A Day in the Life of a Persuasion Architect

Step right up! We can guess your Conversion Rate

The Shop.org Annual Summit is now underway.

Bryan Eisenberg will be presenting "Waiting for your Cat to Bark" on Thursday at 3:15. He will also be at the BazaarVoice booth Thursday at 1pm and again 4:15 signing books and kissing babies.

The folks over at BazaarVoice will be guessing conversion rates at their booth, if they can't guess yours, you get a prize.

Maybe they will get Bryan to get in on the guessing as well. But don't count on getting a prize if he guesses yours. :-)

The Future of Consumer Research

No sooner than Jeffrey Eisenberg posts his rant about the state of consumer surveys do we get another authorative glimpse into the future of research from our brilliant strategic partner Michele Miller.  Check out what she writes over at Inc.

Companies like Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO), Pepsi (NYSE:PBG), and Best Buy (NYSE:BBY)  now realize the methods they used to mine  for information in the past were often unproductive and inefficient. The pressure-cooker atmosphere of a group of strangers in an unfamiliar setting, combined with questions skewed to obtain answers favorable toward a product, is often a dangerous (if not deadly) concoction. Over the years, countless products that should never have been introduced made it to market, and vice-versa.

Today, major advancements in science, technology, and human-behavior studies offer new tools for studying consumers that are more natural and provide greater insight into what a customer wants. What techniques should you consider?  Read the entire article.

Internet Killed the Radio Star?

Contrary to popular belief radio is not dying.  It is, however, changing drastically.  What we are witnessing is the medium of 'audio broadcasting' being molded and morphed at the hands of a populice in more control of their choices.

Radio isn't radio anymore, it is now 'terrestrial' radio and it sharing more of it's audience (and revenue) with it's offsping; internet radio, podcasting, and satellite radio. 

Even as the populice is having influence on the radio universe many broadcasting sites remain irrelevant and downright yucky.  And of course 'terrestrial' radio is struggling to remain viable.  The answer to this? 

From Audiographics.com

Today, consider a few terms that will help; radio personas, predictive modeling, and persuasion architecture. Combining the three allow stations to build an online presence that delivers better results.

Building a radio persona will let you create predictive marketing that gives clues to how you should build your web site with persuasion architecture. Read the entire article.

  Interestingly enough, this conclusion came as a result of Bryan Eisenberg's 2 part rant over at ClickZ about the state of satellite radio's online efforts.  Read part one, then part two.

How To Get A Repeat Customer

Several months ago I decided I was going to fly the new, all business class airline from JFK, MaxJet, to get to London for my buddy, Jim Sterne's, Emetrics seminar. It was a fabulous experience and I told several people they needed to try it out.

With all the chaos with the airlines this past week, MaxJet's CEO, Gary R. Rogliano, sent out an email which just about guaranteed my next trip in November will be aboard his caring airline. The text of the email is below:

Dear Friend:

The MAXjet Family is committed to getting you where you need to be, while keeping your security and safety utmost in our minds. We have continued to operate all of our flights as close to schedule as possible, due in large part, to the efficiency of flying into and out of London Stansted Airport.

Our primary focus right now is to maintain the safety and security of our customers, crew members and all others involved. To that end, I want to reassure you that we are following all security directives to maximize the safety and security of our airline.

Understandably, some of you may choose to change your travel plans because of the security incident that arose this week. I’ve asked our excellent Customer Service, Reservations and Airport Services teams to allow a one-time waiver for change fees and add collects for you, for changes made prior to 31 October 2006. There’s more information listed on www.maxjet.com. Some flights for instance, may require authorization from Customer Care, due to availability.

Know that we are doing everything possible to keep you safe, get you to your destination as close to schedule as possible and provide you with the best possible customer service. If you need more information, we have posted the restrictions on www.maxjet.com.

We’re here to serve you and provide you safe and comfortable passage on your trip.

Warmest regards,

Gary

Gary R. Rogliano
CEO

MAXjet Airways, Inc.

What messages are you sending to your customers that show you really care about their lives not just your business?

Stay tuned, for more PAPR news...

Today's leading story on ClickZ:

http://clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3623082

Anyone doing PR just may want to take 5 and read the article.

Hillary joins the blogosphere!

Well, not quite.  Rather, she's hired someone to do it for her.  Not exactly the kind of transparency we're shooting for.

