In Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products, Nir Eyal lays out a four-step process called the Hook Model for creating the types of products and services that keep people coming back for more. Although many of the examples he uses are online-oriented (Yelp, Twitter, The Bible App), there are plenty of lessons here for folks who make other things. I have to wonder if Eyal is simply looking for commonalities in all these products, perhaps working backwards a bit to prove his model. I’d be very curious to see if the Hook Model Eyal proposes is actually implemented to create a product. Still,Hooked offers a good guide to all the things businesses need to consider when trying to make their products indispensable.
Targeted: How Technology is Revolutionizing Advertising and the Way Companies Reach Consumers by Mike Smith is an effective overview of the new media landscape. Smith is a Vice President at Hearst Magazines Digital Media, so his perspective is a bit different than someone with an ad agency background or a product marketer. But he capably gives a broad look at all the factors being deployed to reach customers today, from search engine marketing and real-time bidding to data collection and the rise of mobile. Targeted makes a good read for marketers who need a good history of the last 15 years in online media and a look at where it might all be headed.
Special thanks to The PR Freelancer and Penguin Random House for providing review copies.
