Starting February 1, 2009 the Educational Software Cooperative will launch the ESC Software Marketing Book Club.
Please join us!
Each month, we'll discuss a marketing book in detail. The central theme of each discussion will be: How can the ideas in this book help software developers make their businesses more successful? The discussions will be open to all ESC members.
February's book will be:
The End of Marketing As We Know It by Sergio Zyman
Amazon.com link - ($11.92(US)) http://tinyurl.com/7c2rt3
BookCloseouts link ($5.99(US)) - http://tinyurl.com/7tutxh
If you buy from Amazon.com, be sure to check their used book prices, too. And if you buy from BookCloseouts during January, take a look at their Dollar for Dollar Sale.
I've read three of Sergio Zyman's marketing books. Zyman is best known as the person responsible for launching New Coke. Zyman left The Coca-Cola Company after the New Coke fiasco, returned six years later as Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, and increased the sales of Coke by fifty percent in five years, from ten billion cases per year to fifteen billion cases. The man knows a bit about marketing, and many of his ideas apply to selling educational software, too. I think you'll really enjoy this book.
The next two ESC Software Marketing Book Club selections will be:
March, 2009:
Why We Buy by Paco Underhill
Amazon.com link - ($10.20(US)) - http://tinyurl.com/9o6ap6 - there's also a newer (2008) edition available
BookCloseouts link ($6.99(US)) - http://tinyurl.com/7bom97
April 2009:
Your Marketing Sucks by Mark Stevens
Amazon.com link - ($11.20(US)) - http://tinyurl.com/8bq6tw
BookCloseouts link ($4.99(US)) - http://tinyurl.com/ayxxne
We'll have fun going through each book, chapter by chapter, and sharing ideas about how we can make our businesses more prosperous by applying the ideas that we're learning. Even if you haven't had time to read the chapters that we'll be talking about, please join in the discussions anyway. To get the discussions going, I'll be introducing the books' major concepts, and putting the ideas into context. Both experienced marketers and entrepreneurs who are new to marketing will be able to contribute to the conversations, and learn from them.
The discussions will take place in ESC's members' newsgroup. Any ESC member can participate by using an ordinary NNTP newsgroup reader or by using ESC's online forums and your favorite browser. ESC's web site has newsgroup instructions on http://tinyurl.com/7yljxw
Today's economy demands that we pay more attention to marketing our software and services. ESC's new book club will be an efficient and fun way to strengthen our companies.
I'm looking forward to seeing you in the ESC's members' newsgroup when we launch the new book club on February 1.
- Al Harberg
06 January 2009
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3 comments:
An Update from Zyman Group
Thanks for the kind words for Sergio's book. However for software developers, a better book to follow would be "The Underdog Advantage."
Book website:
www.UnderdogAdvantage.com
Updated case studies
www.PlayOffense.com
Order Form (or call 404-682-5502)
http://www.zyman.com/ourThinking_books.asp
Happy New Year!
PerceptionsRule.com
Just wanted to add the comment that it's not absolutely necessary to read the books in order to benefit from the book club. I know you plan to structure this so that plenty of useful information will be conveyed in the course of the discussion. This is a real boon for super-busy people who want to develop their marketing savvy but may not have time right now to read the entire book.
So true! As a very busy person myself, I find myself jumping from book to book whenever I have a few spare minutes. I've read sections from all three upcoming books for the ESC book club, and they are really great choices.
I actually started reading the wrong book first. Oops. But the discussion is quite lively, and the Zyman book serves as a catalyst for discussion, covering the major points of the book and how they might apply to the software industry.
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