Experts Tell Us the Best Books on Brand Strategy

2 years ago
This article showcases our top picks for the Books on Brand Strategy. We reached out to industry leaders and experts who have contributed the suggestions within this article (they have been credited for their contributions below). We are keen to hear your feedback on all of our content and our comment section is a moderated space to express your thoughts and feelings related (or not) to this article This list is in no particular order.

Guerrilla Marketing to Heal the World by Jay Conrad Levinson

This product was recommended by Shel Horowitz from Going Beyond Sustainability

Levinson and Horowitz argue convincingly that when businesses focus on building green and social justice components directly into their core products and services–and then build a branding and marketing strategy that highlights them, those green and social justice initiatives can lead to higher revenues, lower costs, higher employee and customer retention and engagement…in other words, higher profitability. Citing examples ranging from solopreneurs to midsize companies like Patagonia, Tom’s of Maine, and Seventh Generation, even to giant corporations including Unilever, Toyota, and Walmart–the book makes a compelling case that doing the right thing the right way can be a strategy for marketing success.

Zag by Marty Neumeier

This product was recommended by Gareth Waters from Alliance Marketing Agency

A great book that can be picked up at any time you feel the need to gain some inspiration or clarity. It’s a short, punchy but easy to follow read that gives practical and visual examples on how to energise your brand, regardless of whether you’re managing a small start-up or large corporate.

The Brand Positioning Workbook by Ulli Appelbaum

This product was recommended by Gareth Waters from Alliance Marketing Agency

If you like books that feature plenty of practical exercise that you can start within minutes, then this book provides just that. This is more of a ‘how-to’ than an in-depth read which means it can be picked up at any point. In particular, I found the brand positioning exercises useful when working with a new client that was looking to rebrand whilst reposition their core services. If you’re driven by data then this book features plenty of it that will help back up the actions suggested throughout.

The Story Engine by Kyle Gray

This product was recommended by Gareth Waters from Alliance Marketing Agency

Whenever we work with a client on a rebranding or repositioning project, we always focus on developing the story behind the brand. This book goes to great lengths to explain why your brand story is crucial if you are to fully engage with your target audience. Packed full of practical tips on how to create better content to tell your story, the author shows he has real world experience of building brands through compelling story-telling and shows that with some imagination, every business owner has a story to tell.

Building A StoryBrand by Donald Miller

This product was recommended by Alice Smith from LuckyBobbleHeads

Building a Storybrand offers a practical method for attracting customers who might otherwise be distracted. It outlines the doable actions you can take to ensure that consumers see you, hear you, and get precisely why they must interact with your items. Miller divides the book into three chapters.Chapter one lays the groundwork for why, in this day and age of excessive marketing noise that bombards your potential clients with unimpressive messages that don’t resonate and simply get tuned away and why the majority of marketing efforts fall on deaf ears. The author then outlines his StoryBrand BrandScript methodology in Part Two, going into great detail about each of the seven components of a successful customer story and how they function together. Finally, Part Three walks you through the implementation process for creating your own StoryBrand BrandScript and using it in all of your marketing materials, including your website, lead nurturing email campaigns, brochures, and keynote presentations, to ensure that your message is compelling and consistent.

Branding by Michael Johnson

This product was recommended by Masha Mahdavi from SEM Dynamics

The Branding In Five and a Half Steps written by Michael Johnson in 2016 is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand how to build a successful brand strategy. The book teaches you how to approach the task of establishing and maintaining a brand, which is essential for any business looking to succeed in the modern market. The author shows you how to identify your target market, what they want from the experience that you provide them, and how much they’re willing to pay for it. The author then goes on to show you how to create an effective marketing campaign based on this information, as well as how to track its effectiveness so that you can adjust accordingly. In summary, this book will give you the tools necessary to build a successful brand strategy—one that will serve your business well for years to come!

