4 out of 4 stars
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Marketing is one of the most overlooked and underappreciated aspects of business. People often believe that a great product sells itself, or that their time is better spent on creating new products than trying to advertise. These are issues I faced myself as an independent video game developer, and the importance of good marketing was a lesson I learned the hard way. It was with that bit of experience and a desire to learn from a pro that led me to Philip Masiello's book Think – Engage - Thrive: Marketing Actions To Skyrocket Your Brand In The Digital Age. Philip has founded five unique brands since he was 25, and his approach to marketing seemed so much more simple and welcoming than most dry textbook-like books on the subject.
Think - Engage - Thrive (as I'll refer to the book here) is perhaps the simplest plan for marketing I've ever heard. Philip describes it as "THINK paves the road, ENGAGE drives the car, THRIVE is your destination." He's also quick to point out that these aren't three separate steps one takes to magically make money; they all go hand-in-hand throughout the process of successful marketing. The majority of the book then expands on how these three things can work together to improve any marketing strategy, whether you're an entrepreneur with full control over the business or a marketing specialist working in a much larger company.
While Philip uses examples from his own successes in marketing, being a great marketer doesn't always equate to being a good writer. I was pleasantly surprised by Think - Engage - Thrive, the tone Philip uses and the near-perfect editing (I noticed one single error) is more akin to a great writer who markets than a great marketer who writes. His examples for real-life marketing go far beyond his own work, however, with interesting information and examples ranging from the ludicrous practices of supermarkets that make a profit merely putting products on their shelves to how genius Apple Stores are after purchasing an iPad for his mother and the brilliance that Amazon hit on with their Dash buttons. The book utilized the stealth-learning approach; I felt like I was reading a fun, entertaining book while secretly learning a lot about marketing as a whole and specific tools and tactics to use.
The book's primary focus is on online marketing as the title implies, and Philip provides links to over 100 online tools at the end of the book to help with any marketing need. Some of these are more obvious ones (Google Analytics, Zendesk, Mail Chimp and YouTube for example), but there are also a great deal that I've never heard of. There's also an entire chapter after Philip gives his definition of marketing and explains the Think - Engage - Thrive method where he gives a case study of a product he worked with, NuPeptin. Here he goes through some of the most important tools he uses to find keywords, reach out to customers and judge whether the product is even worth marketing (and how much of a budget it should get). He does a terrific job going through the various tools, explaining all the various tricks to pull already-learned tips and keywords from competition and come up with original tactics. These are things that I had some basic knowledge of before reading the book, but I had no idea just how useful and comprehensive they could be!
Despite the book weighing in at less than 90 pages, and the fact that it's easy to understand for beginners, it's far from fluff. I very highly recommend it to those who are interested in marketing, especially those who are entrepreneurs or want to become one. The language is incredibly easy to follow and I breezed through the book in a couple hours, yet feel like I can go back when I need to market something and get even more out of it later on. My official rating of Think – Engage - Thrive: Marketing Actions To Skyrocket Your Brand In The Digital Age by Philip Masiello is 4 out of 4 stars.
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Think-Engage-Thrive:Marketing Actions To Skyrocket Your Brand In The Digital Age
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The thing I like about today's BOTD is the length. It's short and to the point. The pages are not filled with unnecessary information, like some books, which cause the reader to grow bored with the process before implementing the practices presented. I also like that the examples range from well-known, successful companies and sites to ones that are less-used, or not as familiar, giving learners a variety of options to try out before finding one that best fits their needs. In today's digital age, this sounds like a must-read for those looking to up their game, catch-up to their competition, and build an unforgettable name/brand for themselves. Thank you so much!
