Books › Marketing Manager roadmap
Best books for Marketing Managers
Positioning first, then growth, then strategy. The opening books explain how ideas spread and stick, how people are persuaded and how a brand gets placed in a buyer's mind. The build set adds narrative messaging, positioning, growth experiments and the numbers that guide them. The lead set takes an evidence-based view of how brands grow, then strategy and management systems.
12 books in 3 stages, about 3,260 pages (82 hours of reading). The notes are ours, with no ratings or sales claims.
How to choose your books
A short method, so you read the right book for where you are instead of the longest list.
Find your stage
Getting started · 5 books
Why marketing works: messages that spread and stick, persuasion and positioning.
Jump to this stage ↓Doing the job · 4 books
Making it operational: customer-centred messaging, positioning, growth experiments and the metrics that tell you what to do next.
Jump to this stage ↓Senior and leading · 3 books
Strategy and management: how brands grow, writing strategy that survives scrutiny and running a team by output.
Jump to this stage ↓
If you are unsure, start one stage lower than you think. Books in a later stage assume the working knowledge the earlier ones give you.
Begin with one book
Our starting pick
This Is Marketing: You Can't Be Seen Until You Learn to See
by Seth Godin · 2018
It frames the work around people you want to serve, which gives the rest of the tactics on this list a common purpose.
See the book ↓Then pick by your situation
Choose the next book by the problem in front of you, not by its place in the list.
If your product is good but people cannot say what it is for
read Obviously Awesome (doing the job)
If you want a structured way to run growth experiments
read Hacking Growth (doing the job)
If you are choosing which metrics to track at your stage
read Lean Analytics (doing the job)
Set a time budget
| Stage | Books | Pages | Reading | At 3 hrs a week |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Getting started | 5 | 1,310 | 33 hrs | 11 wks |
| Doing the job | 4 | 1,160 | 29 hrs | 10 wks |
| Senior and leading | 3 | 790 | 20 hrs | 7 wks |
| All 3 stages | 12 | 3,260 | 82 hrs | 27 wks |
Treat this as a ceiling, not a target. Read one book at a time, apply it, then move on; read reference-style books in sections.
Judge any book before you buy it
Age
This list runs from 1981 (Positioning) to 2019 (Obviously Awesome). Older books earn their place by teaching principles that do not change. For tools and platforms, buy the latest edition.
Level
Check the stage before the title. A book from a later stage will make sense only once you have faced the problems it solves.
Format
Some books suit reading start to finish; others work as references. Read the reference-style ones in sections, when a problem calls for them.
Fit
Ask what you will do differently the week after you finish. If you cannot answer, the book is for a different moment. Come back to it when the situation arrives.
Getting started
Why marketing works: messages that spread and stick, persuasion and positioning.
Start hereThis Is Marketing: You Can't Be Seen Until You Learn to See
by Seth Godin · 2018
~270 pages~7 hrs to read
Argues for picking a specific audience and serving it, instead of shouting at everyone. A short, readable frame for anyone starting out on how a campaign should begin.
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Contagious: Why Things Catch On
by Jonah Berger · 2013
~240 pages~6 hrs to read
Research-based look at why people pass ideas, products and content along, built around six repeatable principles. Useful when you start planning campaigns and need a checklist for shareability.
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Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
by Chip Heath, Dan Heath · 2007
~300 pages~8 hrs to read
A framework for making a message simple, concrete and memorable, with many worked examples. Read it early, before you write your first brief or landing page.
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Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind
by Al Ries, Jack Trout · 1981
~210 pages~5 hrs to read
The classic case that a brand has to own one clear idea in the buyer's mind. Short and opinionated; a good grounding before you touch messaging.
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Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
by Robert B. Cialdini · 1984
~290 pages~7 hrs to read
Covers the principles of persuasion, such as reciprocity, social proof and scarcity, with the research behind them. Helps you see why offers and copy work, and where they cross into manipulation.
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Doing the job
Making it operational: customer-centred messaging, positioning, growth experiments and the metrics that tell you what to do next.
Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen
by Donald Miller · 2017
~240 pages~6 hrs to read
A step-by-step method for turning a company's offer into a clear customer-centred story. Use it when you are rewriting a website, deck or email sequence.
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Obviously Awesome: How to Nail Product Positioning So Customers Get It, Buy It, Love It
by April Dunford · 2019
~200 pages~5 hrs to read
A practical process for defining what a product is, who it is for and why it is different. Best once you own messaging or a launch and need to settle the positioning first.
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Hacking Growth: How Today's Fastest-Growing Companies Drive Breakout Success
by Sean Ellis, Morgan Brown · 2017
~310 pages~8 hrs to read
Describes a cross-team loop of ideas, experiments and analysis for growing users and revenue. Read it when you move from running campaigns to running a testing programme.
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Lean Analytics: Use Data to Build a Better Startup Faster
by Alistair Croll, Benjamin Yoskovitz · 2013
~410 pages~10 hrs to read
Shows how to choose the one metric that matters at each stage and how to read funnels, retention and acquisition numbers. Useful for any manager who has to defend a budget with data.
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Senior and leading
Strategy and management: how brands grow, writing strategy that survives scrutiny and running a team by output.
How Brands Grow: What Marketers Don't Know
by Byron Sharp · 2010
~230 pages~6 hrs to read
An evidence-based argument about reach, mental and physical availability and why brands grow by acquiring many light buyers. A strong counterweight for senior marketers setting strategy and defending broad reach.
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Good Strategy Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters
by Richard P. Rumelt · 2011
~320 pages~8 hrs to read
Explains what a real strategy looks like: a diagnosis, a guiding policy and coherent action. Read it when you are asked to write the marketing plan for a whole year.
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High Output Management
by Andrew S. Grove · 1983
~240 pages~6 hrs to read
Grove's case for treating managerial work as output: leverage, meetings, indicators and delegation. A good fit when you begin managing people and budgets, not just campaigns.
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Frequently asked questions
Which book should a Marketing Manager read first?
This Is Marketing: You Can't Be Seen Until You Learn to See by Seth Godin. It frames the work around people you want to serve, which gives the rest of the tactics on this list a common purpose.
Do I need to read all 12 books?
No. The list is a menu, not a syllabus. Find your stage (getting started: 5, doing the job: 4, senior and leading: 3), begin with one book (we suggest This Is Marketing: You Can't Be Seen Until You Learn to See), then pick the next book by the problem you are facing at work. Come back to the others when the situation they cover arrives.
How long does it take to read these books?
All 12 books add up to about 3,260 pages, roughly 82 hours at 1.5 minutes a page. At three hours a week that is about 27 weeks; at six hours a week, about 14. The list is meant to be read over time, one book at a time, not in one run.
Are these books up to date?
They range from 1981 (Positioning) to 2019 (Obviously Awesome). Older titles are included because they teach principles that have not changed; for tools and platforms, we favour recent editions. Check the edition before you buy.
Related reading
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