Top Branding books recommended by experts

At MentorCruise, we are all about making the most out of the experience of others. As part of that, we've connected and asked dozens of experts and professionals about their favourite Branding books – and here are the answers.

Table of Contents

Fundamentals of Branding

Understanding the concepts of Branding starts with understanding the fundamentals. On your way to mastery, it's crucial for you to understand how certain concepts were derived, and why things work like they do. Starting with these resources is the best way to do so.

Hello, My Name Is Awesome: How to Create Brand Names That Stick

In this entertaining and engaging book, ace naming consultant Alexandra Watkins explains how anyone—even noncreative types—can create memorable and buzz-worthy brand names. No degree in linguistics required. The heart of the book is Watkins's proven SMILE and SCRATCH Test—two acronyms for what makes or breaks a name.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

Contagious: Why Things Catch On

In Contagious, Berger reveals the secret science behind word-of-mouth and social transmission. Discover how six basic principles drive all sorts of things to become contagious, from consumer products and policy initiatives to workplace rumors and YouTube videos.

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Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action

What's it about? This book is about discovering the power of purpose in work, leadership, and life, and how understanding the "WHY" behind our actions can inspire and motivate others to achieve greatness.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen

This book, “Building a Brand Story: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen,” by Donald Miller, is a gem summing up college semesters worth of information on story-telling and construction into actionable steps for the reader and business owner to apply in a fundamental way that is easy to digest. This alone proves the book to be invaluable, yet additionally it provides peace of mind tha…

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How Brands Grow: What Marketers Don't Know

How Brands Grow: what marketers don't know is based on decades of research that has progressively uncovered scientific laws about buying and brand performance. This book is the first to present these laws in context, and explore their meaning and marketing applications.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

How to Launch a Brand

This book will guide you through the steps necessary to build a brand from the ground up. Most entrepreneurs, even seasoned brand managers, launch first and then work on slowly transforming the new offering into a brand.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

Additional Branding Reading

These books are not required for you to learn Branding, but they are highly recommended for you to deepen your knowledge.

Book of Branding - a guide to creating brand identity for startups and beyond

Book of Branding is an essential addition to the startup toolkit—a guide designed for entrepreneurs, founders, designers, brand creators and anyone seeking to decode the complicated world of brand identity design.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

Building Strong Brands

The process of building a strong or famous brand involves critical thinking and analysis of all aspects of the brand to help deliver on the overall goal of the organisation. Brand positioning ensures that the brand is on the minds and hearts of consumers/customers all the time, and this can be done in many ways.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

Creating a Brand Identity

Creating a Brand Identity goes behind the scenes to explore the creative processes involved in designing a successful brand identity, one of the most fascinating and complex challenges in graphic design.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

Identity Designed: The Definitive Guide to Visual Branding

Written by best-selling writer and renowned designer David Airey, Identity Designed formalizes the process and the benefits of brand identity design and includes a substantial collection of high-caliber projects from a variety of the world's most talented design studios.

Recommended by the experts and mentors at MentorCruise

This list is curated by MentorCruise and can include Amazon affiliate links. Have any other suggestions? Add here.

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