Rating: 
Summary: Your Marketing Sucks And So Does Your Writing
Review: This book is nothing more than the ravings and rantings of a lunatic with a massive ego and no original ideas. Starting with the title, this book continues to show examples of why people waste millions of dollars marketing every year, except the author does not show an example of how he has really succeeded where others failed. Maybe this is due to the fact that delusional behavior is easier to write about then reality. Save your money for a good book.
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Summary: marketing isn't the only thing that sucks...
Review: simplistic cover design, simplistic messaging and simplistic writing style make this testimony to the obvious simply dreadful. Without a single fresh idea to offer, the author lambasts nationally recognized advertising campaigns and the Fortune 500 companies who use them - easy targets in an age where creativity seems to have left the marketing/advertising industry. The few points that this book makes might be a good marketing/business primer for someone who had never worked a day, but any business owner who does not grasp these basic tenants already has no business in business. The "in you face" style of self promotion that the book's name uses is nothing more than an old fashioned huckster's trick - smoke and mirrors - designed to sell a sub-par offering. Even this is nothing new, traveling medicine salesmen used this tactic often in the 1800's - usually right before they were ridden out of town on a rail.
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Summary: Great for entrepreneurs and marketing executives alike
Review: I have a BA in Marketing and prior to becoming an entrepreneur I worked in the advertising. I am a freak of marketing books and I can tell you this one is great. Many of the ideas or lessons you will get in the book are not new but are constantly overlooked by executives and business owners. The book is very easy to read, it is short, chapters are organized in a friendly manner and the author doesn't present excesive examples. Stop your "Marketing" now, read the book and start fresh with new and more effective ideas.
Rating: 
Summary: Duh!
Review: There is absolutely nothing new here for anyone who has been doing this work for a year or more. All I ask when I buy a business book is ONE GOOD IDEA. I can't say I got even that with this book, despite the provocative title.
Rating: 
Summary: It's so true
Review: I picked this book up yesterday, more for the title than anything else, and I just finished it this afternoon. It's a very concise and interesting premise that probably could have stood another round of editing before release, but nonetheless it does hit home, especially to those like myself who are or once were in the marketing field. I started my own business a few months ago and I can honestly say that I have definitely learned what NOT to do from this book. The real question is, did I learn what I should be doing? The answer is a wishy-washy "I think so". If I were able to be more definitive, it would rate 5 stars. Given its brevity, it's worth the time spent reading it.
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Summary: Wow...take it to heart
Review: I'm glad Mark Stevens didn't mince any words when he sat down to write this book. I may not agree with everything he says, but he makes some very compelling statements that are intelligent and thought-provoking. I am going to recommend that each of my staff read Your Marketing Sucks, if for no other reason then to gain a different perspective on the marketing process. Very well done.
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Summary: I was "suck"-ered
Review: My biggest problem with this book is that it tells you nothing you can't already figure out if you have any kind of common sense and the ability to step back from your marketing plan and give it an objective once-over. Maybe it deserves some credit for that, but for all the hype that the first couple of chapters generate (in some cases ad nauseum), there's absolutely no way that anything that follows could possibly deliver on the promise. This in itself may be a good lesson on Mark Stevens. I picked up this book because I saw a lot of local press on it and the title was intriguing, but that's all it did. I think Stevens is teaching us suckers who bought the book that it really is all about style rather than substance. I'd suggest forming a 12-step program for others who were similarly conned but I think we all know better. Someday we'll wise up and realize that no one who writes a book like this really knows anything except how to promote themselves.
Rating: 
Summary: Your marketing might suck. This book doesn't.
Review: Come on, folks. The title alone is a lesson in marketing. And for the small businessman especially (though not exclusively), it should be a wake-up call. Because 9 times out of 10, small business marketing does suck. I know, because I'm often called upon to fix it. Is the book basic? Does it offer a lot of "review material?" Sure. So what? If you've never studied the basics, it's not review. It's a long-overdue look at some fundamentals. And Mark Stevens offers some entertaining war stories combined with some really solid examples of marketing that quite simply doesn't suck.
