There are many business and marketing books available today. Marketing leaders should read these books. You can find them via Amazon or at your local bookstore.
The question becomes:
- What are the best books for marketing leaders to read?
- Are there certain books worth the time of today’s busy marketing leader?
- What books can help you better understand the growing importance of marketing?
To save you time, I compiled a list of the best books for marketing leaders. These books tackle the most pressing issues of today.
These books give valuable insights into business and marketing. They offer best practices that will allow you to grow your company through both digital and traditional marketing efforts.
21 of the best books marketing leaders should read today
Here is a list of 21 of the best books that marketing leaders should read today.
1. Our Iceberg Is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions
Author: John Kotter
Why should you read this book? This fable illustrates the eight-step process of change. It is a simple story about penguins. They realize their iceberg is melting. They make the necessary changes to improve their situation.
The characters in the story are like people you can recognize at your company. Their tale is one of resistance to change and courageous actions for dealing with those challenges. The penguins offer an inspiring model as we all struggle to adapt to change.
This book offers a relatable and straightforward story about overcoming the stress and uncertainty of rapid and constant change.
This book is based on the award-winning work of Harvard Business School’s John Kotter. It can show you and your company how to thrive during tough times. This book provides the process for managing change and producing positive outcomes.
2. Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade
Author: Robert Cialdini
Why should you read this book? The author of the bestselling book, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Robert Cialdini, explains the secret to persuasion.
Hint: Persuasion doesn’t lie in the actual message, but in the moment before it is delivered.
In this book, the author demonstrates methods for capitalizing on critical times. This is before you deliver an important message.
To change the minds of people, a “pre-suader” must also change their mindset. Drawing on extensive experience and research, the author demonstrates how you can become a master persuader.
The book demonstrates how redirecting attention can lead to successful pre-suasion. It explains how to get your targeted audience to say yes to your desired outcome.
3. The Ultimate Sales Machine: Turbocharge Your Business with Relentless Focus on 12 Key Strategies
Author: Chet Holmes
Why should you read this book? The author of this book, Chet Holmes, has been called “one of the top 20 change experts in the country.” Too many leaders jump on every new trend, but don’t stick with any of them.
The book guides you in enhancing every aspect of your business. Spend just an hour per week on each impact area you want to improve.
The author’s advice begins with a simple yet powerful concept: focus. Do not try to master thousands of strategies to improve your business. Instead, focus on honing essential skill areas. These areas will make the biggest difference.
This book shows you that you should teach your people how to work smarter, not harder.
4. The Four Disciplines of Execution: Achieving Your Wildly Important Goals
Authors:
Why should you read this book? Bestselling author Sean Covey wrote this book. The FranklinCovey organization also contributed based on its experience with hundreds of thousands of employees and companies.
This book reveals the essential disciplines that help companies and employees realize their most important goals.
The 4 Disciplines of Execution, also known as 4DX, is a simple formula. It is repeatable and proven. It helps in executing your most important and strategic goals.
The 4 disciplines are 1) focus on the wildly important; 2) act on lead measures; 3) keep a compelling scoreboard; and 4) create a cadence of accountability.
This book shows leaders how they can produce results when the strategy requires a significant change in behavior.
5. The 12 Powers of a Marketing Leader: How to Succeed by Building Customer and Company Value
Authors: Thomas Barta and Patrick Barwise
Why should you read this book? This book is written by former McKinsey partner Thomas Barta and senior London Business School professor Patrick Barwise.
According to Seth Godin, author of All Marketers Are Liars, this book is “the essential leadership playbook.” It is designed for the CMO of the future.
This book is one of the first research-based leadership books for marketers. This book identifies 12 specific behaviors or powers.
These behaviors help marketers increase their business impact. They also create a successful career.
After reading this book, you’ll know how to make an impact at the highest levels. You’ll learn to align marketing with your company’s priorities.
The book will inspire your non-marketing colleagues. It will guide you in building a successful marketing team and focusing on the right goals to help your customers.
6. What Customers Crave: How to Create Relevant and Memorable Experiences at Every Touchpoint
Author: Nicholas J. Webb
Why should you read this book? This book explores the principles of treating customers and creating exceptional customer experiences.
The author examines how the digital age is changing consumer expectations and what companies should do to stay ahead.
It boils down to two key questions: 1) What do your customers love? and 2) What do they hate? If your organization answers these two questions well, it will be successful.
