Mary Schmidt Marketing Troubleshooter

I’m finally diving into Waiting for Your Cat to Bark? : Persuading Customers When They Ignore Marketing by Bryan and Jeffrey Eisenberg. As you might expect, it’s hard-nosed common sense combined with laugh-out-loud examples. It’s liberally sprinkled with references ranging from the Palovian response (dog drool) to Dr. Pepper to Jeffrey’s search for the perfect recliner. (It all works in context, trust me.)

I’m still reading, but started nodding in agreement in Chapter One, Dogs, Cats, & Marketing, and the recipe for “Customers a la Pavlov” which is all about conditioning your dog (or customer in this case.) As Bryan and Jeffrey note, this is very old school. (The old “just yell louder to get their attention” model of advertising works about as well with customers as it does with my cats. They ignore me and merrily go on shredding the sofa.)

When all is said and done - do we want dumb, tongue-lolling customers? Let’s face it - as much as I love dogs (and my cats) - they have tiny little brains which are easily distracted by a new stick or shiny object. Doesn’t make for true loyalty (Old Yeller and Lassie aside.)

Go. Read. Wonder why so many people and companies still “don’t get it.”

(And, thanks to Holly Buchanan for sending along a copy! Click on over and read her latest post on fashion ads; she’s got some great perspective.)

Tags: marketing, marketing troubleshooting