(Part 2) Reddit mentions: The best marketing & consumer behavior books

> Most of Coke's sales are from one target. And this target is people who prefer drinking cola.

Actually they don't.

Most of Coke's sales come from people who might buy one or two cans of coke a year. Do they "prefer drinking cola"? Probably not. They prefer drinking lots of different types of drinks.

>Few of Coke's sales are from people who like drinking fruit-flavored citrus soda.

The vast majority of Coke's sales will come from people who also like drinking fruit flavoured citrus soda.

>Schweppes is also Coca-Cola. Yet another brand, specifically tuned for another target for people who would never touch cola or citrus drinks.

I'm afraid this is also completely wrong. The vast majority of Schweppes drinkers will happily touch cola and citrus drinks.

>Just curious — where are you getting your data about broad targets from?

https://www.amazon.com/How-Brands-Grow-What-Marketers/dp/1511383933

This is a great book.

https://www.amazon.com/Marketing-Era-Accountability-Binet/dp/1841161985

This is similarly good.

There are other studies but these sum them up the best.

Category after category, product after product, campaign after campaign. The campaigns that have been most commercially successful are the ones that try to grow market share and penetration by targeting very large groups of people.

Yeah, that does seem to be reaching a bit.

On the other hand, it's not one of his better examples. For example, a hotel he analysed had its staff stop saying customers' names or room numbers out loud during check in, for safety reasons. Over time they saw more repeat business from women as a result. Tiny changes built with safety in mind.

He also took on the issue of "pinkwashing" which is the all too common practise of simply slapping a pink coat of paint on something and calling it a women's product without actually considering the practicalities of what women might be looking for in that product.

However... there's definitely other cringe-worthy stuff in the book, as the Amazon reviews point out. It's definitely not perfect. But there are also other insights worth considering, I feel.

Are you looking for general research? Most of the great books are specific to a methodology:
Qualitative: Moderating to the Max by Siri Lynn https://amzn.com/0983043620

Quantitative: You gotta love Annie - she is the queen of quant https://lovestats.wordpress.com

UX: Get to know Cory he is awesome - his site is https://lebsontech.com/dc-usability-blog/

There are also many in the general behavior:

1. Thinking Fast and Slow (a must read) https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B00555X8OA&asin=B00555X8OA&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_0w7GxbNGN3YCW
   
   
2. Predictably Irrational: https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B002C949KE&asin=B002C949KE&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_8x7Gxb7VN6JZB
   
   
3. Social Physics: https://amzn.com/0143126334
   
   
4. Getting to Yes: https://amzn.com/B0051SDM5Q
   
   I hope this helps.

Yes, you should be concerned. I would suggest further reading to include this book. Hope the hypertext worked, it's a new attempt to advance my posting skillz...It will scare you, certainly. It makes me think back to my parents days before everything was produced in such large quantities and with more simple ingredients. All of those ingredients are used to allow the manufacturers to blend stuff that normally wouldn't mix or because they give a certain quality that they believe the consumers desire, like copious amounts of suds. Dr. Bronner's soaps or other castille soaps from health food stores are probably better options, though even some of the natural ones have started to add various chemicals because they are producing larger batches with machinery that require these agents to maintain consistency between batches.

I haven't read this in quite a while, but you may be interested in checking out A History of Everyday Things. It may not be quite laser focused on food, but presents a great look at the lives of every day people in France during the Early Modern period.

I'm 24 and have felt the same feelings. 703 is admirable though, don't be too down about that! Here's a guide on Amazon if you want to understand credit better.

From what I know, keeping your utilization low is a big one! Upping your credit card limits as much as possible will really help with that and you may see your score jump by 5-10 points when you do that.

Length of Credit History is a big one too. Us young people are at a disadvantage. Also, NEVER cancel a credit account that will affect that in a negative way. I canceled a card once and my score dropped way more than I thought it would.

​

Cheers!

​

https://www.amazon.com/Credit-Score-Repair-Condensed-Understand-ebook/dp/B07XH14FQ8/ref=sr_1_16?keywords=credit+score+repair&qid=1567951917&s=gateway&sr=8-16

Buckle up! In my teams, leaders are readers.

Here's a short list:

• Getting Things Done - this our bible for productivity
  
• Farm Don't Hunt - it's a good book for building an org or understanding how all the parts of your org work together
  
• Customer Success - like it or not, it's the standard for an intro book into CS written by Lincoln Murphy
  
• Mapping Experience - this is a great one for helping to define the customer journey
  
• The Coaching Habit - I use this a lot with my direct reports but it's also really valuable for shifting your mindset for how you should coach or advise customers
  
• The Effortless Experience - it's an eye opening read, backed by research that says you shouldn't be trying to delight people all the time
  
  Oh and here is Lincoln Murphy's book list.

One of my New Year's resolutions this year was to start using cash for all discretionary purchases, after reading Shiny Objects. It discusses a study where they looked at how much people spent at McDonald's, and people who used cash spent on average about four dollars, and people who used credit spent on average about $7.50!

So for the last couple weeks, I've been using cash for all my groceries and restaurants. It really helps say no to the second beer and helps to say yes to sharing an entrée. I think long-term it's going to fatten my wallet and shrink my hips.

Only one title of overlap, nice.
Out of your list, where would you start? Have you read any other in our original list?



