Book nine: Epic Content Marketing by Joe Pulizzi.

My friend Kelly Hindley should write a book.  Because she's been talking about ideas and issues presented in Epic Content Marketing: How to Tell a Different Story, Break Through the Clutter, and Win More Customers by Marketing Less by Joe Pulizzi for a very long time.  And to be honest, she's been talking about those ideas in ways that are more interesting than in this book.

First, you may be asking why am I reading a business book when I've committed to reading books about art and artists. Well, several of my clients mentioned that this book was influencing the way they are shaping their current marketing efforts.  And when clients are taking a book seriously, I like to get some insight into the ideas that are influencing them.

This is a perfectly fine business book.  The ideas are valid and represent an honest assessment of where many corporations are taking their marketing efforts.  The internet, and more importantly social media have monumentally changed the marketing landscape. And Pulizzi offers a thorough assessment of smart ways to respond to this new environment. The ultimate take away is that companies have to do more than just brag about their products.  They now have to create communications that are valuable, interesting, and entertaining.  And he's right.

As I mentioned, this book is thorough.  Maybe a little too thorough. Many parts of the book are redundant and a little boring.  But that might be because I work in marketing and much of this information was not new to me.  In fact, I think many enterprise companies would be aware of this information.  Although I think small and medium businesses would find this valuable information.

Nonetheless, I still wish Kelly Hindley had written this book.