No Sleeping in Marketing Class
If you're a high school teacher, it's vital that you know how to reach and handle different personalities and learning types. Take for instance inBubbleGuy's Pre-Calc teacher, Stan B. As he labored through the central theme of derivatives, he had to answer Laura K's challenging questions, not bore Burt G. by oversimplifying, and wake up iBGuy every 15 minutes so that Lance B. didn't tie his shoelaces around his chair again (so embarrassing). Was Mr. B. successful? Well, iBGuy never did pass advanced calculus, but Laura graduated from Yale and Burt's an officer in our military. The same challenge seems also to fall on marketers. Pavlovian sales and marketing techniques no longer work in this here internetting world (nor should they), so we marketers must find a new way to reach varied audiences. Thank goodness on gobstoppers for Bryan and Jeffrey Eisenberg for writing their book, Waiting for Your Cat to Bark.
Bryan and Jeffrey base this book a method - which has the potential to take off as the next great and relevant marketing technique - called "Persuasion Architecture." Marketers can no longer rely on the prevailing 20th century technique of using one overall message to instill a desired buying reaction to their stimuli. Media fragmentation simply disallows one message, as does the fact that we've always been a bit more like cats in the first place. We may get distracted into a purchase from time to time, but for the most part, we are intelligent (and usually stubborn) enough to know whether a marketing campaign speaks to what we really want and need.
The Eisenberg's have created "personas" that represent the variety of consumer patterns. Like iBGuy sleeping his way through Pre-Calc, there is the "methodical". Like Laura battling for the honor of valedictorian, there's the "competitive". Also like iBGuy when he decided to actually use his brain on rare occasions, there is the "spontaneous." And like sweet-hearted little Kelly in the corner, there's the "humanistic". Oh yeah, these personas are all basically renamed versions of personality types defined by the Keirsey personality tests, so we can trust that the research behind the categories has been quite extensive.
iBGuy will be honest - the "Persuasion Architecture" method is not for the lazy or undetermined. As you can tell, it takes a ton of work to reach multiple audiences and understand a variety of patterns. That's just the nature of this modern world. But Jeffrey and Bryan make it a bit easier with Waiting for Your Cat to Bark, because after they define each personality type, they guide you through a plethora of real-world examples that help reach each specific customer type.
One thing that transcends each personality type is interactive relationships. If someone is sleeping, wake him up and start a dialogue. If they are interested, answer their questions but keep them engaged. You get the point. Now wake up, learn how to speak to multiple audiences, and bring home more bacon than can fit on the plate. Read Waiting for Your Cat to Bark.
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