“The competent advertising man must understand psychology. The more he knows about it the better. ” – Claude Hopkins
Who am I to argue? Claude Hopkins was one of the world’s best direct marketers.
The problem is, this quote was written decades ago, way before the internet. To update it, all you have to do is replace “advertising man” with “online marketer.”
Why is psychology so important? Well, it helps you discover why people do the things they do. This is priceless for online marketers because each explanation creates an opportunity for you to improve your marketing.
So, let’s get down to business. Here are the three social psychology books that will help you with your online marketing:
1. The Art of Choosing
This wonderful book by Sheena Iyengar
2. Switch
How do you get people to change when change is hard? An interesting question, right? Well, the Heath brothers set out to answer it in their new book
3. Drive
This is an intriguing book
Have you ready any social psychology books that will help with online marketing? Please take a moment and talk about them in the comments!
Nice list here Derek. I enjoyed the Heath brothers Made to Stick along with Dan Pink’s To Sell Is Human so I will check out these other books.
Thanks!
The Heath Brothers right great books. Switch is really good. I’ll check out Dan Pink’s book.
Have you read Unconscious Branding by Douglas Van Praet yet? It’s a phenomenal book about the psychology of advertising and how marketers can (legally, morally) harness our unconscious behavior to generate sales. I highly recommend it!
Added all of these to my to do list pile along with your previously suggested “Influence” by Robert Cialdini
Thank again for being such a valuable resource on the web
Some of the best books I’ve read lately, including Drive, are:
Brain Rules – John Medina
Brainfluence – Roger Dooley
Imagine – Jonah Lehrer
and Buy-ology – Martin Lindstrom
All of these have been incredibly fascinating reads and they dovetail beautifully with what Derek talks about every day.
Thanks again for all the incites Derek, keep up the great work!
I am new to exploring what makes people work so thanks for the tips on the books
The one book that you forgot about is “The Art of Seduction” by Robert Greene. It covers the art of making people fall in love with you, may it be for lovers or followers. It covers more psychology than any other book I’ve read.
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The one I’m recommending to all business owners now is less about the psychology of the customer and more about the psychology of the businessperson — it’s Carol Dweck’s Mindset. I’m convinced that the central issue she talks about & studies is a big part of that #1 problem for entrepreneurs — that we don’t implement, or we don’t implement consistently.
A friend of mine just gave a copy of Mindset this weekend. He said it was a great book for anyone, entrepreneur or not. As soon as I finish my current read I’m going jump right in.
My favorite psychology book is Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini. Every marketer should sleep with it under his or her pillow.
Another great book, though not geared specifically to marketers, is Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely.
I’m totally with you there… on both counts. I own both of those books, but this post’s main focus was “new books.”
However, now that I think about it, I probably should create a top 10 list for the best social psychology books ever. What do you think?
Do a Top 10! Influence by Cialdini is about as mandatory a read as any book can be. Its pure gold.
I’m totally up for a top 10 list. Definitely a must.
[…] motivations, and making them do what you want. Succeeding at self improvement uses the same human psychology tactics, except turned inward: getting yourself to do what you want. I’m having a little […]
I just picked up “Priceless: The Myth of Fair Value (and How to Take Advantage of It)”
It covers the beginning of Psycho Physics and how price studies evolved from there. It includes a bunch of very interesting studies, experiments and suggestions.
I’m totally fascinated by it ( and I’m only 1/4 if the way through )
More: http://www.boingboing.net/2010/03/23/priceless-how-our-un.html
Great call on that book. I’ll have to check it out for sure.
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