@ryandeiss

What they said

1. $100M Leads by Alex Hormozi: "your freshman year." How to get total strangers to find out that you exist, because everything is downstream from awareness and leads.
2. Ogilvy on Advertising by David Ogilvy: "your core curriculum." How advertising actually works, from the man who built the industry.
3. Breakthrough Advertising by Eugene Schwartz: "why people buy, when people buy, and why you can't create desire, you can only channel it." "Your psychology degree."
4. The Wizard of Ads by Roy H. Williams: "grad school." How to make people feel something before you ask them to do something. "This book is going to show you that magic is real."

• The skill stack: get attention, then learn how to get leads, then learn the craft, then master the psychology, then make art and magic.
• Close: "Four books, no student loans required."

Try this

• Beginners in marketing: Read the four books in this order: $100M Leads for getting noticed, Ogilvy on Advertising for craft, Breakthrough Advertising for the psychology of desire, and The Wizard of Ads for emotion.
• Ad writers and creative strategists: Take one idea from Breakthrough Advertising into your next script. Desire cannot be created, only channelled, and your hook should match how aware the buyer is of the problem.
• Agencies: Hand this list to new hires as a reading stack, one book per month, with a short written takeaway each.
• Creators: Copy the format. Hold the physical books, give each one about 10 seconds, use a "degree" metaphor, and add a lower-third label. Swap in a list for your own niche.
• Brand builders: Add a brand book such as Distinctive Brand Assets or How Brands Grow to balance the direct-response picks.

Links

• $100M Leads (Alex Hormozi), Ogilvy on Advertising (David Ogilvy), Breakthrough Advertising (Eugene Schwartz), The Wizard of Ads (Roy H. Williams). Other books seen in the stack on his desk: The Lean Startup, an unidentified "Perfect Pitch"-like title, others. No links.
• Comment suggestions (not from creator): Anatomy of a Humbug (Paul Feldwick), How NOT to Plan, Eat Your Greens (APG), How Brands Grow (Byron Sharp), Distinctive Brand Assets (Jenni Romaniuk), Get Different (Mike Michalowicz), Launch (Jeff Walker), Positioning, Purple Cow, Hypnotic Writing (Joe Vitale), Kotler's Marketing, Day Trading Attention, Contagious.