MarketingProfs Daily Fix Blog » MarketingProfs_Book_Club

MarketingProfs Book Club Is Open: ‘Sticky’ Is in Session!

Christina "CK" Kerley — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 08:24:28 +0000

The MarketingProfs Book Club’s Group Review for our current (sticky!) segment featuring Made To Stick, is now OPEN! For those of you new to our Book Club I’ve included some information below. For returning Book Club vets, you can hop on over and jump into a discussion (or two). The discussions run 24/7 and span the globe.

As we said when we launched the Book Club, the purpose is sharing knowledge and bringing marketers together to focus on an exchange of ideas. While the book informs us and provides insights, the discussions in Group Review benefit us in our strategic and tactical day-to-day work. And rumor has it the discussions make us smarter, too. (Yeah, I started that rumor.)

Have questions? I have answers….
How do I get started? It’s as easy as 1-2-3:

#1: Go to the Book Club Entry Page by clicking here.

#2: Log-in with your email and PW: if you’re already a member of MarketingProfs, just sign-in with your email and password, if not you can register for free.

#3: Start chattin’ with other bookworms: all the discussions start below the poll.

What’s there to do at Group Review? Why you can…

Take a poll: Tell us in the click of a mouse what you thought of the book.

Load your profile: Everyone who is registered automatically gets a profile page. You can self-promote to your heart’s content in your profile. Or you can leave your profile blank.

Submit a book review: One of my discussion threads is asking for feedback on the book. Take two sentences or two paragraphs and give us your “take”.

Immerse yourself in a discussion–or two: Book Club is absolutely democratic in that anyone can start a discussion thread; but I encourage you first take some time to view the current discussions–you might find they’ve hit on a topic you want to discuss.

Start a discussion of your own: Just click on “Ask A Question” and seconds later–you’re live! If you begin a discussion please do check back several times during the day to see what has evolved. After all, you started all that chatting!

Get to know other marketers: Every time you start a discussion or post a comment, your “community name” is visible. Your community name hyperlinks to your profile so you get to learn about the people you’re talking with and maybe even meet some new colleagues.

Does your opinion on the book really matter? It really does! We’re already chatting over there but Book Club just isn’t the same without you. C’mon over and get sticky with all the smarties!

Helpful links for members and the media:

For more information on the book club, go here.

For a Q&A with this segment’s featured authors, go here.

Have questions not covered in our FAQs? Send an email to: bookclub@marketingprofs.com

Need technical help accessing or navigating Group Review?: Send an email to: exchange@marketingprofs.com

For the love of knowledge and know-how: Neither CK nor MarketingProfs profit from the sale of any books. Book Club is free (and cool).

Book Club Group Review Starts in a Week: Get Ready To Get ‘Sticky,’ Bookworms!

Christina "CK" Kerley — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 11:02:42 +0000

Just a reading reminder: Members of the MarketingProfs Book Club are one week away from chatting up our current featured book, Made To Stick, by Chip and Dan Heath.

While Round #1 discussed “social media” and Round #2 focused on “branding,” Round #3 explores “communications.”
More to the point, we’re learning how marketers can do a far better job of making sure our brainy ideas stick–and stick-it-out through the ages. Made To Stick analyzes why some ideas survive while many others die. But that’s not all: the authors have deconstructed why ideas that didn’t have revenue incentives, like urban legends and fables, have amplified across social groups and over many generations to develop a 6-point “SUCCESs” system pinpointing how to get our messages to stick (and stay stuck).
So get ready to discuss all this sticky stuff beginning next Tuesday, June 12th. Remember, during Book Club Group Review, any member can ask or answer a question and start a discussion thread.
In the case you missed it the introductory Author Q&A is right here . And as an added bonus, Cam Beck developed a thoughtful and thought-provoking 8-page analysis of Made To Stick’s major themes–and you can still download it absolutely free.
I’m happy to report that, once again, we increased membership by nearly 20% this segment–seems Book Club is an idea that’s, umm, sticking! Now it’s time for me to get back to my book, as it would be very poor form for your host to show up to Group Review unread. Happy reading…

PS: Next Tuesday, June 12th, I’ll post instructions on Group Review right here at The Daily Fix Blog along with emailing all members. And yes(!), you can still sign-up to take part in this segment…you’ll just need to get your hands on a copy of Made To Stick, and have it read by next Tuesday.
Helpful links for members and the media:

For more information on the book club, go here.

To sign-up for the book club click here.

For a Q&A with this segment’s featured authors, go here.

To download a (free!) thought-provoking, 8-page analysis of Made To Stick’s major themes go here.

To buy the hardcover version go here or the eBook here (neither CK nor MarketingProfs make money from the sale of any books, we just get to read and learn right alongside you fine marketers .

MarketingProfs Book Club Returns with ‘Made to Stick’

Christina "CK" Kerley — Tue, 15 May 2007 12:06:21 +0000

With spring comes not only a new season but a “sticky” new segment. Yes bookworms, the MarketingProfs Book Club is back with the hottest book of the year! Did I just say we have a hot and sticky segment? Hey, if it gets you folks reading and sharing ideas then this host is doing her job.

For those of you new to our Book Club, welcome aboard (sign-up here). And for those returning for another round, welcome back….
What’s the book? None other than “Made To Stick” by brothers Chip and Dan Heath. What’s more? Instead of giving away 30 author-signed books we’re upping it to 50 free books. Swear I’m not stopping until the world gets a book.
What, you want more than that? Done! Everyone gets a (FREE) bonus just for reading this post. My, how I’ve missed you bookworms.
While Round #1 discussed “social media” and Round #2 focused on “branding,” Round #3 explores “communications”–more to the point, we’re learning how marketers can do a far better job of making sure our brainy ideas stick. And stick-it-out through the ages.

