There is always a lot of noise around marketing. And marketers listen to it religiously in their search for the new, new thing and the edge it can confer, especially in highly competitive sectors such as consumer packaged goods. But sometimes the noise can drown out core messages about the essence and essentials of a successful product, service, or brand, and obscure our view of its future direction. This year’s best business books on marketing — all from veteran practitioners — rise above the twittering crowd by delivering the kinds of insights that make for compelling listening.

My comments:

The twittering crowd is comparable to people who used to be called the chattering classes. Chattering implies, of course, that what they talk about is not always important or sensible – and they probably twitter too much at any rate.

Therefore, if you listen to what the twittering crowd has to say, you won’t be getting sound, insightful and wise advice.

Hence the need to rise above the twittering crowd – stay above it, do not get distracted and, hopefully, you’ll make better sense.

Related stories:

As common as shelf paper in a cabinet

Out of the picture

Tampering with evidence

A single roll of the dice

Criss-cross

From strength to strength

Town Hall format

An Irish goodbye

In the wind

Try-angle

kicking up a fuss about

The coin of the realm

Toy with the idea of

Winner-take-all

Go with the moment

One throat to choke

Miss the boat

Shoe-in

Spotting and eliminating "pork"

All Greek to me

Have sth on the fire

Hard sell

Sold-out house

All bark and no bite

Leave money on the table

Boots on the ground

Jailbreak

Boots on the ground

Common thread

A fact of life

Leave no stone unturned

Train wreck

Keep up with Joneses

Finishing touch

No great shakes

Warts and all

Catch -22 situation

Pull-up trey

I'm sold

Flip-flop

Sit on its hands

Casing the joint

Free rein

Bear the brunt of

Cross one’s path

Tribute projects

Off the beaten track

Go to Zhang Xin's column

本文僅代表作者本人觀點，與本網立場無關。歡迎大家討論學術問題，尊重他人，禁止人身攻擊和發布一切違反國家現行法律法規的內容。

About the author:

Zhang Xin（張欣） has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.