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Book Review of The End of Marketing as We Know It

The End of Marketing as We Know It
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A PaperBackSwap Partner says:

When a colleague handed me a copy of The End of Marketing As We Know It by Sergio Zyman, former chief marketing officer of The Coca-Cola Company, I had two reactions.

One was enthusiasm. I'd learn some things from a real pro and become better at what I do. The second was a wary feeling. Because Zyman is a pro, I was afraid the book would be full of "expert jargon" - over my head, dry, and reading like a textbook.

After reading the book, I'm wholly enthusiastic about it. The End of Marketing As We Know It is a good read - Zyman teaches with plenty of good examples, encourages one to think about one's own experiences and methods, and has an entertaining, conversational tone that keeps the book from becoming dry or "heavy." It's the first book in a very long time that I've wanted to re-read right after finishing it. As someone who writes features for a business magazine and also does PR and advertising, I found Zyman's words relevant and invaluable.

Everyone in business should read this book - and not just the folks in the marketing/advertising department, and not just the big companies. Its content is pertinent to overall business strategy, because it focuses on marketing as a business, or a science - producing measurable results in the form of increased sales rather than merely running some ads that may be appealing and even award-winning but aren't doing anything for the company's bottom line.

Readers will learn why it's important to form a marketing strategy and make regular measurements to test its success. They'll learn ways to position a product - their own and their competitor's - in the minds of consumers. And that continually presenting a brand in fresh and different ways - and in different markets - is essential to keeping sales up. And much more. Whether or not you agree with all of Zyman's methods, this book will definitely make you think and may even rescue you from stale, dead-in-the-water viewpoints about marketing.