A Summer Reading List . . .

By Ron Rovtar
Stock Asylum Managing Editor
June 21, 2007


Why do some incredibly talented photographers struggle while much inferior competitors turn business away?

Can anyone explain why stock photography distributors with outstanding collections get acquired by thriving companies that don't seem to recognize the difference between a highly creative image and a snapshot?

Have you ever wondered why some successful design companies grind out mountains of mediocrity even as creatively superior firms have trouble making ends meet?

Why do these kinds of inequities happen?

There probably are a number of reasons, including luck. But, one important factor is business skills. Successful companies usually have them. Unsuccessful ones often do not.

Some people just seem born with good business instincts, especially self-promotion skills. But, the good news is that everyone can learn to make better business choices.

And, reading solid advice from people who know what they are doing is one of the fastest paths to improving a disktressed business, which is why The Stock Asylum (SA) has compiled its second summer reading list for creative business people.

Whether you are a photographer, a stock distributor, a designer, or an ad agency executive, the summer can be a good time to think about reinvigorating your creative endeavor.

These books should be available at your local bookstore, but you can also click on the book covers below to purchase them from Amazon.com. So, forget the excuses and get started.

Enjoy!

The Secrets of Word-of-Mouth Marketing; by George Silverman; AMACOM (American Management Association).

We've all heard about the silly things marketers do to get people talking about a product or service. But, this book is not about sending paid actors into bars to talk up your brand. It is about giving real people the ammunition they need to tell their peers what they like about your product.

"Getting people to talk often, favorably, to the right people, in the right way about your product is far and away the most important thing you can do as a marketer," said Silverman. In 245 pages of text, the author offers a lot of good ideas to help you achieve this result.

The Secrets of Question Based Selling; by Thomas A. Freese; Sourcebooks, Inc.

Great sales people can sell ice to an eskimo –– right?

Not on your life! In this day and age, nobody wants to deal with that overbearing, pushy, anxious, obnoxious sales professional who is trying to force something you don't want down your gullet. Good sales people know this.

Today, successful sales people solve problems for their customers by listening, says Freese, an experienced sales executive in his own right. But, how do you get the client to tell you exactly what he or she really needs? You ask the right questions in the right way at the right time. It's not easy, but it is not rocket science either. This kind of sales program should appeal to creative professionals. After all, creatives sell necessary marketing and communications solutions, not cheap vacuum cleaners.

The Innovator's Dilemma; by Clayton M. Christensen; C. Collins Business Essentials.

If you believe big successful companies are toppled by other big successful companies in titanic market confrontations, you probably are wrong and you ought to read this book. Big companies are usually undone by lean, mean small companies that, surprisingly, bring something less to the marketplace, the author believes.

In this landmark work, Christensen, of the Harvard Business School, relies on exhaustive research to suggest that it is extremely hard for big companies to recognize and leverage "disruptive innovation" in their core marketplaces. (And, by the way, Christensen's definition of "disruptive innovation" is very specific, so don't go running to the dictionary to try to figure out what he is talking about.)

This is a book that should be read by every stock photo industry veteran who has heard someone call micropayment stock photography "disruptive." In Christensen's scheme, micropayment may be radical, but it probably is not disruptive. That designation may belong to another innovation quietly growing up in the industry's wings. As you read this book, see if you can figure it out what kind of innovation might really disrupt the largest stock photo industry companies during the next ten years.

Primal Branding ; by Patrick Hanlon; Free Press division of Simon & Schuster.

For Hanlon, founder and CEO of Thinktopia, Inc., branding is more than simply getting the name of a product or service in front of the public.

Branding, Hanlon believes, involves defining a product so the public knows what it is and what it is not; who should buy it and who isn't quite ready for it. Good branding creates an emotional aura around the product –– a personality with depth and breadth, the author believes.

It makes sense. We sometimes bond to special products in a process similar to the way we bond with special friends. We don't form deep friendships with those we know little about, and we don't feel loyalty to products that simply serve a basic function. Think of iPods. Hanlon offers good advice about creating the kind of emotional connection that only a real brand can command.

The Genius Engine; by Kathleen Stein; John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

If you read last year's SA summer reading list, you probably realized that humans do not always make the best decisions. This is especially true when dealing with complex systems like marketplaces.

Recent brain research seems to confirm many observations Dietrich Dorner discussed in The Logic of Failure (number four on last year's list). The research also should help careful readers better understand the conclusions of Al Ries and Jack Trout in Positioning: the Battle for your Mind (Our first choice last year).

Stein's book examines fresh research into the human prefrontal cortex. These cutting-edge studies, many accomplished with new imaging technology, provide fascinating information about the human mind and how it really works. The Genius Engine is a difficult read, but well worth the effort. Understanding core issues about our decision-making process could help us re-examine our own thinking and, in the end, turn some of our failures into successes.

Our unofficial Dorner-Ries/Trout-Stein trilogy should be required reading for every serious business person and, for that matter, every politician.

Amazon.com is at: http://www.amazon.com.

For last year's reading list, click here.