It is well-known that successful business owners read marketing and sales books. In fact, over eighty per cent of the rich in the world read a large number of books.
In B2B marketing, it is important to read a lot to keep up with the market and learn about driving demand, product or service, marketing and sales, customers, and most importantly other people’s success stories.
Below, you will find a list of the best business-to-business marketing books for business owners to get you better prepared for the market.
Why B2b marketing books?
The market is constantly changing, no matter what you do. In the 21st century, everything is evolving and growing fast. As a business owner, you need to keep up with these changes to succeed among your competitors.
The demand generation does exactly that: it demands, and your job is to deliver.
Of course, not everything can be learned from just “doing”, and by the time you’ve learned an important lesson about, say, social media, it has become stale.
This is why it is important to read B2B marketing books. Imitation is the highest form of flattery, so learning from the best B2B marketers is not something to run away from or be ashamed to do.
On the contrary, you should try to grasp and learn as much as you can from the success of companies with high yearly revenue, or a powerful leaders.
There are case studies that show that learning about other people’s strategies, sales, growth and overall process of building and maintaining a company can greatly influence your own success.
So, here are some of the best-selling b2b marketing books out there right now – including social media.
Famous B2B marketing books
There are hundreds, if not thousands of published B2B marketing books from various successful companies, explaining their growth, giving advice, talking about modern management, the focus on customers, and how to create and sell.
These types of books are written and created to help other business owners find the key to success.
In a hurry? Here's the list:
The Lean Startup
The Lean Startup by Eric Ries is a B2B marketing book aimed at those who do lean startups. This approach focuses on getting a new product or service launched faster than traditional long-term planning and preparation allows for.
In this New York Times bestseller, Eric describes his lean startup strategy for startup companies and provides insight into the industry and techniques on how to use the concept of lean startups.
The Hard Thing About Hard Things
In his B2B marketing book The Hard Thing About Hard Things, Ben Horowitz essentially gives us his playbook for creating and running a modern startup business.
The story of great leaders, his life, and most importantly, tips and techniques on the process of building a successful business is what makes this book a classic for career building.
Zero to One
Blake Masters and Peter Thiel talk about the art of business in their B2B marketing book Zero to One. This is another New York Times bestseller with fresh ideas on how to create value in the market.
Blake and Peter explain how to win in this digital age, and it is a trustworthy source with its authors being the founders of PayPal – one of the companies with the most success in the business world.
The Founder’s Dilemmas
Another staple among B2B marketing books is The Founder’s Dilemmas by Noam Wasserman, one of the lead B2B marketers.
Knowing your customer, the marketer, and the human element is what makes the author so good and quick to inspire. Noam will reveal the most common pitfalls you can expect when starting a company, and how you can avoid them
Deep Work
Cal Newport, the author of Deep Work puts a new spin on something old: our ability to pay attention without distraction. This skill is key in order to help you as a business owner to learn more, faster and get better results.
This book is divided into two parts, where the first is centred around a deep work ethic and the second presents what he calls a training regimen with four “rules” that will transform your mind and change your habits to focus better.
The Power of Habit
They say that the power of habit is one of the strongest assets and brings great value to any business.
This New York Times bestseller by Charles Duhigg is a classic when it comes to exploring and changing your habits.
One of the finest B2B marketing books will provide you a framework and teach you about relationships between life and work, the prospects and tips for succeeding in this generation and building a career in B2B
Atomic Habits
Another great B2B marketing book is Atomic Habits by James Clear. With over 4 million copies sold, this New York Times bestseller helps you improve every single day as a marketer.
You will receive practical strategies to create good habits, get out of bad habits and create behaviour that will ensure that you achieve great results.
James is exceptional at breaking down complex problems to simpler topics that you can apply in your day-to-day life. This is a guide that will entertain you with real stories of the best in the business from Olympic stars and award-winning performers who have mastered their habits to perform at their best.
Questions That Sell
Essentially, Questions that Sell is a playbook about understanding what your customer wants and needs.