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Summary: Your Marketing Sucks Review
Review:
"Your Marketing Sucks" takes an in depth look into how many companies make the mistake of spending millions of dollars on marketing without taking the time to research or monitor the programs that have the most effective results. Marketing should bring more than one dollar for every dollar spent. If this idea is not implemented in today's business world it is due to the lack of either motivation or ability to market. The first step in successful marketing is to know your product and have the ability to sell it. This knowledge, when combined with the tactic of extreme marketing, forms the most effective practice in the business world today.
This book clearly shows both positive and negative forms of marketing and their implementation. The seven key reasons that marketing "sucks" is an eye opener for all novice marketers. This information shows ways to avoid the same monetarily costly mistakes that others have made before. Such fundamental mistakes are accepting generalities, launching expensive programs without any new ideas, and ignoring available research.
The mistake of accepting generalities is best shown by the example of taking the production of others marketing schemes as the limit for what can be achieved. The execution of others may have been bad or their product obsolete, so taking their findings as fact would be inaccurate. When companies launch expensive programs without new ideas it is simply lack of creativity. Successful marketers must have a distinguishable trait to set them apart from their competitors. Another mistake is made when companies will not take the chance to corral an ideal market because they do not use the research findings of others. The chance to grab client's name and addresses with perfect income levels only comes around ever so often, and many companies let these beneficial opportunities slip by.
A very simple yet astonishingly insightful quote states "The only acceptable return on your marketing dollars are sales." Marketing techniques must be designed to bring in profitable sales. This is brought about by planning and detailing the marketing process. When all is said and done it does not matter how the sale was attained or the marketing tactic that was used for gaining clients, it all comes back to the almighty dollar/sales.
The revolution of active versus passive marketing for accountants in the 1970s is outlined in this book. Research disproved the idea that waiting for the phone to ring was a way to seem professional. The firms that actively pursued new clients who were already with other accountants proved to be effective and set a precedent for other industries to emulate and follow. This exposed what has become known as the lazy marketer. Anytime the client has to research or pick up the phone to call you then you are not reaching a sector of business that could significantly grow your company. It is the company's job to get to these potential customers before they stumble onto a competitor by chance.
When deciding what marketing tactic to use most companies implement one at a time. The most profitable way is to implement numerous tactics at the same time. This process ensures that the variety of tactics reinforce each other and then in the end the message is communicated more effectively and efficiently. These tactics should be monitored to discover which is most profitable for the company.
In the end, the key to extreme and successful marketing differs between companies. Each should discover what tactics bring in the most sales for them. Getting rid of useless marketing is an important and profitable practice, which should be reevaluated regularly to maximize the bottom line.
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Summary: Lessons to learn from Your Marketing Sucks
Review: Your Marketing Sucks.
By Mark Stevens
Rule #1: "You will engage in Extreme Marketing, which means every marketing dollar you spend will bring in more than $1 in return." Marketers must not camouflage spending as marketing, which is what many companies do. If you are not successfully growing your business through your marketing efforts then you have "marketing that sucks."
Rule #2: "Marketing is not about such things as advertising, direct mail, and P.R. Those are just tools. Marketing is about growing your business-its revenues, profit, and valuations." There are only two ways to measure true return on investment 1) new customers 2) additional sales to existing customers. Although advertising, direct mail, P.R., etc. are tools that help increase sales, they are not true measures of successful marketing. You can advertise all you want, but if it does not produce sales, then you are not truly marketing.
Rule #3: "Most companies make salesmanship the last step in the marketing process. Most companies are wrong: Salesmanship should come first." Salesmanship is one of the most important parts of marketing. As IBM put it, "NOTHING HAPPENS UNITL SOMEONE SELLS SOMETHING." No matter how successful your marketing campaigns are, they don't work by themselves. Your sales force must sell the customer.
