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

> Not a single company cares what a consumer wants.

I think this is your overall thesis and the base of your argument. Don't get me wrong, any company's first motive is always profit. But if a company doesn't deliver the experience they promised to their customers, they aren't going to last very long before a superior competitor takes their place. This is more easily observed in tech industries since the rise and fall happens so quickly but the consequences of bad marketing are inescapable regardless of industry (inb4 comcast).

> They built up ★$ based on this italian authentic espresso/coffee house model. Once they cemented a reputation with the actual service, marketing took over. Get rid of employee training, get ride of benefits, maximizes advertisements and store design to emphasize the perception of what ★$'s is. It has little to to with substance now, it's about showmanship.

The positioning of starbucks changed in the consumer's mind. This mind sound like a load of horse crap but this is the process marketers go through, try to figure out where you are in the consumers' minds, be more like that and hope it works out. If it sounds superficial, it's because it is. It's nothing like a science, it would be better compared to art. You sometimes just have to feel out the right move to make and go for it. Starbucks realized fewer customers cared about the quality of their coffee, and more cared about the free wifi and cozy locations with nice decor where they could meet people. That's the value of starbucks now, so that's what they ran with. Does it suck for everyone that liked the old starbucks? Of course, but there are thousands of other coffee shops (at least where I am) that do the authentic coffee experience thing with more attention to detail than Starbucks ever could at its current scale. You may call it doubling back on his word (which it is, admittedly) but I would call it adapting to a changing market. As you said, the bottom line is showing profit to the shareholders.

>Very few people NEED a smart phone, but it has become as ubiquitous as car keys. Why? Because we are hairless apes that like shiny things. That is what marketing is about.

Other than hairless apes, we are also incredibly dependent on social interaction and iPhones offered a way to satisfy that need.

A popular mantra is that marketers "create needs" but in reality they just find needs and people later realize they have them.

>I've taken enough psychology and philosophy courses to have a pretty good understanding of the human psyche.

By the way, I didn't mean to call your credentials into question I was just trying to get a feel for your background. Although I would suggest that you look further into the difference between psychology and organizational behavior. There is a huge difference between what one human will do and what a group of humans will do, might interest you to read Why we Buy which delves into market research and all that. It's actually fascinating how in-depth researchers will go to ensure that the maximum amount of product is moved.

>I like the noble idea that marketers are there to help a consumer, but I've never seen any evidence of this.

Well it's not quite that noble. Their main focus is still on making profit. But the end goal is to have both the company and the consumer profit. That way the customer is more likely to come back for more. It's just like bartering with more steps and numbers in between, no one's trying to screw anyone over (for the most part) they're just trying to find a purpose and something to do that works, and if that thing is selling overpriced coffee or smartphones or whatever, as long as everyone's happy I can't find an issue with it.

>People will find the goods they need, they don't require assistance in that. Marketing is to sell you stuff you didn't need.

If you're talking about satisfying the bottom of Maslow's hierarchy of needs then yeah, but humans get more and more complicated as they satisfy more and more needs. People might not know they wanted instagram but that little notification that someone they care about liked their post might bring their day from terrible to great.

It's easy to say all that shit is superficial, and if you're still struggling to eat then yes, it's not something that should be worried about. But increasingly we have a growing population of lost, worried people who don't know what to do with themselves and who don't understand why they feel bad. Advertisements and the discovery of new things that could lighten your day can be a little blessing of a distraction for someone with very little other purpose in their life.

And it doesn't have to get that dark. Sometimes you're walking down the street feeling a little peckish and then you see a big sign for pretzels and you think "yes that would hit the spot!" And you get one and if it's good, it's a positive experience and you're distracted a little longer by that happiness.

Also, since I have a feeling this argument is coming, I'm not arguing that distracting yourself from finding the truth and your purpose in life is a good thing, and taken to the extreme it could be devastating. But you can't spend your entire life trying to find your purpose every waking second because you'd go insane. Distractions can ease that little feeling of depression and anxiety that some people feel is only a few bad days away from creeping back.

>Cheers! Thanks for indulging my asinine debate.

You as well, and I don't think it's asinine, I think it's something a lot of people are thinking about but not talking about and it may become an issue in the upcoming years as the line between government and business becomes more and more blurred, and I think it's important we try to establish a precedent sooner than later.

My pleasure!

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All that is awesome! Your response means you're doing everything right as far as I can tell.

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Maybe illustration doesn't have "trade shows" but maybe there are more art shows to get involved in? Even if it's just volunteering to help work the event if there's no room to post your art.

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Competitions can be expensive but I think personally that the ROI would probably be way worth it. Don't quote me, but I'd be willing to bet that you could probably write off the entrance fee as a business expense on your taxes, which makes it "free" :D

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For art hanging, if after 6 months to a year I would move it to another place. Oh! Afterthought! You could potentially have the opportunity to hang your art at one of these new businesses, maybe they'll even want to purchase it themselves if they're still settling in.

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I'm not familiar with MailChimp but it should be like any other mass mailer. Do you have the automation set up for different types of outcomes? For example, if the person doesn't open the email it sends a follow up message. You can get really intense with these and following up is important. I would also make the emails seem as personalized as possible.

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If you like to read about sales stuff I would love to recommend this great read to you!

Tom Hopkins is killer. He's smart and has sold a ton of different things and is an authority on selling. (He once sold 365 houses in a year)

I don't think you should be worried at all about asking your freelancing friends questions as long as you don't ask in a way that makes it seem like you're asking for their clients. You're new-ish at this, everyone needs a little help now and again :)

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I think your last thought about reaching out is a good idea! With your own personal flair you can be like:

• If they're local - "Hey [Name], it's been a bit since our last project. I was gonna be in your neighborhood around X time and would love to catch up over coffee/lunch if you're available!"
  
• If you work remote for them - "Hey [Name], it's been a bit since our last project and I just wanted to check in and see how things were going. I've been doing some cool [work] and thought you might like to check it out. Any cool projects going on on your end?"
  
• If you're cold emailing/calling - "Hi [Name], I'm Whinyartist and I do x work. I like your company/business/past work and would love to collaborate with you on future projects. Would that be something you're interested in?"
  
• If you're cold emailing/calling #2 - "Hi [Name], I'm Whinyartist and I do x work. I like your company/business/past work and would love to collaborate with you on future projects. Would you be available for coffee on x day or x day to talk about how we could help each other out?"
  
  • \^These last two need finessing lol but you get the point I hope.
    
    ​

Everything I did for my coffee shop had to be free or very very cheap. They were very emotionally supportive but not all that financially supportive. Mostly I did stuff like offering free drinks on Twitter and Facebook to anyone who could recite Ice Ice Baby by heart or who brought in a baby Jesus stolen from a manger scene. I made funny signs encouraging people to sit together. Just tried to be creative and make myself laugh.