Paul Cherry’s second edition of this book has been translated into five languages and should be sitting on the shelf behind every company leader.
Content: The Atomic Particle of Marketing
A team of authors worked together on this B2B book to bring about a clear model that explains the concept and prospects behind creating content that sells.
Social media and selling should be learned hands-on, but reading about success stories in books can assist along the way. This is why this book is recommended for both marketers and customers.
Driving Demand
Meeting the needs of customers, being a healthy competitor to other companies, and most of all, being successful in both strategy and business are topics covered in this B2B marketing book by Carlos Hidalgo.
42 Rules to Growing Enterprise Revenue
As the title suggests, this is a playbook for being successful and creating, selling, and generating growth in business.
Growing is a process, and this book should help you become more relevant to your customers and create a product or service that has value in their eyes.
Creating the Strategy
Inspire yourself to build a model and learn tips to create the ideal B2B strategy. This book is aimed at business owners, marketers, and alike to help you write a solid business strategy.
Michael Bernard uses real stories to guide you through the process of writing a strategy for your company.
Advice from the Top
Quite clear from the name, this B2B marketing book will help you learn how to cater to your customers as well as how to adjust to the market and demand.
This quick read contains words of wisdom and leadership advice from many world leaders.
The Challenger Customer
From the bestselling author Matthew Dixon, this famous book contains a new approach to sales. Rather than the customer or seller being the limiting factor, Matthew claims that the real problem lies within the organisation and getting decision-makers aligned.
The Challenger Customer will provide tools that are proven to work as well as a blue-print to help you and your company to challenge your own organisation.
The Jolt Effect
Another book by the famous B2B author Matthew Dixon, The Jolt Effect teaches you to make good decisions for your business, sales, and management.
As a sales expert, Matthew will teach you how to overcome the fearful “I need to think about it” from a customer to get you that sale.
Unleash Possible: A Marketing Playbook that Drives Sales
This is a very hands-on book that has actual tips, tricks, and tasks for you to try and raise sales.
Samantha Stone will guide you in transforming your marketing process to do more selling on a complex market.
The Challenger Sale
This witty and smart book goes deeper into how business and sales work. What are you actually selling? A product, or an easier way of life?
Learn how to tailor your products or services to your customers, their needs and wishes to become a high-performing seller.
Never Split the Difference
Who would have thought that the FBI and B2B had something in common? Well, this book proves they do.
The author, Chris Voss, is an ex-FBI negotiator who applies his negotiating techniques to B2B, sales, business growth and development.
It is definitely worth reading this book if you are getting ready to go to market and want to be ready for negotiating in various aspects of society.
Growth Hacker Marketing
This short book by Ryan Holiday provides a deep insight into the world of PR, marketing and advertising.
The author started as a college dropout but became one of the main people behind an infamous brand.
Sometimes, it is not about how many tests you take, but reading about others will definitely spark ideas and influence you in how you can grow in the industry.
Start with Why
Why is a crucial question in every aspect of living. Whether it is a specific industry, certain techniques, sales, relationships, building from scratch, or simply how something is done, why don’t you ask why?
Why is something done the way it is? Why do we see things in a particular way? Why don’t we change the idea, the art, the process?
Simon Sink started an international movement of asking why, and has inspired a famous TED talk with over 55 million views. Starting with why and understanding the why behind things will help you in succeeding in your business and on the market.
The point of reading B2B marketing books
Why should you read B2B marketing books?
In summary, reading B2B marketing books helps build a framework for the successful development of your company. While it is human to make mistakes, reading about other people’s success stories, advice and common pitfalls will help you along the way.
Become a great marketer and reach your full potential in sales, whether it is in digital business or any other. The idea behind these B2B books is to help you work smart.
If you are reading B2B books to learn how to improve yourself and your business, working with pros like Snowball Creations to build new sales funnels from paid ads can help you grow and get an upper hand on the market in your industry.