in front of our faces. But because of the blinders we wear, because of the way we've been educated, socialized, or just plain bamboozled, we can't see it as clearly as he can. Thus, in each of his "four keys to modern marketing"--price, branding, packaging, relationships--he offers counterintuitive information that could make or break a business plan. For example, he explains in great detail why a higher price is better than a lower one; why every business, from Apple Computer to the U.S. Army, is a brand-name to be cherished and nurtured; why the orangest orange sells better than the least orange orange, even if both pieces of fruit taste exactly the same; and why the best service providers always remember your name and what you like to drink. This is a business book, but one that everyone who works for a living should read. Pick any page, and you'll find insights that could make you a better teacher, a better salesperson, a better employee in any trade. Beckwith drives home the idea that we're all in the business of marketing ourselves, and we're in that business every waking hour. --Lou Schuler ... Read more

Reviews (18)

The Invisible Touch is clearly a hit
Harry Beckwith has done it again. He follows Selling The Invisible with a book that, like its predecessor, is full of little gems that convey big truths. The Invisible Touch expands on the territory covered in the first book rather than simply repeating it. So you'll find new insights and topics that make this a must read for anyone in business, marketing, or advertising. Go buy it, then buy several for your clients.

Common Sense and Great Examples: Overall, a Great Book!
As a small business owner, one of the most important factor in receiving (and keeping) business is marketing. Beckwith provides a lot of common-sense tools (that are frequently ignored by Fortune 500) companies that can be enormously benefectial--such as refering to a person's first name, and showing passion for one's work, true passion. Yet many of us forget how important common sense is when we are involved in our business. Beckwith's main advice is to remember the human touch--that you are dealing with humans. That means a certain style, a welcoming style, has to be imbedded in all that you do in your business. A very good book!

Michael

Exposes Assumptions
He's off completely though when he gushes over his European hiking pal. What if this hiking pal was a Subway sandwich guy, instead of a 2nd year law student...? Placebo effect in full force again. It depends on "who" is saying your name. How many Moms wish they could change their names?

What's the deal with the Carter-Reagan comparison? That wasn't even intelligent?!?!?!

The greatest insight, I thought, was the discovery that people first make decisions and then seek to justify them. I can see how understanding that concept can be useful. Find out what they've decided first, and then support it or try to change it... Absolutely Brilliant!!!!! I'm soooo guilty of that one.

Thanks Harry for another great treasure of insights. Didn't care for the repeat stuff from "What Clients Love", but you knocked a few out of the park. I'll pay to see that any time!

A rehash of something outstanding
Harry's second book falls prey to his own advice: the first one was so outstanding, that I expected something excellent and was disappointed with merely "good". Like many movie sequels, this book simply repeated themes that were great in the original, but have now grown stale. Of all authors, I was really disappointed in the blatant reuse of specific examples: the orangest orange example, the Peanuts back-of-the-shoes example. Others. I did read it cover-to-cover in one night. I did chuckle. I did enjoy the examples. But there was no blinding new insight.

Having loved his original, I'm disappointed with the sequel. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I was expecting it to be outstanding. This didn't have it. If you haven't read Selling the Invisible, buy that instead. If you have already read it, don't bother with Part II.

Nice compliment to "Positioning" and "Focus" by Al Ries
Aptly named, "The Invisible Touch" presents brilliant insight into selling and positioning the intangible; services both online and off.

Beckwith argues convincingly that successful service offerings depend not so much on the actual services, but on the consumers' perception of the company offering the services and the consumers' perception of themselves as the decision is made to purchase them. The successful service provider communicates in crystal clear fashion the benefits of said services and charges based on the value delivered. (It's not what you pay; it's what you get!)

Perceived value is affected by numerous factors including environment and price. Can you increase the perceived value of your product or service by simply increasing the price? Beckwith discusses several cases in which this is clearly the case. Can a restaurant improve the taste of its' food by improving the decor? Arguably, yes.

When discussing State Farm, Beckwith states, "It is not slickness, polish, uniqueness, or cleverness that makes a brand a brand. It is truth."

This strategy has worked well for State Farm. Due to the abundance of information available on the web this may become a required strategy for any company. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Reality Check
I read this and thought: what a reality check! Tons of people filter through agencies on their way to some other gig. But some people are staying in the agency world for good, in some capacity or another. They should all read this book.

There's not always one right answer as to how to run your agency, but there are, thankfully, some standard business practices and parameters, which are plainly described in this book.

I think it makes for a more balanced and effective agency.

The price is right. There's a lot of truly useful information you can share. It helps to demystify and guide. Even if you're not in a position to control the business side of your company, having this book sitting on your desk is kind of empowering. I'm glad I bought it.

Not For Everyone
This book was not written recently and many parts of it reflect that fact. It's pretty dated. It speaks mostly of the big agency world. If your already in that world, you might find the attention to accounting details helpful, as the author is clearly experienced and pays attention to dollar details. If your planning to start a small agency, (bootstrapping) you could do better than this book. If you're ready to seek funding then hire a big staff and go after Johnson and Johnson, this might have some info you could use.

The Advertising Agency Business:
"The Advertising Agency Business" was an extremly insightful and logical read. The author focus on the basics of the industry but elaborates very well with examples. This book is a must read if you own, managage or operate an ad agency. I wish I had read this book before I started my agency!

The Advertising Agency Business
I am in my 3rd of starting an advertising agency, and this book was just what I needed. Some of the things I learned will help be grow my agency business in the future.

