The Golden Toilet: Stop Flushing Your Marketing Budget into Your Website and Build a System That Grows Your Business

by Steve Brown

Who needs another dry book about marketing? You don't! Learn why this book has been labeled as The Funniest Book on Marketing. The last thing you need to invest in is yet another website rebuild. In fact, that fancy website of yours is nothing more than a beautiful, brand new, solid-gold toilet. If you’re not convinced, at least be how much have you spent on your website, thinking that this time you’ll get the right design that will send the value of your business skyrocketing? It didn’t move the needle, did it? That’s because your website is The Golden Toilet, and you’ve flushed far too much money into it without a clear plan for growth. Let’s get in the same way that every house needs a toilet, we only need a website so that we have a place to do our business. But a website alone isn't enough. It takes other complementary systems to create the holistic experience that customers expect (and reward). In this no-nonsense growth primer, Steve Brown delivers the inspiration and clarity you need to build the proper pipelines that will actually grow your business while your competitors continue to gild and rebuild their most utilitarian asset.

Genres: Business

232 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 14, 2020

About the author

Come Listen to THE ROI ONLINE PODCAST

Steve Brown believes you, the entrepreneur, are the invisible hero of today’s economy. You fight hard to create value for your customers and provide jobs for over half of the American workforce. As an entrepreneur himself, Steve knows what you face today as you fight to grow your business. That’s why, on The ROI Online Podcast, he introduces you to forward-thinking business leaders you will enjoy meeting.

Reviews

[Bryan Nowak · Rating 5 out of 5]

To most writers, marketing is very scary. And because it is so scary, it’s something that we tend to ignore until it’s clear that we can’t anymore. If you ask 100 different writers for their marketing plans, you are likely to only get a handful plans and a bunch of people staring at you with a bewildered look on your face. If you are a writer, whether traditional or independent, you must have a marketing plan in place. This is the only way to survive in a world where increasingly publishing a book is a streamlined process. Enter, “The Golden Toilet: Stop Flushing Your Marketing Budget into Your Website and Build a System That Grows Your Business.”

I first learned about this book when I got the opportunity to interview the author Mr. Steve Brown. To prepare for my podcast, I decided to read his book. While the book itself is geared towards a business with multiple employees, I got a lot out of it as an independent author. What I found most useful was the overall description of the process of marketing, and how scale-able those processes can be.

There were also several suggestions in the book which were immediately applicable to my situation. And I am happy to say that I was able to put these suggestions into place to immediate effect.

Beautifully written and engaging, I love Steve Brown’s way of writing. It was funny, unapologetic, and made sense to someone like me who does not have a firm marketing background. That is the key for a book like this, it must be applicable to the lowest common denominator. And I can guarantee, I am that lowest common denominator.

Presented in a way that is easily understandable, and easily trackable, Steve includes multiple resources to help you along your way. While this book is an item to buy, he does not come at you with a heavy sales pitch for his company’s other services. As a matter of fact, he offers quite a bit of advice for free, as well as pointing you to resources which can be immediately helpful.

I do not read a ton of nonfiction, but I’m glad I took the time to read, “The Golden Toilet: Stop Flushing Your Marketing Budget into Your Website and Build a System That Grows Your Business.”

For anyone who must make marketing part of their normal routine, I highly suggest this book. That only will help you figure out the course you need to take, but it will point you to resources that you need to internalize to make your business a success.

[James Hallmark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Steve took a few classes from me decades ago, and even then he was among the brightest and most perceptive people in the room. A born entrepreneur, Steve has built a successful marketing firm and has done so by approaching things a little differently. This book lays out Steve’s approach with his clients. He has a strong bias against investing in websites (you might gather as much from reading the title) and instead focuses on a “business growth stack,” that he relies on throughout the book. It is a useful and understandable model. I appreciate his understanding and endorsement of the role of “storybranding” in this process, as I personally believe in the power of stories in conveying knowledge and values. And, just in general, I love how he approaches the entire challenge systemically rather than from a silver bullet perspective. I am not in business, so I read the book through my own experiences and needs, but I found it equally applicable to my profession (higher education) and a project at church in which I’m currently engaged. Point being, this book is applicable to all sorts of organizations: business, NGOs, religious, education, other. Good practical advice.

[Kimberly M. Dryden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you

This was a unique approach for creating a successful business and assisting my clients with marketing. You are a very funny man Steve.