Made To Stick analyzes why some ideas survive while many others die. But that’s not all: the authors have deconstructed why ideas that didn’t have revenue incentives, like urban legends and fables, have amplified across social groups and over many generations to develop a 6-point “SUCCESs” system pinpointing how to get our messages to stick (and stay stuck). Told you we’re getting sticky.
But don’t take my word for it; check out these rave reviews. Not only that, the recommendation for this book came from one of our own members, Kris Hoet, back in January. Rest assured folks, if you’re recommending, I’m listening! To kick-off this segment, we held a Q&A with the authors, in which I handed over the interview to fellow marketer Cam Beck. Take it away guys–

For whom was the book written, and why? All of us need to make our ideas stick from time to time. There are some people–teachers, ministers, politicians, and of course marketers–whose jobs depend on making ideas stick. Our book was written to help people make that happen. It’s fiendishly difficult to take the light bulb that’s in your head and recreate it in the minds of your audience. And that’s where the traits of stickiness come in…to refine our most important ideas so that they’ll endure.

Why does your book use so many examples of advertising? Advertising is a pure marketplace of ideas, so it’s a great laboratory for studying stickiness. Great ad campaigns, like Wendy’s “Where’s the Beef?,” thrive on the principles of stickiness. Subway’s Jared campaign, for instance, perfectly captures the power of a story to make an idea stick.

What is the most important lesson from your book? What do you most hope “sticks” with marketers? Use concrete, sensory language. Think of urban legends (the man who wakes up in an ice-filled bathtub without kidneys) or fables (Aesop’s The Fox and the Grapes). These ideas etch themselves into our brains because of their sensory hooks. And this may sound like common sense, and yet it is not instinctive marketing behavior. You only need to visit a couple of web sites to see the wasteland of bland abstractions: World-class customer service! Simplify your life! You can have it all!

In your book, you make several references to “The Curse of Knowledge.” How can knowledge be a curse…and how can it be overcome? The Curse of Knowledge is the arch-villain in our book. The Curse of Knowledge says that once we know something, it becomes hard for us to imagine what it was like not to know it. And that, in turn, makes us communicate to others like speakers of a foreign language. We forget to translate.
Think of the IT guy in the office who can’t give you a clear answer to something. He talks in jargon and abstractions that you can’t follow. And we’re all the IT guy in our areas of expertise–our knowledge complicates our communication. You can avoid the Curse of Knowledge by using the principles of stickiness. The power of a sticky idea is precisely that it crosses boundaries–boundaries of knowledge, experience, even culture.

In your interview with U.S. News and World Report, you called PowerPoint presentations the “kryptonite of sticky ideas.” What is the alternative? When we’re talking, or making presentations, we sprinkle in stories and anecdotes and specific examples. We treat them like garnish. And the bulk of our presentation consists of “high-level” talking points, which are almost always abstractions. PowerPoint feeds this tendency by giving us little easy-to-use bullets. And what do you put after a bullet? Certainly not a story. But stories and examples aren’t garnish, they’re the entrée. Most people communicate with, say, 3 parts exposition to 1 part story. That’s exactly backwards. Don’t let PowerPoint seduce you into meaninglessness.

OK, your host is back with a few points to cover before I close:

Sign-up by Friday, May 18th: Remember, to be eligible to receive one of the fifty author-signed books you need to be signed-up AND have your FULL mailing address stored in your MarketingProfs member profile (so we know where to send your book).
IMPORTANT: If you signed-up for the first or second segment you’re already in the database (so you need not sign-up again and yes, you’re eligible for a free book). Free book recipents are chosen randomly.
Newcomers should hurry up and sign-up as I’ll be emailing the free book recipients early next week, so you have until Friday, May 18th, at 5pmPST to join if you’ve not already.

Did I say FREE Bonus for all? That I did. Cam Beck has conducted a thoughtful and thought-provoking 8-page analysis of Made To Stick’s major themes–and you can download it absolutely free. While it’s not a replacement for the read, it is a piece that emphasizes how we can make our ideas stick and stay stuck. Again, download this amazing piece right here (yes, do it right now, well right after you finish this post .

Lastly, Group Review for the book will start Tuesday, June 12th, giving you four weeks to get your books read and, uh, wait–did you hear that? Who’s cutting-in on my post? Oh, its word from our authors, let’s see what those “sticky guys” have to say: “Our passion is ideas and what makes them stick, so the opportunity to join a group of idea connoisseurs in the marketing community to banter about ideas, via the MarketingProfs Book Club, well … it’s going to be a heck of a good time! It’s kind of like turning a group of physicists loose in a particle accelerator.”
You heard it from them bookworms–get ready for your ideas to get a whole lot stickier in round #3!
P.S.: I hope you get a free book, but even if you don’t, please do still participate: at $16.47 for the hardcover, and $15.26 for the eBook, the book is a steal for all the knowledge it imparts (an audiobook is also available for your listening pleasure). And don’t forget there are many future segments in which to get a free book!

Helpful Links:
Have questions? Go here
Want to join the Book Club? Go here.
Still have questions not addressed in our FAQs? email me at: bookclub@marketingprofs.com
Lest we not forget our nifty disclaimer: Neither CK nor MarketingProfs is in any way retained by any author or publisher to promote any book or make any profit from the sale thereof. This book club is for the marketing community–we just get to learn alongside you fine folks .