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Title: Your Marketing Sucks. by Mark Stevens ISBN: 0-609-60983-1 Publisher: Crown Business Pub. Date: 08 July, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 2.52 (50 reviews)
Rating: 1
Summary: Total and absolute waste of time
Comment: I wish it was worth my time to claim my money back. I don't think this book contains anything of value whatsoever. It annoys me endlessly that 1) the author managed to get this fluff published, 2) he is probably making a bundle while giving nothing back, and 3) it is possible to sell a book based only on a great title.
Rating: 2
Summary: Simple
Comment: I bought this book during my summer holiday, and as a student with some marketing experience I found it quite funny at first, as there were some nice 'examples' of how not to do it. But after a while the author was just repeating himself.
You could summarize this entire book in one breath: "Do not engage in any marketing activities that do not have a positive NPV." Something that someone with the slightest bit of common sense could conclude.
The cover however was brilliant as it did exactly what it was supposed to do, draw my attention.
Rating: 3
Summary: Playing it safe...3 stars...
Comment: Wow. I have never seen such bitterness about an Amazon product. There are some truly horrible products out there, I admit, but it looks like anyone who gives a positive review will get shot down 0 to 5 in the voting. It makes one think...
As for my review, I'll play it safe with 3 stars. I rated Mosquito Coast 3 stars too. What does it mean? It means I wouldn't go out of my way for it & I didn't get a ton from it, but there was something about it to justify it's existence.
For those of you who haven't read and who haven't been prejudiced to a negative review, the author's basic concept is that marketing should fall under the business domain and not the "artsy, creative domain" that it usually does. He makes a good point that your marketing should not be out there to win awards, and that more expensive (a la Super Bowl spots) doesn't mean better. Instead, everything you do to promote a product or service - and it can be at a grass roots level - should reinforce each other. I.e., your ads should tie to your website should tie to your publicity, etc. And all this should increase sales. If you don't increase your sales, your marketing sucks.
Now, it is true that the book is not an academic or even an intellectual book. Do not come here to learn about marketing. It's not even marketing 101. It's basically written to people in marketing who are doing it wrong. And, even if you think that this book is really simple, the reality that I've found is that most people in marketing really ARE doing it wrong. So, if you are in marketing - especially if you haven't had much business exposure - then this may be a helpful read.
Now, I will say that this book is INCREDIBLY poorly written. I think he spent 3 chapters winding you up to tell you what was inside. While inside, he meandered through countless examples where he identified poor marketing. And then he propels you to a final chapter that is fairly shallow & unhelpful. His advice that you should go on a retreat to absorb everything before you return to the office is a cute touch to make you think that there was alot to absorb.
I will say this though. At the end of the book, you wonder how much of a marketing tool this book is for Stevens' company. And you wonder what marketing tools he used to get so much hype for a book that isn't really worth it. And you think perhaps he really does know what he's talking about even though he can't write very well. It's kinda like looking at your reflection via 2 mirrors and seeing you look at your reflection via 2 mirrors who is looking at your reflection via...you get the picture.
My final word is that, in the long run, Stevens will be the big loser long-term whether the books sells well or not(unless he's exceedingly brilliant, which I am doubting at the moment). He's a one-trick pony. He may actually be a whiz at marketing consulting. But with his shameless use of a crude title & slogan to catch people's attention, he has also lowered himself on classiness pole enough that he probably will never be taken as a serious player in the business world. He will never rule the roost. He'll just help the rulers get more money...until some other irreverent upstart can do it better than he.
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Title: Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable by Seth Godin ISBN: 159184021X Publisher: Portfolio Pub. Date: 08 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: The Secrets of Word-of-Mouth Marketing: How to Trigger Exponential Sales Through Runaway Word of Mouth by George Silverman ISBN: 0814470726 Publisher: AMACOM Pub. Date: April, 2001 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: Bang! Getting Your Message Heard in A Noisy World by Linda Kaplan Thaler, Robin Koval, Delia Marshall ISBN: 0385508166 Publisher: Currency Pub. Date: 21 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: How Customers Think: Essential Insights into the Mind of the Market by Gerald Zaltman ISBN: 1578518261 Publisher: Harvard Business School Press Pub. Date: 21 February, 2003 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: Unleashing the Ideavirus by Seth Godin, Malcolm Gladwell ISBN: 0786887176 Publisher: Hyperion Pub. Date: 10 October, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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