Review of Joseph Jaffe's "Join the Conversation"

Review of “Join the Conversation”:

“Join the Conversation” is required reading for brand managers and individuals alike. Jaffe has created the next step in the cultural sea change that started with the
“Cluetrain Manifesto”. With wise words of advice and numerous real world examples Jaffe guides his readers through the trials and errors, potential pitfalls and successes that are made possible by New Media or as Jaffe likes to call it Conversational Marketing.

That being said, Jaffe’s newest book needs more editing. Jaffe tends to use a style and tone similar to that of his blog and podcast. And although his irreverent quips are great in audio format, they do not translate well to print. I found myself having to reread numerous paragraphs to sift through his puns and asides, simply so I could garner the great advice he was trying to give me.

Jaffe needs to write less, not less books or blogs, we all want more of his content, just less verbage.

Reading “Join the Conversation” is like mining for gold, you have to sift through all of the superfluous language to get to the nuggets of truth and applicable knowledge.

It’s nothing a little editing can’t fix.

Jaffe’s chapters on Experimentation (Chapter 18) as well as his test on being ready to Join the Conversation (Chapter 20) are full of pragmatic step by step no nonsense advice, and he offers some truly useful suggestions that all marketers would do well to read, digest and apply.

In short Jaffe has written an excellent book about Conversational Marketing and how to apply it to your business, brand, life and career. This book simply needs more editing, less fluff words and more meat and potatoes.

Jaffe,

Give me the facts and the insights, please. And at the end of each chapter it would be very helpful to have the main points numbered and broken down as “take aways” for your readers. That way we are not only much more likely to apply your guidance, but also to credit you for your observational wisdom and pragmatic options.

Thanks for the book, I thoroughly enjoyed it and learned a good deal. Keep up the podcasting…yours was the one that got me hooked, (Across the Sound).

Thanks,


Jonathan