Recommended reading for content strategists and content marketers
Here are some books and other resources that have been indispensable to my work. I’ve grouped them into several broad categories:
Content strategy, information architecture, and user experience
Digital marketing, content marketing, and social media
Design thinking, change management, and organizational development
Marketing and communications
Writing and editing
Graphic design, layout, and production
Content strategy, information architecture, and user experience
Sue Apfelbaum and Juliette Cezzar, Designing the Editorial Experience (See my post “What Is Editorial Design, and Why Is It So Important to Digital Publishing?”)
Margot Bloomstein, Content Strategy at Work: Real-World Stories to Strengthen Every Interactive Project
Nate Bolt and Tony Tulathimutte, Remote Research: Real Users, Real Time, Real Research
Leah Buley, The User Experience Team of One: A Research and Design Survival Guide
Meghan Casey, The Content Strategy Toolkit: Methods, Guidelines, and Templates for Getting Content Right
Brian Clifton, Advanced Web Metrics with Google Analytics
Jesse James Garrett, The Elements of User Experience: User-Centered Design for the Web
Robert J. Glushko, ed., The Discipline of Organizing
Elizabeth Goodman, Mike Kuniavsky, and Andrea Moed, Observing the User Experience: A Practitioner’s Guide to User Research
Kim Goodwin, Designing for the Digital Age: How to Create Human-Centered Products and Services
Jeff Gothelf and Josh Seiden, Lean UX: Applying Lean Principles to Improve User Experience
Greenpeace, Mobilisation Lab
Kristina Halvorson and Melissa Rach, Content Strategy for the Web
Heather Hedden, The Accidental Taxonomist
Colleen Jones, Does Your Content Work? Why Evaluate Your Content—and How to Start
Erin Kissane, The Elements of Content Strategy
Karen McGrane, Content Strategy for Mobile
Karen McGrane, Going Responsive
Peter Morville and Louis Rosenfeld, Information Architecture for the World Wide Web: Designing Large-Scale Web Sites
Kevin P. Nichols, Enterprise Content Strategy: A Project Guide
NPR, NPR Digital Services
Steve Portigal, Interviewing Users: How to Uncover Compelling Insights
Whitney Quesenbery and Kevin Brooks, Storytelling for User Experience: Crafting Stories for Better Design
Ann Rockley and Charles Cooper, Managing Enterprise Content: A Unified Content Strategy
Richard Sheffield, The Web Content Strategist’s Bible: The Complete Guide to a New and Lucrative Career for Writers of All Kinds
Donna Spencer, Card Sorting: Designing Usable Categories
Sara Wachter-Boetcher, Content Everywhere: Strategy and Structure for Future-Ready Content
Misty Weaver, Content Strategy in Information Architecture syllabus
Indi Young, Mental Models: Aligning Design Strategy with Human Behavior
Digital marketing, content marketing, and social media
Content Marketing Institute, Chief Content Officer
Ann Handley and C. C. Chapman, Content Rules: How to Create Killer Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, Ebooks, Webinars (and More) that Engage Customers and Ignite Your Business
Teressa Iezzi, The Idea Writers: Copywriting in a New Media and Marketing Era
Colleen Jones, Clout: The Art and Science of Influential Web Content
Beth Kanter and Delahaye Paine, Measuring the Networked Nonprofit: Using Data to Change the World
Austin Kleon, Show Your Work! 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered
Ahava Leibtag, The Digital Crown: Winning at Content on the Web
Heather Mansfield, Social Media for Social Good: A How-To Guide for Nonprofits
Colin McFarland, Experiment! Website Conversation Rate Optimization with A/B and Multivariate Testing
Kivi Leroux Miller, Content Marketing for Nonprofits: A Communications Map for Engaging Your Community, Becoming a Favorite Cause, and Raising More Money
Michael Miller, B2B Digital Marketing: Using the Web to Market Directly to Businesses
NPR, Social Media Desk
Robert Rose and Joe Pulizzi, Managing Content Marketing: The Real-World Guide for Creating Passionate Subscribers to Your Brand
Damian Ryan and Calvin Jones, Understanding Digital Marketing: Marketing Strategies for Engaging the Digital Generation
Mark Schaefer and Stanford Smith, Born to Blog: Building Your Blog for Personal and Business Success One Post at a Time
David Meerman Scott, The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing, and Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly
Design thinking, change management, and organizational development
Paul Boag, Digital Adaptation
Tim Brown, Change by Design: How Design Thinking Transforms Organizations and Inspires Innovation
Dave Gray, Sunni Brown, and James Macanufo, Gamestorming: A Playbook for Innovators, Rulebreakers, and Changemakers
