Starting a business is exhilarating. If you run a startup you know it. No matter how much you plan, you still are going to face ups and downs. However, there is one element that is essential and will always be a constant concern. This would be your marketing. It is the key to your business’s growth—and how you’ll set yourself apart from your competition. 

So this week in our segment NP Recommends, our editors have picked out books by some of our Marketing Gurus. You can use our Read Instantly platform to begin reading these books online even as your physical copy makes its way to your doorstep. Here is a list of books you should not miss.

The Ghatotkacha Game

Pravin Shekar, Shraddha Anu Shekar

Would it be a stretch to connect the dots, to learn from stories of yore, from characters that have been chiselled and enhanced across centuries? A marketer seeks inspiration from all possible sources, including ones that are clearly outliers! Let us take one particular character from the Mahabharata. Ghatotkacha is a very powerful character in Indian mythology.  Everything from Ghatotkacha’s birth to his death is a game. Does he play different games, or is he a part of one himself? After reading this book, ask yourself: did Ghatotkacha play games, or did he participate in the success of a bigger game? As a marketer, what can I learn from his life? What can I implement and what can I share? Marketing. Mythology. And the many messages therein. Click here to read instantly.

Growth Hacking Your First Startup

Deepak Sharma 

Launching your first startup is tough! Let’s make it easier. In this simple guide to growth hacking, you will learn some unique and battle-tested techniques of new-age marketing. Written for rising startups and bootstrapped entrepreneurs, this book takes you through the stages of finding, retaining and expanding customers.

In between, you will learn everything from marketing funnels to customer journeys. You will see how to boost your startup with tactics such as gamification and viral content. And, you will understand why the customer always has to be the protagonist of your startup story. The aim is simple: to teach you how to think about growth in a new manner – one that builds around faster releases, dynamic feedbacks, and product iterations. Half of entrepreneurship is perseverance; this book will teach you the rest. Click here to read instantly.

Unleashing Growth

Raghavendra Hunasgi

Extremely practical, insightful, and full of tips and tricks, Unleash Growth should be read not just by aspiring entrepreneurs but anyone seeking growth in business. Raghav himself is an example of how to grow your business 100X – a bestselling author, highly sought– after speaker, successful entrepreneur, high-profile CMO, and growth marketing Zen Master. I recommend anyone seeking growth read this, better read it twice or maybe thrice. This will be your growth blueprint. Click here to read instantly.

Marketing Inside Out

Srinivasan Siva Rao

MARKETING INSIDE OUT is for knowledge-seeking students and marketing enthusiasts, who are interested to learn and give impetus to their careers in the field of marketing. For budding and experienced professionals, this book is a useful companion to reinforce their understanding of marketing. In recent years, online marketing and futuristic marketing gained a lot of traction. Some people have plunged into online marketing and futuristic marketing without having a solid understanding of marketing. This book is an easy guide that will help enhance their knowledge and understanding of marketing. Divided into various topics, this book provides holistic information on marketing concepts, frameworks, terminologies, advertising platforms, strategies, and metrics in simple words. This book also brings out the difference and the correct usage of the marketing terminologies that marketers interchangeably use. This book also touches upon the importance of economics, production strategies, inventory management, and consumer psychology that influence marketing strategies. To make the reading as well as the learning process interactive, the author has included interesting quizzes at the end of some chapters for readers to work on and get a better understanding of the marketing concepts. Click here to read instantly.

Syncfluence

Yaagneshwaran Ganesh

Some people, companies and products grow and become influential brands within a short period of time, while others remain invisible to the public eye despite all their efforts. How do they do it with almost no money? Syncfluence shows why you don’t have to burn cash to become influential, and also makes you deeply introspective about whom to influence, when and how. Click here to read instantly.

We hope you enjoyed the list! Catch you next Monday to explore more books!