At the time of this writing, John Bradley Jackson is the director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at California State University in Fullerton (CSUF). I have had the pleasure of working with him and his students at the center; a wonderful experience.
Jackson writes in a conversational style that is easy to read and to understand. His grasp of the need for focused marketing along with his up to date knowledge of how technology has changed our ability to market, will be invaluable to both new and experienced marketers. The layout of the book is also simple, comprising some 106 short chapters, some but one page, making it easy to read in “spurts” if you must and also making it easy to get back to information you want to review.
Perhaps the most compelling reason to appreciate this book is Jackson’s insistence on marketing with integrity and focusing on the customers. As a long time sales and marketing manager for high technology companies, I can speak firsthand about the need to always have the customer’s best interests at heart and to market/sell with integrity. The short term gains by over selling, or misrepresenting products will be greatly outweighed in damage to your personal credibility, company brand and product reputation. Throughout the book, Jackson makes the call for aggressive niche marketing with the utmost attention to integrity.
The reader will pick up many valuable, time saving “tips” for their marketing projects including, but not limited to, learning: what viral marketing methods are most effective; what direct mail might still be able to accomplish in lead generation; concepts on website optimization; how to retaining top sales talent; what to do about choosing a PR firm; some new ideas on utilizing social media; and even learn about some ways to use “outdoor” advertising.
First, Best or Different is well worth reading, not only for the target audience of the entrepreneur, but for established marketing personnel as well.
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