As far as breaking into the industry, I would say the best thing you can do is make interesting stuff. If you have an idea for a blog, do it. I have a copywriter friend who has a blog of pictures of people first thing in the morning. So simple but also kind of brilliant. Creative directors love stuff like that. One of the coolest things about this industry is that it really does not matter how much experience or training you have. If you can demonstrate an ability to consistently have good ideas and carry them out, you will absolutely get a job.

If I was just starting out (and not married) I would apply for WK12 through Wieden+Kennedy. People who get accepted don't have to apply for jobs ever again, jobs apply for them. I would also recommend reading up on the industry, Hey Whipple Squeeze This by Luke Sullivan is the classic place to start. And The Idea Writers by Teressa Iezzi is excellent and a little more up to date.

I'm going to PM you a link to my personal portfolio, which I made specifically to get my current job. I'd never done anything like this before and had zero training/experience. I really just pulled it all out of my ass in about a week and a half but I've gotten really positive feedback about it. I hope this helps. Keep me updated, if you feel like it. And please feel free to ask as many questions as you can think of.

I tried to track down the "women control X% of spending" stat in another post about it, and was unable to find it. Here is an edited version of my post detailing the digging (the post I was responding to claimed 60% of spending):

>Not really. Saying "control" 60% of the wealth does not appear to have an actual source anywhere.

> First, "women control 60% of the wealth" does not have an obvious meaning; "control" is not the same as "own", and without a clear definition it is hard to know what "control" means in the context of married couples. And I dug and dug but couldn't find a primary source for that claim. A business news article discussing the 60% figure cites "Virginia Tech" as a source, but it doesn't link to a research paper; it links to a nonfunctional landing page for a "Women in Leadership and Philanthropy" council. This council does not do research and none of the links on their landing page have any citations to any research. They link out to another dead link that is intended to go to The Woman's Philanthropy Institute at Indiana University.

> This group does appear to do research, but primarily on philanthropy and charitable giving; I can find nothing that is direct research showing how "women control 60% of the wealth" is defined.

> Searching elsewhere, I find a similar-ish 50% stat that cites the BMO Wealth Institute, which links to this white paper.. This paper is a summary of various stats and achievements of women, and does mention the "controls 50% of the wealth" statistic alongside noting many of the concerns typically brought up in these discussions, like women's relatively lower income, or lack of advancement etc. The citation for women controlling 50% of the wealth is yet another dead link to the Family Wealth Advisors Council. Searching the article title, though, I found the actual link to Women of Wealth, which uses the same stat for women's control of wealth and cites Power of the Purse by Fara Warner, a book from 2005.

> Now, I don't have access to the book in full and have to rely on Amazon's preview feature, but from that preview the only mentions of women controlling wealth are in the foreward, which the statistics appear pulled from, and early in Chapter one, which predicts women will gain 85% of the wealth generated between 1995 and 2010. This statistic is said to come from Conde Nast, but is not cited; the statement before and after from different sources are. I cannot access the full set of citations for Chapter One, but nothing else in the book I can find mentions Conde Nast so it doesn't seem likely it was cited prior to page four. Further googling for Conde Nast claiming such a figure was not fruitful, although to be fair a prediction of growth between 1995 and 2010 would have been made prior to 1995 and is unlikely to show up on the internet. And it is important to note that Conde Nast is a media company, and as such their useful definition of "control wealth" would skew towards, say, who makes spending decisions in married couples even if that wealth is dependent on the other partner.

> So what's the point of all this, exactly? Well, it's to say that the 60% figure, in addition to being extremely unclear, doesn't appear to have any obvious primary source; the closest thing I can find is a 2005 book that mentions the wealth control stat and a wealth control projection without clear citation. I did find plenty of examples of people citing the BMO report, which was ultimately sourced from Power of the Purse through the forward of a more respectable sounding report.

> I suspect, but cannot ultimately confirm, that the 60% control statistic ultimately exists either due to marketing projections from the early 90s (which would explain how, with no sources earlier than 2005, it has updated from 50% control to 60% control), or that its based partially on marketing projections and partially on ????? from the foreward of Power of the Purse. This stat does not appear to have been actually confirmed independently, but it has been given more and more legitimacy as it jumped from a book to a (relatively) smaller wealth group to a major bank to being mentioned on a landing page for a university group to being represented (falsely) as research from a major university.

So what's the point of all this, then? Well, it's to point out that your article citing female spending power is also unsourced and claims even higher numbers for female spending, and falls into the same trap about not actually defining what spending power means. There's simply no good reason to believe such a huge claim without any real citations. E: Additionally, as noted in the WSJ article linked in another post, most every source or potential source for this statistic appears to originate within marketing groups trying to push marketing aimed at women. That casts some doubt on how meaningful these terms are, given it may simply be marketing groups realizing that you can't market primarily to men for household products both genders use.

Quick tips:

1 - Read some marketing/growth hacking books

https://www.amazon.com/Hacking-Growth-Fastest-Growing-Companies-Breakout/dp/045149721X

https://www.amazon.com/Growth-Hacker-Marketing-Primer-Advertising/dp/1591847389

2 - Make your site more clear that you're selling earbuds. on the first impression, it looks like I can sponsor a Panda or similar.

3 - Work on your SEO more and create a favicon.

Great favicon generator for multiple platforms - https://realfavicongenerator.net/

4 - Since you're helping a charity contact local news, online blogs, charity outlets etc to get an article or a link...

5 - Create more site content. Really sell the reason why you're helping the Pandas and also why your earbuds are worth buying. Create a video to explain all this perhaps

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1. How do you recommend marketing a new product and company?
   
   There are tons of blog posts, books on this. No one here will give you a better answer in a comment then reading a well thought out blog post or book.
   
   ​
   
   
2. What is the best way to do targeted ads?
   
   I am learning this myself better. So no comment
   
   ​
   
   
3. How much money should I expect to spend on ads before I start seeing any sales?
   
   Same as above
   
   ​
   
   At the end of the day, it's just to keep pushing and stay positive, 1% progress a day and you should be happy.
   
   ​
   
   Best of luck with your business and for the future.

Would love to add anyone on Goodreads if you use it too :) [Add me](https://www.goodreads.com/thedoerco
)

• Tested Advertising Method
  
• Ogilvy on Advertising
  
• How to Change Minds is a sales book, but it's got an easy to understand framework to understand how people make decisions that I have found useful for marketing
  
• The Ask Method Gives some great jumping off points on how to ask questions for marketing research, and how to organize that information to make decisions about your marketing and your product
  
• Positioning and Repositioning by the amazing marketing strategist Jack Trout of Disney and Coke, are good foundation reads if you don't know anything about marketing. If you know what a USP is, skip Positioning but I did like Repositioning. I did like Positioning as a refresher of a variety of different concepts that I have read more detailed individual books on.
  
• Integrated Marketing Communications to learn about more broadly how to make all of your marketing communications work together towards a common business goal. The book itself is about using marketing campaigns across different channels (tv, radio, print, online) in a coordinated effort, but it will help you understand how to use email, social, paid ads, and other marketing systems you develop together.
  
