Here are two interesting lessons from the book industry:

1. Kindle readers buy two or three times as many books as book readers. Why? I don’t think it’s necessarily because using a Kindle leads someone to read more books. I think it’s because the kind of person who buys a lot of books is the most likely person to pony up and buy a Kindle. I know that sounds obvious, but once you see it this way, you understand why book publishers should be killing themselves to appeal to this group. After all, the group voted with their dollars to show that they’re better.
2. Walmart and other mass marketers are now offering top bestsellers for $9 or less each, about $5 less than their cost. Why? Why not offer toasters or socks as a loss leader to get people in the store? I think the answer is pretty clear: people who buy hardcover books buy other stuff too. A hardcover book is a luxury item, it’s new and it’s buzzable. This sort of person is exactly who you want in your store.

Head over to Seth’s post to read his brief, warm and incredibly sober assessment of what this means—for every industry, not only our own.

Alex Bogusky and John Winsor have written an interesting book called Baked In: Creating Products and Businesses That Market Themselves. After checking out the book, I asked co-author John Winsor a few questions about some of their ideas. Here’s what followed:

What’s the best evidence that traditional advertising is no longer necessary for a new company?

Look at Zappos. Instead of focusing on traditional advertising to engage customers with Zappos Tony Hsieh focused on building an incredible internal culture, one build on redefining customer service. By doing anything for their customers, Zappos created wonderful stories that their customers could share. Social media only poured gas on the fire by making it easier for customers to share their passion with the world. Why buy ads when your customers are so happy they tell their own stories?

How can an entrepreneur “bake in” marketing to their business to make this not only possible, but with leverage to develop a long-term strategy?

Most entrepreneurs get it because they don’t have the money to spend on advertising. instead, they have to build products that market themselves. Tesla just opened a store here in Boulder. The town is buzzing. Tesla could have focused on making a cheap electric car that looked like other hybrids. Instead, they focused on an absolute, “the most expensive electric car in the world.” Who doesn’t want to check that out? No need to advertise. People are going to talk.

“Baking in” works great for businesses in a down economy, but as the economy improves, and consumers get used to products developed in this fashion, will the practice sustain?

While the economy has made companies focus on spending their money more wisely, other forces have fueled the need to bake marketing into products. Social media has spawned new levels of transperancy, whether companies like it or not. No matter what you’re doing people, can talk about it. So, if you’re marketing and product are telling different stories people not only will notice but will also call you out on it. Just look at GM. While their ads told one story, their products were telling another. And, for that matter, their executive’s actions were telling a third story.

Your book ties the relationship between product development and marketing pretty tightly. How can large organizations, which may have some disconnect between all the departments involved, create a better “oven” so to speak?

Breakdown the silos. I mean physically knock down the walls. Often times, in big companies, marketing sits in one building and product design sits in another. You have to get people to sit in the place, share the same information, work for the same goals.

Part of the book talks about doing things wrong. When is wrong, right?

When it’s perfectly wrong. The Flip Video Camera was perfectly wrong when it came out. it was cheap, simple to operate and wasn’t focused on picture quality. Instead, it was the perfect tool to make videos for YouTube. Remember, this was when other video camera manufacturers were focused on the high end consumer market. In another example, I’m surprised with myself how little I use my digital camera these days. I was always obsessed with getting a point and shoot digital camera with a large number of pixels. I was focused on the quality of the picture. Lately, I’ve been shooting most of my pictures with my iPhone 3GS. I would never buy a camera with 3 mega-pixels. And, using a phone to take pictures is perfectly wrong. Yet, my philosophy of what constitutes a good picture has changed from the quality of the picture to it’s sharability.

For more information on how to bake in marketing into your business, check out their book. It’s a small but densely packed read with some great stories and case studies to help you understand how to apply the theories to your own work.

For those who have absolutely no foot in the social media pool, he clearly describes the steps to take, from buying a url, to WordPress, to creating a Twitter account, and then what to say and how to communicate your message. For those already involved, but looking for ways to get more out of their digital tools, the book offers some great perspectives on how to reframe your message and get more word of mouth activity around what you do.

