This Book's Simple Premise Is that Most Marketing Sucks, but It Doesn't Have To

Marketing is everywhere—on our televisions, phones, athletes, skies, fruits, and more—and sometimes it even gets in our heads. If you work in marketing or run a business, you should stay up worrying about how your message will be heard in the deafening drone. If you're just a regular Jane or Joe, you should be alarmed by the drone itself.

Tons of much marketing is produced every day and so little is worthwhile, so what's the problem?

Most organizations don't do the necessary mental and emotional work to connect with others in meaningful ways. Worse still, even when marketing teams come up with brilliant ideas to get the right info to the right people at the right time, those great ideas are entered into a corporate gauntlet—a sad place where they're likely to be watered down, significantly changed, or stomped out completely.

After a decade of seeing good work die for ridiculous reasons, Daniel Staker was ready to snap. He wrote a book instead. To Market is a guide and a plea. Sometimes funny, often irreverent, but always passionate, it tells true stories from the front lines of marketing and draws out lessons to help companies take their work to the next level.

For those who work in marketing, To Market is as therapeutic as it is helpful. For other leaders in an organization, this book reveals a hidden world of thoughts and feelings—all the things the marketing department would love to tell you, but is too scared to say. It's a great guide for anyone looking to better connect with customers and increase the bottom line.

About the Author: Daniel Staker was an attorney who ended up working in sales, marketing, and strategy during the Great Recession. He has over a decade of executive-level experience working at organizations from small start-ups to multinational, public companies. He currently is the head of Black Flag Venture, a boutique firm.