  Second Influence. Getting Everything You Can is good if you are basic in marketing, I would not recommend it for people who are more advanced.
  
  If you don't know what a "business goal" is, you need to read this:
  
  
• Scaling Up Every marketer should understand the processes that drive growth in businesses, because you are trying to manipulate those levers with marketing. You can also reverse engineer your prospect's business and explain the gains of your services in the terms of processes that drive their revenue when you're pitching them, too.

Your in a position that many would love to be in and many more would never be able to get to.

Your marketing campaign,
Get the following books (quick easy and enjoyable reads):
The Brand Gap ,
22 laws of marketing

• Offer cloud services and support to startups for free for three months, they apply via your website, pick the most promising ones. They must have your logo/link on their website somewhere e.g. "Hosting provided by" etc.
  
• Sponser hackertons or hacker meet up related activities.
  
• Offer free services to blogs you like.
  
  Your company,
  Rebrand your company within 2 months. Top notch website+server control panel UI. Get Blogging.
  
  Your Services,
  
  
• Focus on something, cloud hosting or dedicated servers. Which ever you feel your best at.
  
• Provide Cloud Hosting Images pre-installed with apache, mysql, php, webmin, vhosts, mail etc. Make it easier for new customers to setup a ready to go server quick as possible knowing all the configuations are correct.
  
  Your Sanity,
  Discuss with your best respected staff.

No problem whatsoever :) I appreciate your help!

>You claim that your side hustle isn't making money yet, so why would you even take the chance of losing your job (again) to keep it alive?

It's not that I want to risk my job for a side hustle that isn't making money. I just want to build it into a profitable business and I think there's a delicate balance. If I abandon it, it won't become profitable. If I promote it too much, it could get back to my 9 to 5 and they might be upset.

It just takes time to build a successful online business.

>you mentioned that you started this project nearly a year ago -- what held you back from reaching success during that time that doesn't hold you back any longer?

Nothing has held us back. It has been our plan from the beginning to wait 12 months before monetizing. After our first 12 months, we want to implement some affiliate marketing strategies. After 18-24 months, we want to sell original information products.

We believe you have to have a certain amount of credibility before people will buy anything from you—just like your Pat Flynn analogy. People buy from Pat because he has immense credibility.

We're implementing Gary Vaynerchuk's Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook strategy.

My business partner landed a full time job with Gary through LC :) Even though we haven't monetized yet, we're seeing some really cool results!

>I'll use Pat Flynn as an example, because his business is very similar to yours. People love Pat, but why? Is it because he is good looking? Funny? Smart? No, it's because he has had a LOT of success in this field and he gives his users advice on how to do the same. People listen to him because he is very credible.

Yes, but Pat had to start somewhere. He started with Green Exam Academy. SPI was more of a bi-product in the beginning. That's what we're trying to do with LC. We do NOT want to be "gurus" and we don't claim to know any secrets. But if it's coming across that way, I definitely want to know :)

First of all, what makes you think I am not from a developing nation?

Let's please get past this third world bullshit. You can do better.

Secondly, implicit in your question is the idea that customers want cheaper work, not better work.

This is simply not true.

If you make the conversation about price then people will almost always look for a cheaper option.

But sometimes people want to work with people who are more pleasant, and will happily pay more.

Maybe clarity of communication is what they are after, and they will pay more for someone who speaks english as their first language, someone who instantly understands what they are after.

A lot of the time clients want quality, and they know they will have to pay for it.

My point is that there are lots of ways to compete, and price is usually the lowest common denominator. So there are so many different kinds of better, and there's probably a market for most of them. As a freelancer your time is scarcest commodity in the equation, you only need a hand full of well-paying clients who want your version of better to sustain a business.

If you are used to competing on price then maybe its time to look at what you do best and start competing on that instead. Speak to your last 5 clients and ask them what they loved about working with you and what they thought you could improve on. That's always a good place to start work on how to differentiate yourself.

Sean D'Souza also has some excellent writing and thoughts about developing your uniqueness in his book The Brain Audit and on his blog. Definitely worth checking out if this is something you want to explore further.

I'm actually reading a book right now that discusses a bit of the history of the Airwalk shoe brand. Apparently the reason they were as successful as they were for those couple of years was because they produced good products that were loyal to the more skating oriented demographic they were designed for. However, they also moved into mass marketing the shoes to make them more appealing to a broader spectrum of people - mostly to get their shoes into more "trendy" stores and into malls, that sort of the thing.

Their marketing campaign was very good at staying on top of/ahead of trends that were about to become huge, successful fads and so a lot of their marketing directly reflected what was deemed cool at the time by their general demographics. That would probably explain why that shirt has the name of a shoe written in the same font as a hugely popular band of the time period. They're marketing team was very good at what they did.

Sorry, I just thought it was really cool that I literally just read about that in the last few days and here I am viewing a picture that completely illustrates something that the book talked about. "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell for anyone interested. It's pretty interesting although I don't love the way he writes.

Anyway, enough of that. /rant

And I have these in my list on amazon. Would love to get some opinions on them:

 

How to Win Friends and Influence People

by Dale Carnegie

 

Secrets of a Freelance Writer: How to Make $100,000 a Year or More

by Robert Bly

 

Words that Sell

by Richard Bayan

 

Tested Advertising Methods

by Caples and Hahn

 

Writing That Works

by Kenneth Roman and Joel Raphaelson

 

Confessions of an Advertising Man

by David Ogilvy

 

The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing

by Al Ries and Jack Trout

 

The Robert Collier Letter Book

by Robert Collier

 

Nicely Said: Writing for the Web with Style and Purpose

by Nicole Fenton and Kate Kiefer Lee

 

Letting Go of the Words

by Janice (Ginny) Redish

 

Essential English for Journalists, Editors and Writers

by Harold Evans

 

Can I Change Your Mind?: The Craft and Art of Persuasive Writing

by Lindsay Camp

 

Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer

by Roy Peter Clark

 

Read Me: 10 Lessons for Writing Great Copy

by Roger Horberry and Gyles Lingwood

 

Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This: The Classic Guide to Creating Great Ads

by Luke Sullivan

 

WRITE IN STEPS: The super simple book writing method

by Ian Stables

 

On Writing Well

by William Zinsser

 

The Wealthy Freelancer

by Steve Slaunwhite, Pete Savage and Ed Gandia

 

Write Everything Right!

by Denny Hatch

 

The Secret of Selling Anything

by Harry Browne

 

The Marketing Gurus: Lessons from the Best Marketing Books of All Time

by Chris Murray

 

On Writing

by Stephen King

 

Writing for the Web

by Lynda Felder

 

Everybody Writes: Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content

by Ann Handley

 

This book will teach you how to write better

by Neville Medhora

good manipulation makes people want to participate because it encourages trust. sales tactics rely heavily on it, but whether it is good or bad depends on the goal of the individual- sometimes the trust is misplaced, sometimes not. we look at it negatively, but it doesn't have to be. it's just effective communicating, mostly on a nonverbal level (using tone, body language, word choice, and so on), and is really just a codified method of getting someone to agree with you.

