Marketing Tom - Internet Marketing

What's on my Bookshelf?

Just saw that the book category on this site hadn't had a post for a while and thought I'd add some books that I am currently reading (all started, none finished):

If you want to get energised about starting your own business or just being best at work, Gordon Ramsay will get you in the right frame of mind!.
(Hat tip to Nick!)

Just received this for review from Christine at Penguin Group. The Go Giver is only 120 or so pages but so far is proving a real page turner.

The Starfish and Spider is a great book if you need to know a little more about social media. Enjoying it so far!

I've been delivering some social media workshops recently and Facebook - The Missing Manual is yet another book which I have found useful. It offers some nice tips for using Facebook for both personal and business reasons.

Tom's Cabin Is Open For Business

A couple of weeks' back I  wrote an article about some of the books that I was currently reading. Well, writing the article has spurred me on to complete a task I have been meaning to do for a long while - developing an Amazon aStore. The store, which I have called Tom's Cabin, offers quite a few book categories, from SEO and Usability to Blogging and Advertising. I have even included some of the software that peole building websites or blogs may find of use, such as Macromedia Contribute. If there are any books I have left out and which you will believe should belong on the list, please let me know.

Recommended Books for Summer

If what you read, tells others how you think, here is a selection of some of the books I am reading or have recently finished. With the current bout of miserable, summer weather set to continue in the UK, I will probably do another review in a few weeks' time!

Steve Wozniak was the unsung technical hero behind Apple. iWoz lifts the lid on how the company started out and offers some insights into how he helped create one of the truly great companies of the last few decades. Steve Wozniak comes across as a decent guy with a brilliant mind, whose passion was always the technology and not the money. A truly inspiring book!

Mavericks at Work offers a look at some of the business champions who dare to do things differently. In the form of case studies it shows what some of these companies have done and how they have succeeded. There are some interesting takes on open source in this book - I loved the one where a gold mining company offered its data to the community and asked them to come up with the best locations for prospecting!

This is the latest book from Jackie Huba and Ben McConnell. Haven't quite got into it yet but have had a quick flick through. It explores how Joe Public is starting to use social media tools, like blogging, podcasting, videocasting, etc to create the message themselves and how this message is changing the way companies do business.

Marketing Plans by Malcolm McDonald is the definitive guide to marketing planning and the book is now in its sixth edition. I am currently reading the book to get some new material to add into an eMarketing course that I run. It's not exactly the sort of book you'd read on the beach! but is an excellent reference book with clear definitions and practical exercises for students.

Guy Kawasaki On Assholes!

If you work in the presence of assholes, or know one, this may be of interest to you (via Guy Kawasaki blog)

On the weblog of Robert Sutton, author of The No Asshole Rule, you will find the Starbucks Test which says:

If you hear someone at Starbucks order a “decaf grande half-soy, half-low fat, iced vanilla, double-shot, gingerbread cappuccino, extra dry, light ice, with one Sweet-n’-Low and one NutraSweet,” you’re in the presence of an asshole.

Guy Kawasaki does a neat review of this book on his site and offers a 10-point summary of How to avoid being an asshole

1. Face your past. The past is a very good predictor of future behavior. For example, were you a bully in school? If your parents and siblings were assholes, you may have caught the disease. Knowing that you’re an asshole is first step towards change.    
2. Do not make people feel oppressed, humiliated, de-energized, or belittled.
3. Do not mistreat people who are less powerful than you.
4. Resist assholeholics from the start.
5. Walk away and stay away.
6. View acting like an asshole as a communicable disease.
7. Focus on win-win.
8. Focus on ways you are no better or even worse than others.
9. Focus on ways you are similar to people, not different.
10. Tell yourself, “I have enough stuff (money, toys, friends, cars, whatever).”

He also offers advice on How to deal with assholes.This article seems to resonate with people as it already has 915 Diggs on Digg This! I've seen this book on various blogs but wasn't aware that the author was turned down by Harvard Business School Press who wanted to publish the book but with a different title. Interestingly, the  article's title on Digg This is How to Deal With Idiots.

Amazon Book Link