This book will provide you with invaluable insights into what customers crave. It will show you what they care about. You will learn how to create relevant yet memorable experiences at every touchpoint.
7. Content Trap: A Strategist’s Guide to Digital Change
Author: Bharat Anand
Why should you read this book? Bharat Anand, a professor of strategy at Harvard Business School (HBS), discusses HBS’s innovative approach to digital transformation. Simply: foster connectivity over focusing on content.
Organizations are facing two significant challenges today: gaining visibility and generating revenue.
To overcome these obstacles, this book examines companies that are doing it right and companies that are doing it wrong.
These successes and pitfalls show that you don’t need to create the best content. Focus on producing content that enables connectivity. Bharat demonstrates that choices are part of a larger and interconnected strategy.
This book serves as a modern playbook for navigating digital transformation and driving business growth.
8. Bold Leadership for Organizational Acceleration
Author: Jim A. Tompkins
Why should you read this book? This book emphasizes the importance of maintaining your relationships, energy, and enthusiasm. Everyone today suffers from being overwhelmed. The world has evolved into a global village where things must be done promptly without compromising excellence.
Our hectic business and personal lives often leave us feeling overwhelmed. There is not enough time in the day to get everything done.
There is a remedy: Bold Leadership.
In this book, the author shows you how to become a leader and how to encourage others to lead. This book will help you get your life out of overload mode, both professionally and personally.
The author outlines what inspirational leadership looks like. They define how to figure out your company’s core competencies. Additionally, they discuss how to respond to constant changes. The author also provides case studies of organizations like Google, Walmart, and IBM.
9. How to Win Friends and Influence Others
Author: Dale Carnegie
Why should you read this book? This book will show you that you can pursue the job you want and achieve it. You can take the job you have and improve it. You can take any situation and make it work to your advantage.
The author’s time-tested advice has helped countless people move up the ladder of success. This success applies to both their business and personal lives.
How to Win Friends and Influence People is one of the most groundbreaking and timeless bestsellers. It will teach how to make people like you. The book shows how to win people to your way of thinking. It also shows how to change people without arousing resentment.
This book is a must-read in the 21st century. It fulfills the promise of “the only book you need to lead you to success.”
10. The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business
Author: Charles Duhigg
Why should you read this book? This book explains that success is largely a matter of creating successful habits.
In this book, Charles Duhigg is an award-winning business reporter. He is also the author of this book. The author explains why habits exist and how they can be changed.
Utilizing vast amounts of information, the author creates narratives ranging from Procter & Gamble to the NFL.
The author outlines how we should understand human nature and its potential. At its core, the book holds a compelling argument. The key to exercising regularly, losing weight, being more productive, and achieving success is understanding how habits work.
The author demonstrates that habits can help us transform our businesses, communities, and lives.
11. The 1-Page Marketing Plan
Author: Allan Dib
Why should you read this book? To build a successful business, you must avoid “random acts of marketing.” Instead, you should follow a strategic marketing plan.
Traditionally, it has been hard to create a marketing plan. It is a time-consuming process. This is why marketing plans are not written down on paper.
In this book, Allan Dib (a serial entrepreneur and rebellious marketer) shares his insights. He shows us how to create a marketing plan that is simple and fast. It’s literally a single page. The page is divided into nine squares.
This book guides you to create a marketing plan. This plan will help you get new customers without being pushy. It also ensures you are not seen as needy or obnoxious. Discover how to create a
12. Digital Sense: The Common Sense Approach to Effectively Blending Social Business Strategy, Marketing Technology, and Customer Experience
Authors: Travis Wright and Chris Snook
Why should you read this book? The authors recognize that today’s marketing is centered on delivering exceptional customer service. Today, we live in an age of opportunity. That is why it is crucial to develop a more engaging customer experience strategy.
This book explains the frameworks for implementing a new marketing operating system. It also discusses how to improve the customer experience for a competitive advantage.
This book examines how organizations can effectively compete in today’s market. It suggests meeting customers where they are. It also explains how to engage them effectively.
13. The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results
Authors: Gary Keller and Jay Papasan
Why should you read this book? This national bestseller and the award-winning book discuss the importance of focusing on one thing at a time. Just one thing!
People are utilizing this simple yet powerful concept to focus on what matters most in their personal and professional lives.
After reading this book, you will be capable of focusing your energy on that one thing. It will help you achieve better results in less time. You will reach your goals and lower your stress. It will increase your energy and help you focus on what matters most.
