First Monday Book Review: February 2009
The first Monday of each month I will review one to five books. The monthly reviews start with this post, February 2009. The books will be marketing or business process related. Let’s review “Prove It Before You Promote It.”
Title: “Prove It Before You Promote It.”
By: Steve Cuno, Wiley ISBN: 978-0-470-38118-2
This is a book about marketing testing. A subject I have a passion for. The book extols how all marketing should be tested before it’s rolled out on a grand scale and huge dollars wasted. It’s a tome about making sure you track, analyze and learn from your marketing so you can continuously improve your efforts, and thus your marketing ROI. It also debunks the need for expensive research and instead asks us to rely on facts. The author points out that high awareness does not equate to sales (New Coke, Yugo and Edsel are examples).
Each chapter offers up a nice summary of key points and it is a quick, engaging read.
Missing from the book, by the author’s admission, is how these techniques fit into a business, marketing or testing plan. That’s too bad, as they could have really helped drive the message home. More examples would of been equally helpful.
Overall, this is a good book and worth the investment, especially for brand advertisers who need to know this information and a reminder for those of us who do practice measurable marketing.
Remember, “Leaders are readers.”
