Book Review: The Book of Business Awesome / The Book of Business UnAwesome by Stratten

Scott Stratten's new book, The Book of Business Awesome / The Book of Business UnAwesome (Amazon Affiliate Link), is a great follow to his earlier work, Unmarketing. It's actually two books in one, where one half of the book is the "awesome" part; flip it over and the other half is the "unawesome."
Cover shot of "The Book of Business Awesome/The Book of Business Unawesome" by Scott Stratten

Scott takes us around the online world and shares some examples of people and businesses doing great, no-so-great and absolutely atrocious things online. Some of the stories you may have already heard; but, with some additional, behind-the-scenes details you may not have heard, the stories become far more alive and interesting. Through the telling of these stories, Stratten teaches some great lessons in how to be awesome in your business -or- how to avoid being unawesome.

One of my favorite examples from the awesome side is this video done by some folks in Grand Rapids, Michigan, created in response to an article on Newsweek's web site which declared the city was dying. It's a little long, but an excellent showing of civic pride and a little "in your face" to those who would bust on Grand Rapids.

As I read the unawesome side, I could only think of some terrible experiences I've had with companies. I've written about some here, and I'm thinking about sharing some others. The bottom line is we should all strive to do better. After all, if you can be awesome without expending a lot of effort or capital, why not do it? Often, a little attention to detail will make a huge impression on your customers and differentiate you from you competition.

We all know it costs a lot less to keep a current customer than to gain a new one; and, yet, so often businesses go out of their way to gain new customers at the expense of ticking off their current (and often quite loyal) ones. If your business is part of the group always going after the new at the expense of the current, and you get some inspiration to unlearn that habit and start being awesome to all of your customers, then this book would be well worth reading.

All in all, the book is an easy read and is fun, entertaining, and teaches some great lessons. What more could you ask for?

I already had this book on my "To Read" list when I saw a post on the Unmarketing Facebook page offering to send a free copy to any veterans who wanted to read it. I responded right away and not only got a free copy of the book, but also a package of posters and stickers to go along with it. That's awesome, right? Thanks to Scott for sending them along.

The Book of Business Awesome / The Book of Business UnAwesome by Scott Stratten (Amazon Affiliate Link) - an excellent book for those working in marketing, PR, customer service, SMBs, non-profits or anyone else looking for inspiration to be awesome in their business and have a few laughs in the process.
 

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