Great book, easy to read and full of concrete info
I've been in the advertising field for nearly 20 years, and it was a pleasure to find this solid, useful book. It's clearly written, straightforward, and approaches the subject in a direct way. Anyone considering their own agency should read this book cover-to-cover, and then do the math, well before they go out on their own. ... Read more

Book Description

Dramatically increase your ability to sell by learning how to control the mind of your prospect using 30 psychological tiggers to motivate, influence and persuade. ... Read more

Reviews (43)

Triggers
I have read Mr. Sugarman's book and found it to be both helpful and insightful. Once I started reading it, I found it hard to put down. My company operates in the high tech arena and after reading "Scotts (no E-mail)" comments I couldn't disagree more. Mr. Sugarman, one of the nation's most respected authors in sales and advertising, offers no trickery but powerful techniques. My company has effectively used Mr. Sugarman's teachings from his other books, and speaking for myself I think this one is the best.

Basic Premise: Emotion and not logic clinches a sale.
Most experienced sales people and books will tell you that the sales process is an emotional one and logic plays only a secondary role. The author of this book (Joseph Sugarman) takes this concept to the next level and introduces 30 psychological triggers. These triggers (or sales tools) if used correctly by the seller will influence the buyer's state of mind and dramatically increase the chances of a sale.

The author takes these 30 important triggers and devotes a chapter to each and every one of them with clear explanations and examples of why and how these triggers work. Here are just a few sample triggers - Greed, Consistency, Product Name, Prospect Nature, Integrity, Storytelling, Objection Raising and Objection Resolution.

There are a few triggers that are very hard to dispute. The best example is the Exclusivity trigger. Almost every one of us falls for this technique if we are in the market for the product and can afford it. Sometimes, even when we are not in the market and can't afford it, we still seem to fall for this one.

There are a few triggers where I found it difficult to agree with the author on some of the premises. For example, in the chapter on the Sense of Urgency trigger, he states in so many words that it is okay to use some very bold tactics to create a sense of urgency if it looks like you are going to lose the prospect. The author even hints that you really don't have much to lose so it's okay to use certain tactics that I thought were inflammatory. The problem with this approach is that some individuals will never go back to the salesman or the company that hired the salesman. I think one has to consider the possibility that this could turn into a public relations and marketing problem.

But if you take some of the triggers and their explanations with a grain of salt, I think this is a great book overall.

After reading this book, I wondered why logic fails so miserably where emotion succeeds so easily in the sales process. I think the answer lies in the fact that the buyer has to be an expert in order to correctly apply logic and compare any two products. In most cases though, the buyer is not an expert and hence abandons logic and succumbs to emotional triggers in making a decision. Apparently, even in cases where the buyer is an expert, the chances of abandoning logic in the face of very strong emotional triggers are very high.

If you are new to sales, there is a lot you can learn from this book (as I did). If you have a decent amount of experience in sales, this could still be an interesting read.

Two things that struck me about the techniques in this book is that it can work beautifully in situations where you are selling products and in situations where there isn't a long term relationship involved. I am really not sure of the effectiveness of the techniques in this book in the services market and plan on experimenting slowly over time. I am also not sure if the techniques work as well in situations where the sales cycles are very long like in high dollar contract (whether it is a product or a service).

On a final note, I must say that the book is focussed on helping you close a sale but little attention is paid to the important aspect of negotiation. Anytime you are dealing with a high dollar item and the services market, negotiation becomes an integral part of the sales process. This is a very complex topic that is dependent on various factors including the cultural backgrounds of the individuals and companies involved. Overall, a worthwhile book to read to get an invaluable insight into the 30 psychological triggers. Good luck and enjoy learning from this book!

Forget the Gun...Hit the Triggers!!
Joe Sugarman wrote this book five years ago. It is as useful as if he wrote it today. There are things about people that never change. Their hot points are the same today as they were five years ago.
Joe knows his material through trial and error. Why not learn from his mistakes instead of making your own? Be years ahead!
Read what Joe says! I'm certainly happy I did!
Great for every salesperson! Even the best can improve!

Joe Sugarman has a winner
Joe Sugarman has been in marketing for many years. In Triggers he gives specific examples of marketing tools to use including explaining why your product is better over all as well as a lower price than a competing product.
He also gives information on how to become a better buyer by looking at different factors when you want to make a purchase. His writing is light, fun, and informational.

How to get more sales starting today!
Joe Sugarman is the recognized expert of advertising and marketing in our times. People pay big money to hear him speak and not for no good reason.

This book is a wonderful collection of great ideas to help you trigger people to buy your product or service. Apply the ideas contained within and watch your sales soar!

Zev Saftlas, Author of Motivation That Works: How to Get Motivated and Stay Motivated ... Read more

Amazon.com

To longtime sales and customer-service pro Jeffrey Gitomer, boasting about a near-perfect customer-satisfaction rating of 97.5 percent is a major mistake. "That means 2.5 percent of your customers are mad and they're telling everyone. And 97.5 percent of your customers will shop anyplace the next time they go to market for your product or service." Based on a philosophy that's been developed through his syndicated business columns and the more than 150 seminars that he gives each year to companies such as Radisson, Sony, NationsBank, and Time Warner Cable, the book outlines his formula for making customers so faithful they "will fight before they switch--and they will proactively refer people to buy from you." Regularly employing oversized type in screaming bold fonts to grab the reader's attention, Gitomer breathlessly recounts his start-to-finish approach to becoming "memorable" to consumers along with illustrative tales of his own encounters with particularly egregious examples of poor service. All of this is bolstered by an ongoing sampling of his inspirational quips and a variety of self-evaluating quizzes designed to pinpoint individual strengths and weaknesses. Take a deep breath, read it straight through, and prepare to delight thy customer! --Howard Rothman ... Read more

Reviews (48)

This book is right on target
I picked up this book because it "looked" different. I read it in one sitting. Jeff has it correct, and in plain, easy to read language. His points are clear, common sense, and right on target.

