E21: 7 Marketing Books Every Small Business Owner Should Read
If you’re overwhelmed by all the marketing advice out there, I’m diving into my seven favorite marketing books specifically for small businesses—each with practical tools you can use right away.
From becoming an avid reader to sharing how each book provides incredible strategies for traffic, lead generation, and building a powerful brand, I cover it all.
Discover books with step-by-step frameworks, unique customer-building tactics, and smart approaches to communicating with clarity. Plus, I’ll share how our agency incorporates these insights to help our clients dominate their industries.
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Sean Garner is a marketing consultant and Certified StoryBrand guide dedicated to helping small business owners grow and dominate their industries. He created the Marketing Domination podcast to teach people how to combine storytelling with strategic marketing to help businesses connect with customers and stand out online.
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EPISODE 21 TRANSCRIPTION
Why Small Business Owners Should Read Marketing Books
[00:00:00] Sean Garner: So as a small business owner, you are overwhelmed with the amount of information that there is out there on every single subject. So what I want to do today is as a marketing agency owner, share with you my seven favorite books when it comes specifically to marketing for small business owners. Welcome to marketing domination.
[00:00:18] Sean Garner: Now, I'm not saying these are the top seven, but these are my favorite books when it comes to marketing your small business. I'm a big fan of reading. Oddly enough, I didn't read a book at all in school, was a horrible student, but as I became a business owner and was surrounded by mentors, they started stressing the importance of reading. Now, I love it. One of my favorite things to do is setting up a hammock in the backyard and grabbing a book on the weekends. That's how I love to veg out and chill. Specifically on marketing, as a marketing agency owner, I read a ton of that type of content.
[00:00:59] Sean Garner: Some of it good, some of it not so good. What I want to do today is share, if I was talking to—hopefully I am—small business owners, the seven books I would recommend if they wanted to start learning about what they could actually do to impact their small business. All of these books are actionable. Inside each one are templates, frameworks, systems you can plug and play in your business instantly as soon as you read them. They’re not just fluffy, pie-in-the-sky things; they’re actionable books, which is what I love.
[00:01:31] Sean Garner: I don't want to just read an idea; I want some type of plan, template, framework—something I can execute immediately after reading. One of the quotes I say to my clients and my staff all the time is, "Knowledge without execution is meaningless." We don’t want to learn just to learn; we want things we can take action on to grow our business. When I give you these books today, this is my order, my preference. You might have a different order or preference, so let me know in the comments below. I'd love to hear your order of these books if you've read them. I’m going to start with my seventh pick and work my way up to my favorite marketing book for all small business owners.
Book #7: Traffic Secrets
[00:02:10] Sean Garner: So here we go. My seven favorite marketing books for small businesses. Coming in at number seven, which may shock a lot of people: Traffic Secrets by Russell Brunson. There are a lot of ClickFunnels fans who probably think this should be number one. I'm not saying it's a bad book; I just think these other books are more applicable for small business owners. This book is amazing for teaching you how to drive traffic—customers, eyeballs—and actually get people into your marketing funnel.
[00:02:51] Sean Garner: The basic premise of this book revolves around another book he references a lot, The Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes, which is also a good book focused more on sales. Brunson uses techniques from it to drive traffic, mainly around the concept of what's called your "Dream 100" list. It’s about finding a network of other people who already have an audience that includes your potential customers, and doing things like collaborations, guest podcasting, affiliate deals—anything to get them to help market your products. That's one of the many strategies he covers; he also covers paid traffic and other methods, but it's really good for filling your marketing funnel.
[00:03:26] Sean Garner: Traffic Secrets by Russell Brunson is actually part of a trilogy, the "Secrets Trilogy." He has DotCom Secrets, Expert Secrets, and this third book, Traffic Secrets. The other two are pretty good, but I think other books teach similar concepts in ways I like a bit better. However, as far as filling your funnel, this is an awesome book: Traffic Secrets by Russell Brunson.
Book #6: Superfans
[00:03:43] Sean Garner: Number seven. Next, number six, you might not have heard of this book, but you probably heard of this man. It is called Superfans by Pat Flynn. This book is great, and honestly, it probably should be higher on the list just because of the concepts in it. What I find with a lot of small business owners that I work with is they’re not obsessed with or in love with their customers. That might sound a little weird, but they're not. Too many business owners, especially when we first start working together, think of their customers as just another customer, another number.
