Book Review: Waiting for Your Cat to Bark? Persuading Customers When They Ignore Marketing
June 27th, 2006
Approaching online marketing is a bit like entering a wilderness without a map, compass, shelter, or food. Let me explain. The typical Web site fails to anchor its message in the needs of real world customers, provides no means of discovering whether the message is persuasive, and relies on intuition and experimentation for improvement. Companies with little room for experimentation in their budget can easily become discouraged or exhaust their resources in fruitless experimentation. Bryan and Jeffrey Eisenberg have provided a model in Waiting for Your Cat to Bark? that addresses the lack of landmarks in online marketing.
This book maps out the difficult wilderness terrain of customer communication and persuasion as an intentional process that includes measurable and achievable goals. The Eisenbergs approach an extremely complex process with finesse that rarely oversimplifies and yet provides a conceptual framework that helps us approach it rationally.
It is very difficult to summarize Waiting for Your Cat to Bark? because it is a comprehensive system of thought and a marketing methodology. Little about the specifics of marketing are redefined here, but Persuasion Architecture places each component of marketing into a framework with specific goals and metrics. When read cover to cover with an open mind, this book has the potential to demystify much of the marketing process.
Like any book that paints a big picture, the chief challenge to the reader is to apply the principles of Persuasion Architecture to their own marketing efforts. Though the first few chapters are mostly abstract, the last nine chapters anchor the conceptual framework in real world scenarios that will help you get started.
The model of Persuasion Architecture meshes well with the culture of the Internet where participation is voluntary and transient. According to the authors, “The frameworks available in Persuasion Architecture create a persuasive model of voluntary momentum rather than a coercive model … it isn’t about control, it’s about choice.”
What’s my advice? If you are involved in marketing, but especially marketing with an Internet component, choose to read this book!
Product Details
- Authors: Bryan Eisenberg, Jeffrey Eisenberg, Lisa T. Davis
- Hardcover: 240 pages
- Publisher: Nelson Business; Book & CD edition (June 13, 2006)
- ISBN: 0785218971
- List Price: $19.99
- Buy on Amazon.com
- Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
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Entry Filed under: Book & Software Reviews, Internet Marketing
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4 Comments
1. jasonciment | July 12th, 2006 at 4:00 am
I was at an advance reading from the book and i own the previous book “Click to Action”. these guys are on target and I now count them as personal friends. Good review. i suppose the next question is what platform will work best online with their principles.
2. Harvey Ramer | July 16th, 2006 at 11:01 pm
Thanks Jason for your insightful comments!
Yes, it would be interesting to see how people have successfully applied the eCommerce and persuasion tactics Waiting for Your Cat to Bark? recommends and what platforms they have found effective.
ECommerce is a complex process and sometimes what works is counter-intuitive. In an eCommerce platform, what seems important from the Eisenberg’s perspective is to provide information that answers customers’ anticipated questions without diverting them from the sales funnel or track they are on. A simple way to provide this information is through pop-up windows rather than pages.
I have not used the pop-up or hidden div approach for auxiliary information because I have always seen it as a search engine optimization tool rather than a sales tool. Ultimately this is a choice we all make, and sales are more important than traffic!
The principles are flexible enough to apply to amost any platform, I believe. However, seeing clever implementations and the platforms on which they are built would be interesting.
Anyone want to share how you have put these principles into practice and what software solution underpins your solution?
3. jasonciment | July 19th, 2006 at 5:30 am
I work in the ecommerce arena and find that there are no hard core rules other than measuring your own traffic and seeing what works and what does not work. The key is having a flexible cart solution that enables you to track results and make changes quickly and easily. It is an ongoing struggle between the marketing guys and the programmers at our own WebCart solution. I haven’t figured out yet how to cut down the tension.
4. Harvey Ramer | July 19th, 2006 at 9:44 am
I’m not sure what specific challenges you’re facing, but I’m in the process of reviewing a book on Search Engine Optimization that discusses how to build a team that understands the need for continual improvement of rankings … including marketing.
In that field, there’s often a perception by the marketing department that the Web department is going to ruin their carefully thought out strategy by insisting on rerwrites etc. The book has a chapter on how to work with the tensions. If this applies to your situation, you may find Chapter 5 of Search Engine Optimization an Hour a Day useful.
I usually work with small to medium-size companies and the politics is at a minimum in these institutions. When I’m able to work for universities or larger corporations, I too feel a bit tentative about how to work within competing agendas, but I’ve always enjoyed the results!