I have been managing customer service call centers and field service operations for fifteen years. This is the first book that I've read which makes the key points about what many have been thinking was right for years....but now we understand to be only half of the picture.

I strongly recommend this book for anyone who has to deal with people who deal with customers!

This is the best book I have read about serving customers.
I just finished reading this book and loved it. The material you covered was right on target and the layout made it very enjoyable to read. I plan to get our management team to all read it. We are in the process of improving our record of repeat customers and exceeding their expectations. Coming across your book on Amazon.com was the luckiest break I have had all month! I know that even using a portion of the ideas presented will bring results. The best tip is to make your interaction with your customer so memorable that they will tell others how GREAT you are!! It worked for Gitomer's book, because I will tell everyone I know about it.

Not close enough to the customer
People who are managing customer service at the money end - the customers - will get some value by interpreting Jeffrey Gitomer's work through their own experience. Unfortunately the author fights shy of some big realities, namely:

* Your organisation, and not your competitors, can be responsible for placing the biggest obstacles between your service team and the customers. Oftentimes your job as a customer-centred manager is to work out ways around these - without getting fired.

* The fact is that for each 200 customers you help you will come across at least one active psychotic (honestly I'm not overstating this), never mind the congenitally rude or the customer that had a blazing row with their spouse 20 seconds before walking in. Gitomer's book won't help you sell to these customers. (Of course its your job to make sure you don't HIRE the psychotics if you can help it).

* More importantly for the manager, Gitomer won't tell you how to ensure that your staff don't [pick] up a bad attitude from their one mad/angry etc customer and spit it out on the next one.
You've got to keep everyone focused on each customer and their needs as they are. That's not as easy as it sounds. I used to allow staff a 'time-out'if they'd been verbally abused to give them a chance to calm down. At this point you can remind them that the previous 199 people they helped were actually pretty decent.

* Most people working customer service are on such low pay that they often come to work with money worries on their minds. If you can do anything at all to make work conditions a bit better -clean staff rooms and toilets, coffee machines that work etc - do it. Be as attentive to your staff as you are to your customers...

* Gitomer is right about one thing especially. You can't too often reinforce the message 'treat others as you would like to be treated.' Again its in the hiring - hire for empathy...

It's too bad more businesses haven't read this.
If my book was kidnapped and held in Afganistan for 10,000 bucks ransom, if it was the only copy left in the world, I'd rescue it.

By chapter 5, I had saved a huge sale from going sour. This book has done some amazing things for my company's sales. Not just the book, but some effort on my part. Very little effort.

The principles in this book are so easy to put into immediate action, you'll wonder why you haven't
thought about this stuff already. Even if you've stayed in Ritz Carltons and shopped in upscale
stores, you'll never completely learn what makes it all come together. This book sheds some light on service.

This book was extremely enjoyable to read, but the real enjoyment comes after youre done reading
and you put this stuff into action. Seeing the smiles on customers faces, hearing their amazement
on the phone when you just try a little harder. Spend just a few minutes extra.

The things in this book cost little or no money, and even if they do cost money, you'll want to do them anyway.
Performing the principles in this book has become a hobby. It's fun, it changes the way you look at work.
At times I want to screw up orders, just to fix them! I can't beleive the attitude overhaul I've gained from this book.

I've bought this book for all the business owners in my family and now we all get together and try to
blow each other away by how we are creating memorable service. You'll want to knock their socks off, even if
you have no desire to do it before you read this book, you will after, or even half way though.

Great Ideas
Gitomer's book is full of great ideas. As the Director of Orientation at a state university, I supervise a terrific group of 75 student volunteers who help new students and their parents. If I can effectively communicate to them the super ideas and concepts found here, I know they'll do an even better job as orientation leaders. Plus the skills they use and learn will easily carry over into whatever they do in life. I'm also Director of our Student Center and this book gave me lots of ideas I can use in training the students I work with in the building too. ... Read more

Download Description

With the increasing globalization of brands, effective brand management in differentiating products has become even more essential. This helpful volume provides the latest strategies for maximizing the value of your brands and products. Articles include: "Building Brands Without Mass Media" by Erich Joachimsthaler and David A. Aaker, "Brands vs. Private Labels: Fighting to Win" by John A. Quelch and David Harding, "How Do You Grow a Premium Brand?" by Regina Fazio Maruca, "Should You Take Your Brand to Where the Action Is?" by David A. Aaker, "Extend Profits, Not Product Lines" by John A. Quelch and David Kenny, "The Logic of Product-Line Extensions" Perspectives from the Editors, "Can This Brand Be Saved," by Regina Fazio Maruca, "Your Brand's Best Strategy" by Vijay Vishwanath and Jonathan Mark. The Harvard Business Review Paperback Series is designed to bring today's managers and professionals the fundamental information they need to stay competitive in a fast-moving world. Here are the landmark ideas that have established the Harvard Business Review as required reading for ambitious businesspeople in organizations around the globe. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Great ten years ago
This would have been a great read in 1995; however, the statistics and points made seem very dated given today's reality of fragmented segments, consolidated grocery distribution and strength of private label.