How to Master the Art of Selling by Tom Hopkins is a fantastic book on the subject, because really, you're just selling yourself in most of your jobs and social interactions. if you can do that, you can sell anything.

people like Trump, as well as other hustlers, will absolutely use this to get someone to willingly do something that isn't in their best interests.

tldr: trust yourself to be a good person.

Just some food for thought. Disclaimer: I'm just an average joe, and not a marketing pro. When I think of your app, I think of it as a "family feud" style game where the point is to try to guess the most popular answer to each question. -- what does this have to do about judging others and being a safe place to do that? That would be a better description for tinder or some kind of "hot or not" app, but not for what you have created. In crafting your value prop, I'd recommend you turn to this book and follow some of their writing principles: http://www.amazon.com/This-book-teach-write-better/dp/0989895300/ . For example, if you follow their principle that "people don't care about you. they only care about themselves", you could rewrite something that may be more engaging to the average joe visiting your site. My thoughts are something like: "Do you know people as well as you think you do? Let's play." Where I wrote "people" in the previous sentence, you could replace that noun with "left handed people", "men", "women", or any noun if you want to target specific categories of interest. I hope this helps!

I am still learning the promotion end myself. For starters I am trying to build a collection of listeners who become advocates. That means getting them involved. Asking their opinions. Shouting them out. Thanking them for listening. I try to use social media to create content for people - not just to ask them to listen. I primarily use Facebook, my show has it's own page, and Twitter.

Facebook is more intimate. I ask people their thoughts on the different shows and films that are out there. I engage them, etc. I use Twitter to try to build relationships with fellow podcasters and potential fans. I like to comment on and promote other peoples' shows -- stuff like that. You really have to give a lot, and you have to be genuine. People know if you're a snake trying to just promote yourself.

There is a book called, Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook amazon link it was totally worth the time to read. It explains a lot of the mistakes that people make with social media.

As for the tech-side of things --- Adobe Audition. It sucks because it isn't cheap, but it is incredible and super intuitive. I actually pay monthly for it, but will just buy it straight out soon.

When I was on a Mac I used Garage Band, and then on PC I used Audacity. Audacity isn't bad at all - but I decided to just make the move early to Audition.

THANKS for the compliment BTW. Hope you enjoyed the show.

Some things to check out:

• The list mentioned in the sidebar
  
  
• This Wikiversity page for a good high-level intro
  
  
• Book: Positioning for brand strategy
  
  
• Books: Influence and Fascinate for consumer psychology concepts
  
  
• Book: The Tipping Point for big how big ideas take off
  
  
• Book: Don't Make Me Think for website usability
  
  
• Website: Hubspot marketing hubs (I haven't actually looked too much into this site, but it looks ok at first glance).
  
  These are just some specific things I've found helpful in the past, and most of them (the books) are related to specific concepts, so keep in mind that there are many other topics that you should look to other sources for. For example, for search engine optimization, there's Seomoz.org. For low-cost marketing alternatives, there's Guerrilla Marketing. For ongoing general marketing tips, there's Duct Tape Marketing or various things from Seth Godin. All things considered, I'd say you should become familiar with the high-level marketing topics (the Wikiversity page), then tackle those topics in more detail by googling around or asking for recommendations on reddit.
  
  Side note: Might not appear entirely relevant to you at this time, but it's never a bad idea to brush up on your Microsoft Excel skills. Many marketing associates (especially in industries related to taxes, etc.) have to deal with Excel a lot, and therefore can benefit from learning optimal/automated ways of doing things in Excel.

Sure, the new iWork suite has removed quite a few features that was otherwise available in the old version. But it might only be temporarily.

The new version is rewritten to revisit and enhance the suite of tools going forward, but it has made it necessary for Apple to not include all features at first launch. That's why the old version was not overwritten when the new version first launched and presented as an update in the App Store.

Much wanted features like Apple Script support was only recently reintroduced, and details like the one you mention here might also come in a later update.

Until then, consider using the old Keynote(it still works on Mavericks) if you can't do without this feature. Personally I do not fancy these "bullet reveals" during presentations and would encourage you to try out some new styles of presentation to keep an interest in the lecture. The best lectures are usually built on a solid written and rehearsed and slides that are build to enhance it even further.

Some book recommendations to that end:

• Lend Me Your Ears by Max Atkinson
  
• Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds
  
• Resonate by Nancy Duarte

So I've been trying to track down the source for this claim for almost an hour now, because I'm a sucker for econometrics and I would love to see a breakdown by asset class. Business Insider cites this report, which cites this presentation, which in turn cites this book. I can't track down an online copy, so if anyone can tell me where the author got the information from, do let me know. I couldn't find any source for the suggestion that the percentage of wealth held by women is expected to rise to a much higher percentage in the coming years -- Warner only claims that the total amount held by women will rise, but so will the total for men (meaning that the percentages could stay the same, or change in either direction).

With that said, I'd be cautious with an analysis that looks purely at wealth without any accompanying explanation. About half of all wealth is home equity, which is jointly owned and as such most likely counted under both genders. Moreover, women live on average four years longer, meaning that four additional years of compound interest on pensions and home equity. On the other hand, women earn less than men on average and as such end up with fewer assets to earn interest on. However, there is a fairly well-documented effect by which male pensioners deplete their savings much faster than female pensioners. As such, it is not at all clear where we should expect the distribution of asset ownership to end up resting, and we don't really know what a 51% split even tells us.

The Idea Writers - Tons of Case Studies, but they're all told excellently.

It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want To Be - Inspiration not to settl and to do great work.

Baked In - A lot like an updated Purple Cow. All about integrating product, management, and marketing.

Blink or Tipping Point - About the little things that cause shifts in culture to happen.

Also, some Seth Godin action never hurts. Definitely recommend his blog.

If you want more "How to make ads" type stuff there are more down that path, too. Just let me know.

Hi.
Well. Its difficult to say you are not giving any details :)

Who are you sending your emails to? How did you get those emails? What are you writing on those emails? Are you making an offer right there? Also. What type of web projects do you do? Pricey ones (long term projects)? Cheap ones (quick-turn around ones)? Do you have a well defined idea of what your customer would be?

Selling is hard, you need to perfectly understand your customers, why they buy and also why they don't buy. I recommend you this book:

https://www.amazon.com/Brain-Audit-Customers-They-Dont-ebook/dp/B00COQFUNU

Also look for your competition. Try to identify the ones that you really would like to become and try to figure out what they do, how do they reach their customers, how is their sales process.

In software, specially long-term engagement projects, sales are a process. You need to obtain leads, then nurture your leads, gain their trust, and eventually you'll get a sale from them.

Hope this helps!