[00:04:10] Sean Garner: What this book does is get you to build a tribe of superfans. It’s full of real-life strategies that, in essence, boil down to being human and being nice to people. It has a lot of great strategies you can implement in your business to create special moments for your customers and turn them into raving fans. If you can get some superfans, they’ll help grow your business for you by bringing more people in. Many of these strategies are also covered in Traffic Secrets, but it’s a really great book. Fall in love with your customers, create special moments, and turn followers, subscribers, and customers into superfans. It’s the easiest way to stand out, grow your tribe, and build a successful business.
[00:05:04] Sean Garner: So, awesome book for creating superfans—Superfans by Pat Flynn, number six marketing book I think every small business owner should read.
Book #5: Smart Brevity
[00:05:27] Sean Garner: Next up, coming in at number five. This is a book I read recently, in the last six months, and it dramatically shifted how we write a lot of copy here internally at the marketing agency, Sean Garner Consulting, and also the outward-facing copy we write for clients. It’s Smart Brevity by Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen, and Roy Schwartz. Awesome book. If you want templates and frameworks, at the end of every chapter, it literally has templates you can use for your marketing.
[00:05:49] Sean Garner: What this book is about is the power of being brief and consolidating communication, making it quick and punchy. This covers everything from internal communications to back-and-forth emails and even Slack messages you might be sending your team. It’s all about writing better copy that's more concise and clear. This has been awesome for us because our agency is certified in StoryBrand, so it's all about writing clear copy. Taking that and combining it with a book like Smart Brevity is amazing.
[00:06:28] Sean Garner: This book really helps you think about how you can edit down and say as much as possible in as few words as possible. It’s easy to write copy, but it’s really difficult to write good copy that’s condensed. The more you edit things down, the harder it actually is. This book has tons of frameworks to help you simplify communication, whether internal or external, with lots of good templates for social media content, emails, websites, and all that good stuff. Smart Brevity—check it out if you want to simplify your communication.
Book #4: Day Trading Attention
[00:07:00] Sean Garner: Next, coming in at number four, again, a lot of fanboys around this guy, Mr. Gary Vaynerchuk has written several books. This last one he came out with is really great. It’s probably, honestly, one of my favorites—Day Trading Attention, how to actually build a brand and sell in the new social media world.
[00:07:11] Sean Garner: I feel as if too many small business owners have a perception of what they think social media marketing is and what it should be. This book breaks it down for small business owners and for people trying to build a brand in a way that helps you understand the real power behind a brand and how to actually do it on social media.
[00:07:32] Sean Garner: So many small business owners use their Instagram accounts and social media platforms as just mini billboards to showcase their products. If you look at the engagement on their content, it’s usually horrible because nobody's engaging with it. This book is all about building a brand and creating content that truly builds that brand. It’s not just, "Hey, look at our product, look at our service," but about helping you build a true community online and how to leverage social media properly for a small business.
[00:08:00] Sean Garner: So if you actually want to know how to stop creating content that’s not working and start building a brand using social media, Day Trading Attention by Gary Vaynerchuk is an awesome book. I just almost smacked myself in the head with it; it’s a good, thick book. Check it out—number four on my seven marketing books small business owners should read.
[00:08:13] Sean Garner: Now we're in the top three. So these are my top three books that I think small business owners should read when it comes to marketing their business.
Book #3: 100 Million Leads
[00:08:34] Sean Garner: Number three, 100 Million Leads by Alex Hormozi. This is like a thick, almost textbook-sized book. It’s huge—one of the biggest books on my shelf. It stands out. It’s a solid textbook, nice hardcover. Love it. This, to me, is a more up-to-date and thorough version of Traffic Secrets.
[00:08:55] Sean Garner: Traffic Secrets is good, and there are differences between the two, but a lot of the same principles are used inside 100 Million Dollar Leads. This book showcases a variety of lead tactics—anything from paid traffic to organic, to affiliates, to referrals. Anything you can think of to get leads for your business, this book covers it. It gives you templates, frameworks, and has tons of free videos and trainings to go with it.