This is a good read if you are interested in how issues have changed since '94.

Great for perspectives but not a full picture of branding
This is a great collection of thoughtful "perspectives" on brand related issues, some very thoughtful (e.g., the one on extending premium brands with Transition health clubs as the lynchpin) and others somewhat perplexingly dichotomous (e.g., a chapter on the perils of line extensions which is immediately succeeded by another on the logic of line extensions leaving the reader with no cogent framework for how to decide between the two).

The "book" is structured as a collection of essays, each of which takes up a case study with an actual company and then presents the views of several big-tyke experts about branding issues that the company was faced with. This makes it a fascinating read as a case study guide. An attempt to weave these scattered insights into a summary recommendation at the end of each essay, or at least some mention of what the client in question actually ended up doing, would have been even more useful. Sans such synoptic editing, this book ends up being little more than thought piece for the branding experts on some issues that pertain to corporate identity (and the marketing bottomline) but this is by no means a holistic branding reference as one of the other reviewers seemed to indicate.

All the same, I would still give it is a 4 star for its readability, for the breadth and the reality of the cases picked for discussion, and for the sharpness/relevance of the insights that went into discussing them. Should be a no-brainer of a buy if you are interested in the identity/advertising/marketing strategy industry in any way, especially as a real-world companion to any of Aaker's works.

It's worth to buy it, read it, and think about it.
This collections would absolutely give either the managers in business war or students in acdemic area some fresh insights of "Brand". Most people misunderstand the true meaning of a brand, so they make wrong decisions when facing consumers' wants. You can get new ideas about your business positioning, your strategy, or media policy. Students also should read it, because it will help you to clarify your concept about what "brand" mean. I recommend it to you.

Insightful Perspectives
In this volume, one of a series of anthologies of articles previously published in the Harvard Business Review, we are provided with a variety of different perspectives on a single business subject. Here are the titles and their authors:

"Building Better Brands without Mass Media" (Joachimsthaler and Aaker)

"How Do You Grow a Premium Brand?" (Maruca)

"Should You Take Your Brand to Where the Action Is?" (Aaker)

"Extend Profits, Not Product Lines (Quelch and Kenny)

"The Logic of Product-Line Extensions" (Perspectives from the Editors)

"Can This Brand Be Saved?" (Maruca)

"Your Brand's Best Strategy" (Vishwanath and Mark)

Even if you do not recognize at least a few of the authors' last names, The Harvard Business Review's brand is of sufficient credibility to encourage you to purchase and read this book. I am especially impressed by the inclusion of "Executive Summaries" of key points in each of the articles. No brief commentary such as this can do full justice to the rigor and substance of the articles provided. It remains for each reader to examine the list to identify those subjects which are of greatest interest to her or him. My own opinion is that all of the articles are first-rate. For me, as previously indicated, one of this volume's greatest benefits is derived from sharing a variety of perspectives provided by several different authorities on the same general subject.

This is a classic; nice to have in eBook format too.
I found this collection of articles to be a very helpful business tool day to day. Nice to have in eBook form on your PC, so you can go back and reference it from time to time. The pages render quite well on the screen and its easier to navigate from article to article. I also use the annotation tool to save certain phrases for reminders. Worth the $$ for this one.

Here are some of the articles in this eBook: "Building Brands Without Mass Media" by Erich Joachimsthaler and David A. Aaker, "Brands vs. Private Labels: Fighting to Win" by John A. Quelch and David Harding, "How Do You Grow a Premium Brand?" by Regina Fazio Maruca, "Should You Take Your Brand to Where the Action Is?" by David A. Aaker, "Extend Profits, Not Product Lines" by John A. Quelch and David Kenny, "The Logic of Product-Line Extensions" Perspectives from the Editors, "Can This Brand Be Saved," by Regina Fazio Maruca, "Your Brand's Best Strategy" by Vijay Vishwanath and Jonathan Mark ... Read more

Book Description

Learn the new rules of real estate marketing!

Old rule: Your website is all about you.
New rule: Your website is all about the customer.

Old rule: Online advertising will surpass offline advertising.
New rule: Integrated offline and online advertising wins every time.

Old rule: Delivering leads is the only job for a website.
New rule: The best websites deliver leads and customer service.

These are just some of the new rules of online marketing that you’ll find in this helpful, hands-on guide. In the REAL ESTATE RAINMAKER® Guide to Online Marketing, Dan Gooder Richard offers new solutions and proven ways to use the Internet to drive your real estate business. Whether you’re a novice or a veteran real estate pro, you’ll find all the cutting-edge online strategies you need to design and implement your own effective, profitable marketing strategy–with practical guidance on building a unique online brand with web domains, websites, and e-mail marketing strategies. Full of real-world examples and straightforward guidelines, the REAL ESTATE RAINMAKER® Guide to Online Marketing will help you generate more leads and more business than you ever thought possible! ... Read more

Reviews (8)

Not Just for Realtors!
WOW! I am so energized after reading Dan Gooder Richard's book, REAL ESTATE RAINMAKER GUIDE TO ONLINE MARKETING! I'm not in Real Estate but in Retail with a store front as well as a website. I plan to use Richard's book as my bible for online maketing. Just wait. My website will be topnotch!!

Real Estate Online Marketing Made Simple
For once Dan Gooder Richard has boiled the complex world of real estate online marketing down to simple strategies novices and experts alike can put to use. This book is easy to understand and best of all it's practical. I would highly recommend this book to all levels of agents and brokers who would like to boost their online marketing efforts.