Cheers

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.

• The 48 Laws of Power - Robert Greene
  
  • Animated YouTube version
    
• Dominate: Conquer Your Fears. Become The Man You Want to Be. - David De Las Morenas
  
• The Tipping Point - Malcolm Gladwell
  
• The Slight Edge - Jeff Olson
  
  All excellent books. I have personally met each author and they are amazing men that live what they write.
  
  Of course, good ole Dale Carnegie's book in How to Win Friends & Influence people comes to mind, but his book lacks the tenacity and ferocity needed to succeed. It's lessons are excellent, but often it's too nice.
  
  
  

Had this list together from a blog post I wrote a few months ago. Not sure what exactly you're looking for, but these are my favorite books and I'd recommend everybody read them all. There are other great books out there, but this is a pretty well rounded list that touches everything a company needs.

The Lean Startup https://www.amazon.com/Lean-Startup-Entrepreneurs-Continuous-Innovation/dp/0307887898

Business Model Generation https://www.amazon.com/Business-Model-Generation-Visionaries-Challengers/dp/0470876417

Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products https://www.amazon.com/Hooked-How-Build-Habit-Forming-Products/dp/1591847788

Talking to Humans https://www.amazon.com/Talking-Humans-Success-understanding-customers-ebook/dp/B00NSUEUL4

Predictable Revenue https://www.amazon.com/Predictable-Revenue-Business-Practices-Salesforce-com/dp/0984380213

To Sell is Human https://www.amazon.com/Sell-Human-Surprising-Moving-Others/dp/1594631905

Rework https://www.amazon.com/Rework-Jason-Fried/dp/0307463745

Delivering Happiness https://www.amazon.com/Delivering-Happiness-Profits-Passion-Purpose/dp/0446576220

Epic content marketing might help you look at content from your blog to provide you with alternate methods of presenting it (infographics, videos, slide share presentations).

I liked the ideas found in Blue Ocean Strategy towards the beginning, but for whatever reason was never able to go past chapter 5.

Books and the blog of Seth Godin or alternatively Basecamp (formerly known as 37 signals) are usually fun, quick reads.

Blogs by KISSMetrics, Zendesk, Hubspot, and following Growth Hackers threads are all good options too.

What does your SaaS do?

Lastly, something that can provide guidance is taking an hour or two to draw your message map. Essentially, it's a list on one side of your target audience at each stage of purchase, what you want them to takeaway from your message and what are the main barriers to them understanding that message.

Best of luck!

Edits: Was on phone; added links for the lazy.

The Boron Letters is one of my favourites - you can find it online for free (google) as the Boron family put it online to share their father's teachings.
If you're just starting out, This Book Will Teach You To Write Better it's a great start and a summary to look back to from time to time.

Also if you're interested, I have a free productivity email course in which I share how I went from 9 to 34 books a year.

I don't want to self promote, so if this sounds interesting send me a DM and I'll share the link!

Rawrtherapy - Good question.

A few things. You currently have a cold list so you need to see the level of engagement and what their issues are. Hiring epicshoelace sounds like a good start ;).

Start simple. Say, "Hi. We haven't chatted in a while. I wanted to get back in touch. What's the number 1 thing your struggling with in (whatever industry your business is in)."

See how many people respond. 10% would be an excellent number if you got that much.

Then collect the responses and see if there are buckets of issues. Now you have information for your next product or service you can offer them.

Ryan Levesque has a book specifically on this topic. I haven't used it myself but it's worth checking out.

As a way of background I have newsletter where I share proven case studies of successful entrepreneurs. A lot of them are people who have built online lists. If you’re interested let me know and I can PM you the link to the newsletter or if you have any questions.

I was in a hurry when I wrote this. There is book called The Brain Audit that explains better how to position yourself from the psychology of what a person does when they want to buy something.

I really do sincerely want you to succeed. Seeing anyone going out there like this is ballsy. Feel free to hit me up with any questions you have. I'll try to answer them. Also, I'm not a marketing guy, I'm just fascinated by this stuff.

>If one cover was better than another you wouldn’t see books constantly rereleased with new covers.

There's lots to unpick here, but I'd suggest you read Chris Fox's Relaunch Your Novel to get a bit more knowledge of this point.

Covers absolutely matter, it's why everyone from the big five to top-selling indies invest in them. Data-driven authors like Fox, Cooper, and Anderle invest in them heavily because they matter so significantly. Part of it is branding, sure, but it's also making your product compelling.

A few people aren't influenced by covers, but they're a minority. Reader decisions for things like KU next-to-read are done based on a thumbnail when their kindle suggests their next book.

I've got data based on my own publishing journey to back this up. I changed covers on a series and watched sales tank, and reswitched covers and they picked back up. Blurb + price + reviews were all the same, so if it's not covers selling books, is it sorcery? :)

Perry Marshall might rub people the wrong way with his insanely long form sales copy but he's been an amazing resource for me and my learning. He sells courses online that are worth the 200$ if you're really wanting to study yourself.

In my opinion, start with a joint book that's regularly updated, see if you like Perry's teaching style and then maybe go for a course. His website really is a good lesson in long form sales copy. (Which in his niche works well, especially for people in your mindset)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1599184419/ref=redir_mdp_mobile

Sorry for the mobile link, but Googling or Amazoning Perry Marshall will get you what you're looking for.

This site has some good ads to swipe, with explanations for some of them:
http://swiped.co/

To start off, these books should help to get the basics down pat:

1. https://www.amazon.com/This-book-teach-write-better/dp/0989895300/
   
2. https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Sales-Letter-Attract-Customers/dp/1440511411
   
3. https://www.amazon.com/Adweek-Copywriting-Handbook-Advertising-Copywriters/dp/0470051248/
   
4. https://www.amazon.com/Write-Copy-Sells-Step-Step/dp/161448502X/
   5.https://www.amazon.com/Online-Copywriters-Handbook-Everything-Electronic/dp/0658020994
   
5. https://www.amazon.com/CA-HVERTISING-Ad-Agency-Psychology-Anything/dp/1601630328/
   
   If you want to go deeper, and become an expert copywriter follow what the late great Gary Halbert says here --> https://www.thegaryhalbertletter.com/newsletters/zfkj_hands_on_experience.htm
   
   All the best on the journey.

Never do your own cover. They aren't that expensive ($150 is common). The reviews on your Amazon page are encouraging, and those 4 and 5 star blurbs like "This book really sucked me in and became a real page turner" mean a great deal more than what your friends say/think. You won't get anyone you know to actually read and review the thing because they don't share your interests enough to be your ideal reader. Don't worry about it. Statistically, your ideal readership is a very exclusive club scattered all around the world.

In the long run, if you are looking to make a career out of this, it's almost time to invest in a real editor. Read this book and do what it says. The generally accepted magic number is 3 books, but you can wait until 4 or 5 if you're patient and secure in your day job.

