Recommended reading: Web strategy
The Art of Deception:
Controlling the Human Element of Security
Web strategy is not all about attack. This book is quite simply the best book on defence. It's not technical - in fact, it's aimed at demonstrating how the gullibility and honesty of people can undermine the most robust technical infrastructure of an e-business. Read this and prepare for paranoia and insomnia. Don't read it and prepare to be taken for a ride.
Buy 'The Art of Deception' from Amazon UK |
Amazon.Com: Get Big Fast - Inside the Revolutionary Business Model That Changed the World
Amazon remains the benchmark for e-business - the on-line store that reshaped how all organisations sold, how all consumers purchased. This isn't the kind of 'inspiration management' with hints, tips and traps to benefit your business. It's a fascinating look at how Amazon came to be - and how it grew to become the major brand that it is today. It's an easy read and suprisingly enjoyable.
Buy 'Amazon.com: Get Big Fast' from Amazon UK |
Clicks, Bricks & Brands:
The Marriage of Online and Offline Business
On-line business or 'bricks and mortar' business? Most businesses will be a mixture of both: the 'clicks and mortar' business. This books is an excellent and intelligent look at what it takes to integrate on-line and off-line activities into a cohesive brand - one that can appeal to all types of customers. A Web site does not an e-business make. This book is probably one of the most sensible written on developing a business in 'the new economy'.
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A Good Hard Kick in the Ass: The Real Rules for Business
You've got to love a book with such an up-front title. This book is so commonsense that it's refreshing. It undoes the myth that businesses in the 'new economy' are in some way different, or subject to different rules, than other businesses. No wonder Adams feels that they need a good hard kick... This book debunks many e-business myths, including: good ideas are scarce, we know our customers, I have to ship a killer product, I have to raise a lot of capital - and so on. A great read, ideal for any business, not just an e-business.
Buy 'A Good Hard Kick in the Ass' from Amazon UK |
Heroes.Com:
The Names and Faces Behind The.Com Era
The personalities, visions and drive behind some of the most well-known on-line businesses, including lastminute.com, egg.com, excite.com, FT.com, telegraph.co.uk and virgin.com. This book contains over fifty interviews with leading dot com entrepreneurs and provides a fascinating insight into how some of the world's best-known on-line brands were developed. Learn from those who went before. Hard to get new, but bargain-priced used copies are to be found.
Buy 'Heroes.com' from Amazon UK |
Creating Customer Evangelists: Profit from Turning Loyal Customers into a Volunteer Sales Force
Even marketing professionals know that nothing sells better than word of mouth. This book is about the lofty goal of turning haphazard referrals into a working force - getting enthusiastic customers to do your selling for you. This is a great book, although it doesn't contain a new core message - we all know that if your product is great and your service is great, that customers will recommend you. But this book builds on that to provide examples of how this is turned into a marketing strategy to be reckoned with.
Buy 'Creating Customer Evangelists' from Amazon UK |
Survival Is Not Enough: Shift Happens
How do you ensure that your organisation thrives in times of change - and especially rapid change? Everything in our world, from marketing to technology, is moving at a faster pace than ever. Yet most companies still view change as a threat - and survival as the goal. This book contains a simple idea: we can evolve companies in the same way that nature evolves a species. Evolution is a fundamental force of nature, and Seth Godin demonstrates how it can be put to work in any organisation - so that change becomes a way of life, not a means of death.
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Unleashing the Ideavirus
Everyone likes the idea of a 'free ride' - and the notion that you can get carriers to spread your 'marketing word' for you, like a virus, is an attractive one. The ride's not free, but the word can be spread - Godin shows how organisations such as Napster, GeoCities and HotMail grew exponentially, through viral marketing. Godin shows how you can move people to promote and recommend your product, not by magic but by having a killer product and service that people want to pass on to others. Not Godin's best book, but a great one nonetheless. If you're looking for a free way to hype a lame product, look elsewhere. If you're looking to introduce innovation that will get everyone talking, this is the book.
Buy 'Unleashing the Ideavirus' from Amazon UK |