The Fundamentals of Brand SERPs for Business by Jason Barnard

This product was recommended by Steph Andrusjak from SEO Steph

The Fundamentals of Brand SERPs for Business by Jason Barnard focuses on an area of brand strategy that might not necessarily be thought of – your brand’s presence on Google. The book helps business owners understand the importance of dominating Google with their branded and related channels when someone searches for their brand name. The book shares examples and techniques to give brand owners the knowledge on how to improve and manage your brand’s presence to promote trust, authority and engagement with customers.

Start With Why by Simon Sinek

This product was recommended by Paige Arnof-Fenn from Mavens & Moguls

Start With Why by Simon Sinek focuses on brand purpose, he shows that people don’t buy what you do they buy why you do it and what you do simply proves what you believe. Brands become influential when they can answer why they do what they do and connect with people on an emotional level.

Purple Cow, New Edition by Seth Godin

This product was recommended by David Reed from LLC Stars

The Purple Cow is one of the best books about business strategy today. Seth has devised a method for promoting your brand that will be as effective in 2022 as it was in 2009. According to the book’s principles, businesses should focus on creating standout products and then marketing them to those consumers. He also teaches you key marketing ideas by telling you stories about brands like Starbucks, JetBlue, and Apple.

This Is Marketing by Seth Godin

This product was recommended by Paige Arnof-Fenn from Mavens & Moguls

A more recent one of his is This is Marketing, you can’t be seen until you learn to see, he is a master who really understands what drives people to purchase from a practitioner’s perspective using his first hand experience and simple language not jargon.

The New Rules of Marketing and PR by Scott

This product was recommended by Paige Arnof-Fenn from Mavens & Moguls

The New Rules of Marketing and PR by David Meerman Scott as the sub head says he teaches you “How to Use Social Media, Online Video, Mobile Applications, Blogs, Newsjacking, and Viral Marketing to Reach Buyers Directly” and he has been there and done it so he tells it like it is not theoretically but from the trenches

Branding by KL Hammond

This product was recommended by Sharon Dylan from Management Help LLC

In the business world, branding is almost everything. This book will teach you about brand identity, how to create one, and how to make it known so people will associate your brand with high quality and greatness. This will surely teach you how to set your goals and how to achieve them with its step-by-step process. Hence, this book is an all-in-one that is definitely a must-read for every business.

Positioning by Al Ries

This product was recommended by Anna Chiranova from Ucanproduction

‍Positioning is a must-have book for every brand owner that wants to create a strong position in the business industry.‍ This book established the concept that in order to be remembered, brands must clarify their position as to what they should be remembered for. Through this book, advertising gurus Ries and Trout teach how to build your strategy around your competition’s weaknesses. Additionally, they present several excellent case studies and in-depth assessments of some of advertising’s most phenomenal successes and failures.

The Brand Gap by Marty Neumeier

This product was recommended by Isla Zyair from ObesityController

In book, Marty Neumeier provides a comprehensive and accessible guide to brand strategy. Unlike many other books on the subject, Neumeier doesn’t get bogged down in theoretical concepts or jargon-heavy language. Instead, he distills the essential elements of brand strategy into five fundamental principles: goal setting, innovation, positioning, segmentation, and differentiation. These principles are then developed through real-world examples, making The Brand Gap an invaluable resource for anyone looking to build a strong and successful brand. In addition to being an extraordinarily readable and helpful book, The Brand Gap is also one of the most visually appealing books on branding. Neumeier’s use of infographics, diagrams, and charts makes complex concepts easy to understand, and the book’s overall design is clean and modern. Whether you’re a marketing professional or simply someone who wants to learn more about branding, The Brand Gap is the perfect place to start.

How Brands Grow by Byron Sharp

This product was recommended by Rafal Mlodzki from Passport-Photo Online

The book I’d definitely recommend is “How Brands Grow: What Marketers Don’t Know” by Byron Sharp. Available on Amazon, it is a book I stumbled upon by accident, thinking it’ll be another 200-or-so pages filled with generic marketing tips and tricks. I was positively surprised by how eye-opening it was and how skillfully it dispelled the kind of marketing wisdom I took for granted. Moreover, it was a good read through and through, standing out among similar books on marketing or brand strategy that are everything but page-turners.