Not sure if the intent is for your client to drop your product slides into a larger presentation, or if you’re intending to build the complete presentation for your client...either way, you may find it useful to incorporate storytelling techniques to amp up viewer engagement. I’ve found the following books very good:

Resonate, by Nancy Duarte

Storynomics, by Robert McKee and Tom Gerace

Good luck!

It's not focused on just one single company, but "Hacking Growth" includes a number of stories about how early-stage companies figured out user acquisition...

Hacking Growth: How Today's Fastest-Growing Companies Drive Breakout Success

https://www.amazon.com/Hacking-Growth-Fastest-Growing-Companies-Breakout/dp/045149721X

Sounds like a train wreck in the making.

As part of the deal, get some training in day to day operations. Most of these guys are so used to how the business runs they aren't even conscious of dozens of little details. Find out through observations as much as what they tell you. Employees can help -- if the business isn't churn 'n' burn.

If you're keeping the employees, find out their strengths, weaknesses, tendencies, etc. Too many of these have no concern about employee interaction with customers, and these employees are the face you show the public. Don't get a new logo. Because these people represent your branding in ways no graphic designer can even comprehend.

Develop a "dashboard" for financials. Know what your margins are, because small time retail is harsh. If you and your accountant are on speaking terms, coming up with a few key indicators to look at that tells you at-a-glance how the business is doing.

You have "the book." That's the current owner. Don't close it just yet, that's your best book -- if you know how to read it.

Next, see where the losses are. Shrinkage. See what you can do to reduce it because that's money hemorrhage.

For example, if you have clothes on hangers ...right by the front door, alternate how the hanger hooks face. Something simple like this can keep a shoplifter from grabbing a whole rack and making a dash.

Once again, every business should have a few dozen of these tricks-of-the-trade. Be sure to go after them with the owner. And developing some of your own should be on your list of things to do.

My suggestion on reading would start out with Why We Buy by Paco Underhill. Consumer behavior 101. If nothing else it tells you how to read your customers like a book through observation. Not what they say, what they do.

Visual merchandising has many margin growing ideas. Learn them.

Marketing is vital for your business. First is knowing the difference between consumers and customers. Best thing you can do is have a database of best customers you mail to.

Don't have one? Owner doesn't keep track? Get one. Get every best customer into it. Learn how to market. Not how to slash prices -- how to market your business. Slashing prices, the "sale" is the price you pay for not learning to market.

Despite what everyone and their brother tells you, if your marketing hinges on running discount sales, consider your marketing a failure in need of immediate attention. Know marketing. Know copywriting. Know customers.

Finally, do update the business. Integrate online sales with retail purchases. Do innovate with an integrated online/offline mobile presence if at all possible. Evaluate and consider making over the physical retail space, if needed.

Don't get caught up on bells and whistles and surface decoration that does, literally, nothing for the business. Test everything and become a fanatic about testing. If you want a mentor, take a look at how this guy does it. All the crap designers sell today? That's to make up for the owner's lack of interest and enthusiasm.

Learn that design -- real design -- can be a strategic asset and not vapid junk. Design your business, do not decorate it. Worst thing you can do in retail is misunderstand design. Move up the design maturity continuum.

Accounting will tell you there's a problem. Design can tell you what the solution is ...if you're not splashing about in the shallow end. Accounting gives you the numbers. Design drives the numbers.

When Gateway was closing all its stores, along came Apple to eat everyone's lunch. Why? Everyone else was looking at the numbers, running their business by the numbers. Apple focuses on driving the numbers.

This is so not about S corp versus LLC. You do not want to have to fall back on limited liability shielding -- the last resort when all else fails. Figure this out and get it out of the way -- quickly. Avoid failure. Grow the business.

i certainly will
This reminds of a very famous book about, how people that give free information usually win more business than people trying hard to win business

Very good observations, all. I strongly recommend you check out a book called "Why We Buy" by Paco Underhill, one of the pioneers of observation-based store layout and product placement.

The things you learn by subscribing to pornographic reddits. I love the Internet.

The best practice is absolutely to do it. Industry association conferences can be a good way to get some practice.

To answer the question, I really like Resonate by Nancy Duarte for speaking engagements and How to Talk to Anyone by Leil Lowndes for one-on-one communications.

If you're looking for a book, I really like Epic Content Marketing.

For general guides to Digital Marketing, I highly recommend Neil Patel's Quicksprout. Just read everything he has there, especially his Guides in the right sidebar. Extremely thorough, very well-researched, and lots of references to other sources.

Good luck!

Here are Amazon links for the ones interested as well:

Book Yourself Solid Illustrated by Michael Port

48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene

You Can’t Teach A Kid To Ride A Bike At A Seminar by David Sandler

How To Get Rich Felix Dennis

Life’s A Pitch by Philip Delves Broughton

Influence, The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini

80/20 Sales and Marketing by Perry Marshall

Unstoppable Referrals by Steve Gordon

22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Ries and Trout

Not sure exactly what happened to get ello the sort of viral spread they had... but I think this book gives a great framework for understanding viral trends in general if you're interested... Contagious - one of the better books I've read on the subject. Full disclosure... I'm a marketer by trade so I study this stuff as habit.

If you want to validate this idea, try Google AdWords. If you don't know how to use it well I would highly recommend this book.

Any traffic you're not converting now is kind of meaningless. If you posted the page out on your Facebook for example you might get a few people checking it out but they are not your customers. Maybe they were there to check out the upside down santa girl not your product.

Google AdWords let's you almost instantly turn on / off a stream of qualified leads. People searching for "how to start a pub crawl business" or similar. Get this traffic coming in, see how much you're paying for a conversion (email signups). 30 conversions from AdWords is statistically significant enough to draw conclusions. Then crunch the numbers and see if they make sense. Hopefully this will only cost you about $100-$200, and if it works you have the emails of interested people already.

I just finished reading Contagious: Why Things Catch On and really enjoyed it. I started How to Read Literature Like a Professor the other day and am enjoying it so far.

Everyone says Gary Vee but truthfully you need to find multiple sources.

Personally I stopped looking at social media as an answer and more like a targeted bullhorn for my content.

I'd recommend you start with here.

I've read a lot of business books in the past year. These include:

7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Rich Dad Poor Dad

Think and Grow Rich

How to Win Friends & Influence People

Secrets of Closing the Sale

How to Master the Art of Selling

The E-Myth Revisited

The Compound Effect

The Slight Edge

The $100 Startup

The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur

I have 4HWW waiting to be read, in addition to about 15 other books that are sitting there, waiting to be read.

The $100 Startup is very inspiring, especially for people who have no chance at securing a "normal" job (I dropped out of college). The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur is also very informative. But out of this list, by far, my two favorite books are The Compound Effect and The Slight Edge. #1 going to The Slight Edge. Read this book. Maybe it won't apply to everyone as much as it did to me, but it totally changed my attitude towards life.