Rule #4: You will never jump ahead of the pack if you accept the conventional wisdom. Healthy skepticism is a good thing. Question every single thing you have heard about the `right way' to market." There is no `one way' to market. Marketing is about being creative and innovative. Nobody would achieve anything with their marketing if they all were the same. You must first ignore your competition and question every marketing tool to discover the most successful way for your firm to achieve a competitive advantage.
Rule #5: "Remember the original Star Trek? The creators got it right. You want to `go boldly where no man [or woman] has gone before' Otherwise, what fun is it going to work?" To succeed in your marketing efforts, you need to fully use your imagination. Discover what will cause your customer to go running to the store to buy your product. To be successful the way you want to be, you cannot play it safe. You have to take risks and find new and inventive ways to market your product.
Rule #6: As countless studies have shown, corporate mergers designed to achieve operating `synergy' usually fail. However, attempts at capturing the power of marketing synergies within a business often succeed." Synergy is by far the most effective marketing tool out there. If you want your customer to be moved by your marketing campaigns, then you need to have them everywhere the customer looks. Having just a television commercial alone won't usually cause a customer to run out and buy your product. However, if you use several different types of media at the same time to reach your customer, they are more likely to respond.
Rule #7: "Every marketing dollar you spend should not only generate more than $1 in return-it should help leverage all of your other marketing spending." As talked about in rule #6, marketing synergy helps get customers to respond by using a variety of marketing tools. By using more than one tool, customers will be more responsive, therefore the money you spend on each campaign will not only bring in money for that specific campaign, it will also help bring in money for all of your campaigns by working in a synergistic way.
Rule #8: "Sometimes clichés become clichés because they contain a truth worth repeating. One example? Measure twice, cut once." To be successful, every company must test, execute, and monitor. First of all you need to test your marketing campaigns in small markets to determine what works best and what does not work at all. Next, you execute the campaigns that were successful in the test run. Finally, you monitor all of your marketing campaigns. Although you tested your campaigns in the beginning, you must continue to monitor them throughout their lifespan to make sure they continue to be successful.
Rule #9: "While you are seeking to open entirely new markets, or sell new products, remember that there is low hanging fruit all around you ready to be picked. Cultivate this first." Before you launch a huge campaign to generate new sales, you need to take a look at the customers you already have and see if there is any potential to increase their sales. Cross-selling is a huge area that a lot of companies take for granted. It is a lot easier for companies to sell additional products to a customer that already trusts them.
Rule #10: "The first rule of medicine is also the last rule of marketing: Do no harm. Immediately suspend every marketing program you have under way, and stop all new initiatives you have on the drawing board, unless you can quantitatively prove they will generate more money than they cost." Stopping all marketing campaigns will not make your company go bankrupt. But it will give you time to examine your marketing efforts and determine what is profitable and what is `spending camouflaged as marketing.' So as Stevens suggest, before going back to the office and continuing in your normal routine, stop, research and perhaps change your marketing to turn "marketing that sucks" into marketing that producing sales.
I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to be read by others. Mark Stevens did a great job using real life stories to reinforce what he was saying. Everything that he said made sense; therefore, it is easy to see how you can apply it to your marketing efforts. One of the things Stevens emphasized that I had not heard before is "spending camouflaged as marketing." This really stuck out in my mind throughout the whole book and intrigued me to examine any marketing that I will be doing to determine if I am camouflaging spending as marketing. It will also hopefully help me to prevent "camouflaging" by having the knowledge to know the difference.
The only weakness that I felt this book has is the extreme negativity of creating brand awareness and brand image through marketing. I agree with Stevens that to be successful in marketing you need to create sales. But, I also feel that creating a brand image is extremely important. Many people, including me, are more likely to purchase a product from a company that has a good brand image and high brand awareness. Therefore, while you need to concentrate on making your marketing create new sales, I think you should also focus on creating a brand image.
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