(Part 2) Reddit mentions: The best direct marketing books

part 2/2

One of the things you're struggling with is one of those "invisible gears" regarding how to actually get stuff done. I like to split it into two groups:

1. Multi-tasking about Almost Work
   
2. Single-tasking on Real Work
   
   Most people keep everything in their heads & don't use a PPS that contains reminders, checklists, and work stations to help them accomplish things easily. As a result, your brain turns into spaghetti & you talk about it, write about it, post about it, complain about it, but don't actually just do the work. It's typically not because you're lazy, because laziness is just a symptom - the fruit on a tree with a different root cause. That's why you need a stronger PPS, one that enables you to single-task on real work, i.e. actually focus & get stuff done. Until you do that, it's really easy to be all over the map, feel discouraged, and be confused as to why you're not where you want to be. If you want to learn more about how things work, here are a few good audiobooks & other resources to pick up & listen to:
   
   

• Everything is a Remix (Youtube video)
  
• All Marketers are Liars
  
• The Talent Code (pay special attention to the music teacher portion)
  
• Grit (watch the Ted Talk here first)
  
  Based on your OP, rather than taking a monolithic approach & keeping everything in your head, you'll have far better success by externalizing it & chopping it up into individual pieces you can define & work on. So this is really what you need to do:
  
  

1. Adopt a better PPS
   
2. Master your voice & your instruments
   
3. Learn music theory in order to create songs
   
4. Write songs every day (note that writing every day is not the same
   
5. Craft an identity
   
   The takeaway is this: you're not lazy, you just aren't clear on how things actually work, and haven't gone through some simple exercises to more clearly define what you want & how to get it & then worked on it. It's really hard, pretty much impossible even, to work on something that you're not clear about, in terms of what exactly you want & what specifically to do next about it.
   
   You need a clear goal, a clear & actionable plan, and a solid personal productivity system to make it happen. Literally hundreds of artists have done exactly that. Frank Ocean is who he is because he worked to get clear about his public identity, he crafted good products, and he shows up for work. That may sound like I'm over-simplifying it a bit, but imagine the opposite, a world where he didn't have a clear identity, had garbage songs or no songs at all, and skipped out on his concerts.
   
   It's not magic...it's a choice to buckle down & overcome your internal resistance to do the simple things like get clear, make a plan, break that plan down into pieces, and work on it. Per that list above, if you don't have a productivity system to back you up & help to you work, if you don't master your voice & your instruments, if you don't understand music theory & how to design a good song, if you don't write constantly, and if you don't bother to craft an identity, then you're not really on the right path to become a world-famous musician, you know?
   
   There are a lot of wanna-be's & posers out there, and the main thing that separates successful people from others is having an actionable plan & working on it until they achieve success. Right now, you're keeping everything in your head & you're stuck multi-tasking on "almost work" instead of single-tasking (i.e. focusing) on real work. As a result, you feel stuck & feel like you're spinning your wheels.
   
   So, if you're ready to change your perspective to see how the game really operates, both from a personal productivity standpoint of actually getting things done & making progress on things, and from the music world in general, well, there you go! It's not magic, it's not monolithic, and the world is your oyster thanks to social media & the Internet. Build up a following on Youtube, SoundCloud, and Facebook & go get super famous!

Well, it's my job, so definitely I can recommend some resources for you to learn from.


Customer Manipulation - Chloe Thomas

Seductive Interaction Design Creating Playful, Fun, and Effective User Experiences - Stephen Anderson

Gamify How Gamification Motivates People to Do Extraordinary Things - Brian Burke(2014)

Tested Advertising Methods

The Irresistible Offer How to Sell Your Product or Service in 3 Seconds or Less - Mark Joyner 2005

Brainfluence 100 Ways to Persuade and Convince Consumers with Neuromarketing - Roger Dooley

No need to thank me Jeff Bezos, you rich smart man.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1088742785/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_IzjPDbGGC36K8

This book is written by a guy who is not even a native English speaker. However, he is literally Agora's BEST copywriter. He made them so much much money that they required ALL new hires to read his book.

I'm a big believer in learning from peers and from experimentation, rather than book learning - though I think this is something that's very subjective, so I certainly don't mean to dismiss "book learning" as a bad thing. What your clients consider successful, however, definitely isn't something you can learn from books, you need to learn it from them. Speak to your colleagues, make it clear that you want to improve your understanding of that side of the business, and slowly build up by looking at their reports and asking questions.

Books I've found interesting include Crossing the Chasm and The New Rules of Marketing and PR

I've only been to two conferences, after which I decided not to go to any more - at least marketing ones. I'll go to a conference to network (meaning tech. events rather than marketing events), but not to learn anything. Again, your mileage may vary.

I'm not someone who knows a lot about marketing. Honestly, just like you, I worry excessively about that.

Marketing is one hell of a beast and it's intimidating, it's time-consuming and to see some projects who has objectively less content, less quality soar higher than the project you're working on can be soul-crushing.

Look, I've barely started reading a dedicated marketing book for indie games. I'm not going to do any publicity or anything - I just think it might be interesting in your particular case. Here's the link on amazon.com. As I've stated, I'm only at the beginning, but I realize I didn't even have the basics of marketing and this book is giving them to me. Might be worth a shot!

As far as marketing goes, nothing beats The Irresistible Offer, IMHO. It's simple and effective.

Αυτό

This book will help

Hi, it's available..
here's the link http://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00KTKXZVC

Mexico Link

this...
http://www.amazon.com/StreetSmart-Marketing-Jeff-Slutsky/dp/0471618837

I KNOW it's in this book - not sure if it's in the other ones. They may be an updated version of this original.

Voted down for not attributing his source and presenting a 70 year old concept as his own.

Hell, even the title is ripped off:
http://www.elmerwheeler.com/articles/explode-your-sales-by-maximizing-benefits.php

You're not stressing the benefits enough on the front page. Also, you're not capturing their contact information. There's no explanation of what it is you're selling or what it will do for the customer. In short, bad marketing.

Further reading: http://www.amazon.com/Irresistible-Offer-Product-Service-Seconds/dp/0471738948

There are some books you need to read.

https://www.amazon.com/Platform-Revolution-Networked-Markets-Transforming/dp/0393249131

https://www.amazon.com/All-Marketers-Are-Liars-Authentic/dp/B0009WF9EG/

https://www.amazon.com/Tribes-We-Need-You-Lead/dp/B001IMTKUK/

Your problem is not that the app is buggy. If the users told you that they left because of a buggy interface, they are lying. If consumers liked your story, they would tolerate a few bugs. You have two problems that are kind of the same problem. Problem number one is that without even downloading it, and by just looking at the app store page, this thing reeks of a desperate attempt to monetize my attention with ads or whatever. But this is also because of the bigger problem, which is that there is no story, no tribe, no niche, = no reason to use this app. The name and logo is boring and your whole thing looks like you are trying to be everything to everyone. And you know what happens then.

There is no amount of money you can throw at this problem to solve it. You have to have one damn good and unique and fun reason for consumers to spend their precious time using it that will create a buzz. "Random Acts of Ice Cream" or some shit like that. That is the only thing that can save this.