Title suggests more than one actually gets: Nothing more than an average marketing book
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I am a finance person, but have been very interested in marketing lately. This book was suggested by one of my acquaintances. Unfortunately I must say that the book leaves some bitter taste after reading.
It starts promisingly and catches your eye quite fast. But then I realised that the contents are quite narrow and the language is highly theoretical. Even the examples seemed fairly theoretical and played around some virtual 'personas'. In comparison to other marketing books that I have read this was highly disappointing. I would have wished a lot more of a practical touch.
The book mainly concentrates on the internet marketing and B2B customers. I understand that the authors have developed a theory/methodology called 'Persuasion Architecture' which is put forward as some kind of a Holy Grail for marketing. Unfortunately I could not fully understand the principles of the theory as the authors failed to describe it comprehensively.
As I am more interested in retail marketing, the book obvioulsy did not meet my expectations. May be it was not intended for areas that I was expecting. I my eyes this is just another average marketing book.
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Nobody's best friend...other than their own
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In this volume that is accompanied by a CD containing an 80-minute video seminar, Bryan and Jeffrey Eisenberg with Lisa T. Davis explain how to persuade people to purchase what you sell at a time "when they ignore marketing." That is, emerging media have redefined "the rules of the game" in the competitive marketplace. First the bad news: traditional mass marketing models are no longer appropriate. Now the good news: businesses now have an unprecedented opportunity to communicate effectively with customers by leveraging the power of increasingly interconnected media channels. The authors suggest a number of strategies and tactics by which to do that.
Throughout their narrative, they answer questions such as these:
1. How and why has marketing permanently changed?
2. Why do customers now respond differently?
3. How to anticipate what they now require?
4. How to respond to those requirements?
5. How to bridge the gap between "old" and "new" marketing?
In response to the last question, they offer "Persuasion Architecture" and then explain how to implement it in Chapter Twenty-Nine.
Over the years, I have owned dozens of dogs and cats, and agree with the authors that there are significant differences between them. A source I am unable to recall suggests that a dog's idea of God is man; a cat's idea of God is another cat. The pets I have owned certainly gave me that impression. The authors suggest that "old" marketing follows a recipe that they characterize as "Customers a la Pavlov." Over time, their responses can be conditioned and, through certain repetitions of influence, controlled. Not so with "new" marketing which assumes that customers resemble cats. Unlike dogs that are so eager to please, cats could not care less. They are aloof, indifferent, self-indulgent, independent, solitary, and act in ways that benefit only themselves.
It is worth noting that, given all the major changes in the American workplace, Warren Bennis suggests that managing people is like herding cats and wrote a book bearing that title.
This book's title may state it but, obviously, cats do not, indeed cannot bark. And even if they could, they probably would not because that would be - as they see it - beneath them. The first objectives with cats as well as with customers is to get their attention, then convince them (somehow) that what you have in mind is in their best interests. To the authors' credit, they devote most of attention in their book to the "how" and "why" of mass marketing rather than to the "what."
Whether or not Persuasion Architecture makes sense and would be appropriate for the needs of the reader's own organization is for her or him to determine. My own rather extensive experience suggests that a transition from "old" to "new" marketing (or from "old" to "new" anything) invariably creates significant challenges, especially in terms of cultural barriers. Change agents are certain to face resistance because of what James O'Toole aptly characterizes as "the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom."
Persuasion Architecture offers a comprehensive, cohesive, and cost-effective methodology by which to launch and then sustain profitable mass marketing. There are others worthy of consideration. Whatever the eventual decision, commit to a methodology (rather than to a bromide) and keep in mind that the transition from "old" marketing to "new" marketing is a marathon, not a sprint. Also keep in mind, as you begin, what Peter Drucker observed (in 1963) in an article published in the Harvard Business Review: "There is surely nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency what should not be done at all."
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Put It All Together
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Sometimes a marketing book is dull and boring and a rip off - but not this one. Putting together their collective experience helping companies market themselves on the web and traditional media, the authors make it clear - consumers are no longer Pavlovian Dogs - they have somehow morphed into independent Cats - and no one can train a cat to respond to stimulation. With the growing influence of the Web consumers have been enabled to be fickle and in control of their experience - This book attempts to deal with that fact by identifying the various "Personas" and processes that are key to the buying experience - using that knowledge to enable sales to be pulled through the information maze. Since reading this book I have re-evaluated my company's marketing, and begun a thorough revision.
Easy to read and well structured, "Waiting..." is a strong and useful tool. I have sent it to friends in business as a valuable present.
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