Dan Richard's Second Book Is Great
Dan Gooder Richard really nails it with this second book. His first book was all about advertising and direct mail. This new book is all about websites and e-mail and how to use them for advertising. At last, the second half of the real estate marketing story has been told.

There are so many helpful hints in this book that it is hard to keep track. You have to read it a second and third time to really absorb everything. This is a must read for anyone interested in real estate marketing or marketing in general as the tips could be applied to many industries.

Wow, e-marketing made easy!!!!
I truly enjoyed this book. It is a simple yet powerful guide to real estate e-marketing that really works. Dan Gooder Richard is in the trenches reporting on real life examples and telling what works and what doesn't. I use this book as a reference and a step-by-step guide. Get the book and get started maximizing your online business.

Great Reading and Easy to Understand
This book is great! It has everything the beginner needs to learn about how to use the Internet for marketing. I'm sure vertern Internet users would find the techniques helpful as well. It is easy to understand and gives step by step instructions for things like setting up a website and using emails effectively. I found it very helpful and would suggest it to anyone looking to grow their Internet business. ... Read more

Book Description

A sales force is no better than its management—and Sales Management supplies the tools sales executives need to inspire their sales forces to increase productivity through improved customer service, equitable compensation plans, e-Commerce, sales force automation, and more. It explains how to make heroes out of a sales force by understanding and taking advantage of both the micro and the macro of sales and sales management and determining the best methods for organizing, deploying, and motivating today’s changing sales force. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Straight-forward, practical, and well written
In nine easy-to-read chapters, Calvin is able to present a great framework for professional sales managers to review their thinking and organize their thoughts. Each chapter captures the essence of its subject, and then presents a number of good ideas that add to any parctitioner. Each chapter is summarized through a creative and insightful list of the top 10 mistakes that sales managers do in this area. These lists alone are worth what I paid for the book. I find it to be a book that is capable of contributing to the knowledge of both academics and professionals alike.

This is THE reference and guidebook
Calvin succinctly packages sales and sales management processes into this book in a way that enables the reader to PUT IT TO USE!! The references, lists, worksheets, and key points will be invaluable to you. Keep it in your briefcase to refer to on a daily basis - it has so many key points and reminders that you will find relevant pages to earmark to make you more effective against your day-to-day sales goals.

Highly Recommended!
Companies of the old and new economies often suffer the same ailment: sales teams that don't produce. Writer Robert Calvin tells sales managers what they must do to cure this disease. Calvin's book ' which is as concise as an effective sales pitch ' gives you a thorough blueprint for building or rebuilding your sales team. The book is filled with questionnaires and lists, including a sample performance evaluation and a rundown on what not to say to a potential hire. Calvin argues that managers often neglect training, which alone should take up 40% of their time. We [...] highly recommend this potential Bible for sales managers, which makes it clear that you must be more critical of your sales force's achievements in areas such as prospecting, closing and even personal demeanor. A word of warning: Calvin is as ruthless as 'The Weakest Link' television show in asserting that poor performers must be eliminated' and he doesn't even wink.

sales management
This book gives a new dimension how to increase the effectiveness of sales activities nowadays. W.Stanton and R. Spiro wrote a books-management of a sales force, which gives a very clear basic understanding of managing a sales force. But your book gives a new idea how to make the force more effective. ... Read more

Amazon.com

There are no two ways about it with Jack Trout. Either you've got a product or service that you can say is different, or you don't have much at all. In today's global marketplace and at its lightning-fast rate of change, there's no point in inventing and presenting a product only to sit back and hope that consumers everywhere will discover its greatness. It's not simply about what you or your product can do, it's about what you do differently from everyone else. Coauthors Trout and Steve Rivkin say it all in their no-holds-barred title, Differentiate or Die.

A disciple of the marketing guru Rosser Reeves, who introduced the concept of the "unique selling proposition," Trout relays his vision of what can help you differentiate in blunt, tell-it-like-it-is prose. First he breaks the bad news that product quality, advertising creativity, price advantage, and breadth of product line are rarely successful ways to differentiate your business. Consumers expect the best quality, he says; they don't think it's a bonus. In the same vein, your competitor can slash prices just as quickly as you. After dismissing these common marketing techniques as futile, Trout concentrates on which differentiating ideas will set you apart from the pack: Being first (and staying there), owning a discernible attribute, having a heritage, becoming the preference of a particular consumer group, or even being the most recent arrival in a product arena are just some of these useful differentiates. Though the book's fast and quippy narrative style may leave some readers looking for more substance behind his adamant assertions, Trout's recommendations act as inspirational spurts of energy. A slim manual packed with punchy points, Differentiate or Die won't take you long to read but could make a lasting--you guessed it--difference to the success of your business. --S. Ketchum ... Read more

Reviews (33)

A Definite Five Star Book - Six if I could!
I rarely give five star ratings anymore because a "paradigm shift" or excellent insights are needed to get such a review. This book deserves the five star rating.

Differentiate or Die by Jack Trout and Steve Rivkin is an excellent read for those learning how and why businesses succeed in the LONG-TERM. This book is another excellent marketing book by one of the authors. Jack Trout first came to popularity with his seminal book "Positioning," which he co-wrote with Al Ries. For those interested in marketing books The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries and Jack Trout is another truly great book by one of the authors.

