Over the last 15 years, I’ve read hundreds of marketing books.

So if you’re a first-time marketing leader save yourself some time and read these ones. Your career will thank me later.

#1: Behind The Cloud - Marc Benioff. - He’s the founder of Salesforce, but he also managed to write one of the best marketing books of all time. Behind the Cloud covers a lot more than just marketing, but this book includes the ‘Marketing Playbooks’ he used to challenge the likes of Oracle back in the day. Includes the classic ‘NO MORE SOFTWARE’ campaign playbook.

#2: Ogilvy on Advertising - David Ogilvy - David Ogilvy for me is the greatest copywriter of all time - the fact he was Scottish, like me, has nothing to do with it of course The book is full of copywriting lessons you will want to learn and apply - supported by some amazing images of his most successful campaigns, many of which you will recognize.

#3: Positioning by Al Ries & Jack Trout - As the book cover says, this is a ‘Marketing Classic’. If you want to fully understand positioning as a strategy and how to best position your product or service in the mind of your customer then this is a must-read. 

#4: The Boron Letters by Gary Halbert  - I just love Halbert’s writing style. At its simplest, it’s a book of letters he wrote to his son whilst spending some time in jail. It’s conversational and fast-paced. He literally shared his playbook on how to write copy - especially direct mail pieces that converted into sales worth millions. You won’t put this one down easily.

#5: Ca$hvertising by Drew Eric Whitman - This book literally sits next to me at my desk every day. If you want to understand the emotions behind why a customer buys then this book is packed with examples. I would buy it just for the Life Force 8 information: 8 desires that humans are programmed with which must be met to survive. 

#6: Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini - This book can be a hard read, but if you give it your full attention, Robert Cialdini shares his six timeless principles of persuasion - Liking, Scarcity, Authority, Social Proof, Commitment/Consistency and Reciprocity. You get some great examples too, which you can put to use in your own business.

#7: Dotcom Secrets by Russell Brunson -  This is one of the first ‘online’ marketing books I ever read when it came out in 2015. I couldn’t put it down. It literally is the playbook for growing a digital business packed with frameworks and scripts - including how to develop your value ladder, how to create an effective webinar and how to launch a digital product.

#8: Hacking Marketing by Scott Brinker - This was the marketing book that got me hooked on Agile Marketing back in 2016. In this book, Scott goes into great detail on why Agile Marketing is critical in a digital world and why projects and waterfall are to be avoided if you’re a marketer. There is a ton of guidance on how to get started with Agile Marketing too.

#9: The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs by Carmine Gallo - Steve Jobs is the best marketer of all time. And this book shares Jobs's secrets on how to be so good in front of any audience. His ‘Rule of 3’s’ for presentations is so simple it’s genius - and with a sub-heading in the book called “Why Goldilocks Didn’t Encounter Four Bears” what’s not to like!

#10: They Call Me Supermensch by Shep Gordon - This might be my favourite book of all time. And it’s not an out and out marketing book, but under the covers it is. Shep Gordon was a PR genius and was named one of the "100 most influential people" by Rolling Stone magazine. He was responsible for the careers of music stars like Alice Cooper and is credited with the creation of the ‘Celebrity Chef’. If you want to discover some of the best PR strategies of all time, read this book.