7 Books Every Marketer Should Read in 2017

Looking for some fresh perspectives to kick-off 2017? Check out these seven recommendations to help shape your digital marketing strategy.

1. Play Bigger: How Pirates, Dreamers, and Innovators Create and Dominate Markets

The authors of this book preach that the product marketing and development game has changed. To build an impactful company in today's market necessitates you must define a new market category, and then dominate it from the start. In Play Bigger, the thesis is that having the best product is no longer enough.

2. Platform Revolution: How Networked Markets are Transforming the Economy - And How to Make Them Work for You

Companies that disrupt the established market paradigm - Airbnb, Uber, and Amazon, for example - are the ones with staying power. This book digs into the platforms on which the businesses were built, and how they've altered the way success is measured.

3. Hug Your Haters: How to Embrace Complaints and Keep Your Customers

Jay Baer's latest latches on to the belief that today's businesses can't afford to ignore public displays of disappointment by customers. The book discusses how relationships have changed and tactics you can use to improve outcomes.

4. Contagious: Why Things Catch On

Why do certain products and ideas become successful? Author Jonah Berger discusses how advertising's stature has diminished as more people place value on word of mouth and the recommendations of their peers.

5. Digital Influencer: A Guide to Achieving Influencer Status Online

Successful marketers generate change. You can improve your level of influence online by implementing the strategies in this book. Through the methods described, you can boost your level of authority in a field, strengthen your online persona, and develop quality content.

6. Content, Inc.: How Entrepreneurs Use Content to Build Massive Audiences and Create Radically Successful Businesses

Author Joe Pulizzi flips the traditional model. In this book, he argues that you must first develop great content and build audience before creating a product. Through a six-step process, you'll learn how reversing the steps is key to market longevity, and can carry over into future endeavors.

7. X: The Experience When Business Meets Design

In his most recent release, author Brian Solis posits that great marketing, excellent products, and outstanding customer service are not enough for today's customers. What is more important is creating and delivering meaningful experiences through innovative design and a revised approach to thinking.