What’s your one thing that you are focusing on right now? Are you focusing on multiple things or just one thing?
14. They Ask, You Answer: A Revolutionary Approach to Inbound Sales, Content Marketing, and Today’s Digital Consumer
Author: Marcus Sheridan
Why should you read this book? This book shows you how to develop your content marketing strategy. It is simple: answer your customer and prospect questions with content.
In this book, Marcus Sheridan presents a straightforward strategy. This strategy can work for your organization. It has been proven to drive sales and business growth.
When people use the Internet, they use a search engine (aka Google) to find their answers. By answering people’s questions, your organization will increase its visibility and credibility. Providing answers via your content will help your organization be on page one of Google’s search results.
This book examines how this straightforward approach to content marketing is effective. It is a great way to structure a marketing strategy. This strategy is effective across all industries and sectors.
15. Top of Mind: Use Content to Unleash Your Influence and Engage Those Who Matter To You
Author: John Hall
Why should you read this book? This book sheds light on how you and your company can stay “top of mind” with your audience. The author reveals how he built his brand. He also discusses creating business relationships through the creation of helpful and engaging content.
The book provides guidance on establishing trust with your audience. It focuses on digital marketing. This approach helps you become the first choice for your audience.
Successful businesses and leaders share a common trait. Their names come top of mind when people think about their particular industries.
Learn how to use content to unleash your influence and engage with people who matter the most to you. Are you staying top of mind?
16. Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies
Author: Jim Collins
Why should you read this book? Drawing upon many years of research at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, authors James C. Collins and Jerry I. Porras examined companies that have been in business for a while and studied their top competitors.
They researched the companies from their very beginnings to the present day. They followed them through their lifecycle, from a scrappy start-up to a large corporation.
Throughout, the authors asked: “What makes the truly exceptional companies different from the comparison companies? What were the common practices these enduringly great companies followed throughout their history?”
This book includes many specific examples. These examples will help you build a master blueprint. This blueprint is designed to help your organization thrive in the 21st century and beyond.
17. Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action
Author: Simon Sinek
Why should you read this book? In 2009, author Simon Sinek launched a movement to inspire people at work. Since then, many people have been touched by the power of his ideas.
Sinek begins by asking a simple yet fundamental question. “Why are some people and organizations more innovative? Why are they more influential and more profitable than others?”
He examines why some companies gain greater loyalty from customers and employees. Martin Luther King Jr., Steve Jobs, and the Wright Brothers had little in common. Nevertheless, they all had one thing in common. They answered the question: why?
They realized that people need to understand the why before they become loyal. This book provides a framework for leaders to inspire everyone to take action. Start with the why.
18. Double-Digit Growth: How Great Companies Achieve It, No Matter What
Author: Michael Treacy
Why should you read this book? In their 1995 blockbuster The Discipline of Market Leaders, Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema shared insights. They explained how great companies achieved market dominance. They did this with strong value propositions. The authors explained their techniques clearly. They did this with strong value propositions.
In this book, Michael Treacy shows how successful companies achieve double-digit growth each year. He explains how your company can find and capitalize on opportunities for increased revenues, margins, and profits.
The author’s message is simple: great companies know how to do it, and your company can too. The author uses case studies from Dell, Home Depot, and GE. These examples show the steps that a company should take to achieve double-digit growth. Find out how to keep the growth you have earned, look for new growth, and take business from your competitors.
19. The New Rules of Marketing and PR
Author: David Meerman Scott
Why should you read this book? This book is an international bestseller because it helps us understand the future of marketing and public relations (PR).
This book provides a step-by-step action plan for gaining attention for your company and its ideas. It will show you how to “get the right information to the right people at the right time.”
The Internet has changed how we communicate and interact. Thus, it is essential to understand the established guidelines. This can help you stay ahead of the curve.
This book will help “cut through the online clutter” so your messages are seen and heard. This book provides a wealth of compelling case studies. It also offers real-world examples to help you understand the new rules of marketing and PR.
20. Why Simple Wins: Escape the Complexity Trap and Get to Work That Matters
Author: Lisa Bodell
Why should you read this book? Today’s complexity is hurting our ability to innovate and adapt. The reality of life today is that we spend a lot of our days on mundane tasks.
These tasks include meetings, emails, and reports. They prevent us from accomplishing meaningful work. As a result, simplicity has become the new competitive advantage.
