The Invisible Touch Book

The beauty of marketing is that it happens when we are looking but not noticing. Before you know it, we are using Yahoo! as a search engine, even though serious researchers will tell you that Alta Vista and Dogpile are better. We are buying products that cost more and perform worse, simply because the marketing and branding of those products tells us there is value there, even if objective analysis tells us otherwise. In The Invisible Touch, Harry Beckwith tells us the obvious--what was right in front of our faces. But because of the blinkers we wear, because of the way we have been educated, socialised or just plain bamboozled, we can't see it as clearly as he can. Thus, in each of his "four keys to modern marketing"--price, branding, packaging, relationships--he offers counterintuitive information that could make or break a business plan. For example, he explains in great detail why a higher price is better than a lower one; why every business, from Apple Computer to the US Army, is a brand-name to be cherished and nurtured; why the orangest orange sells better than the least orange orange, even if both pieces of fruit taste exactly the same; and why the best service providers always remember your name and what you like to drink. This is a business book, but one that everyone who works for a living should read. Pick any page, and you will find insights that could make you a better teacher, a better salesperson, a better employee in any trade. Beckwith drives home the idea that we are all in the business of marketing ourselves, and we are in that business every waking hour. --Lou Schuler, Amazon.comRead More