Renovate Before You Innovate by Sergio Zyman & Armin A. Brott

This is a must read for anyone who is trying to market an organization or a brand. Case studies from major American corporations show strategies that work as well as some that don't. If you are interested in motivating people to do any specific thing like give a donation or become a regular volunteer, you can use the information in this book. It will help you identify what you want someone to feel, how you want them to act, and what you want to achieve as a result. The concepts are well illustrated with charts and graphs that help the reader grasp each point along with a sense of the processes needed to meet the same goals. A lot of time is spent helping to identify and establish a brand that reflects your emotional benefits, your functional benefits, and your attributes that will also be accepted and adopted by your market. Zyman stresses that your growth is a direct function of "your core competencies, your core essence and your assets and infrastructure."
Renovate Before You Innovate by Sergio Zyman and Armin A. Brott is Published by Portfolio (c) 2004.

The Invisible Touch by Harry Beckwith

This book challenges traditionally accepted marketing ideas in little bites that connect concepts from seemingly unrelated subject areas to make profound points. It is about marketing services - what you can't see until you buy it - you pay for what will be experienced or created after you commit to pay for it. That is what the word "invisible" refers to in the title. Beckwith offers four keys to modern marketing:

1. Price
2. Brand
3. Packaging
4. Relationships

He opposes the idea that research produces good data for marketing. He is convinced that all business is personal. Every mini-topic takes only one or two pages and there is usually a motto in bold italics at the end of the section. Here are a few samples: "Make your clients believe they will be satisfied, and they will be, especially if you do it with passion," "Build a brand- Services are sold on faith and brands create faith," and "To win devoted clients, sacrifice." This is a book of marketing wisdom - not a how to manual. Instead, reading it makes you scratch your head and revisit your paradigms. It is a much read by a truly nuanced creative genius.

Harry Beckwith, The Invisible Touch, c. 2000, Warner Books, Inc.

Instant Marketing For Almost Free by Susan F. Benjamin

This is a quick read for people who are already familiar with marketing concepts. It gives great general advice for how to come up with target customers, branding, creating materials for brochures, direct mailings, email marketing, and websites. Anyone can use the suggestions to help create formats that will work.

(c)2007 by Susan F. Benjamin, published by Sourcebooks, Inc., Naperville, IL.