This book helps leaders create a culture that eliminates redundancies and makes simplification a habit.
The author’s main message is that simplification is a skill that very few leaders use but should. This book explains that simplification enhances employee and customer engagement, as well as overall productivity. The author explains that when we keep it simple, we win.
21. Context Marketing Revolution: How to Motivate Buyers in the Age of Infinite Media
Author: Mathew Sweezey
Why should you read this book? In this book, you’ll learn the power of context and how it can help you connect with your customers.
The author notes that we are in the midst of a significant media revolution. People can develop, share, and consume content instantly. They can do this from anywhere on any device.
As a result, it has created a lot of “noise” that makes traditional marketing models obsolete. Nonetheless, many organizations and marketing departments use the traditional model to sway customers, and it isn’t working.
The author defines the key elements of context using new research. Insights into current consumer psychology are also used. These elements include availability, permission, personalization, authenticity, and purpose. By using examples, the author illustrates the marketing strategies employed by successful companies.
Bringing it all together
These marketing books go far beyond tips and tactics; they reshape how you think as a leader. They’ll challenge you to see your brand, your customers, and your team through a sharper, more strategic lens.
The most effective marketing leaders are lifelong learners. They don’t chase every new trend; they master timeless principles and adapt them to today’s world. These books give mental models and real-world examples. They also offer leadership frameworks. This helps you make smarter decisions and create lasting impact.
Whether you’re leading a Fortune 500 campaign or a startup launch, these books will help you clarify your message. They will inspire your team. They will also drive meaningful results.
Start with one. Take notes. Apply what you learn. Because in marketing (and in leadership) knowledge compounds.
Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
Why should marketing leaders spend time reading books when information is available online?
Online articles and videos are great for quick insights, but books offer depth. They allow you to explore entire frameworks, proven strategies, and lessons from years of real-world experience. Great marketing books don’t just inform. Great marketing books transform how you think, lead, and make decisions.
How do I choose which marketing book to read first?
Start with a topic that aligns with your current goals or challenges. For example, if you’re focused on leadership, start with The 12 Powers of a Marketing Leader. If you want to improve persuasion and communication, start with Pre-Suasion or How to Win Friends and Influence People. The key is momentum. Pick one book and commit to finishing it.
Are these books only for senior marketing executives?
Not at all. The list is curated for marketing leaders. But, the lessons apply to anyone who wants to think strategically. They also apply to those who wish to build influence and lead with purpose. Whether you’re a new manager or a chief marketing officer (CMO), you’ll discover ideas that help you grow your career. These ideas will also increase your impact.
How often should marketing leaders read books like these?
Consistency matters more than speed. Even one chapter a week can add up. Set aside 15 to 30 minutes daily or dedicate one book per quarter to your professional development plan. Knowledge compounds over time. And so does leadership wisdom.
What’s the best format (print, audiobook, or eBook) to read these books?
It depends on your learning style. Print books make it easier to highlight and take notes. Audiobooks are great for commutes or workouts. eBooks are convenient for travel. The format doesn’t matter as much as developing a consistent reading habit.
How do these books help in the digital marketing era?
These books blend timeless marketing principles with modern applications. While technology changes rapidly, the fundamentals of influence, storytelling, leadership, and customer understanding stay constant. Master those first. Then layer in the latest tools and platforms.
Can I apply insights from these books right away?
Yes. Most of these books are packed with practical frameworks and real-world examples. You can start applying key lessons instantly. This ranges from refining your brand message to leading change within your team or organization.
How do I get the most value from each book?
Take notes, highlight key takeaways, and think about how each idea applies to your work. Better yet, discuss what you’ve learned with your team. Teaching others reinforces your learning and helps turn insights into action.
Are there any newer books you recommend keeping an eye on?
Yes. New titles are released every year that build on these classics. Keep an eye out for works by marketing thinkers like Seth Godin, Donald Miller, Ann Handley, and Scott Galloway. They continue to push the boundaries of what modern marketing leadership looks like.
What’s the biggest takeaway from all these marketing books?
The best marketing leaders never stop learning. They adapt faster, think clearer, and act with intention. Reading widely sharpens your instincts. It strengthens your leadership. It reminds you that marketing isn’t just about campaigns. Marketing is about connecting ideas, people, and purpose.
Join my email newsletter for a free eBook and more helpful insights.
You must be logged in to post a comment.