Harvard Business Press, Harvard Business Review
Harvard Business Review, On Change Management
Zaid Hassan, The Social Labs Revolution: A New Approach to Solving Our Most Complex Challenges
IDEO, Human-Centered Design Toolkit (See my post “Bringing Design Thinking to Communication Strategies”)
IDEO.org, The Field Guide to Human-Centered Design
Sam Kaner, Facilitator’s Guide to Participatory Decision-Making
Beth Kanter and Allison Fine, The Networked Nonprofit: Connecting with Social Media to Drive Change
Jeanne Liedtka and Tim Ogilvie, Designing for Growth: A Design Thinking Tool Kit for Managers (See my post “Creating Journey Maps to Improve Your Content Strategy”)
Jeanne Liedtka, Tim Ogilvie, and Rachel Brozenske, The Designing for Growth Field Book: A Step-by-Step Project Guide
Travis Lowdermilk, User-Centered Design: A Developer’s Guide to Building User-Friendly Applications
Ellen Lupton, ed., Graphic Design Thinking: Beyond Brainstorming
Andrew Polaine, Lavrans Løvlie, and Ben Reason, Service Design: From Insight to Implementation (See my post “Creating Journey Maps to Improve Your Content Strategy”)
Richard P. Rumelt, Good Strategy/Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters
Andrew Shea, Designing for Social Change: Strategies for Community-Based Graphic Design
Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society, Stanford Social Innovation Review
Russ Unger, Brad Nunnally, and Dan Willis, Designing the Conversation: Techniques for Successful Facilitation
Lisa Welchman, Managing Chaos: Digital Governance by Design (See my post "Key Components of Digital Governance in Organizations")
Marketing and communications
Alexander Chernev, The Marketing Plan Handbook
Sarah Durham, Brandraising: How Nonprofits Raise Visibility and Money Through Smart Communications
Tamara Gillis, The IABC Handbook of Organizational Communication: A Guide to Internal Communication, Public Relations, Marketing and Leadership
Chip Heath and Dan Heath, Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die
Warren J. Keegan and Mark C. Green, Global Marketing
Philip Kotler and Gary Armstrong, Principles of Marketing
Rebecca K. Leet, Message Matters: Succeeding at the Crossroads of Mission and Market
Joseph A. Maxwell, Qualitative Research Design: An Interactive Approach
Paolo Mefalopulos, Development Communication Sourcebook
Kivi Leroux Miller, The Nonprofit Marketing Guide: High-Impact, Low-Cost Ways to Build Support for Your Good Cause
Wendy Quarry and Ricardo Ramierez, Communication for Another Development: Listening Before Telling (See my post “Bringing Design Thinking to Communication Strategies”)
Alina Wheeler, Designing Brand Identity: An Essential Guide for the Whole Branding Team
Laurie J. Wilson and Joseph D. Ogden, Strategic Communications Planning for Effective Public Relations and Marketing
Writing and editing
Robert W. Bly, The Copywriter’s Handbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing Copy That Sells
Martin Cutts, Oxford Guide to Plain English
Nicole Fenton and Kate Kiefer Lee, Nicely Said: Writing for the Web with Style and Purpose
Bryan A. Garner, Garner’s Modern American Usage
Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage
Scott Norton, Developmental Editing: A Handbook for Freelancers, Authors, and Publishers
PlainLanguage.gov, Federal Plain Language Guidelines
Janet Pringle, Writing Matters: Getting Your Message Across
Susan Rabiner and Alfred Fortunato, Thinking Like Your Editor: How to Write Great Serious Nonfiction and Get It Published
Janice (Ginny) Reddish, Letting Go of the Words: Writing Web Content That Works
Carolyn D. Rude and Angela Eaton, Technical Editing
Carol Fisher Saller, The Subversive Copy Editor: Advice from Chicago (or, How to Negotiate Good Relationships with Your Writers, Your Colleagues, and Yourself)
Judith A. Tarutz, Technical Editing: The Practical Guide for Editors and Writers
University of Chicago Press Staff, The Chicago Manual of Style
Jan V. White, Editing By Design: For Designers, Art Directors, and Editors; The Classic Guide to Winning Readers
Graphic design, layout, and production
Robert Bringhurst, The Elements of Typographic Style
Jason Lankow, Josh Ritchie, and Ross Crooks, Infographics: The Power of Visual Storytelling
Ellen Lupton, Thinking with Type: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors, and Students
Dan Margulis, Professional Photoshop: The Classic Guide to Color Correction
Jason Santa Maria, On Web Typography
Claudia McCue, Real World Print Production with Adobe Creative Suite Applications
Jason Summons, The Designer’s Desktop Manual
Beth Tondreau, Layout Essentials: 100 Design Principles for Using Grids
Edward R. Tufte, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information