Author: Kevin M. Ryan, Rob ‘Spider’ Graham
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Reviewer: Phil Vallender, director, Blend Marketing Ltd.
We live in the age of the customer. Empowered buyers have driven customer-centricity to the top of the business agenda. Conversely, the channels B2B buyers use to access the information they need can be accessed by any business. The digital marketing playing field has truly been levelled and there are plenty of ways that ‘Davids’ can outmanoeuvre the ‘Goliaths’. Reading this book is not one of them.
Where does this book go wrong? Firstly, the authors use the terms ‘marketing’ and ‘advertising’ interchangeably throughout. This is infuriating for any informed reader and belies the narrow perspective from which the book is written. The first few chapters are, in fact, all about advertising and this, combined with the misuse of words, gives the impression that this is all the book is about. Until, just as it’s getting interesting on advertising, the authors switch it up and introduce us in quick succession to email marketing, SEO, SEM, social media and mobile. Sadly, their treatment of all these topics are so basic as to be of little use to any marketing professional.
Hence, it’s not clear who this book is written for. The authors share their hope that your copy will become a well-thumbed and dog-eared reference guide, only there is no reference material within. The depth of the discussion on each topic is so limited that it could only be of use to the totally uninitiated. The strategies that are implicitly recommended, however, are really only accessible to those with a sizeable budget and, therefore, experience. Finally, and crucially, there is an absolute lack of anything actionable whatsoever.
Taking Down Goliath: Digital Marketing Strategies for Beating Competitors with 100 Times Your Spending Power promises much. Unfortunately, it fails to deliver. As a result, it holds little value for the readers of B2B Marketing.
Star Rating: 1/4