Differentiation is the key element to long-term success and profits; furthermore, it is an essential area of discussion in any corporate strategy discussions and is frankly the biggest and most important thing I learned while getting my MBA a few years ago.

Some excellent tidbits from the book include:

• It's not simply about what you or your product can do; it's about what you do differently from everyone else. Very similar to concepts introduced in Positioning, one of the co-authors other books

• In today's global marketplace there are more products than ever. Products compete globally rather than locally or nationally as they did in the past.

• In today's lightning-fast rate of change it is critical to be first to market with an invention but it is MORE IMPORTANT to be first to market to position yourself in the marketplace via advertising / marketing to capture customer MINDSHARE.

• It is tougher than ever to get customer's to change their minds as they increasingly have less time to shop on discretionary products or plan vacations due to the increasing reliance on double income households.

• Trout concentrates on illustrating ideas that will differente you from the pack: Being first (and staying there), owning a discernible attribute, having a heritage, becoming the preference of a particular consumer group, or even being the most recent arrival in a product arena are just some of these useful differentiates he presents.

Conclusion: Buy the book. It is well worth the time and money. Most of my reviews are in business / economics and I encourage people to read them, whether here on ... or at my personal website. If you are interested in economic history book I would encourage everyone to read The Worldly Philosophers by Robert Heilbroner since it is more international in scope and deals with the lives and times of the most famous economists in history. If you are interested in economic development / evolution of U.S. property history I would encourage you to read Hernando DeSoto's Mystery of Capital but note his lack of focus on corruption in certain countries. A great general business book is by the management guru Peter Drucker entitled "The Essential Drucker."

Only 4 stars cause I'd heard the majority of it before....
Differentiate or Die is a great book providing that you haven't read prior books written by Jack Trout - Marketing Warfare, Positioning, and The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing to name just a few. I really loved the book, because I really to enjoy reading Trout's work, but I must admit - it was a little repititive. It is worth the read - do yourself a favor if you don't think you are up-to-date with the term differentiation and are not aware of the outcomes of companies which do and don't have it (you could probably have a pretty good guess by the title though!).

What stood the hair on the back of my neck up was when Trout and Rivkin put down the 'you must differentiate' professor of all time - Michael Porter - in the 2nd page of the Preface. Allow me to quote - "Harvard's Michael Porter, for example, does talk about the need for a unique position, but he never offers much help on how to be unique. Instead, he talks about strategic continuity, deepening strategic position, and minimizing trade-offs. And he talks to any competitor who will pay his fee. Nothing different." This got me going. This really got my veins pumping in unison with my heart which suddenly seemed to be beating faster than ever. And yes, it was only the second page.... So, despite the fact that it was kind of similar to previous written books, and used basically the same examples - I read on.

I learned about the concept of the USP, and how the choice we have now is different from the choice we would have had many years ago. I learned about many things that aren't really a differentiating idea - for example - creativity, price, bredth of line. Following that Trout explains things that are differentiating steps - attribute ownership, leadership, heritage, hotness - etc. Thats the basic outline of the book.

All in all though, an interesting book to read - that really has woken me up to realize the fact that we must be different in this day and age. Ohhh, and also - another thing that I did like was some of the stats that they used. I wish they'd say according to who - or state a source. But anyway - I really think it's interesting. Have a read - you'll know what I mean.

Cheers, Vaughan

Brilliant!
I read this book as research for my undergraduate dissertation. It is a really good light read, easy to understand with interesting and funny examples. I particularly like the fact that it is not too academic, its more of a practical understanding of the need for differentiation and the way companies have achieved (or not) differentiation. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the subject area. It is a light, enjoyable read.

too obvous examples
Even though Jack Trout has tried to illustrate his theory by many diverse examples, moslty those examples have been obvious. However, troughout the book he clearly makes a point: do things in 'unique' way, otherwise other competitors will take the market share.

Yet most brands survive without being different
This book is largely a restatement of Trout (and Ries) previous assertions that brands have to stand out, get noticed in a world cluttered with brands. That's fine. Where this book goes wrong is when it flogs the old idea of having to have a unique selling proposition or 'competitive advantage'. This is a tiny part of real world marketing and competition.

Most brands are highly similar to competitor brands, or with differences too subtle for buyers to care about. And much of competition is about staying similar to competitors.

Yet without being perceived to be much different brands still survive and even thrive. Consumers aren't looking for different, they are looking for a brand they know is good (enough). They have lives ! The marketing battle is to get into the consideration set.

Like other brands this book sells because many people have heard of Jack Trout and because it doesn't say anything different. If it was really different from other marketing books/magazines and told marketers something different from the accepted gospel it wouldn't sell so well. ... Read more

Book Description

This accessible overview helps learners master the basic principles and practices of modern marketing in an enjoyable and practical way. Its coverage balances upon three essential pillars—(1) theory and concepts; (2) practices and applications; and (3) effective learning tools.A four-part organization details topics under the headings of: understanding marketing and the marketing management process, assessing opportunities in a dynamic marketing environment, developing marketing strategy and the marketing mix, and extending marketing.For individuals interested in taking an intriguing, discovery-filled journey to the business of marketing—in sales forces, retailing, advertising, research, or any other areas. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Great basic marketing text at a great price!
I use this textbook to teach about 1,500 students per year in my courses. I find the book to be well-written and interesting. More importantly, *many* students tell me that enjoy reading the book. (I can tell you that it is rare to have students providing positive feedback on textbooks that are required reading). Armstrong and Kotler are leaders in the field, and their hardcover book holds the largest market share among U.S. universities. Books don't make it to the 10th edition (or 5th for paperback) w/o being good!