Built to Sell, John Warrillow

The Automatic Customer, John Warrillow

How to Sell at Margins Higher Than Your Competitors, Lawrence Steinmetz

Start With Why, Simon Sinek

Leaders Eat Last, Simon Sinek

The E-Myth Revisited, Michael Gerber

Selling the Invisible, Harry Beckwith

What Clients Love, Harry Beckwith

Question Based Selling, Tom Freese

OK, time for a book recommendation. I hope it doesn't get buried in the noise.

Born To Buy is an excellent and factual expose of the children's marketing industry. It dissects quite effectively just how, and why marketing companies aim adult products at kids. Think you're savvy and already know this stuff? Think again--they're far sneakier and more sophisticated than you realise.

Seriously, all parents should read this book. Everyone should actually, but parents should make a point of getting a copy ASAP.

As an example, I don't generally find the idea of toddler girls wearing bikinis to be tasteless or sexual, but this site in particular pushes that idea a little bit. The fact that they have a "model gallery", and the girls are all posed with the accoutrements of glamourous adults is just slightly suggestive. Not "Sports Illustrated" sexy, but just enough to poke at the 'sex' part of the brain.

Back in the early() days of the Internet, I seem to recall that these things actually existed.

Here we go - like that, only in '97 they were a bit more comprehensive :)

( Early for me)

Ah, man! I love /r/personalfinance and /r/churning! [Is this the book by chance] (http://smile.amazon.com/CHEAP-We-Trust-Misunderstood-American/dp/0316030287/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1452387553&sr=8-1&keywords=In+cheap+we+trust+by+Lauren+Weber)? Thanks for the recommendation!

Edit: Can't spell correctly somtimes

This isn't something to be excited about. Obviously everyone doesn't have time to read the whole book, but the synopsis sets up the issue pretty well.

http://www.amazon.com/Brand-Aid-Shopping-World-Quadrant/dp/081666546X/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1416806495&sr=8-3&keywords=brand+aid

Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:


amazon.co.uk

amazon.ca

amazon.com.au

amazon.in

amazon.com.mx

amazon.de

amazon.it

amazon.es

amazon.com.br

amazon.nl

amazon.co.jp

amazon.fr

Beep bloop. I'm a bot to convert Amazon ebook links to local Amazon sites.
I currently look here: amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca, amazon.com.au, amazon.in, amazon.com.mx, amazon.de, amazon.it, amazon.es, amazon.com.br, amazon.nl, amazon.co.jp, amazon.fr, if you would like your local version of Amazon adding please contact my creator.

For the first one, you might be interested in The Mind is Flat, Nick Chater's book on the "remarkable shallowness" of mental processes. He comes to a view somewhat like you're describing.

For point number two: Yes, women do tend to do more of the shopping for the family, but they also spend more on discretionary non-necessity spending. If you'd like...read the following book; it delves into this topic. https://www.amazon.com/Why-She-Buys-Strategy-Consumers/dp/0307450392

For point number one: Have you worked as an investment banker or a management consultant? As I said before, I have done both. Yes, there are those select number of abnormal people who truly want to work 100 hour weeks in mind numbing desk jobs for status and ambition purposes but I do not consider any of them to be sane. The vast majority of normal humans (both male and female) do it for the paycheck and that is why you see the difference in earnings. I will agree that there are some societal forces at work (men feel pressured to earn a lot of money) but I 100% believe that the reason women drop out of these careers is because they can, not because they are expected to or are discriminated against.

There's this little book I think you would like. It's called:

Cute, Quaint, Hungry and Romantic: The Aesthetics of Consumerism

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001DIYWIO

> Are sources like HBR just lying? Uninformed? I doubt they're trying to push marketing.
>
>

It just so happens that at the same time that article was written (2009), the two authors of the article had just published a book entitled "Women Want More: How to Capture Your Share of the World's Largest, Fastest-Growing Market". This is mentioned in the footnote to the article. This certainly reads like marketing buzz for a book.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002M41TSO/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

I'm on my phone so I can't search if this is here yet but you might like this book: Buy Ketchup in May and Fly at Noon

I read a book a few years ago that said the human brain tends to produce more dopamine during the hours between 8 and midnight. This in turn makes us much more interested in whatever activity we're taking part in.

Edit- Source: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0061730882/ref=redir_mdp_mobile

Buy Ketchup in May and fly in June

Heard this author on NPR a few weeks ago, apparently his book is full of exactly what you're asking.

buy ketchup in may and fly at noon has a lot of the explanations you seek.

Born to Buy: The Commercialized Child and the New Consumer Culture

> According to consumerism and economics expert Schor (The Overspent American), the average 10-year-old has memorized about 400 brands, the average kindergartner can identify some 300 logos and from as early as age two kids are "bonded to brands." Some may call it brainwashing, others say it's genius; regardless of how you see it, the approach is the same: target young kids directly and consistently, appeal to them and not the adults in their lives and get your product name in their heads from as early an age as possible. From TV shows and toys to video games, snacks and clothing, kids today, according to Schor, know too much yet understand too little, sopping up subliminal and not-so-subliminal messages of "buy, buy, buy." Drawing on a significant body of research, including interviews with everyone from advertising executives to the kids themselves, Schor exposes what she believes to be a huge cesspool of materialism, consumerism and commercialization that could be, and perhaps already is, leading to a generation of kids with no concept of what is important and truly necessary in life. By offering up her own ideas of what can be done by parents, educators, advertisers and others to lessen these problems, Schor goes beyond uncovering the problem and into the realm of concrete solutions.