Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #38399 in Books
• Published on: 2006-06-13
• Format: Bargain Price
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 240 pages

From Publishers Weekly
The Eisenberg brothers (Call to Action: Secret Formulas to Improve Online Results) dub the guiding principles behind their marketing consultancy "Persuasion Architecture," but their methods have more in common with Hollywood screenwriting. Observing that one message no longer fits every audience, they create "personas" representing broad consumer patterns, based on the types identified in the Keirsey personality tests, renamed here as "methodical," "spontaneous," "humanistic" and "competitive" shoppers. Then the authors "storyboard" marketing scenarios guiding each type to the point of sale. Although 20th-century advertising was based on the Pavlovian model of instilling a desired reaction to stimuli, like the dog that expected dinner whenever a bell rang, the Eisenbergs say that increasing media fragmentation prevents advertisers from creating that sort of conditioned response. Anyway, they add, people have always been more like cats, occasionally distractable but for the most part independent-minded. Their solution—developing interactive relationships—is fairly standard in contemporary marketing circles, but by keeping the message simple, with short chapters low on jargon and high on real-world examples, the Eisenbergs just may push themselves to the front of the crowd. (June 13)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Customer Reviews

Figure out how to persuade your web visitors to become buyers.
Dogs are easily motivated to respond to stimuli. Cats aren't so cooperative. Potential buyers used to behave pretty much like dogs--responding to advertising by running out to buy a product. Even in the B2B world, a sales rep or an ad campaign could move prospects easily toward a purchase. Today, buyers prefer to make their own informed brand choices. They are as difficult to herd as, well, cats. The solution: The authors have invented a `persuasion architecture' that enables sellers to provide an information experience that's individually meaningful to buyers. It marries the two-sided buying/selling process with the marketing communications flow. "Its focus, always, is persuading the customer to take action." To keep buyers moving toward a positive decision, sellers must ask again and again:

* Who are we trying to persuade to take the action?
* What is the action we want someone to take?
* What does the person need in order to feel confident taking that action?

Successful marketers guide prospects toward informed decisions through touch points, such as the web, print or television ads, and in-person contacts. The buyer's voluntary participation is required, because "you are always the equivalent of `one click' away from goodbye." Pervasive Internet usage for pre-purchase research creates marketing opportunity. For example, the shift to flat screen TVs enables savvy sellers to become your new best friend. Buying a TV with a tube was easy. Who understands flat screens? If you can guide us gently toward a positive decision, you win. Implementing persuasion architecture will help position your organization as the provider of choice for:

* Relevant, reliable information
* An enjoyable buying experience
* Products and services that precisely meet client needs

In fact, persuasion architecture as a core component of content marketing may be just the competitive advantage you need to succeed with those hard to herd clients.

Great inspiration
I thought this book was one of the most inspiring books I read in 2006. It doesn't present any groundbreaking news, but it does make you eager to get out there and improve your marketing. I put up quotes and drawings based on the book by my workplace -- to get the inspiration from the book to last longer.

How to keep up the momentum and get that 'next click' in the buying process.
An astonishing feat, amazing accomplishment. Putting forth the vision of a structural framework in understandable terms. Concepts that can easily be envisioned by the small business or the Global 500.

Stunning economy of scale. Presenting a coherent grid map to the future of marketing in under 250 pages.

You don't need magic or voodoo or hyper intelligence. This is a map, a process - not simple - not quick, but a entire end to end process that when worked through and completed, filling in all the appropriate blanks beginning with 'Uncovery', will give you a measurable response to your challenge which can in itself be tweaked and refined through all iterations in your 'Marketing Cycle'.

Pavlov used a dog. Would the same experiment have worked with a cat. Enticing a cat is only a little easier than herding cats. Mass Media is dead. You've heard by now of 'Longtail'. This is the road map for the next phase.

The first half through Chapter 13 lays a ground work to support the vision with known concepts and practices and a quick run through of the history of commerce. Customer's perceptions and responses have changed and some of the subtleties are highlighted here. The 'what's in it for me' outlook of the new consumer is addressed.

Yet this is only the beginning. These ideas have been in the heart of every marketer / sales person since time immemorial. Now they're presented in terms and visuals that can be presented to the newest greenest recruit in your team in a fashion that can be built upon through a lifetime career or avocation.

The concept of a *(Magic, secret, special, hidden, lost) Framework that only needed the proper application of known and knowable facts and procedures to produce the 'Answer', has long been a goal of civilization - The Abacus, The Analytical Engine. As your minds eye begins to perceive the illumination thru chapters (14 - 23) you can see that the authors have articulated a vision in more ways than one, The 'Visual' of the 'Framework', 'the matrix'. 'The matrix' in multiple dimensions is priceless and will be remembered. The Authors recognize that their new concepts are just a beginning.

This book shows you the tools to answer those three questions that should be asked throughout your operation.
1. Who are we trying to persuade to take the action?
2. What is the action we want someone to take?
3. What does that person need in order to feel confident taking that action?

Persuasion Architecture, Persona-lization, Uncovery, these are terms you will use for the rest of your life.

This a 'Must Read' for every serious marketer.

The book comes with a CD containing an 80 minute Q&A session with the authors, a PDF full text copy of the book, and a $50 credit on Yahoo! Sponsored Search (new users only).


Waiting for Your Cat to Bark?: Persuading Customers When They Ignore Marketing