Boring
This book is easy to read, but there is so much waffle the basic principles are lost. I found the frequent interruption of the text by case studies very annoying. Don't waste your money.

Incomplete, Unclear, Old
This book isn't clear on many topics. The ideas are old and stale unlike many other books which I've found in the same area. The pages are boring and do not make anyone want to learn more about marketing.

Complete, clear and updated
This book is very valuable even for those professionals with long experience in marketing. Either as reference work for the most modern marketing techniques or as case study of various companies (and its marketing problems and solutions), the book of Kotler and Armstrong is excellent. The dense appendixes reinforce the quality of the volume. In there it is possible to find some novelties as, for exemple, advices for those looking for careers in marketing. The practical exercises at the end of each chapter help to apply the contents in our diary lives. Colorful drawings, charts and ads samples make each page a delight for the eyes. This book allows learning with a touch of printing art.

Highly recommended for business students.
Hi, my name is Banggajam Velayudham. Currently I am pursuing an ABE business management course. Last term when I sat for my marketing Exam,My lecturer Ms.Chua recommend this book to me and I used the "Introduction to Marketing" by Philip Kotler and Gary Armstrong. This book is very good and act as a guide and has good notes and case stuides of the real business world with many pictures and particularly short notes on key points and it really helped me to get an A in my exam. I as student would highly recommed this book for ABE students. Thanks Mr.Kotler and Mr. Armstrong for coming out with such a wonderful boo,. ... Read more

Book Description

"A thesaurus that works as hard as you do . . . you'll wonder how you ever managed without it." -- Advertising AgeListing more than 2,500 high-powered words, phrases, and slogans, Words That Sell is the ultimate reference for anyone who needs instant access to the key words that make the difference in selling. Arranged by category for handy reference, it covers everything from "snappy transitions" to "knocking the competition," from "grabbers" to "clinchers." There are 62 ways to say "exciting" alone; 57 variations on "reliable"!Whether you are selling ideas or widgets, Words That Sell guarantees the expert sales professional an expanded, rejuvenated repertoire and the novice a feeling of confidence.Features:

• Cross-referencing of word categories to stimulate creative thinking
• Advice on targeting words to your specific market
• Tips on word usage
• A thorough index
• A concise copywriting primer
• A special section on selling yourself

Reviews (28)

A Copy Writing Thought Stimulator
This is one of my favorite references. Whenever I have to draft copy, I page through it for ideas. To sell your product (in my case books), you have to describe it in (glowing) terms that relate to the needs of the potential buyer.

Bayan describes Grabbers (heads, salutations, invitations, openings, transitions), Descriptions and Benefits, Clinchers (persuasion and decision), Terms & Offers (discounts, freebies, trials, guarantees), and Special Strategies (company image, justifying a high price, knocking the competition, using demographics, flattering the reader, and appealing for contributions). Each section has pages of suggested phrasing. The appendix contains puffspeak-and its alternatives, wordy expressions, commonly confused words and more. This is not a book you read; it is a quick reference.

Richard Bayan is a full-time copywriter who shares his collection of WORDS THAT SELL in these pages.

As the author of 113 books (including revisions and foreign-language editions) and over 500 magazine articles, I highly recommend this volume to book publishers. DanPoynter@ParaPublishing.com.

Useful, Functional, Adaptable, Helpful, Easy to Use . . .
The above are just a few of the words and phrases suggested in "Words That Sell" for the term "Useful/Suitable."

This book is a specialized thesaurus with a marketing focus. The suggestions will jump start your pursuit of the perfect description next time you are writing a sales letter, catalog copy, brochure or web copy, ads--in short, anytime you need just the right word to convince customers to buy. It's one of the items I keep in my "creativity kit," the place I turn to overcome writer's block and get my brain popping.

If you ever have the need to write marketing copy, "Words That Sell" deserves a place on your bookshelf.

only the author loves these cliches
I'm embarassed to say I fell for this one, hey, it sold at least another copy. This stuff is tired and the book and author should be retired.

Hey, it still works!
If I were marooned on a desert island and still had to write copy, this is the one book I'd want to have in front of me. It manages to organize our vast language into bite-size categories for promoting products and ideas. It has helped countless thousands of people (including me) stop groping for elusive phrases and find inspiration on demand.

I really don't need to defend Words That Sell after its trashing by the previous reviewer. After all, the book has earned more than enough glowing reviews on Amazon.com and elsewhere. But I have to take issue with a "professional marketer" who claims that honesty and sincerity are the only tools you need to write effective copy. If that were the case, my dog would be an ace copywriter.

I'm adamant about honesty and sincerity in marketing, too -- but there's so much more to crafting a persuasive message. How about a knowledge of the words and phrases that repeatedly get results (or don't)? How about an emphasis on benefits (as opposed to boasts or mere descriptions)? How about key phrases for grabbing the reader and wrapping up your argument with an effective call to action?

The language of persuasion hasn't changed appreciably since the book was written back in the '80s. (If you haven't guessed by now... yes, I'm the author!) Human beings will always be motivated by the same needs, wants and fears, which is why a book like Words That Sell won't be outdated anytime soon. We might use fewer exclamation points these days, but the vast majority of these words and phrases still work.

Thanks for hearing me out. Now I'll let you decide for yourself.