[00:09:15] Sean Garner: If you're looking to generate leads to fill your marketing funnel, this is an awesome book. We say this all the time on the show: just because you build it doesn’t mean people are going to come. Once you've built a great sales funnel, this book gives you the strategies and tactics you need to get eyeballs on your stuff and bring in customers. Very highly recommended for knowing how to create traffic to the things you sell.
[00:09:52] Sean Garner: 100 Million Dollar Leads by Alex Hormozi. All right, number two marketing book every small business owner should read. And I will say, these last two, I honestly believe every small business owner should read, no matter what industry you're in—you need these two books.
Book #2: Marketing Made Simple
[00:10:15] Sean Garner: Number two, my boy, Mr. Donald Miller and JJ Peterson, Marketing Made Simple. This book is a step-by-step playbook of what you need to do to build a sales funnel. We talk a lot about sales funnels on this channel and show. They break it down into all the different steps—from your brand messaging, your one-liner statement, your lead generator, your website, the sales email sequence, and your nurture email sequence.
[00:10:37] Sean Garner: They give you steps at the end, after they explain the process, on how to execute this with your team. It’s the step-by-step playbook of everything you need to build a marketing funnel. 100 Million Dollar Leads helps you fill it; this one builds it. That's why this comes first. You need to read this so you can build the funnel, then use 100 Million Dollar Leads to fill it. You use Day Trading Attention to create social content, Smart Brevity to condense that content, Superfans to make it create super fans, and Traffic Secrets for more traffic.
Book #1: Building a StoryBrand
[00:11:20] Sean Garner: So awesome, awesome book, Marketing Made Simple by Donald Miller, which leads us to the number one marketing book that I think every small business owner should read should come as no surprise. Building a story brand by, again, Donald Miller. So this book is the foundation for every marketing aspect that a small business owner should use. What this does is this book teaches you the communication framework that you need in order to clearly communicate with your customers, the problem you solve, and why you are the right person to do business with because you solve their specific problem.
[00:11:56] Sean Garner: It breaks down into seven different aspects of a story arc, so you can plug your marketing message into that and clarify it so your customers actually listen. The seven parts are: there's a character—your customer—who wants something but encounters a problem. They need to meet a guide, which is you, who shows empathy and authority, provides a plan, calls them to action, and helps them avoid failure while achieving success. Those are the seven key points it breaks down, using the power of story to connect with your customers and potential customers to help create a clear brand message.
[00:12:34] Sean Garner: So many business owners, when asked what they do, start going into the history of the company or all their products and services. This book helps teach you the framework to clarify your message so your customers actually listen and say, "That's what I'm looking for. Wow, it sounds like you're talking directly to me." Building a StoryBrand by Donald Miller will help you do it.
[00:13:00] Sean Garner: So, to recap: if you look at the order of why I put these books this way, it’s not just a personal preference but also the order in which I think you should go about building your business. This is honestly the exact framework we use at Sean Garner Consulting, our marketing agency, for all of our clients.
How We Use These Principles in Our Marketing Agency
[00:13:13] Sean Garner: We put them through this exact same process. So the first thing we do is help clarify their message, and we write their brand script. We teach them how to create a clear brand message that lays the foundation for all of their marketing. Then we build a sales funnel. We create lead generators, help design the website, wireframe it, write the sales email sequence, and the nurture email sequence, and create a full sales funnel.
[00:13:50] Sean Garner: After that, we start generating leads. The big thing we do as a CMO is help with content strategy and content marketing to fill your sales funnel and generate leads. After that, we’ll get you to start creating social content and help you build a brand online with social media. From there, we’ll help you create super fans because we don’t just want to fulfill your needs as clients but want you to become super fans. We’ll help condense down your message the longer you’ve been doing it, and then we’ll continue to help optimize it and drive more traffic.
[00:14:21] Sean Garner: That’s what we do at Sean Garner Consulting. We’d love to do it for you, or you can sit here, read all these books, and do it yourself. But if you’d like us to do it, go to SeanGarner.co. Click the link down in the description below, book a call, and we’ll hear more about your business, the goals you have, and any problems or blockers you’re facing. We’ll help you grow your business and dominate your industry. Thanks so much for watching, guys. Check out these books or hire us, and we’ll do it all for you. Have an awesome day, and we’ll talk soon.