Well, then you may want to check this out:

http://www.amazon.com/Contagious-Why-Things-Catch-On/dp/1451686579

An excellent book about viral marketing, I applied it's principles to my game and plan on doing so to every other game I make. (Sure hope that this link doesn't get removed too..)

Way I see it, you have three options:

1. Take the books down and revise them, then re-publish them yourself. Chris Fox, who's a very successful self-published author, wrote a nonfiction book titled Relaunch Your Novel: Breathe Life Into Your Backlist. It's a very good resource for how to go about relaunching previously published books, and he talks about this method. I know a few self-published authors who have done just that and they ended up more successful the second time around.
   
   
2. Take the books down and revise them, then try shopping them around to agents or small presses that accept submissions. This will be an uphill climb, though. Usually, traditional publishing is only interested in buying the rights to self-published books if they were already successful as self-published. It's not impossible for them to be interested, but I would say it's highly improbable.
   
   
3. Push on ahead. You could write for a century and you'll still look back on your most-recent work and find mistakes that drive you nuts. If you're embarrassed by those early novels, then take them down. But don't revise them. Understand the mistakes you made and keep those lessons in mind as you begin working on something new.
   
   My personal preference is the third option, but the first is also a good one. I don't think you'll have much luck with the second.

Have you read Why We Buy? You will love it, if this is how you feel about shopping. Paco Underhill invented the science of studying people as they buy, why they respond to things like this. Funny funny book. It was assigned reading for my master's Consumer Behavior class.

> You do realize personal income includes stocks right?

Most working-class men don't have any stocks; I don't see how this is relevant.

>And capital gains are taxed differently than payroll is.

Most working-class men don't have any capital gains; I don't see how this is relevant. I said "social taxation" meaning "payroll taxation" (since in many non-US nations, these terms are interchangeable). Do you understand what "an average male employee" means?

> More so women in the US own the majority of the wealth in the US.

Seems to be not supported by either 2014 annual BMO report, nor by 2015 one. It comes from a BMO presentation titled "Financial concerns of women", which references a PDF presentation by a counceling company that hosts its site on Wordpress platform, which references a publicistic, non-scientific book that is believed to be an originator of "women control 80% of spending" myth that is being widely criticized.

It has nothing to do with women being the primary taxable income recipients.

I completely agree with Creativity, Inc. and the design of every day things

A few that I would recommend on top of the list from OP


Why we Buy:
http://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Buy-Science-Shopping/dp/0739341928?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0


Predictably Irrational
http://www.amazon.com/Predictably-Irrational-Revised-Expanded-Decisions/dp/0061353248/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1464902735&sr=1-2&keywords=irrationality


Decoding the New consumer mind:
http://www.amazon.com/Decoding-New-Consumer-Mind-Shop/dp/1118647688

The future direction of news and how it can be improved
Links in this section are RSS feeds

Jay Rosen is my favorite author on the subject:

• His Posterous
  
  
• His blog... PressThink
  
  
• Twitter
  
  Jeff Jarvis is nothing to shake a stick at either:
  
• Blog - BuzzMachine
  
  
• Twitter
  
  And finally, we can't forget Clay Shirky:
  
  
• Blog
  
  
• Twitter
  
  Presentation design and using visuals to increase group effectiveness.
  Links in this section are to books
  
  
• Nancy Duarte's Slideology and Resonate
  
  
• Garr Reynold's Presentation Zen and The Naked Presenter
  
  
• Dan Roam's Back of the Napkin
  
  
• David Sibbet's Visual Meetings
  
  
• Jeff Conklin's Dialogue Mapping
  
  EDIT: formatting

There's a fascinating book that you might find interesting! It's called Why We Buy and it looks exactly at the question of the role of shopping in peoples' lives. https://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Buy-Science-Shopping/dp/0739341928

Social media is absolutely NOT dead in the least! It's not over saturated. The problem is most people use it wrong. Big brands tend to have teams of people to work on their social media, therefore they're often better at it. Check out Jab Jab Jab Right Hook by Gary Vaynerchuk!

Also a great podcast is Marketing Smarts on Itunes.

Here's a few I recommend:

The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing: http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-22-Immutable-Laws-Marketing/dp/1861976100

The Strategy and Tactics of Pricing: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Strategy-Tactics-Pricing-Thomas-Nagle/dp/0136106811

[This one isn't technically a marketing book I guess, but it's a very (very!) good way to think about packaging and pricing. And I think marketing is one large component of that process and think it is a must-read.]

Purple Cow: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Purple-Cow-Transform-Business-Remarkable/dp/014101640X/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_y

[This one is a lighter read but still a goodie]

Trends typically start small/local and build, then make the leap to a new cluster, and it snowballs... something like a fidget spinner might have been discovered by some kid a year ago and started a craze at his school. Then some kid introduces his cabin of kids at camp to them and it spreads to some other schools in the fall. Then those kids show them to their cousins at Christmas, and so on... growth take off exponentially, so it accelerates as it spreads -- making it seem like overnight.

Malcom Gladwell's book The Tipping Point does a good job of explaining the phenomenon...

This is a good starting point:

Perry Marshalls: Ultimate Guide to Google AdWords

Hal Varian: Quality Score & the Ad Auction

Take everything you read/learn online with a grain of salt. PPC is not black and white, not every practice works in every industry/budget/account. Try to learn the logic behind making intelligent decisions in PPC.

read:
The Idea Writers
http://www.amazon.com/Idea-Writers-Copywriting-Marketing-Advertising/dp/0230613888
Winning The Story Wars
http://winningthestorywars.com/

both are recent.
Ogilvy is a classic for sure. Ogilvy is great on the craft of writing

Yes, it's hard, but the most valuable thing I've ever learned. I took this course: http://kopywritingkourse.com/

My tips: take that course and read this: http://www.amazon.com/The-Adweek-Copywriting-Handbook-Advertising/dp/0470051248

Why We Buy ,a retail bible.
The Knack ,real life advice.
Good luck!

How to Master the Art of Selling/Tom Hopkins

It gives you a pretty good idea on the basics.

Predictable Revenue, by Aaron Ross is a good, quick read. He's originally from Salesforce.com and outlines several effective, new strategies, such as "Cold Calling 2.0."

Yeah man, I'm looking for the ebook of 'Hacking Growth' by Sean Ellis. Can you hook me up? Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/045149721X/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=&sr=

Oh no, I took that as anecdotal. And I will say off the top of my head, Why We Buy by Paco Underhill is a really interesting read about retail marketing/psychology. It's probably a little borderline for a lot of people reading this thread since some of it is about following shoppers around in a very spyish manner for behavioral research, but it is really interesting nonetheless for anyone regardless of profession. I'd suggest it.

I think that with the integration of increasing perceived value techniques, Jeff Walker style Launch marketing, some persuasion supplementation, using stories in marketing, Neuromarketing, Web Copy techniques, and many others, all put together in combination - anything's possible. How possible something is I think depends on your perception, and how and if you are familiar with persuasion and how businesses persuade and make something sound 'fair'.