File under: When will they ever learn.

Stray cats barking throughout the office!

Well forgive the shameless plug, but we're finally 100% publicly shipping our latest book Waiting for Your Cat to Bark: Persuading Customers When They Ignore Marketing.  Amazon, BN and Sam's Club jumped the gun a bit, but we forgive their exhuberance.  After all, there's probably no better time to start shipping than when a book is recommended in the Sunday edition of the New York Times.  We couldn't be more proud of it, and the reception we've received thus far.  There's been far too much feedback to share here, but a random sampling shows podcasts, newspapers, tv & radio stations, and online reviews getting into the mix.  Here's a few of our personal fav's: (feel free to add your own ;)

• Craig Danuloff from Commerce360, leads an insightful chapter by chapter discussion of the book.
• Mike Grehan recently podcasted his fireside chat with Jeffrey & Bryan, and wrote about it on ClickZ
• The good folks behind 800-CEO-READ offer their thoughts (and free books)
• WonderBranding's own Michele Miller donating her own charitable dollars to inspire future readers
• Chuck McKay, of Advertising Made Simple, offers the Small Biz take on the value of Cat

There's been plenty of pub for the release, I gave you five, and in a variety of formats.  I hope there's something in there for everyone.  Our heartfelt thanks to everyone who's enjoyed the Waiting for Your Cat to Bark experience, and to those of you who haven't... what are you waiting for?!

Maybe it wasn't Al Gore...

perhaps it was Elmer's who invented the internet.  The web as glue is in full swing.  Observe, just this week alone:

1. For the second consecutive night, on a two separate networks, a tv show I was watching ended with a URL, and some additional, only-available-online, content.  We're not talking rehashed, repurposed, repeated highlights either- we're talking genuine, 100%, never-before-seen, FRESH CONTENT... completely free.  You think that traffic source comes any more highly qualified?   
   
   [Note: Sadly, in both cases the networks utterly failed to follow up the successful driving point (i.e. tv show) with a funnel point that leads the visitor into a scenario where some interaction can take place.  That sound you hear is the cash register signaling yet another squandered opportunity, the likes of which becoming even more critical with continual traffic cost inflation.]
2. FX unleashes a contest which collects CGM.  What type of consumer generated media, you ask?- the type that got Chevy in such hot water a few months back.  This one incentivizes submissions with a $50,000 check.  Oh yeah, and one more thing worth noting, they only accept submissions through myspace! 
   
   [Note: Sadly, because their site is 100% designed in Flash, linking to it, creating a buzz, and sharing the viral WOM becomes far more difficult than it should be.  Oops.]
3. Our copy of Strategy + Business arrived at the office offering a field guide for the new Marketer (yes, I did wonder if they'd include a reading list, and if Waiting For Your Cat to Bark would top the list.) and a cover story entitled "The Future of Advertising Is Now" (free registration required).  It's well worth the read, and a harbinger of things to come.  They predict marketing excellence in organizations who:
   
   
   • "Shift spending and management attention to digital media, and use those media to more effectively influence consumer purchase behavior.
   • Develop formats to promote interaction with audiences, especially their most likely consumers.
   • Create new research approaches and metrics that measure outcomes, not inputs.
   • Combine “above-the-line” advertising (TV, radio, and print) and “below-the-line” marketing (promotions, sponsorships, events, public relations) in new two-way, integrated campaigns.
   • Create their own branded entertainment assets and appeal to customers directly through them."
   
   [Note: As far as I know, they weren't intentionally referring to the results of planning marketing strategy with Persuasion Architecture, but it sure sounds like they were.]
   
   Did I mention, it's only Wednesday? 

Who says nothing in life is FREE?

Have you missed us at the soon to be completed Ad:tech 1mpact series?  We were in 10 cities... shame on you.  Just to show we're softies at heart, we'll let you in on a little secret...

Bryan Eisenberg is keynoting the eComXpo next week, and it's FREE, and you can attend without leaving your desk!

Ok, so what's the catch you ask?  Nothing, really.  You simply have to click your way over and watch the digital presentation LIVE.  There is no free access to the library that stores all the presentations throughout the Virtual Trade Show.  Bryan goes on from 12 PM - 1 PM, Wednesday April 5th.  We'll be "on hand" to chat and answer questions once the session is complete.  Hope to "see" you there.