This a great book that really speaks to the small business owner who knows they want to do more to promote their business, but didn't know where to start or is intimidated by the prospect of adding social media and web marketing to their already full plate. Eric provides many useful real world scenarios and examples that you can relate to - many of these examples should provide a spark for your own ideas. There are a lot of common sense initiatives and topics presented in the book that can have a tremendous impact on the way we are perceived by our customers. We're just not always aware of them because we are too busy, or because we simply assume that they are out of our reach.

Full disclosure: I know the author. I've got his blog in my RSS reader. I get his updates on both Facebook and Twitter. Having just read Speak Human, it's pretty clear this isn't a coincidence--there's a reason I keep listening to him.

Karj has written a book that speaks to the reluctant marketer in all of us small business owners. The principles underlying the text aren't radical--be nice, be yourself, be a human being. Well, maybe they are radical; these are the fundamentals that are almost always the first to go when small business owners set to the task of marketing their business. Even more importantly, Eric uses real-world stories and examples to translate these principles into usable tactics that pretty much anyone can apply to their own situation.

While the theories discussed might be familiar to experienced marketers, Speak Human is a really good primer on authentic, relationship-based marketing for those who aren't quite sure where to start. By avoiding the jargon or ego of most marketing writers, Eric keeps an otherwise dry subject approachable and fun.

Ultimately, the book is a like a one-on-one tour through the marketing process, with a guide who reminds us that for most folks, business really is personal, and that for those who foster relationships and allow themselves to connect to their customers, there are tangible rewards.

I'm a young Marketing Director for a successful mid-size company. The world of business and marketing is obviously much different than I was taught in school. From time-to-time I think back and fantasize about developing my own university business curriculum. It's fun to contemplate what should be required to graduate: A semester studying abroad in a country of the student's choice, more practical experience, more field trips, more comprehensive project management training, and reading more books like Speak Human.

I loved this book. It was like someone took my daily musings about marketing and promotion out of my head and wrote them down in one place. I find most business books very artificial and of limited practical value. This book is down-to-earth and pragmatic like sitting and having a conversation with a successful small to mid-size marketing entrepreneur. Eric Karjaluoto, founding partner of the digital agency smashLAB, does not pretend to know everything, instead he'll make you think and allow you to compare experiences, thoughts, and conclusions to his, which is very valuable and even fun.

The marketing section of the bookstore (online or bricks & mortar) is a usually a painful section to navigate, full of rehashed messages and hire-us pitches. Eric Karjaluoto's, Speak Human is none of that. It is personal, yet practical. Honest but bereft of piousness. Funny and rewarding. There are only a handful of marketing books I would dare recommend to anyone. Speak Human is at the top my list. Really superb.

--Ian