Are Books Still Viable in Today’s Marketplace?
Nearly 25% of American adults have not read a book in whole or part in the last 12 months. This includes print, audio and electronic form.
I’ve always been a book reader (and a book-tape reader), so I was surprised by the numbers. The survey also found that lower income, lower education and rural people were more likely not to read a book in the last 12 months. Pew found these people are the least likely to own a smartphone and so not likely to read e-books as wells.
With so much being disrupted in business and marketing, it’s hard for the book industry to stay current. Here are a few books I’ve found helpful no matter the disturbances in the marketing place.
- Selling the Invisible: A Field Guide to Modern Marketing–Harry Beckwith
- Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion–Robert Cialdini
- Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive–Robert Cialdini
- Brainfluence: 100 Ways to Persuade and Convince Consumers with Neuromarketing–Roger Dooley
- Start with Why–Simon Sinek
- Building a Story Brand–Donald Miller
In this time of disruption and change, these books offer great direction and insight.
Mark Mathis
Mark wrote his first direct-mail fundraising letter in 1981 for the University of Iowa Center for Advancement. The effort raised a few million dollars in undiscovered wills and legacy gifts. From that day forward Mark discovered a love of the big idea that moves the needle.
After 12 years at KWWL, Mark became a business owner as a co-founder of ME&V — rebranded as AMPERAGE in 2015. After 25 years of leading creative teams in video production, graphic design, PR, writing and web development, Mark transitioned out of ownership in 2021. Today he serves in an employee role as special projects consultant.
He is creatively ambidextrous — son of an artist and engineer — and famous for distilling complex ideas down to a few words and a few visuals. Mark is a writer. When he found that many nonprofits struggled with complex branding puzzles, he wrote the book, “NonProfit-NonMarketing .” He also wrote a novel called “Reenactment.”
Mark is an active blogger OneMinuteMarketer® with nearly 1,000 readers each week on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. One of his most popular YouTube videos is on “How to Look Good on Zoom.”
One of Mark’s fondest business memories was being named to INC 500 two times and attending the INC 500 conference with other winners. Mark is considered by some a Civil War expert (and that explains his novel). Mark also served as an adjunct professor in the business and in the communications departments at Wartburg College.
Mark is a graduate of the University of Iowa and is currently vice president of the University of Iowa Journalism and Mass Communications Advisory Board.
Mark is married to state Sen. Liz Mathis, and the two love to travel, even when it means being trapped by a volcano in the Czech Republic for three weeks.