Theory of the month... again
I have now read all 3 books. I am convinced that this collection of writing is without a doubt a Marketing tool for the Author's Consulting firm and the theories they abide by. They know their market well, just like the Six Sigma folks.
Their target decision-makers are Executives. Executives are the prospective customers of the Consulting firm. They will decide if and who will be their Consultants. So the Consultants' first task when persuing a potential client is to establish in the decision-makers that A) their company has a need for their product (the theories) and B) that THIER Consulting firm is best able to satisfy that need (to implement the theories).
These Consultants know their audience. They know the 5 P's and how to adapt them for their audience. Some examples from the 3 books.
- The books all have the name and pictures of the Author/consultant on the back of the jacket, as well as on the boxset's box. This clearly associates the ideas IN the books with the name ON the books.
- The testimonials. The first book has a 5 testimonials on the back of the jacket and another 20 (!!!) on the first few pages inside the cover. This is an attempt to establish peer-credibility since each testimonial is from an executive as identified by name, title and company.
- The formatting of text. I've already pointed this out to a few people who didn't even notice, but there is a difference in the 3 books' copy formatting. The first and last books are targeted at CEOs and executives, the second book is targeted at 'Teams'. Books 1 & 3 have copy without indenting, but with extra spaces between paragraphs and the paragraphs are extremely short.
This is an example.
The paragraphs are extremely short and some are only 4 or 5 words long.
It reads like an email someone printed as a book.
But without refromatting.
The 2nd book is normal. Paragraphs of reasonable size with indentation. Why? Because people on Teams are less likely to be intersted or comfortable with the 'emailized' format where CEOs and Executives might be reading the book on their Palm, where they are used to the 'email' format. (They know their target audience!)
- The stories that make up over 80% of the books' pages are all based in the Bay Area. The consulting firm is also based in the Bay Area and specializes in consulting CEOs and other Executives on building their companies' Executive Teams. huh. That's funny because...
- The fictitious companies in the stories area all struggling "New Economy" companies. The idea is if the theories can work with a generic company facing problems that most executives can relate to, then maybe they can work for the target audience, too.
- The fictitious people in the stories are all amiable, upstanding gents and ladies, but each has their little faults. This makes the characters believable but does not shatter the target audience's 'ideal self-image'. The audience can relate to the characters because the characters 'embody' (I don't think that's the right term for it but oh, well) the characters embody the type of executive the audience sees in the mirror, or strives to become. (This is the marketing equivalent of a parent reading a bedtime story where the wholesome protagonist is the same age as the child listening. If you can relate to the character, you pay more attention to the plot.)
So tomorrow maybe I'll outline why I suspect ACCA's head executive's religous use of the theories in these books is actually a desperate cry for help. It has to be. Either that or he's astoundingly unaware of his own inability to live up to the role that the theories dictate for a head executive.
Yeah...
ok... I guess it might not be a cry for help afterall. But it's definately one of those two possibilities!
Their target decision-makers are Executives. Executives are the prospective customers of the Consulting firm. They will decide if and who will be their Consultants. So the Consultants' first task when persuing a potential client is to establish in the decision-makers that A) their company has a need for their product (the theories) and B) that THIER Consulting firm is best able to satisfy that need (to implement the theories).
These Consultants know their audience. They know the 5 P's and how to adapt them for their audience. Some examples from the 3 books.
- The books all have the name and pictures of the Author/consultant on the back of the jacket, as well as on the boxset's box. This clearly associates the ideas IN the books with the name ON the books.
- The testimonials. The first book has a 5 testimonials on the back of the jacket and another 20 (!!!) on the first few pages inside the cover. This is an attempt to establish peer-credibility since each testimonial is from an executive as identified by name, title and company.
- The formatting of text. I've already pointed this out to a few people who didn't even notice, but there is a difference in the 3 books' copy formatting. The first and last books are targeted at CEOs and executives, the second book is targeted at 'Teams'. Books 1 & 3 have copy without indenting, but with extra spaces between paragraphs and the paragraphs are extremely short.
This is an example.
The paragraphs are extremely short and some are only 4 or 5 words long.
It reads like an email someone printed as a book.
But without refromatting.
The 2nd book is normal. Paragraphs of reasonable size with indentation. Why? Because people on Teams are less likely to be intersted or comfortable with the 'emailized' format where CEOs and Executives might be reading the book on their Palm, where they are used to the 'email' format. (They know their target audience!)
- The stories that make up over 80% of the books' pages are all based in the Bay Area. The consulting firm is also based in the Bay Area and specializes in consulting CEOs and other Executives on building their companies' Executive Teams. huh. That's funny because...
- The fictitious companies in the stories area all struggling "New Economy" companies. The idea is if the theories can work with a generic company facing problems that most executives can relate to, then maybe they can work for the target audience, too.
- The fictitious people in the stories are all amiable, upstanding gents and ladies, but each has their little faults. This makes the characters believable but does not shatter the target audience's 'ideal self-image'. The audience can relate to the characters because the characters 'embody' (I don't think that's the right term for it but oh, well) the characters embody the type of executive the audience sees in the mirror, or strives to become. (This is the marketing equivalent of a parent reading a bedtime story where the wholesome protagonist is the same age as the child listening. If you can relate to the character, you pay more attention to the plot.)
So tomorrow maybe I'll outline why I suspect ACCA's head executive's religous use of the theories in these books is actually a desperate cry for help. It has to be. Either that or he's astoundingly unaware of his own inability to live up to the role that the theories dictate for a head executive.
Yeah...
ok... I guess it might not be a cry for help afterall. But it's definately one of those two possibilities!