Useless outdated material
Based on reading other reviews I obtained a copy, found it useless and not even correct. I advise any one (as a professional marketer) not to take this book's suggestions to heart and bear in mind it appears to have been written in 1984, when perhaps these terms may have been fresh. If you want to write ad copy just try being sincere and honest, it will come accross. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

a must read for CEO's
As the CEO of a software company, I have been searching for PRACTICAL advice for enhancing the experience for our customers. Most books I have seen are full of theory and are basically worthless. If you don't walk away from this book with a list of action items, then you obviously don't care about serving your customers.

I believe that this book will be on my desk as a reference for a long time. It will take a couple of years to implement all that I learned.

Definitely worth the read!

Not just philosophy, but how to design around the customer
Unlike others in the field, Wheeler and Smith lay out what you need to do to consciously design a business that consistently gives the customer an experience that lives up to their brand. In the rush to cost control, we often forget that it's easy to make life difficult for the customer, and the result is massive damage to the brand, even to the point of destroying the organization.

A must read, especially in uncertain times, where the tendency will be to cut, without regard for the customer.

Managing the Customer Experience
We all know that the customer has already become the decision maker of company operations in the digital economy. Without custmers, no company can survive. Shaun's book certainly uncovers the secrets on how to sustain the performance and growth of the company. He illustrates his proven model with a number of cases we can benchmark. In this regard, I dare to say that this book may be used by all business people as the bible of management.

Managing the Customer Experience
This is a must-read book for executives and managers seeking to improve customer loyalty. The authors convincingly demonstrate how branded customer experience drives customer loyalty to create a sustainable competitive advantage. The book is well researched and contains dozens of examples of companies who have met the loyalty/branding challenge. The stories behind the success of Harley Davidson, Amazon.com, Virgin, Home Depot and many others are fascinating and highly instructive. The ideas and perspectives covered in this book are both insightful and pragmatic. It is an excellent resource.

Practical Insight
This book is definitely worth the read. It does a nice job of quickly building the case as to why delivering an exceptional customer experience is the key issue for many companies today, especially service firms. More importantly it provides a clear example of how to get it done, so for internal practioners this book can serve as a straightforward roadmap for implementation. I also thought the examples were good, especially as they related to the issue of senior leadership engagement. Overall I would highly recommend this book to anyone else interested in this subject since I have not found a lot of material that actually describes what to do to deliver a branded customer experience. ... Read more

Book Description

Compensating the Sales Force is a uniquely jargon-free, how-to guide to all major sales compensation concepts and formulas. Using real-world examples, guru David J. Cichelli:

• Helps readers select the right compensation strategy for their firm
• Provides step-by-step guidance to implementing various approaches
• Simplifies the mathematical formulas that are a thorn in most manager's side

Reviews (2)

Worthless in the real world**(see edited section of review)
I now understand why large corporations are confused. This book has many pages of verbiage with even more useless graphs. Perhaps corporate vice presidents who need to justify their existence can wave this book around and generate reams of computer reports to wade through while their corporate bosses walk down the halls, but as far as creating a practical working program forget it. I would like to have my money back.
********
******** Hold the presses!
This guy David J. Cichelli just gave me a call! I will say one thing for him. He is sincere and extremely intelligent. After a warm friendly conversation he helped me with my plans. So I don't want my money back after all! In fact I definitely will be looking for him to write some industry specific books in the future. I truly wish him well.

The perfect how-to for sales incentive program designers
Keep this book among your collection of professional books. It's a no-nonsense guide that goes directly to the heart of how you design incentive programs for sales people in different jobs. David Cichelli describes, in detail, the finite number of formula mechanics used to pay incentives. He also describes when to use the mechanics, the math behind each formula, and popular variations of each mechanic. If you're looking for a book on the psychology of incentive programs, this isn't it. It is, however, a primer on specific sales incentive program types. Every HR or Comp Analyst should be familiar with these concepts - if not for your career, then for the sake of the people working in sales and the company's bottom line. ... Read more

Book Description

Strategic Database Marketing is the only resource to explain database marketing from the customer's point of view, instead of the seller's. Now, as exploding research and technology create entirely new market challenges, the Second Edition of this influential bestseller explains the method for computing RFM (Reach, Frequency, Monetary), as well as covering recently developed tools and resources including the Internet, loyalty programs, customer-specific marketing, and more.

Reviews (10)

The Master Book
This book is the main book for my Internet Marketing Class at Mercy College's MS in Internet Business Systems program. It includes all necessary topics such as database marketing, banner advertisement, calculating LTV and RFM Email Marketing and best practices. This book is a must read for anyone in direct marketing field.

Read this before you think about CRM
This is the book I have been waiting for, the book that gets to the crux of the CRM matter, which is, what information is needed to create effective Customer Relationship Managamenent that is both theoreticaly sound and business oriented.

The biggest and most important component of CRM are the strategic databases that contain the information necessary to better understand a companies clients, corporate wide.

This book describes all the key points necessary to create useful database marketing - it's practical approach is its added value.

I'ts not the easiest book to read, but the value that can be obtained from it far surpasses the effort needed to understand it.

It's also a great book to glean information from when preparing to deal with prospective CRM vendors -- do they really know what they are selling or talking about?

regards,

martyn_jones@iniciativas.com

Exceptional Coverage of Important Marketing Concepts
Hughes makes it exceedingly clear why customer loyalty and lifetime value are such critical marketing concepts. Hughes helps marketers understand why our hyper-focus on customer acquisition needs to be adjusted to consider retention and upsell as well.

In particular, Hughes explains:

* What Lifetime Value (LTV) is, w