Do Good by Anne Bahr Thompson

This product was recommended by Georgi Todorov from Thrive My Way

Consumers are more likely to commit to brands that show good citizenship, including fair employment practices, social responsibility, and charitable giving. Support for these socially aware companies shows that good works are no longer optional for any company that aspires to financial success; they are required. Do Good lays out a five-step model for the new rules of business Trust, Enrichment, Responsibility, Community, and Contribution, and shows you how to take the necessary steps to embed social consciousness into your company’s DNA.

Brand Vision by Jim Everhart

This product was recommended by Jenna Mallimo from ThePRFreelancer, Inc.

Jim Everhart provides a blueprint for implementing business strategies through the marketing process. Employing strategic messaging to connect business strategy and marketing tactics gives corporate executives and marketers the lens they need to sharpen their focus, clarify their objectives, and bring goals in sight.

Designing Brand Identity by Alina Wheeler

This product was recommended by Rachel Mars from Architectures Ideas

If you are responsible for a company’s branding and you want to teach employees about the fundamentals of designing a brand, this book is a great choice for you. This book gives tools for branding along with case studies, tools, and diagrams. This book has more than 700 illustrations of brand touchpoints.

Brand Identity Breakthrough by Gregory V. Diehl

This product was recommended by Rachel Mars from Architectures Ideas

From, this book you will learn how to tell a company’s story when you open the doors for the first time for new products or services. If you are creating a niche in your industry then this book will help you to stand out from the crowd. This book helps to develop a strong brand identity by combining the personality and functionality of the products.

The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding by Al Ries

This product was recommended by Rachel Mars from Architectures Ideas

This book is considered to be a marketing classic. It includes new commentaries and new illustrations. This book shows how some famous brand’s in the world stand out. With this book, you can learn how to brand on the internet step by step. This book will help to become a company category-dominating

Global Brand Strategy by Sicco van Gelder

This product was recommended by Robin Roy Krigslund-Hansen from Formula Swiss

This book is for the ease of all individuals who are working in global brand management, responsible for managing a local brand that faces competition at the international level, etc. Significantly, this book will not only facilitate its reader with a robust framework for the analysis of complex elements but also provides fresh and innovative ideas. So you can easily learn to develop an effective brand and foster its evolution because it is very fundamental in today’s fast-going world. This book is available on Amazon.

Positioning by Al Rise

This product was recommended by Devin Schumacher from SERP

As the title suggests, Position teaches you how to brand your business by positioning yourself as a leader in your industry. This is another easy book to follow. When you’re the industry leader, your target audience sees you differently, allowing you to brand yourself in a way that stands out from your competition. Psychology studies back this up and there are many examples to illustrate the points.

What Brands Can Do by Denise Lee Yohn

This product was recommended by Louis John from What’s Good Online

The Seven Brand-Building Principles that Separate the Best from the Rest by Denise Lee Yohan is an essential book that will bring to light certified strategies for creating effective brands. This book is a must-have if you want to get your brand to the top.

Hello, My Name is Awesome by Alexander Watkins

This product was recommended by Louis John from What’s Good Online

Hello, My Name is Awesome: How to Create Brand Names That Stick by Alexander Watkins is the top pick book to help you name your company, brand or product. This book provides several materials and examples of some companies such as McDonalds and LinkendIn use artistic names in their workplace to arouse interest and creativity.

Personal Branding for Dummies by Susan Chritton

This product was recommended by Jason Cordes from CocoLoan

Personal Branding for Dummies is a great pick for anyone looking for the best books for branding yourself. It provides a detailed insight into developing a significant image for an individual. This book by Susan Chritton is intended for those who want to sell themselves to future employers, entrepreneurs, and leaders. It covers all aspects of keeping a personal trademark.

David Friedland

Bit of a gear addict.

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