Marketing in the Round with Gini Dietrich

So, you know how I was in New Orleans last week for Counselors Academy?

You already know I had a terrific time and learned so much. But one of the reasons I was really excited to be going was that I’d be able to catch up with Gini Dietrich, who has become a dear friend of mine even though we only met IRL a year ago… and get a (free) copy of the book she’s co-authored with Geoff Livingston, Marketing in the Round.

I don’t do a lot of book reviews here at WUL, because:

1. Most business books are boring, badly-written, or both. Sorry, but they are! And I’m not going to lie about a book and say it was great just because some social media who-hah wrote it.

2. I actually read books, I don’t skim through them. And with severely limited downtime, I’d much rather read a well-written work of fiction that allows me to escape to Hogwarts, or the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, or some other exotic locale, than plod through a badly-written piece of nonfiction (see point #1).

3. I’m backed up on books to review, because I still get some which very kind people have sent me… and I just haven’t gotten around to them… or, because they were so kind that they didn’t actually ask me to review them, only if they could send them to me (to which, of course, I say “yes,” I mean, wouldn’t you?).

But G&G are G&G.

And I had the book in my hands and time to read it on the flight back from New Orleans.

And I finished it in one sitting.

And it has smart, practical advice, and tons of charts and worksheets to get you started on “marketing in the round.”

So I’m recommending it.

I’m not doing it because Gini and Geoff are my friends, though they are; if I thought the book was crap I’d have suddenly found no available slot on my editorial schedule (which you know is so booked, seeing as how there was no Monday post this week… did anyone even notice…?)…

So. I enjoyed MITR (which launched officially yesterday), found it a quick and useful read, and think you will too, if you believe in an integrated approach to marketing communications.

Career academics will probably not find it as useful… but then, most of us are not career academics.

The other thing I was really happy about

was that while in New Orleans, I was able to grab Gini to do a short interview on MITR. Here, straight from Ms. D’s lips, are words of wisdom on

• MITR,
• smart measurement (and what you should junk), and
• the kinds of tools and results you should use and focus on respectively.

If you can’t see the video itself, just click here for my just-over-two-minute interview with Gini on Marketing in the Round.

Now, may I suggest you hotfoot it to Amazon.com and purchase a copy? You’ll find it very handy in time to come (or immediately), trust me.

Oh, one more thing: I filmed this video using my D-I-Y, fits-in-my-handbag iPhone movie studio, and then edited it in iMovie. So if you’re still making excuses about not being able to do video, you can’t make them any more!

Have you read MITR yet? What did you think? What are some of the other business books you think are well worth reading, perhaps even owning? Why?