No matter what your current level of social media activity is, this book has something for you. The author’s tone of enthusiasm alone will inspire you to do things to change your personal brand or business in radical ways.

Gary even took a moment to talk to readers of the 8cr blog and give his personal insight into the book. Check it out, and definitely check out his book.

He tells stories about companies like Dell, who are getting a better grasp on those dissatisfied with service they’ve received – and it’s better than customer service, where a center waits for a call, and then attempts to deal with it as quickly as possible. Twitter, on the other hand, opens up a conversation that takes place in public, clearing not only the problem at hand, but building credibility and trust at large.

Check out the podcast here, and pick up a box of the book here, and get your team informed about and involved in something that can truly change your business.

[podcast]http://media.800ceoread.com/view/9781591842798/audio/Twitterrville_Interview_with_Shel_Israel.mp3[/podcast]

The problem is, “using it” isn’t enough. Knowing how to use it, what it is, and how and when it can work best for a company or individual is knowledge and information that’s being developed even as I type this blog post. However, a few books have come out recently (or will be out very soon) that shed some interesting light on the subject.

Chris Brogan and Julien Smith’s Trust Agents, as well as Mitch Joel’s Six Pixels of Separation, are great overviews of what social media is and how to get involved in it. From there, both books lay out some great stories and case studies of the power of this technology, and how real live companies are tapping into it. The message is clear: You can too (and you probably should, if you want to survive).

Two other books take a more focused look at one particular social media platform: Twitter. Shel Israel’s Twitterville is a great book about the history and formation of Twitter, and how it has taken the social world (and the business world) by storm. David Pogue’s The World According to Twitter exemplifies the sentiment by simply compiling a tome of tweets (twitter posts) in one book. Categorized and insightful, it’s clear to see that people are taking part, and spreading some interesting ideas – around the world, in an instant.

One interesting element to all these books is the focus on using social media as a listening device. On the surface, much of it seems about telling – spreading your message – from the mundane to the profound. In fact, particularly for business, using these platforms to discover what your customers are saying about you, and about what solutions they want and need solved, is likely the most important element social media can offer businesses today.

For those who have tried working for themselves as designers, writers, consultants, and other independents, it can be difficult to manage both the work itself, and the work to make the work happen. It really is a lot to take on.

For artists, many of them have spent years (and money) on learning their trade, only to be released into the world armed with incredible talent, but not a lot of business sense to put that talent to work.

However, there are success stories and case studies for both scenarios that can give everyone insight into how to get a grip on their own situation. A great source for those are the new digital bundles of Unconventional Guides we’re offering from Chris Guillebeau. Click here to read more about them. Chris has been self-employed since he started working, so he’s figured many things out throughout his career, and this is a great chance to learn from his experience. Working for yourself can be incredibly challenging, yet highly rewarding – financially and otherwise, if you approach it with the insight you’ll gain from this information.

Here Comes Everybody by Clay Shirky – This is the big idea book; it’s the one that examines social media from a sociological viewpoint with outstanding examples the reduced friction the Internet provides. Here is what we said in our Jack Covert Selects – “Technology allows more loosely formed groups to accomplish more complicated tasks to greater effect, whether sharing tips for hacking new features on iPhones or staging boycotts after complaints go unaddressed. The rules are changing and, as Shirky says, ‘What the group does with that power is a separate question.’”

Groundswell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff – There is no question that this is the book to read if you are in a corporate environment. The book was written by two analysts from Forester Research that provides a framework that executives recognize and language that fits the Fortune 500. Download an excerpt of the book to get a feel for the book. There is also a new condensed version of the book called Marketing in the Groundswell which contains a new introduction and three chapters from the original book.

Meatball Sundae by Seth Godin – Seth’s premise is pretty simple: most of the products and services are not designed to be used with the new tools and techniques that are available to marketers. The call for corporate blogs and the creation of viral videos leads to meatball sundaes. Seth wrote a great ChangeThis manifesto based on this idea called Marketing Mismatch: When New Won’t Work With Old (Riffs on Meatball Sundae). I also did a podcast with Seth when the book came out.

