[Mannes on Marketing] What’s on Your Summer Reading List?

This time of year, every form of media — from Good Morning America and USA Today to Amazon.com — are putting together, for you, their top “summer reading” lists. Mysteries, biographies, self-help, it’s all there. But how about a reading list to help your business grow and thrive? How about a summer reading list with what may be considered some of the top marketing books for small business owners (a.k.a., the majority of our pest control industry)?

Let me start by saying this is one person’s view. These are books I’ve read and studied, which are now dog eared and highlighted and don’t sit on a shelf very long. Unless you are carrying a Kindle, I can promise you at least one or two great ideas you will highlight and use from each book to help you grow and market your business – even during the current recession. So, let’s start with the premise that a marketing plan can be the most powerful small business marketing tool on the planet. And those without it, long term, will not be as successful as those who invest in it. But where to start:

Duct Tape Marketing. A personal favorite, “Duct Tape Marketing,” by John Jantsch is dubbed the “world’s most practical small business marketing guide.” It’s full of clever marketing ideas galore, and like its namesake — duct tape — it’s smart, amazingly practical and immensely sticky stuff. You can begin to use the ideas here immediately. In this book you will be introduced to a systematic approach to marketing and find out just how much great marketing resembles that sticky and trustworthy roll of duct tape.

Try on Jantsch’s small business marketing definition for size: “Marketing is getting people who have a specific need or problem to know, like and trust you.” This certainly works for me.

Citizen Marketers. From the immensely practical to the world of social media, “Citizen Marketers” by Ben McConnell looks at the ramifications of today’s burgeoning social media. As everyday people increasingly create content on behalf of companies, to which they have no official connection, they are turning traditional media ideas upside down. In our industry we need to understand and communicate with this very important part of our buying public. Communities that spark evangelists and enthusiasts using videos, photos, songs, blogs, podcasts, YouTube, Facebook and more…this is a good read that will help you understand this valuable 21st century customer.

Guerrilla Marketing. Similar to “Duct Tape Marketing” and with a wealth of good ideas for small business owners, “Guerrilla Marketing” by Jay Conrad Levinson should not be on a bookshelf but well read with lots of highlighting throughout. For the pest control industry, and in this environment, easy and inexpensive strategies for making profits should be clearly on your radar.
According to Levinson, there are “Sixteen Monumental Secrets of Guerrilla Marketing,” and here’s the top five:

1. You must have a commitment to your marketing program.
2. You must think of that program as an investment.
3. See to it that your program is consistent.
4. Make your prospects confident in your firm.
5. You must be patient in order to keep a commitment.

This is a common sense approach that is available to all small business owners. And it will prove successful. In “Guerrilla Marketing” the statement is made that you need an assortment of weapons to market in today’s world. I would encourage you to choose your weapons wisely – putting all your eggs in one basket simply doesn’t work anymore.

Who Moved My Cheese? Finally, the very small, very powerful classic, “Who Moved My Cheese?” The simple story reveals profound truths about change that give people and organizations a quick and easy way to succeed in rapidly changing times.

“Who Moved My Cheese?” is an enlightening story of four characters that live in a “maze” and look for “cheese” to nourish them and make them happy. Two are mice named Sniff and Scurry, and two are mouse-size people named Hem and Haw. “Cheese” is a metaphor for what you want to have in life — whether it is a good job, a loving relationship, money, a possession, health or spiritual peace of mind. And “the maze” is where you look for what you want — the company you work in or own, or the family or community you live in.

There is no question in today’s world that all of us have had our cheese moved…the world is in a place it has never been in before and the impact on each and every one of us professionally and personally is profound. But I still stand by the pest management industry’s ability to adapt, change and continue to grow as protectors of this nation’s public health and property. Keep reading, keep learning and keep growing!

The author is chief marketing and strategy officer for Arrow Exterminators, Atlanta, and can be contacted via e-mail at cmannes@giemedia.com.