For World Book Day, Know Your Worth would like to suggest a short list of books that give you a snapshot of how the marketing world has changed from the era of Mad Men to today.

The One to One Future:  Building Relationships One Customer at a Time

by Don Peppers and Martha Rogers

This book started today’s understanding of marketing.

Before this book, companies splashed their advertising everywhere, attempting to attract the maximum number of people to buy their product.  The problem was that once those people had the product, you still had to find more people or else come up with a new product.  But there was no relationship, no loyalty, so the new product needed more marketing to attract the same, and new, people again.

After this book, people understood it was all about the relationship.  If you had a relationship of trust with a good customer, that customer would want to buy whatever you produced (see Apple).  It’s easier to sell more products or services to a converted customer than to sell less to many people you have to convince each and every time.

The Brand You 50 (Reinventing Work): Fifty Ways to Transform Yourself from an ‘Employee’ into a Brand That Shouts Distinction, Commitment, and Passion!

by Tom Peters

At about the same time as The One to One Future, this book started the entire concept of becoming a personal brand.  It is still relevant today, if a bit hyperactive and enthusiastic.

This is the first book to talk about standing out from the crowd, and making your work into projects that are fun and can help move you forward in your career.  He is the first person to talk about knowledge workers in a way that can be transposed onto interpreting, and that resembles our own work life.

After this book, people started looking at themselves as a company, even if they worked for someone else.

Winning the Professional Services Sale:  Unconventional Strategies to Reach More Clients, Land Profitable Work, and Maintain Your Sanity

by Michael McLaughlin

After focusing my attention on individual clients and building the relationship, and treating myself like a brand so I stand out from the pack, this book taught me how to think like the person I am pitching my services to.

This is the first book that I have seen that really shows someone working in the service industry how to think about your approach to the client when you want to pitch a service contract that will last for a day or a year.

It gives information that will help those of us who tender for larger clients, as well as those of us who are simply trying to get the contract to interpret (or organize the interpreting) for a single meeting.

 

Wishing you a Happy World Book Day,

Julia Poger