Second, I don't actually mind getting pirated. If those people want it and can't afford it, they should have it. I don't want to stop them. I don't view it as a loss.

I'd rather not go the route of donations... it's honestly too much work.

2nd thought. It's purely from a persuasion/copywriting perspective. I read this book a few years ago and one of the steps before writing is to imagine what opposition the reader could have before buying your product (or accepting your conclusion) and address it in the main text in descending order from most to least important.

For you I'd guess it's #1 establishing you are not a troll and not racist #2 establishing the facts that you proclaim are actually true

I like your idea of the 1 pager to grab email addresses. Is there a piece of information you could turn into a white paper to sweeten the audience building effort?

It's going to be hard to test tiered pricing with a 'coming soon' - but once you have an email list put together you will be in a good position to get feedback from people who could actually buy your product. Maybe check out Ask by Levesque.

As for speed - one way to test your offer would be buy some targeted traffic from Facebook and see how many leads it results in.

The AdWeek Copywriting Handbook is widely regarded as one of the best resources on writing ad copy.

I don't have any experience in this but heard that "Ask" is a good book on the subject: http://www.amazon.com/Ask-Counterintuitive-Discover-Customers-Business/dp/1939447720/

Here at the links to the books I have recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/Art-Selling-Zig-Ziglar-2012-06-03/dp/B01F81PFOG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1488290235&sr=8-2&keywords=zig+ziglar+art+of+selling

https://www.amazon.com/Psychology-Selling-Increase-Thought-Possible/dp/0785288066/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1488290247&sr=8-5&keywords=brian+tracy

https://www.amazon.com/Predictable-Revenue-Business-Practices-Salesforce-com/dp/0984380213/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1488290267&sr=8-1&keywords=predictive+revenue

This is highly recommended for anyone in Saas sales.

especially in a BDR or management role.

https://www.amazon.com/SPIN-Selling-Neil-Rackham/dp/0070511136/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1488290305&sr=8-1&keywords=spin+selling

Read Predictable Revenue by Aaron Ross: https://www.amazon.com/Predictable-Revenue-Business-Practices-Salesforce-com/dp/0984380213
This will be your bible, all successful b2b tech sales organizations use many components of this book.

Networking is a long game. It sounds like you're doing a lot of things right.

You may want to look at Gary Vaynerchuk's books for some ideas. I'd start with Jab Jab Jab Right Hook.

You may want to do some niche development, not just in your town but in the surrounding areas as well.

Edit: spelling

There's a fantastic book on this topic named Why We Buy.

You NEED to read Predictive Revenue!

I had to build an entire sales process from start to finish for my startup. A friend introduced me to this book and it changed the way we looked at our sales team. It's fucking incredible.

http://www.amazon.com/Predictable-Revenue-Business-Practices-Salesforce-com/dp/0984380213

Brainfluence by Roger Dooley gives you some practical insights into what is a very interesting and exciting aspect of marketing.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1118113365?pc_redir=1407908411&robot_redir=1

All Marketers are Liars by Seth Godin http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1591845335?pc_redir=1408028870&robot_redir=1

Also, subscribe to Hubspot's newsletter for almost everything you need to know about digital marketing.

Learn to write copy. Print money. But be ethical. Book

It's a pretty simple yet tricky thing to do. I found Predictable Revenue (a book) to be a solid summary of how to go about this problem:

http://www.amazon.com/Predictable-Revenue-Business-Practices-Salesforce-com/dp/0984380213

I would get two books in particular. I actually just read them and I quite like them:

this first and then this one

Tom Hopkins - How to Master the art of selling was great

no affiliate link: http://www.amazon.com/How-Master-Art-Selling-Hopkins/dp/0446692743/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1319257923&sr=8-1

There's actually a good book about this phenomenon called [Why We Buy]
(http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1416595244).

Chris Fox has a book on relaunching novels that might be of help to you https://www.amazon.com/Relaunch-Your-Novel-Breathe-Backlist-ebook/dp/B071HVZD1G

1. Try local facebook groups or paid facebook ads.
   
2. Read Predictable Revenue by Aaron Ross or just read it summary (page 8 is about compensation)
   
3. I would check your competitors or similar companies how they attract sales people and where do they have the job offers.
   

Nancy Duarte's book also has an insightful breakdown of Jobs' original iPhone pitch.

/u/Arkelias (Chris Fox) actually has a book on this very subject called Relaunch Your Novel. Check it out. I decided that relaunching my old series ultimately wasn't for me since the return still wouldn't be worth the effort, but Chris goes through the process in some detail. Worth a read.

Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping--Updated and Revised for the Internet, the Global Consumer, and Beyond by Paco Underhill
http://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Buy-Shopping-Updated-Internet/dp/1416595244

First:
http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Guide-Google-AdWords-Million/dp/1599184419

Second: http://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Google-AdWords-Brad-Geddes/dp/111881956X/ref=pd_sim_14_3?ie=UTF8&dpID=51qNA-w7TXL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR127%2C160_&refRID=067Y1BH3800X4A8QJ62N

Third: Take Over The World.

Here's a book about it. The author owns a business that studies how people shop and then implements plans to get them to buy more. Why We Buy https://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Buy-Shopping-Updated-Internet/dp/1416595244/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1485965941&sr=8-1&keywords=why+we+buy

Not a course but this book by Perry Marshall helped me out a lot when I wanted to learn more: https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Guide-Google-AdWords-Million/dp/1599184419

Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook
http://www.amazon.com/Jab-Right-Hook-Story-Social-ebook/dp/B00BATNNZY

Paco Underhill, mad scientist of retail science recommends as few mirrors as possible, because mirrors disctract shoppers, and can break a shopper's concentration. That is why they are often hidden in dressing room areas and not out on the floor. I can't speak to the stores that you were in, but you are correct, in general mirrors are actually disappearing from many retail stores.

The actual 'study' is a BMO fluffpiece that starts by talking about the history of superheroes. It links to this as its source, which in turn finally links us to the source of the statistic that the first two were misusing, which comes from this book. The book does not cite its sources, and just looking at the data I can see in the 'look inside' section, it seems like the author is cherry picking stats to try and make women feel empowered. This is fine, just not very scientific.

But, what we can do is look at her claims.

In the foreword of the book (presumably written by someone else, though I can't find who), the author makes a claim that women in the US control half of all private wealth at $14 trillion. A cursory google check shows that in 2005, when the book was written, private wealth in the US was about $60 trillion. Now I'm not a mathematician by any means, but I do believe that is closer to a quarter, not half.

In the first chapter, the author claims the number is $13 trillion, jumping to $20 trillion in the next 15 years. Given that we passed $93 trillion in 2016, $20 trillion by 2020 is sure as hell not going to be 'half'.

The short version of what I'm saying, I guess, is that you need to stop believing everything you read on the internet without actually checking your sources. Especially when the claim is fairly ridiculous on its face.