Trust Agents by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith – I am recommending this a bit on faith because the book comes out later this month. Chris is certainly one of the leading voices on social media and if you need proof go read this.

Say Everything by Scott Rosenberg – I recommended this specifically for my blogging session. Rosenberg is a journalist and writes about the evolution of blogging. He talks about the players who have shaped the medium (Heather Armstrong, Robert Scoble, Evan Williams, and Dave Winer to name just a few). It is a good book to catch up on what has been happening over the last decade. There are also excerpts from the book available on the book’s website.

The Twitter Book by Tim O’Reilly and Sarah Milstein is a simple book that teaches what you need to know about Twitter and also takes the next step providing tips for using the service to its full extent.

Here’s what blogcritic.org thought of The New Rules of Marketing & PR: How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing & Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly by David Meerman Scott (Oct. 2008)

This book is definitely a must-read for those involved in the promotion and marketing of products and services. Scott does a wonderful job of covering the soup to nuts process of understanding your story, telling your story and then getting others to tell your story for you. His point is clear and hammered home, the old way of pushing your story via a general broadcast is not only expensive, but ineffective. In today’s world, where pitching a good story to the right people — focusing on the targeted few instead of the masses — is more likely to get many others talking about your story.
Focus on your buyers, not your product. How do customers relate to your product? What problem do you solve? What does Starbucks really sell?
Write in plain language, in the language of your customers. Invite them to engage in a dialogue instead of broadcasting your monologue.
I always preach similar techniques in my marketing practice. It’s not about the features of your product/service. In fact, it’s not about the product or service at all — it’s the relationship that customers have with your wares. What emotional connection — what need — does it satisfy?

If you are a fan of novels/movies then think about Cyrano de Bergerac and Roxanne. Basically, they have the same template: ugly, romantic guy vies against handsome, dumb guy for heart of beautiful girl. In the former, the hero duels with swords and in the latter he duels with tennis racquets. The point is that the template defines the emotional connection — the duel for love — and the nouns, namely the sword or the racquet are irrelevant because they are interchangeable. If we apply the principles from Meerman’s book, we’d see that it is paramount to focus on the template, not the instrument, i.e., the buyer and not the product.

The New Rules also talks about dialogue instead of monologue, engagement instead of broadcast. The Internet has made the world smaller. If I wanted to, right now, I could find someone online in another country and engage them in conversation. Even better, if I knew that they might have some interest in my product or service, by engaging them in conversation I’ve revealed that I’m a real person — I exist in the world — and that comfort can easily be translated to a stronger pitch for my wares to a potential customer or a journalist.

While reading The New Rules of Marketing and PR, think about the verbs that your customers use and the emotions that you can tap into to strengthen that connection… then get out there and do it.

• Rubies in the Orchard by Lynda Resnick with Francis Wilkinson
• Reality Check: The Irreverent Guide to Outsmarting, Outmanaging and Outmarketing Your Competition by Guy Kawasaki
• Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell
• Leadership in the Era of Economic Uncertainty: Managing in a Downturn by Ram Charan
• The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt by T.J. Stiles
• How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer
• The Breakthrough Company: How Everyday Companies Become Extraordinary Performers by Keith McFarland
• In-N-Out Burger: A Behind-the-Counter Look at the Fast-Food Chain That Breaks All the Rules by Stacy Perman

BW also recommends a variety of podcasts including The Small Business Podcast, Get-It-Done Guy, Manager Tools, Help! My Business Sucks!, and SBA Podcasting.

His other books include:

• Purple Cow – blog post / book link
• Six Thinking Hats – blog post / book link
• Leading Change – blog post / book link
• Why We Buy – blog post (with additional here , here, and here) / book link
• Little Red Book of Selling – blog post / book link

He ends his last post by saying:

That’s my quick look at “The 100 Best Business Books of All Time.” Check it out of your local library, or pick up a copy for your own library. There’s a wealth of wisdom inside from the business world that you can make applications in your world today.

Thanks Bob!