Here are 7 of our top picks for must-read content marketing books. These literary gems are highly rated, easy to understand, and guaranteed to help you improve your content marketing game!
There’s no better feeling than finishing a good book — except, finishing a great book.
As content marketers, our time and attention are limited. And as professionals who make a living focusing on ROI, we want to make sure that the time we invest in reading a book is going to be worth our while.
Currently, there are thousands of books available to content marketers on how to improve their trade. But not all of them pack the same punch when it comes to actionable advice.
So which books are actually worth their salt? Here are our 7 favorites every content marketer should read...
Conversation Marketing
Our first pick is written by Kevin Lund, an award-winning content marketing pioneer who has helped shape content strategy for several leading companies, including Ameritrade, HSBC, Forbes, Charles Schwab, and Nasdaq.
What’s it about?
Conversational Marketing shows readers how to stand out in the vast, crowded landscape of online marketing — by teaching them the art of being conversational with your customers.
In a world of consumers being shouted at from every angle, Conversational Marketing shows marketers how to earn their customers' attention, by coming alongside them and connecting with their hearts and minds.
Why we love it:
Content marketing is all about starting conversations, but many brands are still getting it wrong. Instead of trying to strike up a conversation, they won’t let go of the megaphone!
Conversational Marketing helps strip down a lot of the current practices in content marketing to get us back to the basics. It asks, “How do we truly connect with our customers in a way that builds trust and loyalty?”
Give it a read to find out!
Content Machine: Use Content Marketing to Build a 7-figure Business With Zero Advertising
Content Machine was sprung from the mind of Dan Norris, an entrepreneur, content marketer and the best-selling author of 7 Day Startup.
What’s it about?
Honestly, we kind of feel like the title says it all here!
Content Machine teaches entrepreneurs and content marketers how to scale their business, without investing in a ton of ad spend.
Dan grew his WordPress support business from scratch to over $1m AUD annual run rate in 2 years, spending only $181 on advertising — so he definitely knows what he’s talking about.
Why we love it:
When someone is willing to share the exact path they took to success, we are here for it!
We also love that this book provides downloads and frameworks to make the lessons you are learning easily actionable.
If you’re looking for a book that focuses on quick growth through content (aren’t we all?), then this one is for you.
Content That Converts: How To Build A Profitable and Predictable B2B Content Marketing Strategy
Want to learn about writing stellar content from someone who has worked with JK Rowling, Nelson Mandela and Tina Fey? Us too. Content That Converts is the brainchild of former publicist and author Laura Hanley.
What’s it about?
B2B marketers — rejoice!
We know that B2B content marketing presents certain unique challenges. But this book focuses on overcoming them by providing a solid, step-by-step system that can be executed by any B2B business to generate qualified leads and higher conversion rates.
Why we love it:
Having some success with your content strategy is great, but what you really need to make an impact is a predictable, steady stream of qualified leads — and a replicable system to keep them coming.
This book delivers on just that. We also love that it’s specifically B2B focused, which keeps all of it very relevant to the B2B marketer.
The One-Page Content Marketing Blueprint
The full title of this book is actually: The One-Page Content Marketing Blueprint: Step by Step Guide to Launch a Winning Content Marketing Strategy in 90 Days or Less and Double Your Inbound Traffic, Leads, and Sales.
But while the title is long, the book is very much to the point.
This little golden nugget was written by Prafull Sharma, an entrepreneur, marketer, and founder of LeadsPanda.
What's it about?
There’s no smoke and mirrors here. This book literally offers a simple and immensely valuable one-page blueprint to show you how to achieve long-term success with content marketing.
It focuses heavily on why you need to put your energy toward the 20% of actions that bring you 80% of the results.
Why we love it:
This book is all our favorite things — short, visual, actionable, and inbound-focused.
Is there anything better than being handed a literal map to content marketing success? We don’t think so.
The Content Marketing Handbook: How to Double the Results of Your Marketing
Already have a pretty successful and dependable content marketing strategy in place? Well, why not double your results?
This awesome book, written by content marketing legend Robert Bly (author of The Copywriter’s Handbook and Freelance Writing Success), will show you the way.
What’s it about?
The Content Marketing Handbook helps marketers and business owners understand the role of content within integrated multi-channel marketing campaigns like email and social media.
By understanding how to best leverage content within these campaigns, readers can learn how to double their marketing response rates.
Why we love it:
Content marketing doesn’t exist in a world of its own.
The best content marketers understand that for their content to make an impact, it needs to be strategically used to garner leads and increase conversions.
We love that this book integrates digital marketing into the equation, while still keeping the core focus on improving and leveraging content.
The Content Code: Six essential strategies to ignite your content, your marketing, and your business
It’s a very real fact in today’s content marketing world that you can’t be successful without first understanding the ins and outs of SEO.
In The Content Code, author Mark W. Schaefer gives us what Book Authority has called the ‘World's best SEO book’.
What’s it about?
This book dives deep into a lot of important topics, including the role that social media plays in our content’s performance and shareability, the connection between brand and content, and how to best position your content for SEO (beyond the obvious factors).
Why we love it:
In this book, Schaefer doesn’t hold back in describing the current level of saturation in content marketing.
However, instead of showing readers how to join the race, Schaefer gives real, against-the-grain advice for breaking through the noise and truly standing out.
Content - The Atomic Particle of Marketing
We’d recommend this book not only to content marketers, but also to every individual who has some role in management, communication or sales!
Author Rebecca Leib, a strategic advisor for many of the world’s top brands, doesn’t hold back in describing how content is interwoven into every part of a business.
What’s it about?
Content - The Atomic Particle of Marketing explores the larger role that content plays in an organization, outside of the marketing department.
It dives into how and why content should be considered in all organizational decisions!
Why we love it:
Content marketers spend a lot of time trying to prove the immense worth of content to other players in their organizations — and this book gives plenty of ammo to do just that!
If you’re struggling to make content the centerpiece of tools and process decisions within your organization, this book can be your guide.
Looking for experienced content experts who can assist with putting all of this new content marketing knowledge into action? Our team at Scribly can help!
